Street Hockey Report for Thursday 10th May 2012

Hello Everyone,

Hope you all had a fantastic Golden Week and you are ready for some more nice weather hockey.

Five things in this newsletter:

- Next Hockey - Friday May 12 8-10pm in Mizue

- Yamato Cup Anyone?

- Hockey in Kobe on July Long Weekend Anyone?

- Sign up on the TokyoHockey website

- Recap of Last Friday's Hockey (The Greatest Day of Hockey Ever!)

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Next Hockey - Friday May 12 8-10pm in Mizue (by Chad)

Five things you need to know: Where is the rink, how to get there, cost, and what happens if it is raining, other stuff. So:

Where is the rink

*It's at Mizube Sports Garden. Here is the website and a Google Map . The closest station is Mizue on the Shinjuku Subway line.

*Note: Do not confuse the Mizube Sports Garden with Edogawa Sports Land.

Four options to get there:

*Taxi - meet at street level at Mizue Station at 7:30pm and go in small groups to the rink.

*Walk - it is about 25-30 minutes. This Google map shows a good walking path.

*Bus - info on the buses can be found here .

*Drive - parking costs a few hundred yen

Cost

*1000-1500yen depending on the number of players. Gals and goalies are 500yen.

Rain

*The game is canceled if it's raining at 18:00 on the day of the game. If it is only cloudy, the game is still on. I will mail everyone by 18:30 to cancel for sure and, if possible, provide an alternate plan that involves alcohol.

Other stuff

*Bring both a black/dark and white/light jersey.

*There are showers & lockers at the rink.

*No convenience stores nearby, but they have some vending machines and a tiny shop. *The shop DOES NOT sell beer!

*If you arrive before 7:45pm, the rink lights may be off. Find a place with lights and begin getting ready.

Yamato Cup Anyone? (by Chad)

Hong Kong is asking. Korea is asking. A few others are hinting. I've told them all, "Yes, beeyatches! We are having a Yamato Cup on Saturday, October 6th." Now I've got to get some people from our side to help organize it and, more importantly, play in it. For those who don't know, the Yamato Cup is our yearly tournament.

If you want to participate and/or help out, please let me know asap. Also, let me now whether you'd prefer to hold it indoors or outdoors.

Hockey in Kobe on July Long Weekend Anyone? (by Chad)

I am in contact with Dave B over in Kobe about setting up a half-day of hockey there on the July long weekend. If you are interested in going, please let me know asap.

The tentative plan is: Friday 13th, go there after work in the evening; Saturday 14th, play 3-4 hours of hockey midday, hit the town in the late afternoon; do some sightseeing on Sun 15th (thinking just around Kobe or head to Himeji Castle) back to Tokyo that night.

Please Sign up at the Tokyohockey website (by Chad)

Could anyone not registered on the website please do sign up? You can sign up here!!! . Pretty soon, I will stop sending messages from the tokyo.ball.hockey.league address and will only send from the tokyohockey.com info address.

Signing up on the Tokyo Hockey Website only takes a few minutes and you will receive all the combined benefits of being a TBHL and TSHA member, including semi-regular weekly messages; Dave's golden hockey recaps; last minute invites to events that will be sparsely attended; verbal abuse from Paul 1.0; free access to the TSHA online hall-of-fame; the privilege of hearing Rich and Japanese Guy sign Country Roads at karaokee; the latest updates on various players sorted wheelings, dealings, and near-misses with the visa police; and much, much more!! Sign up today and you'll be entered into a draw for the chance to touch the Golden Godzilla!

Sign up now here!!!

Recap of Last Friday's Hockey (The Greatest Day of Hockey Ever!)

The greatest day of ball hockey ever played actually began the night before, at Sean's going away party, where, while sipping microbrews, we learned that even though even though Singapore, Japan, nor Canada recognize common law marriage (yeah, yeah... some Canadian provinces do, but it's not federal), it is possible to have the Singaporean immigration create a spousal visa for a relationship that is, quote, "akin" to marriage to a Japanese person, and have an official at the Canadian embassy sign off on it. Bureaucracies can just be nutty some times.

More importantly, we said goodbye, sort of, to TSHA Hall of Famer and long time Japan institution Sean, aka "Little Sean", scorer of the greatest shootout goal in TSHA international tournament history, and the hardest working man you'll ever meet, so long as by "hardest working" you mean going to every sports stadium for every sport in every part of North America. I say "sort of" goodbye because Singapore, while I'm sure it's a lovely place, has absolutely no professional sports leagues in any sense that we would recognize them, so he's bound to be travelling out of there as much as possible. We may even see him as much as we ever did here.

