Brick Oven pounds Last Steep in finals

“The guy upstairs has a soft spot for the underdog”
—Reverend Tim Clark

I’m not sure calling the Brick Oven the underdog in the town league hockey finals is accurate. Though, on paper they were. So, with that in mind, the Brick Oven upset the Last Steep, outscoring them 14-2 over two games to take the 2010 town league hockey title.
But the way they play hockey is far too organized for town league.
It’s as if they’re coached. Near perfect positioning on the ice no matter what the situation, stacking defense in front of their net and breaking out with everyone moving up and everyone getting back. The way they killed a penalty in one of the two games was reminiscent of Switzerland’s penalty-killing defense during the Olympics. Heavy on the forecheck, shutting their opponent down in the neutral zone before they could even get their power play started.
Throw in an outstanding night of goaltending from Brick Oven goalie Jay Harris and it’s about as tight a recipe for success as a town league hockey team could possibly have.
Maybe they just wanted it more than the Last Steep.
It certainly seemed that way in the first game.
The Brick Oven came into the finals out of the loser’s bracket so their backs were against the wall for the better part of the post season. With one loss already in the double elimination format, they couldn’t afford another.
Meanwhile, the Last Steep rocketed through the playoffs to reach the championship game with a perfect post-season record, allowing them the chance to give one game away on Tuesday night.
And they certainly played that way in the first game of the finals as the Brick Oven outskated the Last Steep the first two periods to build a 5-0 lead.
The Brick Oven struck early as Molly Frame fed Pete Cook for the Brick’s first goal 20 seconds into the game.
Frame was instrumental in the Brick’s second goal as well, scrapping for a loose puck in the slot and drawing a crowd. Brick player/owner Dan Loftus used the diversion to sneak in weakside and poke the loose puck past Steep goalie Reed Schaub for a 2-0 Brick Oven lead midway through the first period.
Cook added a third Brick Oven goal two minutes later and the Last Steep was reeling on the bench between periods.
“We’re making bad passes and they’re outworking us,” said one player during the team huddle.
“Buy low, sell high,” said another, which made no sense at all but seemed appropriate just the same.
But before the Last Steep could even think of mounting a comeback in the second period the Brick Oven scored again when John Wirsing found Carroll alone in the slot one minute into the second period.
Zach Springer shot a low-wrister through traffic that Schaub never saw and the Brick Oven were on top 5-0 heading into the third period.
Schaub shared some inspirational words with his team prior to the third period.
“Go to the puck, play your game—we can beat these guys,” said Schaub.
The Last Steep finally pulled it together in the third period as Blake Claflin and Nate Welch each scored, but the Brick Oven had the final word of the first game as Preston fed Carroll in the high slot and Carroll buried the shot with seven seconds left to close the first game with a 6-2 Brick Oven win.
The Brick Oven win meant the two teams would play again that night and I would miss curling up on the couch with my wife, a former competitive figure skater, to watch the Olympic ladies figure skating long program.
Darn.
What’s the difference between a triple Salchow (pronounced sow-cow), a triple toe loop and a triple Lutz again?
Did anyone catch ice dancing? It’s kind of like rubbernecking at a car wreck, at least for me. You shouldn’t look but you just have to. At any rate when Bob Costas and company shoved ice dancing down our throats instead of the first USA v. Canada hockey game I came as close as I ever have to sending every single one of my fireplace tools, my foot and anything else I could get my hands on, aside from my wife and child, through the screen of my television, packaging the busted TV in a box and sending it to the NBC studios.
Yes, that was a week ago, but I’m still pissed.
Son of a bitch!
I won’t even go into curling.
Actually, I will.
Why is it that teams opt not to score a point sometimes in curling? I believe it’s a strategic move but if there’s a sport out there where it’s strategic not to score, it’s not a sport, it’s a game and it shouldn’t be televised AND it certainly should not be a part of the Olympics.
But I digress.
So, the Last Steep took the time between games to refocus, downing a few PBR’s in an effort to wash out the bitter taste of the thumping defeat in the first game.
Last Steep player/restaurant owner Sean Hartigan made it as clear as he could for the Last Steep squad as they took the ice for the official championship game.
“Win, we party hard. Lose, you get nothing,” said Hartigan.
Preston’s words for the Brick Oven team were slightly more sobering.
“We got nothing to lose,” said Preston.
The Last Steep responded, firing shots at will at the Brick Oven net in the opening five minutes of the game, some good, some not so good. But it only made sense because written on the wall at the Last Steep are the words of the Great One, Wayne Gretzky.
“You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”
Nevertheless, you also miss 100 percent of shots Harris saves and he was on that night.
So much so that his work gave the Brick Oven team time to remain patient with the puck, resulting in yet another Brick Oven goal.
Brick Oven defenseman Bill Frame saw a Last Steep player out of position and slid in off the blue line to take a pass from Loftus and fire it past Schaub.
With Paul Moscatelli and Claflin offering key back checks and Dave Daumit providing several key stops to the onrushing Brick Oven offense, the Last Steep maintained its composure.
The Brick Oven drove a second nail in the Last Steep coffin 30 seconds into the second period though when Megan Paden battled in the corner to send a loose puck in front of the Last Steep net.
Preston charged in off the blue line and fired a wrist shot past Schaub for a 2-0 Brick Oven lead.
The final nail though came with three minutes left in the second period thanks to Brick Oven rookie player Matt Gutter.
Gutter broke free up-ice and took the puck to the net for a one-on-one with Schaub.
Gutter deked left, then right and then finished left to score sending the capacity crowd into random shouts of “GUTTA!”
With the Last Steep coffin nailed shut, the next five goals from the Brick Oven provided the shovels full of dirt to cover the casket.
Tim “Preacher” Clark unleashed his anointed Holy Smoke from the blue line for a 4-0 Brick Oven lead and Loftus, Preston and Mark Sawyer tallied three strikes in three minutes.
Frame closed the 8-0 blowout with a wrist shot with two minutes left for the Brick Oven’s final goal, icing the cake of the Brick Oven’s 2010 town league hockey title.