The Varsity Match (part three)
The live feed of the game didn't work, but Eli 23.6 was able to send me links to several Twitch videos (with awful audio quality because the crowd was so loud it overwhelmed the microphone levels), so I was able to watch everything except the first half of the second period.
What I'm about to tell you is a combination of what I saw and what Eli told me.
The capacity of the rink is 1,025, and it was full. Stuffed. And the crowd was deafening, right from the start.
Cambridge came out with a huge bust of energy. They had twelve shots in the first ten minutes, and Oxford had trouble clearing the puck. They weren't scoring, though, and seven minutes into the period, the Blues had a chance and scored.
It was already clear that Oxford was going to be doing a lot of double-shifting during this game. I kept seeing lots of the same players on the ice.
At the end of the first period, it was 1-0 Oxford, even though they'd been outshot 20-8. They weren't taking penalties, though, which was key, because Cambridge's power play is dangerous.
Less than a minute into the second period, Cambridge scored on a back door play after the defenseman lost the forward and Eli couldn't get over in time.
1-1.
Cambridge kept peppering Eli with shots, but they weren't scoring, and with nine minutes left in the period, Oxford scored again. Suddenly, they were up 2-1.
Right after this, I was able to start watching the game again, and guys were clearly already exhausted. They couldn't skate with Cambridge, but they were doing everything else, including diving to block shots. I have so much respect for these guys and how hard they played.
They hung on to the end of the period. Oxford 2-1.
Total shots at that point were 41-16.
Eli wasn't making any spectacular saves, but then, he almost never does. He was just in the right place, making the right decisions, and anticipating the play before it happened. His best games almost look boring because he sucks all of the air out of the rink.
The third period began, and Oxford had shut it down offensively, just sinking in to defend. This is hard to do for an entire period, and Cambridge was firing shot after shot.
It looked like the Blues were going to pull it off, though.
With four minutes left, there were offsetting minors, and it was four-on-four hockey for two minutes. Until Oxford took another penalty thirty-nine seconds later.
Suddenly Cambridge had a four-on-three for over a minute.
The penalties weren't stupid or sloppy. Guys were utterly exhausted and hanging on with everything they had. Their feet just wouldn't move anymore.
With two minutes left, Cambridge ran the back door play again. Eli was just sitting there, waiting for it, but the shooter put it over his shoulder into a tiny spot in the corner of the net.
Just like that, the game was tied.
Within a minute, they came down again, and a Cambridge player snapped a wrist shot that was going in, but Eli was somehow able to deflect it with his glove and it went over the crossbar.
In the next two minutes, Cambridge took a penalty (briefly giving Oxford a power play, then Oxford took one a minute later.
After 60 minutes, it was still tied.
Oxford had been outshot 65-22, but they were giving it everything they had, and they still had a chance.
I should mention here that goalies rarely win these kinds of games. They might have a brilliant performance, but it's just not the kind of game you win.
I should also mention that one of the quirks of the rulebook for the Varsity Match is that no overtime format is specified. Cambridge lobbied for a full, twenty-minute overtime period, which would have been disastrous, because they had more skaters and were fresher. Oxford successfully lobbied for the standard five-minute overtime period.
Overtime began.
Cambridge started on the power play and took several dangerous shots that Eli handled. Then the puck wound up on a Cambridge player's stick right in front of the net and he slid it it along the ice.
Eli looked behind him because he was a split-second late to go down and thought the puck went in. He'd played a brilliant game, but they had lost.
Then the Hockey Gods intervened. It was trapped in his equipment. No goal.
With a minute left in overtime, the game was headed to a shootout.
Cambridge was still hammering away in the Oxford zone as the clock ran down. With less than ten seconds, they had a shot blocked, the puck took a weird bounce, and suddenly Oxford had a two-on-one out of nowhere, with a clear path to the goal. Another Cambridge player rushed to get back and hooked the Oxford skater bearing down on net.
Time expired.
The referee had their hand up, signaling a penalty. It didn't mean much, because a two-minute penalty at that point was meaningless. The game was going to a shootout.
Then the referees huddled together.
After a conference that lasted almost a minute, they signaled for a penalty shot.
This would be an untimed penalty shot, because even though they had signaled for a penalty during overtime, it wouldn't be called until Cambridge touched the puck or time expired, which it did. It's one of the rarest things that can happen in a game.
Chaos.
The crowd was losing its mind for about the fiftieth time. Every player on the team had given everything they had, and now they had a chance to win without going to a shootout.
What followed was the longest penalty shot in history, as the Oxford skater lazily went almost all the way to the left boards before heading back toward the net. This is usually disastrous, because it cuts off the shooter's angle. He deked a shot, then skated right in until he could almost touch the goalie and tried a shot through the five-hole.
Even the shooter didn't think it went in, at first. Until the referee raised their arm. Game.
Final shot total: Cambridge 69, Oxford 25. Final score: Oxford 3, Cambridge 2.
I'll talk about the post-match scene tomorrow, but fair to say, it was pandemonium. Until then, the scoresheet:
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