Section Quarterfinals: February 8th, 2014 vs Robbinsdale Armstrong/Cooper

               This was a familiar post-season venue for our team since the past three years we have always faced Robbinsdale Armstrong/Cooper (RAC) Falcons in the quarterfinal game of section 6AA at Parade Ice Garden.

               When our team arrived at the rink, butterflies filled my stomach as we walked to our locker room. I was so nervous I thought I was going to throw up. I felt like all the pressure was on me since I’m the last line of defense before the other team scores. It would be all my fault if they score. Also, I had never played in a section game. The goalie before me always played, but she finally graduated so I knew now was my only shot to prove myself. If our team didn’t show up and play our best I knew we could be heading home early. And our goal would never be fulfilled.

               I was still so nervous when we were getting dressed; however, once we stepped onto the ice for warm-ups all those butterflies went away. I was stopping every shot. I was now in the groove and ready to start this game, or so I thought. 

 

               As the puck dropped, the play was fast and furious as the Falcons were looking for an upset win over us. Five minutes into the contest our team scored, Michaela Rothstein notched the first goal, tipping in a pass from Sara Holmgren with a second assist to Sydney Baldwin.

               All I could think was “yes, yes, yes, we have this in the bag.”

               However, soon enough the Falcons got the equalizer with a power play goal by Emma Terres, as Katie McMillan was sent off for holding.

“Noooooo how could this happen,” is all I could think. I couldn’t believe that I let this goal in since I was doing so well in warm-ups. I continued to beat myself up about this the entire game instead of just letting it go and getting back to the game. I could tell that this was going to be a battle throughout the game since we were not playing our normal Minnetonka Hockey. Once again we were playing down to our opponent’s level. And the speech Sydney made obviously didn’t motivate anyone, even myself.

               We had several power play opportunities throughout the first period but could not capitalize on them which only made our team more down and the Falcons more fired up. The score remained 1-1, with shots heavily favoring us 18-3 after the first.

After going over our game plan again between periods, we came out in the second period fired up and continued to dominate in shots again, but found ourselves down a goal. Mari Verbeten scored another power play goal for RAC after Presley Norby was charged with a body-checking minor.

Once again all I could think is “that this game is over. I lost the game for my team.” I even started tearing up because I thought to myself that this will be my last game as a Minnetonka Skipper. After playing as a Skipper for 10 years it might be over and it would be my fault.

I continued to beat myself up for this goal too since the initial shot had bounced off my head and then when I went into the butterfly I accidently kicked it in myself. I was already still focused on the first goal at this time and knew I couldn’t keep doing that. I needed to let these goals go and focus on the present because there was still a lot of hockey to be played.

We responded with an unassisted even strength goal by Sydney Baldwin at 7:10. I felt better after this goal because we were still in this game, but I still couldn’t stop thinking about the goals I let in. We scored another just a few minutes later by Emma Bigham, who slammed home a pass from Presley Norby. I was even more relieved after this goal since we finally took the lead. Shots in the second period were 19-4, with our slim 3-2 lead. Our team finally felt good going into the locker room after the second period since we had the lead.

 

We were far from finished, though, and finally showed our potential during the third period when Annelise Rice picked up a goal just 53 seconds in, with the assist to Presley Norby. Eight minutes later Presley grabbed a goal for herself with Katie McMillan earning the assist. Lucy Hoelscher put the final touches on a power play goal to lead us to a 6-2 victory. RAC’s goalie Ashley Ritten faced 52 shots overall and I saw a total of 11 shots in the contest which was very few especially since I let 2 goals in. I continued to beat myself up about how I almost lost the game for my team and that I was not being a very good captain by not holding up my end of doing my best. However, I knew I had to let it go since our next opponent would be the hardest we faced all year.