2 for Flinching column - Heart Attack Hockey

 The last few home games this season have been what I like to call heart attack hockey. They’ve been the kind of games where if we had over the door a banner saying pay for the seat only use the edge it would be true. Games like the last couple of weeks are terrific adverts both for the club and the sport as a whole. Even if they take a few decades off those of us in the stands. 

Over the years I have watched many a game just like the ones we have been treated to recently. And I have to admit I have feelings of duality over them somewhat. I both love this heart in your mouth come from behind or hold on for all your worth wins. And I also absolutely hate them. 

It's easy to say why I hate these kinds of games, for two reasons. The first is eventually my team will be on the losing end eventually. And while you can come away exhilarated having seen two teams leave everything out there going for the win. Coming away knowing you only got one or even zero points can leave you feeling bitterly disappointed all the same.

And questioning what if the ref had called that missed hook? What if that puck had fully crossed the line before the goalie gloved it? What if the goalie had been a smidge quicker to make that save or it hadn’t bounced weirdly and gone in? What if the star forwards stick hadn’t broken just as he was about to fire one in from the blue line, leading to that breakaway empty netter that sealed it? All these are scenarios I have witnessed decide the outcome of tight one goal games.

In the moment they are exhilarating to behold, you yell shout and scream and pour all your hope out into the air. And yet for some reason the hockey gods deem that day will not be yours. And soon the adrenaline wears off and your sat staring at your pint in the earl wondering all those what ifs I mentioned. 

But for all the hate I just put on that side of the coin I still accept it, it’s the risk we all take when we engage in tribalism and rivalry. We gamble our happiness on whether our team will win and claim glory or drive us insane with anguish at nights end. As I said to my friend and spotter for Twitter Ian last week before the 3rd. In the famous words of Arnold Rimmer “Glory or Insanity awaits.” Little did we know at the time the boys would bring us both. We could have cashed in and gone home, run away from what was to come, like we see so many fans do at sporting events. But we decide to keep gambling, we doubled down on hopes of a Streatham win. And as the great jedi master Qui Gon Jinn said “whenever you gamble, eventually you lose” 

Of course, in this scenario we didn’t lose. We hit the jackpot as it were. We bet all we had on the roulette wheel and our number came in. And its that high from winning the bet of who we pick to support that keeps us coming back week after week. Even when the team may not have been a challenger in recent seasons, we still had fans turning up because aside from being hockey fans looking for a game. They had chosen to bet it all on SW16 Red, and every win kept them coming back looking to double, triple and quadruple that winning feeling in to the ultimate jackpot we saw the team achieve last season in 2 trophies.

 

I will apologize here for comparing us all to gamblers, but it’s the best analogy I could dream up to describe part of what it is that makes us love coming to this barn every weekend. Of course, the other half is why I love to see the kind of heart attack inducing games we have seen recently. And that is of course the fact pure and simply that I am nuts for hockey, and in particular hockey when it is at its competitive best.

 Now don’t get me wrong, there was a great deal of satisfaction in seeing us turn Solent over 9-0 a few weeks ago. Besides getting to rub it in the face of my friend on the Solent media team Joe Scutts. And a feeling of some vindication that overall last season we were the better team again. But there are as I debated with a fan at the tail end of 18/19 after the Swindon play off loss. So many times, you can beat up on the opposition, winning 12-0 before it becomes dull and uninteresting.

 

For example, a few seasons back, I remember a bumper crowd we had in for a game vs Peterborough Phantoms. In front of our largest crowd so far that year the team laid and egg and lost 6-0. As I was on my way out, I could hear one group saying if that’s how the team played each week why bother coming back. Of course, the advantage of being on the social media team is I saw many tweets saying it had been fun for some of our first timers. But I don’t blame someone who’s gambled and lost not wanting to bet again. Though I did have to suppress the urge to point out all the reasons why we were on a lower tier to the Phantoms. But then how do you explain in 1 minute or less the whole socio-political history of UK hockey that means we are where we are now? Honestly I think sometimes we should hold an introduction for new fans seminar to bring them up to speed on these things. But as the saying goes you can lead a horse to water but can’t make it drink. 

