WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2001
SPORTS MONSTER FLOOR HOCKEY
GYM RATS vs. NICK'S UPTOWN
Gym Rats 5 • Nick's Uptown 5
CHICAGO, IL – To give credit where credit is due, Nick's
Uptown employed some decidedly downtown tactics to rally for
a 5-5 tie, after being down 3-0 at the start of the second
half.
Coming off of a career game last week, Greg "Yes, Virginia,
there IS a baseball god" Rolnick felt a bit of pressure
to match his staggering statistics. But Nick's Uptown proved
a bit more formidable than Hanson's Hoodlums, and the game
saw little open space to exploit. Not that the Gym Rats didn't
try...
The first half belonged to the Gym Rats. They jumped on the
board early, as Rolnick dropped a pass to his winger, who
fired a long-distance bomb into the back of the net.
Shortly after the first Gym Rats goal, one of their own hobbled
to the bench after receiving a vicious slash in the corner.
He would've kept playing had someone not pointed out the blood
seeping down his knee and onto his shin guards. Although it
was deemed "accidental," the Gym Rats got fired
up and scored their next goal seconds after play resumed.
With a few minutes left in the first, Rolnick slammed home
a rebound to make it 3-0 going into the second half.
But that's when things got interesting.
Nick's Uptown opted to change out their goaltender, and it
seemed odd to everyone involved that they had not done so
earlier. Between the pipes, the original gangly net minder
was somewhat discombobulated and awkward, while once out onto
the court he resembled Sergei Federov crossed with a giraffe.
Taking advantage of the tiny court, it took the new center
about six strides to go from one end to the other. Combined
with a wicked wrist shot, he quickly began rallying the opposition.
Before you could say, "Nick's Uptown Sucks," the
new center had put them back in the game 3-2. Furthermore,
the new keeper was actually a better goaltender and stopped
a few of Rolnick's shots with his hands, stick and head.
The game was tilted in the Gym Rats favor, 5-4, with 12 seconds
left on the clock. In an agonizing, frozen moment of "Holy
Crap, I can't believe that went in," the offensive Ivan
Drago of Nick's Uptown somehow launched a wrist shot from
an impossible angle top shelf for the tie.
When the final whistle blew, the referee gave the two teams
the option of playing an overtime that would be either on
or off of the books. Ignoring the oh-so-clever taunts of Nick's
Uptown, Rolnick quickly interceded and announced that the
Gym Rats would take the tie (not wishing to press their luck
with any team that could score in the final 12 seconds).
After it was agreed that the OT would be for pride and not
points, the Gym Rats scored about two minutes later. Of course.
Evened out at 2-2-2, the Gym Rats are feeling fairly secure
heading into the final games of the regular season.
So STAY TUNED!