Vipers travelled to Telford with a few players missing, which has been a bit of a trend over the past few games. We were even missing our regular goal-tender, so Frenchy padded-up for her first ever game in goal, and probably only about the 3rd time ever that she has worn goalie kit. However, she seemed to enjoy herself. In the first period Vipers played 3-lines and although chances were had at both ends of the ice it was Telford who had managed to put 3 on the scoreboard to Vipers' single effort.
There were many reason why Vipers' wanted to end with a win this season, and so Coach Chich made the call to reduce it to 2-line hockey. Vipers scored a few early goals in the second period and then even took the lead. It was clearly going to be a competitive end-to-end hockey game. The third line however were still to have an impact on the rest of the game. They were the most positive and encouraging players on the bench, led by lead-vocalist Megan, and really impressed the rest of the team and coaching staff alike. It was truly magnificent.
Vipers tired a bit at the end of the second, and Telford managed to regain a slender lead going in to the third. The third was more of the same. More shots on net, and more goals, for both teams. When the buzzer blew for the last time, the final 9-9 score line was probably the fairest result. The hat-trick puck went to Laura Urquhart, who was playing her final game of ice hockey, ever. She has decided that it is time to retire. We may have heard this before, but something tells me this time it is for real. We have loved the fact that she came back to play at the end of last season and hope that she has enjoyed being back as much as we have enjoyed having her be part of the team. The changing room will miss her. Man of the match went to Emma French, who did make some fine saves during the game, and has a 100% non-losing record! The captain's award was given to Megan Brown, for her display of character on the bench. As this was also the captain's last game, two other special captain's awards were given. One to Cookie and one to Julia. Both players have played alongside Captain Coop from the first time she kitted up, and both have been inspirational to her and are keys to why Anna has loved playing with Vipers over the past 6 years.
In the post-match press conference before returning to Nottingham, Coach JS had these words to say:
It was a very emotional game today. We weren't at our best. Perhaps there were too many emotions flying around the rink. However, we battled hard and made a game of it. We are about to leave on the coach back to Nottingham, it will be the last Disney-fuelled song journey that we may have for a while. Tomorrow we start afresh in preparation for next sesaon. That's how we roll!