This reality makes the kind of games we had last week all the better. As I said I am a hockey nut and love hockey when it’s at its best and most competitive. And lets face it two teams going 2 up then tying it, one going ahead, then tying up again before a late winner or an OT finish. It doesn’t get any more top draw competitive than that really. One of the best games I feel I ever saw was between the Coventry Blaze and Manchester Phoenix. The Phoenix went 2-0 up before Blaze pulled one back to 2-1. This was then answered by 2 Phoenix goals, before Blaze got another to make it 4-2, then Blaze would make it 4-3. With the Blaze fightback looking like it was on Phoenix would score 2 unanswered to make it 6-3. Quickly Adam Calder would strike to make it 6-4 before masterminding the pass to Erik Hjalmarsson that made it 6-5. With it being the final minute head coach Paul Thompson pulled his keeper for the extra skater and it worked as Sylvain Deschataletes fired it by Stephen Murphy. With the game tied it went to OT, where Danny Stewart would apply the finish to win the game 7-6 in OT.

 

That game sticks in my mind vividly to this day, because it was heart attack hockey and a roller coaster like none, I have been on in games since. The feeling of defeat at 4-1 down, the hope at 4-2 the rerun and resignation at 6-3 and the utter joy at 5-6.6-6 and finally 7-6. Giving way to an endorphin and adrenaline rush. The gamble of pitching my flag to the Blaze had paid off, when it didn’t look like it would. The rollercoaster of emotion that would culminate in me leaping from my seat fists in the airtime and time again. 

And we could say the same of the game we had a month ago vs the Oxford Stars. Again, hockey at its highest calibre, most competitive and unpredictable. After the first we all seemed resigned to a fate that we would be taking the first loss of the season early. Our hopes of being UK hockey’s invincibles in tatters. And then the comeback, then the stall as Oxford got another. Before our scoring depth kicked in, we kicked into full gear and put the Stars to the sword. And again, we found ourselves rising from our seats in rapture and pouring out our emotions. 

We of course saw the same against Invicta and last week vs Chelmsford. Though the ride was a tad different in places. We went ahead and then in both cases didn’t show up for the second. In both cases we let the opposition back in the game and the almost made us pay for it. But what a ride it was. Every shot was a potential game winner for us and them, every power play and penalty kill a back breaker that could sow joy or misery for either side. Two teams at their peak trading blows like prize fighters but instead of fists. We were seeing players do all they could to outsmart Tom Annett’s and Sonny Phillips. While both they and their defences tried to work out a way to anticipate just how Vanya Antonov, Ryan Watt, the Bartletts and James Ayling would act. 

Those games were heart attack hockey at its finest, the kind of hockey I absolutely love. Not because I may have gambled and won. But because these kinds of games are hockey at its best and are the best kind of advert for the club and for the sport as a whole. Earlier on I talked about how after Peterborough had turned us over 6-0 I wondered the effect it would have on the attendance. The week after that game, the crowd was half what it had been the week before. Over the last few weeks I have noticed even on Sundays more and more coming through the gate. Now maybe it’s the half term effect, or maybe it’s the fact some incredible and competitive hockey has been on display as of late. Either way we have been spoiled with it lately.

The teams propensity for not playing a full 60 means we keep joining them on the roller coaster. We go up to the top of the climb and then come down again before the cork screw. What worries me is this. In a squad that’s lost players to injury, and players who can’t commit 100% to the schedule for outside reasons. Heart attack hockey becomes unsustainable for a long period, and while I love these wild rides if the team keeps this up it will hamper the aspirations of defending the title and finishing the unfinished business from last season. 

Hopefully the team can pull a full 120 together this weekend and get us another 4 pointer. Because if we keep gambling like we have been two things will happen. One the club will need to invest in oxygen cylinders and a defibrillator. But also as I said, both glory and insanity will await, but also eventually we will lose. And while defeat is inevitable in sport, you win trophies by losing less than your opponents.