Ankara, Turkey - Well, my run at having three Championships in 3 years was stopped on Sunday. My club couldn't put together two consecutive solid games and we were outplayed all over the ice. Shots were 48-10 for Ankara University and the final score 7-3 with one empty net goal.
After the first period the score was 2-1 (for AU) and after the second the score was 3-3. The game was full of penalties and I have share this one story in particular. Before we left for our game on Friday night, our 'captain' had a meeting with our GM. I use the term 'captain' loosely because he has only played 1 game during the second half of the season and attended 3 practices the entire season. During this meeting the captain demanded more money or he wouldn't come to the games in Istanbul this weekend. The GM laughed and said no get out of here. We played Saturday without him and did well (like we have done for the entire second half of the season), so it was a shock when Brittany and I headed up to the restuarant in our hotel for team breakfest and who is sitting at a table with his wife, our captain! The club felt that we needed the extra body and decided to meet his salary demands and paid for his trip up to Istanbul. That was fine but what really upset me was what happened in the first period. After a whistle one of the AU players said something to him and he replied with a head-butt. The ref didn't see but the linesmen did and went to the ref. So the ref came to the bench to get our captain who had taken his seat. And what happened next still shocks me, the captain jumped up from his seat, dropped his gloves, and grabbed the ref by the collar and started shaking him!! Well, that was it for him. My club was forced to kill off a 5-on-3 for 5 minutes which allowed AU score a goal.
The icing on the cake of this incident was at the end of the game during the medal ceremony when the Federation president presented the club with the trophy and the 8,000 Turkish Lira cheque, who accepted but non-other that our captain wearing a Team Ireland jacket (he is Turkish).
Overall, the game was a war. I don't mean a war like in usually hockey terms, I mean it was war fought with no respect shown by either team. Blood was spilled on the ice, so bad that the zamboni had to come out and clean it up. The player is ok, he just shattered his cheekbone.
On a happy note, the season is over and I completed a full season of professional hockey! I also walked away with a couple of awards. I was awarded Goaltender of the Year and League Most Valuable Player.
I will post a lot of photos from the games and my pre-game tours of Istanbul soon. Brittany's playoffs start sometime soon. The Federation hasn't released the schedule yet, but rumour is that some games will played this weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment