Third Game V Irondale, Part 5

The Irondale team played a very good game, especially in the third period.

Matthew didn't fuss, but he did react a little to one of the referee's calls.

Andy P. had a very busy time of it. Here he goes eyeball-to-eyeball with the puck and stared it down. In other words, he made the save on this one.

Here's Coach McCoy with some late game instruction for the defense.

It didn't help in Willy's case. (Just kidding, Will.)

This is the controversial goal that would have handed the game and in all likelihood the tournament championship to Irondale. Many of us thought it was the end, including many of the players on the Spartan team. But the referee wasn't pointing the goal, and in fact signaled that it was no good. She ruled that an Irondale player had been in the crease before the puck. The only candidate was the player you see on the left in this photo, which was taken just before the puck hit the back of the net.

This photo was taken a split second before, and I include it only so that you can see where the player was standing then. I originally thought the ref had made the wrong call based on seeing these photos on the back of my camera. But after looking at them on the big screen, I believe she was right.

We all know what it's like to have a call against us, especially in the closing minutes of a game. In Delano, the ref ruled the Crow River goal good at the buzzer, wrenching a win from our grasp at the last split second. What goes around comes around, and this one went in our favor. Tough beans for the Irondale team who, but for that one player in the crease, could very well have gone home with the trophy we carried out. I'm not sure they didn't deserve it, especially given their play in the third period.