HAZEL PARK, MI – “I don’t think I know any moves” Doc said as his name was called in the second round of the shootout. According to himself, it had been a few years since the Doc played in a competitive hockey game with refs and shit. But although it had been a while, and the MD claimed he had no moves for which he could recall, he was somehow able to get the puck by the Whalers goaltender for a crucial shootout goal, using “The Forsberg” to seal the Longnecks first W in what felt like an eternity.

It was a night of rampant anticipation, birthday celebrations, and gritty persistence which lead the Nexus Longnecks to a 5-4 shootout victory over the Whalers Thursday night at Hazel Park.

It was a beautiful mid-to-late September evening. The air felt warm but was beginning to smell a little bit like fall. There was an excitement in the air, a new season…a new hope.

Necks’ management arrived first to the arena. And with the beginning of every new season, you have to register your USA Hockey number before you are able to enter the locker room. Hazel Park sets out a folding table, and they have some old fart working the table. Now I am not calling him an old fart simply because he is old, I was raised right and taught to respect my elders but this guy is just a good old fashioned dick head. He’s such a dick head I almost kind of respect it. This guy has a hate in his heart that is far more complex than anyone wants to understand. He’s miserable. He’s the kind of guy you see and immediately start apologizing because you can tell your mere presence is pissing him off. So for opening night, roughly 14 dudes on the team have to interact with him to register. In the interest of keeping good spirits up for the boys, management decided to register everyone on the team before they got there so they didn’t have to deal with the angry grumpy dick-headish old man.

With that out of the way the boys could focus on what they were there to do- win. And that’s what they did. The Longnecks saw goals from Mr. Hustle, Doc, the birthday boy Animal House, and Mistrial. With shootout finishes from Doc and Long Ball.

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But the real story of the night came at the other end of the ice, in an inspiring performance from Goalie. With all the offseason drama behind him, the Longnecks backstop could finally focus on one thing- stopping the puck. And that’s exactly what he did. Two big saves early put his confidence squarely where it needed to be, it kept the Necks in the game, and he carried his grizzled performance all the way through the shootout, stopping 4/5 shots including the game clinching shot at the end. Goalie was our shotgun MVP (first star of the game shotguns a tall boi after the game) but should also never forget we have a laundry list of goaltenders who want to play on this team and if he wants to keep his cushy netminding job he’d better keep it up.

The Necks would not seal with one without drama, however. With a 4-3 lead late in the third, the Whalers broke into the zone and placed a beauty of a screened shot passed Goalie to tie the game at 4 with 1:49 left in the game. One of the Longnecks favorite things to do in the past has been to play a great game, have a late lead, lose said lead, and then lose in a shootout. So when the game was tied up late, night terrors of last year began to haunt the overly sponsored team. But luckily the two guys who scored in the shootout have no recollection of last year because they weren’t on the team, and they were able to give the Necks the two goals they needed to come out victorious.

It was a great mixture of OG Necks, and new school Necks, coming together to begin to change the narrative the type of team the Longnecks are. 5-4, shootout, final. Necks win and improve to 1-0.

Game Notes: 

The Nexus Spine & Sport Backbone Performance of the Game goes to Goalie, for stopping a billion shots and stopping 4/5 in the shootout to seal a Longneck W.

The Zim’s Vodka Smoothest Move of the Game goes to Doc for his Forsberg shootout bury, especially after telling the team he had no salt left in his shaker.

The Fox Hills Chrysler Jeep Trail Rated Tough Performance of the game goes to Mr. Huslte, for his gritty play not only ON the ice, but also OFF the ice to make sure all the boys were registered and didn’t have to deal with Old Man Rivers prior to puck drop.

The Bowline Financial Calculated Risk Play of the Game goes to Animal House, who took a chance on himself just 27 second into the third period. On a two on one, he had a teammate wide open, but knew he had the juice to bury himself, and he did. Cutting in from the far side and making the goalie extend across his crease, but not far enough, he was able to bury.

Winning hits different.

#SYNO #TheQuest #NeckNation 🦒

– Frank