Big game relatively speaking

The Mayhem have a relatively big game Saturday. We are in the finals of church league. I say relatively because this is church league and I don't know if these games count as "big" games. But still, we have a come along way with our humble little team of dad's, rock stars, softball players (well just tyler), and Asians.

I still remember the 2003/04 season, when my team got their first point in the standings with a tie in January. Hockey's pretty much always fun but that sucked.

Then in 2004/05 my North Shore team disbanded so I had a choice of joining two of the weaker teams in the league: the Willingdon Avalanche and the Uptown Mayhem. I joined the Mayhem and we still sucked. The Trinity Bombers (the team we're playing in the final) kicked the crap out of us like 10-1 or something. Embaressing, but it also kinda made sense cause we had total rookies and really old guys and first-year players taking on a super organized and established team of 20-somethings.

Late in the season, the Mayhem started to change. Ryan Flowers stumbled on to the ice as a sub for the first time in about seven years. He drove to the wrong rink by accident. Wore a red helmet and blue pants and couldn't skate. Somehow got a goal, tripped me on purpose on the celebration, and later added an assist. The other team was laughing. It was so lovable that I really believe they were laughing with him and not at him.

Andrew Lee and Tyler started subbing as well. Like Ryan, they re-fell-in-love with the game and started to really improve before coming on as full-timers in 2006/07.

2006/07 we started winning some games. And by winning some games I mean not losing every game. We made the playoffs and got bounced in the first round. Still, mission accomplished.

2007/08 a roster spot opened up for John Cullen. He traded in his red helmet for a black one. By this point, BT was a full-timer, Trevor was a sub who played very often, and this ripped-machine-of-a-man named Chris Goebel started playing more.

We had some decent players in Riley, Chris Paul, and Mike Penno but we needed help because everyone in the league was improving, and we were pretty weak just a couple years before.

We finished the season with a 12-10-0 record which was better than we'd ever done. Snuck into the playoffs as the seventh of eight seeds. Played really hard in the first round and second round and had excellent goaltending and somehow squeezed out two wins.

Now we get a one-game showdown for the cup with the defending champs and the team with the most wins. We won one and lost one to them this year. The win came with probably the best effort our team has ever had. And it will take that and more to have any chance of beating them in the final.

It's been hella fun and I love seeing Earl jump up on the glass when we score. We've surpassed our team goals in a way but we are still hungry for more. We are huge underdogs but that's sweet.

I'm jacked for our little church league final.

I think about it every night and day.
Spread my wings and fly away.
I believe I can fly. (Hooo)