Birthday Gift

Hello,

Our final break has come and gone and we are officially in the stretch run. We had 12 days without games, I was able to get to Cardiff for 3 days which was great! It was so much fun to see everyone. However, on Monday morning, London was hit with 3 inches of snow which brought Heathrow Airport to a halt. The SAS flight I was on sat on the runway for 5 hours and I missed our evening practice. The coaches and management were really good about it though, they said it wasn't my fault. The boys said that there will be a hefty fine that I will have to pay at the end of the year party:)

With 5 games left, we needed to win 4 games to claim the League Championship. Our first game of the 5 would be tough, we played in Hamar against Storhamar. It happened to be on my 29th birthday. They have beat us there twice including a preseason shoot-out game. We were O.k in the first and scored a powerplay goal. I felt real shaky in warm up but I was able to keep them off the board in the first. During the second we were real sloppy but so were they. I think that after a break teams have a hard time hitting on all cylinders for a couple games. Through all the slop no one scored. The 2nd ended 1-0 us. Then rumors went through the halls that the 2nd place team chasing us in the standings was tied 1-1 with the 9th place team. We went out in the third knowing how important these 3 points would be. It wasn't pretty but we found a way. I let one through my body that rolled wide of the net, and I made a couple saves to keep the scoreboard the same. What a birthday gift...a shut-out. The real gift came 10 minutes after the game when our assistant coach opened up the locker room door and leaned in. ''Gutter, Comet 3 Valerenga 1'' (translation, we were now 2 wins away from the Championship) We cheered for a quick second, looked around at each other and smiled...we were in a good spot, but we have some work to do. Everyone knows it. Today was the most intense practice in months. Tomorrow we play Lorenskog at home. Then Valerenga in Oslo on Sunday. Gut check time