I hope so, because Sean's a good guy. Good luck Sean. Have fun with Marek on the Singapore Chili Crabs.

Then, on Friday, game time was earlier than usual, taking advantage of the holiday for extra apres-hockey revelry. We were able to get in 4 solid games and a shootout, so it may have been the greatest hockey ever played! Also, we were glad to see Crystal come around, 'cause we're always happy to have her company, but even better, she offered to help keep the time and score, so we actually knew what was going on. We do appreciate Boston Rob's kids helping with the score, but as it turns out, with an adult on task, the numbers on the board are a lot less random.

Game one went to the Samurai, though it was close. The final score was 7 to 6, with the Ronin emptying the net for a final assault that the Samurai barely scraped through.

In game two the fortunes were reversed, with the Ronin closing out the Samurai 6 to 5, this time with the Samurai ultimately failing to utilize the extra attacker.

As the guy who writes this, I usually mention at least one good play I was in, largely because I remember what I did more than what others did. Not to mention a healthy amount of self involvement. Hey, if you want to get name dropped in these recaps then send me some shit to write about!

Anyway, this time, there's no question that in this game I had a goal well and truly deserving of mention. Somehow the puck got through a crowd to the top of the crease and was in mid bounce when I managed to reach with one hand on the stick, and as if the blade were a spatula and the puck was a burger being flipped, I gave it just that extra lift so that it gracefully arced over George's shoulder and into the net. Even George, during the next play, admitted, "nice goal".

As the game came to a close, in the final minutes, Paul, on the Ronin, missed a pass in front of the empty net that he felt was badly executed. So, post-game he had a few strong, and loud, words for his team. I was over on the Samurai bench so I'm not sure the of the particulars, but as discussed on our bench, this being the TSHA, a pass that doesn't work hardly merits mention. In fact, we consider it standard. The real surprise is when any play actually works. So we were a little confused as to what the fuss was.

However, I don't know if whatever it was Paul said made a difference, but the Ronin came out flying in the next game. They had a commanding 6 to nothing lead by the end of the first period, and by the end of the third, the 10 to 2 score left the Ronin completely humbled. George had every right to be frustrated with the lack of Samurai defense, which was pretty much non-existent as everyone kept getting trapped deep in the offensive zone.

Those were the perfect conditions for Heat (still not sure his real name...) to play in, making him a deciding factor in the game. He found a limitless supply of free space to rush the net behind the Samurai defense, creating goals, assists, and opportunities as regularly as iPads coming off an assembly line.

The last game was double awesome. Some guys had to leave, so Dan was traded from the Ronin to the Samurai. He had a positive impact on the Samurai, assisting on every goal, so that the game was a balanced and hard fought struggle to get to a 4/4 tie.

Though the real story of the last game was King Richard, though, who tallied a natural hat trick on the first three Samurai goals. He only has one move, and executes it at a pace suited to his age, but he makes it work.

We had actually determined before the game that there'd be a shoot out for fun anyway, but with the game ending in a tie, the shoot out took on real meaning. Every player got at least one shot, with Chris "The Tako" De La Roca minding the net for the Ronin, and George facing down shooters for the Samurai.

As it turned out, George was inviolate, whereas Chris let in two goals. Dan claimed the deciding goal, and the insurance goal was from to yours truly.

After the game, we found our way to Gyomin, whatever it's called, some cheap izakaya in Shinjuku, where we had a private room and, much to my dismay, free karaoke. Everyone else, however, decided that karaoke was exactly what was needed, and so it wasn't long after the edamame arrived that the microphones were being passed around.

The TSHA's resident Republicans, Greg and Crystal, ensured there was a healthy amount of country in the mix, and the average age of the TSHA associates present ensured that there were plenty of old time hits in the mix.

Turns out that Chad has a set dance to go with "Under The Sea", Paul makes the best coloured girl in "Walk On The Wild Side", and Crystal can go from being a Barbie girl in one song to The Gambler in another.

Chris's exuberant Taiwanese girlfriend led the charge on getting well and truly drunk, shattering glasses and breaking things in general. Dan quits smoking for about twenty minutes after every cigarette, and Heat smokes about a pack after every drink. And Sotaro has a new nickname: "The Japanese Guy".

By the time Paul, Rich, and I left at 11, the party looked set to continue, so I don't know how much more disastrous it got after that. But I can say that a damn good time was had by all. Possibly the greatest night at an izakaya ever had.

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See you Friday!

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