Even I’m surprised

Day 2 of the tournament and today I have my second game of the ground stage for my C division team from Okinawa and later on in the evening I have my debut for the local favourite team in B division who are called the Adelaide Tigers . Yes I’m playing for two teams and if I had the choice I probably would have played for a third as I watched the A division and felt as though that was the division which would have suited me best and maybe I would be playing in the A division if I didn’t jump the gun months ago to play for Okinawa . Glenn Foll the tournament organizer is who I contacted months ago to put me on a team and I’m almost sure he was planning to put me on an A squad but I couldn’t wait as I’m an impatient person when trying to book flights for this trip and when Kevin Mingoia asked to play for him I let Glenn know which I felt was not exactly pleasing for him to hear as I’m sure he thought a Canadian goalie would have a better pedigree then most of the regular keepers . I’m not gonna argue that but in the end it all worked out and I did get added to this B squad as I was travelling and never had the inkling of a thought to leave my buddy Kevin hanging even though there were some tough moments leading up to the tournament as I followed our group chat online and saw players being added and disappearing along the way . These are the pains of running hockey teams and only the strong minded ones persevere . I saw it in Kevin to make it happen , he’s even more stubborn then I am lol 😝. Now it’s a good thing my first game is after 2 pm unlike my counter part Robert Soliman who eventually ended up on that A squad that Glenn possibly had me earmarked to play for as they have a slew of 6 am games during the tournament which I rather avoid so I can enjoy the nightlife ... now all we need to do is get Nonny a pair of shoes so we can visit the Gentleman’s clubs 🤪

When I woke up around 10 am Robert was gone and Nonny was on the couch and we didn’t bring any hockey buddies over to crash and the only th8ng on my mind was getting some grub in me and hoping for cheap and cheerful . We have these McDonalds coupons from the tournament and it’s time to make use of them , Nonny joined me down the road to grab some food and we hiked it back and gorged our greasy fare ! I stashed the free cheeseburger in the fridge and threw out the leftover bread I had purchased a few days ago when my idea was to save money by buying groceries .... no time to cook and or clean and the cleaning lady that comes into our room at the weirdest times avoids tossing anything out that is not in a garbage bin so I’m filling the bin to make room for other stuff on the table which eventually is filled by empty takeaway bags between the three of us . I’m really pleased to say I haven’t seen any creepy crawlies at the hotel even with all kinds of food left out for them and I have seen a couple big cockroaches on the streets out front and no I’m not talking about the local junkies . That plan of taking the tram into hockey died today when I decided to start ordering uber XL as it only costs $11 and Kevin and Nonny enjoy it also . Kevin is injured and very doubtful of playing today as he was tripped in the game yesterday and is taking it easy . Last night we added Brandon Bailey to our roster as he was hanging with us anyways and wanted to play more , naturally it was a good move and made me happy that we won’t have to scratch out anymore 1-0 wins .... hopefully . On the way out the hospital I met Marc Daigler who is also in the US military and is from Okinawa . We met yesterday but didn’t introduce ourselves formally and today I got to learn more about everyone as you do when spending so much time with the group and this group is spending a lot of time together and we are all getting along which is always great ! Marc is hardcore and opts to take the tram and we take our Uber XL .... my plan for the day is to take and Uber back after our first game to take a nap and air out my gear before my debut for the Adelaide Tigers 🐯 

I got to the rink in time to watch Justin Harrison play for his Pro Look B squad which I am to face later on tonight and there are 4 Sniperz team mates also playing for that squad so it should be interesting facing my team mates , friends and room mates in a match that has all the marbles on the table . The Tigers squad I am on tied their first match 3-3 against another local club called the Falcons which also has a few Sniperz playing for them so it adds to the animosity amongst ourselves .... animosity is a strong word .... let’s say friendly banter , but I’m the only Tiger so I’m amongst a room full of players that are all vying for those two playoff spots in our b division group of 5 teams . This all began today when we hit the dressing room and the chatter began as we got read6 to face our second opponent in our 2 game round robin against ADF Storm who had lost to Crown & Sceptre earlier on by a score of 6-2 . We know Crown has a good team and with the plus minus involved we know we need at least a tie to take topspot and go through to the next group round in the higher division . There are 12 C division teams which are in 4 groups of 3 playing 2 games in this prelim round robin and from that the teams will be split into C1 & C2 division with top 6 ranked teams going into C1 which of course is our goal . We were almost guaranteed that with our first win but since it was such a slim margin it might cause problems if we tie or lose . We all knew this as we hit the ice and we went through our normal warm ups and headed back to the bench to be lead through our chant by Cheyenne as she yelled SNIPERZ ON 3 1,2,3 SNIPERZ !!! And the game began . 

This game was an evenly balanced game as our team gelled more with the additions of Isaac Miller and Brandon Bailey to lead our charges and right off the bat we jumped to a very comfortable 2-0 lead and honestly I think I faced 2 shots in that opening frame as we absolutely dominated our opposition . We were not surprised as we felt as though we had a good strong blended squad and it was only natural for us to grow and progress as the tournament went on with our fearless leader Kevin making line changes from the bench now . I’m not sure if the online stats are correct but what I see is that we had more then one skater stepping up to pot goals for us . The second period was more of the same with us scoring another two goals and even though you would suspect our opponents to be frazzled and begin playing dirty it was the opposite as they were a bunch of friendly guys having fun just being a part of it all . This tournament is not about making enemies . We went on to win that game 5-0 and yes I now have two shutouts in two games and no I was far from star of the game as I probably only made 6 saves and as usual there was some luck involved to end the match as they did come close to scoring and my team mates did joke around about the last second moments of both games now but were all happy to know we have pulled through in first and will more then likely have a favourable position in our next grouping . We just have to wait and see how the other games pan out and find out who our next opponent is . 

