It is getting darker!!

The early sunrises and late sunsets that I enjoyed when I was first here are officially over! They nights get here early but on the other hand I am not bothered in the morning by the sun which gives me a few hours a week more 'quality' sleep! On the ice things are still going well. (knock on wood please) On Sunday we played the big Oslo team Valerenga, they have two former team mates of mine in Blake Evans (Worcester, Peoria) and Patrick Desrochers (San Antonio). It is always good to see old friends especially ones that are fluent in English. Tonight we had our second TV game against the defending league champs Frisk Asker.
First in Olso on Sunday, I didn't realize the importance of this game on the way up, I knew they were in second place but what I didn't know is that they are the U of M of Olso. The team everyone loves to hate but hates to play. We had 1000 of our fans there and they were security guard surrounded the entire game. We were very good in the first, almost perfect. We ended the first up 1-0 and there was a great feel in the locker room. The second was a little different, we took a breath and found ourselves in our zone most of the period. They scored twice, once on the powerplay and once late on a turn-over and bad rebound. We did get a second goal to set up what everyone thought would be a great 3rd. It was up and down for the first half of the third but we had more chances. Then with about 8 minutes left, our new Swede took a high a hard slap shot that hit their goalie in the neck guard. He went down and one of our guys chipped it in. Valerenga went crazy, saying it wasn't fair because the goalie was hurt. He wasn't, it is just a rule that the ref can blow the whistle if he thinks the shot was hard. In this case the shot was a missle and must have hurt a bit, but he is North American and should have not expected a whistle. Anyway, they made such a fuss the ref turned on them. In the next two minutes they were give 52 minutes in penalties resulting in us having a 2 man advantage the rest of the game. Final score, Sparta 4 Valenga 2. I was given player of the game which was cool but I don't know if it was deserved...I got a bag of coffee and season 6 of the Soprano's.
Thursday October 9th, we were at home against Frisk-Asker. It was a late start 8:00pm again because it was on TV. I was nervous for this game, we have had a little success early and we play our rival on Saturday. So I thought we were looking past these guys. In the first they were all over us. They out shot us 12-4 and were up 1-0. The 'Hockey Gods' returned the favor from Saturday as their goal hit me in the face and the rebound went in. No one on our team said a word to the ref! The second we were better. Held them to one or two chances and had a lot of pressure but they played good D and their goalie was sharp. The third was more of the same until finally with less than 7 minutes left we found the back of the net. Regulation ended with the shots 30-18 but a 1-1 tie. We had a penalty in over time and they got a couple good chances but we held them off and the game went to a shoot-out. I was 0-2 so far this year so I was a bit nervous. I stopped the first two shots, they both shot low. And we scored once so on the third shot I had a chance to end it. The kid made a really good move or I really mis-read it (ill go with the first option) But Jonas Ellofsson, a crafty Swedish d-man took our third shot and scored. We sent the fans home happy. I was again given the Player of the Game, I think they are just being nice to the new guy. (Eric can relate) This one they gave me a faucet. What the &^%$ am I going to do with a faucet? Oh well I was still pleased to get a shoot-out win.