The Varsity Match (part two)
The University of Oxford was founded in 1096. Historically, it was a period known as the High Middle Ages.
The University of Cambridge was founded in 1209, by a group of disgruntled scholars from Oxford.
Thus, the rivalry began immediately, and continues, unabated, 816 years later.
For your reference, it is a rivalry every bit as intense as Alabama-Auburn, Michigan-Ohio St., or Oklahoma-Texas. Heated doesn't describe it adequately. Grudges emerge and fester for decades if not centuries.
That's the background.
Oxford went to Cambridge eight days before the Rivalry Match with the conference title on the line. They needed to at least tie to win their conference. Cambridge, in this era, always has a deeper and more talented team. This was true this year as well.
However, this Oxford team has a quality. They play hard. They give absolutely everything they have. In short, they're dogs, which is a high compliment.
Down 2-1 going into the 3rd period, they pulled out one of the grittiest wins Eli said he'd ever seen. Tied it at 2-2 midway through the third, then scored again 5 seconds later. They added an empty netter for a 4-2 win.
Eli 23.6 faced 45 shots, according to the scoresheet.
I talked to him the day after and he said everyone was exhausted. It was the ultimate effort, and now they had to turn around and face Cambridge again eight days later for much higher stakes.
That's what rivalries do. They drain everything you have.
There are special rules for the Varsity Match because it's not part of the conference. It predates the conference by over a century, in fact, and one of the specifications in the lengthy rule book is that all players must be matriculating students--i.e., no year abroad students or visiting scholars.
What this meant is that Oxford would be down three players who all played on the top two lines.
The morning of the match, Eli messaged me that their best player was so sick he was in the hospital. Norovirus, or something adjacent. Now they were down four players, including their best forward.
Tt was going to be a tough night.
I sent him a message telling him I was happy that he knew how to battle, but I was even happier that he enjoyed the battle. Go out and battle and be happy.
That's one of the many things he taught me: it's not enough to battle. You have to embrace the battle.
There was supposed to be a live feed of the game, but it wasn't working and never came online. And the game started over an hour late, so it was a long wait to find out what happened.
This is what happened.
[Okay, I'm still really ill, plus I added a corneal abrasion today, so I'm going to tell the rest tomorrow. And I'm also enjoying dragging it out a little.]
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