Dutch competition
04/11/2012
Today was the very best day ever! Not just a day filled with hockey but with pretty damn good hockey too!
So Andy and me got invited to play the Dutch competition by the Heiduikers. Mmmh let me rephrase that we invited ourselves and they accepted us. Thank you Sandor for introducing us! So Andy and me joined a team of ‘Heiduikers’ (translating that with google gives something like moorland divers
or divers of the heath
, I’m not sure they like that name ;p).
First game was against GOV. We got warned multiple times, GOV came 2nd in the competition last year. Andy and me started the game impressed by the opponent (you don’t come 2nd in the Netherlands like you do in Belgium). It only took my bro 1min though to score a goal. Beginnersluck we thought but the pucks kept on falling in their bin. It seems that GOV decided to invest for the future and they mixed their top and subtop team into 2 equal teams. In the long run really good for a team and a tough choice. Result of the game: 17-0
Did I mention by the way my friend Eryl was there? Eryl is a pain to play against but a blessing to play with. It was heaps of fun playing with him again. Last time was: Link
Next game agains the winners of the competition last year (and the one before that, and the one before that, and …). By far the toughest opponent of the competition. The warnings where a bit more accurate this time. Although we made the 1st goal we got our asses kicked. It gave me goose bumps though to see Eryl swimming of on a breaktrough and put the puck in. I don’t think Barramoenda is used to getting goals in? Score after 15min of playing, 1-1 but after that our team broke. Result after 15 more minuts playing: 1-6. Anyway the Barramoenda-team runned like an oiled machine, while we lacked some of that oil. The ability to change your gameplay/plan trough the game is what broke us down.
Last game, determined to finish the day with a win, was against Dordrecht. You know those fun guys that always show up at our tournament to blow us away in win it (every single time so far I think). It was a pretty close game. We had to bring our A-game to score a goal, which we did. But not consistent enough, we made mistakes and the the mussellovers punished us straight away for it! Robert-Jans prediction was true. It really was a close game. Until the very last second both teams had the potential to win. At half-time the score was 1-1 and we got a good peptalk from Captain Wim which resulted in 2 quick goals. The rest of the game all players had to fight for every square cm of the field. Even up to a point that we just pushed the puck on a Dutch player and just kept on pushing untill the puck reached the surface. The mussel-men managed to score 1 more time, not enough to win, 3-2 was the final score.
Next day of competition is in 2 weeks, to bad we have to play in the Belgian competition that day. But no worries the Heiduikers have good contacts all over Europe. 2 Spanish players will fill the ranks then. Next time we’ll be present again!
As I said in the beginning, best hockey I had in a good while. Both Andy and me felt that we where useful in the team. It something we’re really proud of. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we did, see you next time!
Geschreven door Niels
