The Essence of Vasquez

Smell that? That! What is that?

There’s something lingering in the cold Mok-Dong air. It’s called Essence of the Vasquez; a twinge of hard-hitting with a speck of bone crushing pre-tournament sweat. Last Sunday was a fast paced, hard fought affair that may have some major repercussions on the Vasquez Tournament.

We had quite a few new faces join the Chiefs and many older Chiefheads making renewed appearances to shed that summertime rust and get geared up for the tourney. By the time I arrived we had over 20 players already suited up and ready to hit the ice. Only one problem, we only had one goalie. A quick glance around the room and quite a few head shakes later a consensus was found. Well actually it more like walked in the locker room: Ryan. A quick trip to the locker, a few smacks to dust off the pads and voila: a goalie we make- and what a goalie at that. Ryan had his best game as a Chief. He made sprawling save after glove save. He even had the ‘St. Patty Wink’ down packed. All to say, Ryan won the goalie comp and...the Elvis suit.

Outside the crease, we had 6 subs for the whites and 7 for the darks. All these able bodies made for some high paced hockey and brought up the intensity level to overblown proportions as we had more than a few collisions. The worst of which came in the last 20 minutes of play when Marc Roberts went one on one against Aaron Alinson. It was a hard hit heard through the rafters. Marc skated down the left wing and, as soon as he crossed the blue line, tried his patented "Roberts Shake and Cut". Having played against him more than twice and expecting the "Shake and Cut", Aaron reached for a poke check but ended up crashing right into Marc who had his head down. Marc took the brunt of that collision and is now doubtful for the tourney. The Chiefs doctors had a look at him and discovered what may be a cracked rib, his third. If the rib is actually cracked Marc will be out for at least the next 4 weeks which puts the Tommy-Hawks one Dman down. Darren also went down after feeling the effects of an Aaron Geddes shot to the thigh. He took a few shifts off but came back late in the game and should be ready for the tourney.

A recreation of the Marc/Aaron hit (Marc being in yellow and black)

3 Stars

1^st Star - Ryan for taking one for the team and playing so well

2^nd Star – The old faces

3^rd Star – The new ones

Don't forget about our last Sunday shinny ice time before the tourney:

Sunday October 8th between 8am to 10am

Edit:The Chiefs are an open team with the operative word being OPEN.

Hockey Tip #29: Keep your head up when you're cutting in the middle