Team Babushka 13 vs. Team Rocks 6
Team Babushka clinches the series with their fourth consecutive win!
Friday, March 14, 2003

And so the final game of the MDHL winter 02/03 series was upon us and the deciding game at that, as both teams put their a 4-4-1 records on the line. Team Babs were riding all the momentum with three straight victories and a landslide of goals in past games while Team Rocks were still trying to find their hibernating offense. Pre-game roster antics spawned some mild confusion as Lawrence "screw the league's web site, I'll find my own sub" Lau was MIA from the Babs lineup while subs Jeff "am I supposed to be some sort of secret weapon?" Ohashi and Simon "last week's game was so much fun I'll show up again" Wong appear in swapped jersey colours. So it was Wong for Ohashi and a bag of pucks. Didn't make much difference in the end result as the spirited, playoff-like affair ended in another lopsided victory for Team Babushka and their series win.

Not many surprise strategies tonight as Team Babs rode their big line while Team Rocks contentrated on a better two-way effort. The game kicked off with tight checking, lots of intensity and no scoring it the early going, but Team Rocks couldn't hold off the Babs offense for long, as the Oye-Archibald-Chiu line would not be denied ('cept by their respective girlfriends and wives of course). In some action in the Babs zone, Albert "just doing my defensive job" Chang and Jason "hey, that wrist shot is heading right for my unprotected wrist" Lai exchange some brief moments of pain as the latter gets nailed with a shot from the point and in a desperate one-handed stab at the puck ends up slashing the former being the innocent bystander. Oops.

Otherwise, Team Babs' second line again gets the job done (as they have in the past few games) with their spark plug, Michael "I demand salary arbitration" Nguyen chips in with two goals to seal the Rocks' fate. And leading 9-5 was as close as Team Babs would let Team Rocks get as the competitive pace just faded from then on. Babs' Captain Sean "me the strong silent type" Oye took the game's only penalty on which Team Rocks capitalized on, but it was a lost cause. Even with the newly formed, and highly hopeful Rocks' top line of Chang-Ohashi-Mah were unable to find their groove and light the lamp with enough frequency but alas, that same lack of counter-punching offense was that team's undoing in the series latter half.

And so Team Babushka nail down the series and the MDHL move on to a two-game exhibition series and a new season start at Richmond Ice. Stay tuned for more hockey action... and finally, the MDHL bids a fond farewell to goaltender Samson "two games a weekend for the past winter is enough for now" Chow who played his final game and hangs up his skates for the remainder of this MDHL season.

MDHL 3 Stars:
3. Kenny Chiu... big stick, big goals and a big mouth to complete the package.
2. Michael Nguyen... two dingers and the star of his line tonight.
1. Chris Archibald... arguably the series MVP with only one personal game loss to his record.