There is a place named Lake Placid. Frozen in the wilds of upstate New York it birthed a Miracle. A triumph carved by metal blades into sheer Ice.
The Miracle On Ice… February 22, 1980, when American college hockey players stunned the world by defeating the Russian Red Army juggernaut, and capturing the Olympic Gold medal as Al Michaels boomed the immortal "Do you believe in miracles? YES!"
Bridgeville, Pennsylvania. Monday, June 26th, 2009; 8:13pm. Having labored through the mediocrity of a 2-8 regular season, one group of men calling themselves the Avengers lifted themselves to the realm of mythos; shrugging off the adversity that had dogged them for 10 arduous weeks. And when the clouds encircled them bellow upon that mountain peak one summer evening, 3 foes lay vanquished… and a championship was their's forever.
Fiery slapshots and wicked kick saves held off the powerhouse Blitzkrieg until, with barely a moment left in the contest, and trailing, the mighty Avengers struck even. Blitzkrieg reeled! A tide of fury had been unleashed and they were no longer able to resist the terrible force of it. Gathering strength, a powerful march ensued upon that last face-off before overtime, and as time halted, the deathblow was dealt at the scant, miniscule, impossible 0.4 mark… the goal shattering the beast into a million helpless shards…
The Miracle On Plastic. Immortal now…
-the end
It was an unbelievable playoff run for the 2009 Spring League Avengers roller hockey team.
Our season started off with many bumps and bruises, and by week 7 (of 10) we faced an outright mutiny in the locker room. More than half the team was bothered by our promotion to the upper league that season, and felt that we belonged in the middle class. Afterall, we lost the Winter season in a heartbreaking 6-5 overtime stunner vs. the Storm... an end to our strongest campaign yet.
Our emergence, however, as a skilled group prompted the organizers to bump us and the Storm up into the higher league... a decision not well received.
As a result of the more challenging opponents, we struggled, and we slid backwards, finishing dead last in the regular season standings, holding the weakest seed in the playoff tournament that followed.
But something happened in that first game vs. Pitch Black. Everything clicked. Everybody stepped up and played the game of their lives. We blew them out of the water 8-3 and never looked back.
Our next opponent was Purple Haze... a group of players we had a friendly rivalry with. This game was closer, but by the third period we had pulled away to wrap it up 6-3. Our locker room was upbeat, our outlook was positive for the first time since last season.
We went into the third and final round hungry to tackle Blitzkrieg... the Roller Plex powerhouse season after season. They were, by far, the most polished team I'd seen down there. But we matched them shot for shot, save for save, and then some. The Spring Championship was a best of three series, and we took game one 7-3. Clearly, Blitzkrieg had taken us for granted, afterall, they destroyed us during the regular season. We knew, however, that they wouldn't do so in game two.
Prophetically, they owned us in that game, and by the start of the third period we were hanging on for our lives, down 4-0. That we were only down by that much was a miracle of defense and glovesaves. It wasn't until there were eight minutes left in the game that we got on the scoreboard. Not long after, though, Blitzkrieg added another, and that 5-1 hole, with 5 minutes left, seemed like it reached all the way down to the bottom.
Nobody gave up, and by the time the game wound down to the one minute mark we had pulled to within one goal amid a whirlwind of scoring activity. Still losing 6-5, I came off the dek the way goalies are supposed to, and with that extra skater, not to mention the empty net back in our zone, we scored with exactly eight seconds left in the game. The bench erupted. Overtime, especially after having been dominated for so much of the game, meant that we had a chance to close out the series, and win the title that night.
I went back in net for the final ticks, mentally preparing myself for the extra period(s), and absolutely, positively determined not to let anything get past me in those last few seconds of regulation.
Instead, ironically, Blitzkrieg's goaltender faced a bouncing hockey ball, as our center, Brandon Englert took the faceoff, sped through the flatfooted defensemen and fired a desperation shot as the clock stretched downward toward zero.
With 0.4 seconds left, the ball found it's way in, just barely, and the moment became surreal. From the crease at the far end, I didn't see it cross the line, but the arms of my teammates raising in celebration, and the motion by the referee confirmed it that some sort of tiny miracle had happened for us. We pulled even with eight seconds remaining; We won the game, and the championship with 0.4 seconds left.
I stood there with my hands on my helmet in complete disbelief, and watched them drop the ball for the final, uncontested faceoff as the buzzer sounded.
It was a blast! We play in such leagues for the fun of it. To win them has no bearing on the world or even, really, our day to day lives. But it's a good time spent with friends, and something we can talk about fondly as we leave those years where we can participate in sport behind.
Plus, we got trophies...
The Avengers:
Greg Anderson #80 - Brandon Cigana #27 - Nic Diulus #48 - Brandon Englert #67 - Travis Hartzog #5 - Trevor Hartzog #11 - Fred Huebner #10 - Aaron Kent #55 - Lenny Kersting #8 - Josh King #65 - Zach Rudolph #17 - Sean Stockhausen #21
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