The Game Where I Saved Over 70 Shots, Final Score 4-4

Ankara, Turkey - This was, so far, the best game I have been a part of in my professional career. Our opponents last weekend were Ankara Univeristy; the club with the most money, most political pull, 5 Swedish import players, and some of the top Turkish players. They are first in standings and we are second. Baskent had already played Ankara at the beginning of the season before I joined them and lost 14-5.

I almost didn't play in the game because of a money dispute I was having with my club and it took the president of the club and his translator coming to my flat an hour before the game to convince me to play with the promise of not only paying me the money they owe me, but paying me a little more for wins.

So I showed up to the rink and got ready to play in a game that I new it would be one sided since our top two Turkish players were not allowed to play in the game because the Army wouldn't release them for the game (very very strange business over here). This is strange because it is a law that players are supposed to be released for athletic events.

The first period had me facing between 22-28 shots and we were up 2-1. Second period brought on more shots, nobody was counting in the second, but I know I faced more than the first. We finished the second up 3-2. The third period was an all out attack on us and we managed to hold them back until fatigue took effect on our club we took some penalties. Ankara managed to tie the game with a screen/tip shot. 2 minutes later Ankara took the lead with a nice walkout shot that left a rebound in the air and one of the Swedes (Wallin) whacked it in mid-air. After that we had a goal disallowed and with 20 seconds left in the game the ref calls a penalty shot for us when one of the Ankara players allegedly knocked the net off. One of our Ukrainian players, Dimtri took it and scored to tie the game. Our fan section (which was the largest of any game, see the photos) went nuts! (I have the video of the penalty shot). So we tied the game and in the third period I faced 29 shots!

Next game for me is on Feb.7 in Istanbul against 3rd place Kocaeli. Brittany plays her next game on Feb.6 against ABBA SK here in Ankara.