The start of the Fall-Winter 2014 season began with a bump as a short bench would become an injured bench in a tough game against an old foe, the Crowns AKA Blades of Steel AKA Agentrics.com AKA Chicago Whalers. All the scoring would be in first half of the game while the second half was a penalty free for all. The game would move into a shootout with the guys in red losing.
The Liners only started out with ten players at the drop of the first puck. A number of players were still on injured reserve. Others were in contract disputes. One was also traded. But the short bench held their own in the first period. The Crowns would get on the board half way through the first period with a speedy wrister into the upper net. But the guys in red quickly returned the favor seconds later. Easy E skated alone into the offensive zone and fired a knuckle puck just inside the Crown’s goal post. The Liners would then take the lead in the remaining few minutes of the first period with Baby’s popping in MK’s rebound. The period would end with a scrum near the Liner bench. Easy E was checked from behind and into the glass, but he retaliated. Eventually, he was ejected from the game while Crown player received a minor penalty. This foreshadowed the rest of the game.
Into the second period, the Liners were now down to eight skaters (one in the penalty box for Easy E). There was no stoppage for the first five minutes of the period. The skater in the box could not get released until there was a stoppage. The long distance line changes also compounded their exhaustion. The Crowns would eventually tie it up late in the second period. The physicality was more evident in this period. Refs were already warning players on both sides about their questionable rough play. It would explode in the next period.
The third period quickly started out with penalties. And soon the Liners would start getting called for penalty after penalty. The now stretched bench was stretched even more. Allegations were through that the referees were not reciprocating. Two skaters were further hampered but foot injuries after blocking slapshots. Amazingly, the Liners killed all of the penalties including a 22 second 5-3. Just as amazing, multiple clear hits witnessed by the smiling refs were not called. The now frustrated and exhausted Liners skating into the shootout. Their first two shooters could not beat the Crown netminder while the Crowns didn’t miss with their first two shooters.
A winnable game early on ended up with an overtime loss from the small bench, exhausted bench, and injured bench. While teams never expect penalty calling to be an exact science, some of the acknowledged but uncalled acts witnessed by the refs seemed to frustrate the Liners even more. They hope a healthier bench will not only right their team and get them on the winning column but also insulate them from the irregular penalty-calling that is so common on recreational hockey.