The second game against the Eagles last night when as expected. Unfortunately it did not go as hoped for.
Anyang Halla gave a good showing, but it was nothing like the Tuesday night. They were competent in defense, and decent in attack, but the hunger from the night before just didn’t seem to be there. The whole game seemed much slower and, dare I say, relaxed. Even the Eagles seemed content to sit back a bit to see how things would develop.
Throughout the game both sides were threatening to score, but until the third period it seemed like a stalemate. This would be good for Halla, but it was not to be. The Eagles exploded and the game ended four goals too two in their favour.
A lot will be riding no how the Eagles perform in Goyang this weekend and I am eagerly awaiting the results on my phone
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Wednesday, 19 February 2014
A joy to experience.
Last night was a game to behold!
Anyang has this really annoying habit of starting each period really well. They swarm the opposition, apply crazy pressure, and maybe even score a well deserved goal, but then the second half of the period rolls around and they seem to lose interest.
There was none of that nonsense last night. Anyang came out in their normal beast mode and scored early. With 10 minutes gone I was expecting them to fizzle like usual, but they stayed in beast mode. Oji managed to score a Power Play goal to even the score, but beast mode did not fizzle.
They came out for the second period and put produced another 20 minutes of beast mode hockey. Anyang was dominating pretty much every part of the game and made a team that is supposed to be much better than them look quite ordinary.
Third period was more of the same. They were skating hard, scrapping for every loose puck and put pressure on where ever they saw the opportunity. Oji being as good as they are managed to pull back a goal every time, but none came easily. The third period ended 3 all and the game went into overtime.
Shhhhh! So close. We were less than 2 minutes away from victory.
Sadly Oji managed to start overtime dominating the way you would expect from the runaway league leaders and scored a goal about 90 seconds in.
Anyang will receive one league point for losing in overtime. If we can get away with another point tonight then we will have done better than I think most people would have believed.
Anyang has this really annoying habit of starting each period really well. They swarm the opposition, apply crazy pressure, and maybe even score a well deserved goal, but then the second half of the period rolls around and they seem to lose interest.
There was none of that nonsense last night. Anyang came out in their normal beast mode and scored early. With 10 minutes gone I was expecting them to fizzle like usual, but they stayed in beast mode. Oji managed to score a Power Play goal to even the score, but beast mode did not fizzle.
They came out for the second period and put produced another 20 minutes of beast mode hockey. Anyang was dominating pretty much every part of the game and made a team that is supposed to be much better than them look quite ordinary.
Third period was more of the same. They were skating hard, scrapping for every loose puck and put pressure on where ever they saw the opportunity. Oji being as good as they are managed to pull back a goal every time, but none came easily. The third period ended 3 all and the game went into overtime.
Shhhhh! So close. We were less than 2 minutes away from victory.
Sadly Oji managed to start overtime dominating the way you would expect from the runaway league leaders and scored a goal about 90 seconds in.
Anyang will receive one league point for losing in overtime. If we can get away with another point tonight then we will have done better than I think most people would have believed.
Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Anyang vs Goyang
The Asia League Hockey season is nearing the end and there is a fight on for the last play-off spot between two Korean teams, Anyang Halla (Go Blue!) and High 1 from Goyang.
Both teams have 61 league points, but Anyang have played one more game. The good news is that Anyang’s last three games are all at home. The bad news is that two of those games are against Oji Eagles from Japan. The Eagles have been running away with the league this year and it is not inconceivable that Anyang could lose one or even both of those games.
The Eagles are on the road in Korea now, so High 1 will also host them twice. I dare say High 1’s expectations of those games will be similar to those of Anyang. The season for these two teams might well be decided by how they deal with the Eagles.
High 1’s last home game will be against the Korean military, Sangmu. Sangmu has done really well this season and are sitting in a comfortable second place. They are also good enough to beat High 1 on High 1’s own ice. That means that there is a possibility, all be it small, that High 1 could lose all three of their home games.
Anyang’s last home game, and High 1’s second last game, will see the two teams facing each other. The play-off fate of both teams could came down to that 60 minutes on the ice. Exiting!
If all goes to plan then I will be at Anyang’s last game, wearing my blue and sipping my coffee is silent, anxious support. I might even be required to go do spectator duty the next day all the way over on the other side of Seoul, cheering for Sangmu and waving a blue flag.
Standings before today’s match:
Oji Eagles - 36 played, 30 won, 98 points
Sangmu - 41 played, 22 won, 78 points
Nipon Paper Cranes - 38 played, 19 won, 66 points
Anyang Halla - 39 played, 17 won, 61 points
High 1 - 38 played, 17 won, 61 points
Tohoku Free Blades - 40 played, 17 won, 59 points
Nikko Icebucks - 38 played, 14 won, 45 points
China Dragons - 42 played, 0 won, 0 points
The Dragons went a third year with not a single point.
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