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penguins road trip
On the weekend of 29-30th April the Penguins had a road trip north, to Billingham and Whitley. Below is the review of the weekend as seen through the eye of Robin Stein, the Penguins netminder!........Click for piccies from the weekend.
"The Penguins set off at some ridiculous time of the morning from diverse points south en route to the scary land of the North. Despite warnings from across the league about how awful Whitley Bay rink was we were encouraged by the view from the front of the rink: a cricket pitch and the sea beyond! But inside it was black and scary and we thought we'd rather brave the sea breeze while waiting for the game to start than sit in the grim cafe.
The ice too was odd. Pucks didn't curve round the net when hit off the boards; instead, they careened back in front of the goal. And they didn't bounce off the ice in any predictable fashion--instead, they seemed to end up in the net with annoying frequency. The first five minutes saw us go down 2-0. Then the disaster happened: Jen skated along the side of the net towards an opposing forward who had the puck, and collided with Robin's goalie stick. She went flying and was taken off the ice, grimacing with pain. Although she bravely came back on after the period break, the first shift saw her tripped, and she didn't come on again. The verdict was a (medically) possible broken collarbone.
The second period was rather eventful in a bad sort of way, with five opposing goals scored, including one shorthanded one. It was also memorable for the lovely smell of greasy chips that emanated from the cafe located behind our net! We regrouped from the carnage during the period break, though, and even managed to kill a penalty and only allow one further goal in--until right at the end, when a goal was scored on a breakaway. Our man of the match was Jo, who, along with the others, had played something like 44 minutes of the 45 minute game and bravely managed to throw herself up onto the high Whitley Bay benches.
We drenched our sorrows in seawater and grease from fish and chips along the Whitley Bay seafront, except for Jen who was at hospital, and Amanda and Ali who went with her. Gill went wading while Robin lost a game of keep-your-feet-and-shoes-dry-despite-the-waves--the others were better at it! In the evening, after returning Jen to Durham, we went to the same pub in Sedgefield Tony Blair took George Bush to, to gorge on delicious dinners and beer.
The Travelodge beds were comfy and we slept well. In the morning, we tried our hands at another sport, football, on a beach near Hartlepool, which was great fun (particularly for goalie Keith) until Nana twisted her ankle. A wade in the sea helped numb the pain! We searched for fish and chips again, finally finding them in Seaton Carew. We had no choice at that point but to play more hockey, so we piled into the cars and drove to Billingham. This time the outside of the rink was very unpromising, but the inside was magnificent, relatively speaking!
We enjoyed the smaller surface, gates from the benches, and even light so much that we reduced the (opposing) shots on goal significantly, despite the longer game! More importantly, we kept possession of the puck in the offensive zone for minutes at a time! We seemed to have learned how to pass and how to shoot hard, and enjoyed ourselves, despite the long game and the few players. Unfortunately, the goalie wasn't on the same wavelength as the outfield skaters and didn't realise that it would be incredibly helpful to have a good game on the same day as them (You played a blinder Robin for both matches. Ed.). Instead, she let in goals with monotonous regularity. And though she didn't incapacitate any of her teammates, she did take a penalty, which a grateful Val was only too happy to sit. The final result was a 14-0 drubbing, but an elated team that had proven that it could play through the worst of conditions. Ali was man of the match."