One quick beer and back in an Uber XL back to the room and that costs me a whole $11 and I open my bag on the balcony and hit my bed for a quick hour snooze before waking up and eating my leftover cheeseburger and grab another Uber XL to go back to the rink to stretch and prepare for my debut with my other team in the higher division . I’ve watched a few games and I think I can handle it but as I said this is my showdown against my goalie buddy Justin Harrison who I know from Sydney and his team has 4 of my team mates and one of those team mates is my room mate Nonny from Japan . You never know what’s bound to happen when you play guys you know as they wanna beat me as bad as I wanna beat them for those bragging rights . I bumped into a few of my new team mates as we filtered into our dressing room and they gave me a Tigers jersey to wear which was a bit tight around the arms but I’m in no mood to moan about it so I put it on as a few of the guys ask questions about where I’m from and one of the guys named Jim Ryan is actually from Ayr , Scotland which is a small town that I have actually played in and it ends up we have some mutual friends from across the globe . I also got to chatting with Torbjorn Stolpe about travelling before the team funny guy Paul Sangster asked me for my resume and that’s when I provided my stick bag filled with flags . Maybe I was being a bit too forward and cocky going into a game for a team that I’ve never played for let alone ever met .... sometimes that doesn’t work so well . That tie game looms over the guys as we head onto the ice and I’m sure they are hoping they found themselves a goalie that can stop pucks . It’s a good thing they did 😉! We stepped on the ice , went through my routine and stepped into my crease to face some stronger shots and got into my rhythm and I knew I would have to make faster movements and I was dead serious about winning more so to gain the trust of my new team mates . 

Pro Look is a squad made up of individual skaters and has not gelled quite as well as our Okinawa squad which can say there are a few guys that do know each other but are competing at a lower level and you could tell that Justin would have his work cut out for him . My night was no piece of cake as they do have some good individual skaters that would test me and at best they got close but not enough to scare anyone and for the most part my saves were of the routine type as I probably faced around 10-15 shots and we more then likely doubled that as we went on to open the scoring and never look back . Leading 2-0 going into the second I didn’t make any eye contact with my friends from the other team and there was no blocker taps with Justin as we were both there for one thing ....to win ! The second period was more of the same as we potted one more to end the second with a 3-0 lead and the thought of my shutout streak popped into my head which I fought off as I didn’t want to jinx myself . I don’t ever remember having three shutouts in a row in a tournament or league or anything ever .... it’s not an everyday thing for most of us goalies . That 3rd period I was tested a few times as the opposition pressed to snap the shutout as we jumped to a 5-0 lead but it was not going to be their day as we went on to shut them out !!! My new team mates were quite impressed even though I didn’t make any game breaker saves and in my mind they were routine at best even when under pressure . There might have been a breakaway save but it wasn’t anything spectacular and as we entered the dressing room I asked Sangster if I could add that to my resume .... I can’t remember what the response was but I think he took the rooms attention as he does and turned the table to highlight one of his passes lol 😝 we had some beers ordered to the room and dispersed and hit the arena bar for a couple before taking an Uber XL back with my Sniperz team mates and foes the match before . 

Before we left the rink Nonny found a pair of shoes that Glenn Foll sold him for $30 .... gentleman’s clubs , here we cum . Hahaha ! Ok no touching fine !!!!! I’m not really into that anyways as I’m happily involved but I’m not gonna say no to another night of debauchery . Our roommate Robert was already out and let us know where he was and as soon as we entered we were swarmed .... ugh 😑 now this is why I don’t go to strip joints ! This is almost as bad as having the local Adelaide drunks sit at our tables except these women are absolute leeches . All I want is to sit with my buddies , have a few drinks which were watered down and crap and overpriced and look at some titties 🙃 The gals in the establishment are there to make money , not there to make friends , not there to console you , not looking for boyfriends .... only there to make and take your money . I’m not gonna go deep into explaining what happened this night but I am gonna say that there was someone that did believe the girls and the rest of us left him there .... the amount of money spent to have some companions dance for him was beyond ridiculous and for that cost he could have got way more in other countries but he was warned and didn’t want to listen to his friends and let his other mind do the thinking and it was pretty sad watching the leeches surround him at the bank machine as the rest of us decided to leave him there to check out another establishment down the road . Hindley St is littered with strip joints , sheesha bars and massage parlours and all the bars are closed in the evenings .... it’s pretty seedy to say the least but perfect location for a tournament hotel hahaha ! When we arrived at next location the ladies were not as pushy but again all over us like white on rice and we waited for an hour to go get our friend to bring him to this establishment . When we got to the door at the first place he was walking out and we took him to the next bar where he did pretty much the exact same thing 🤨 some people don’t learn but he had his fun . I personally could not take anymore of this and when we left there were no dancers dancing and it was only us there with our drinks in hands .... that’s a sign that it’s time for bed . That last bit we were there was the best part of the night as nobody was bothering us and we had our drinks and got to shoot the shit just as it should be but never will be unfortunately at these gentleman’s clubs and at any other establishments we’ve visited in Adelaide so far ..... thank goodness I don’t have an early game tomorrow 🤔