We left Saturday morning for the usually six hour drive to Montreal. Usually our coach likes to take the backroads, but since our assistant coach was driving we went on the highway, and it was much quicker! So, we got to Granby (about 45 minutes outside of Montreal) by 3:30pm.
We were all very amused when we got to the Granby Motel, which was no doubt a few steps down from the Hotel Castel with Spa that we'd stayed in previously. To quote one of my teammates "This is what happens when you lose to Canada in the qualifiers and have to take an extra trip to Mexico." Exactly. But despite appearances (including the trailer turned motel rooms sitting out front), the Granby Motel fulfilled its obligation of giving us a warm place to sleep.
USA vs. Granby
Saturday night we headed to the Granby gym to play against a team that, despite beating them several times, had beaten us in the last game by one point. We were not about to lose this game, so we arrived on the court with some fire to win.
Speaking of courts, the Granby gym is renowned for their very short court, so our fast breaks would be cut and we wouldn't be able to rely on fitness to beat them. Thankfully, everyone stepped up and we had a really great game, winning 27-23. Yay!!
Everyone was really excited because it felt like a true team effort. The attitude on the court was really positive and energetic, and we truly played as a team. It made the win that much more enjoyable.
After the game we grabbed some pizza/pasta and some groceries and had a very satisfying meal in our rooms while watching Forest Gump. We fell asleep pretty early since we'd have to leave for Montreal at 7:30am.
The morning drive went pretty quickly, and after eating a nice breakfast in the car, we arrived at the L'ecole de la Magdaleine earlier than expected. Since there was no one to open the door to the gym, our assistant coach thought it would be nice for us to take a walk outside to "warm-up."
Sadly, it was really REALLY cold outside (or maybe I just wasn't dressed properly for a walk in 5 degree weather) and our warm-up walk just got my nose running and my hands and ears frozen solid. My roommate joked that we looked like a bunch of prisoners out on our 20-minute walk around the yard. At least we all had a good laugh at it, and were very grateful when we saw the person who had come to open the gym!!
A clip from our warm-up walk
USA vs. Champlain 1
We played our first game on Sunday against Champlain 1, the best team in the league and the one with 5 players from the Canadian National Team. Among their best players is the National Team goalie, Audrey, who has a saving percentage of 70-80% against our team. In the past it has been as much of psychological game as it has been a physical one, but after our win against Granby, we definitely felt like we could take-on Champlain with no fear.
After a rough two minutes early on, the game was really really close through most of the first half. We were only down one point until the last four or five minutes when something broke down and they got ahead by six at the half. The second half was pretty good, we got their lead down to four and they never "pulled away" but we couldn't make up for the six point deficit in the first half and ended up losing by five. Despite the loss, we couldn't feel too badly about our performance. Again, I think the energy was really good and the teamwork was strong and we played well together- it just didn't culminate in a win. As always with this team, and against this goalie, it comes down to being really precise with our shots. Still, it was a game we could be proud of, and it gives us something to build on.
USA vs. Montreal
The second game of the morning was against Montreal, a team we are fighting against for a play-off spot. They beat us in the semi-finals of the playoffs last year and we definitely have a history with them as well. Overall they are a pretty good team, with decent players at almost every position, and one really strong player who has just returned from playing several seasons with a team in France.
Had we played Montreal first on Sunday, I think the outcome would have been a little bit different. We got behind early on in the game, and had a lot of difficulty shooting against their goalie, who is also a goalie on the National Team. We had a lot of opportunities to shoot and just didn't finish. I'm sure a lot of this had to do with the fatigue, especially for our four backcourts, who had very little time to rest during all of the games. But again, even though we lost, the atmosphere stayed positive and we pushed as a team until the end.
On the van ride home our team captain made a good point. She said that even though we wanted to win, maybe the results this weekend would give us even more motivation to win our next four games, which we will have to do if we want to get a playoff spot. At least there is something to build on, and I think everyone has a renewed sense of motivation coming from the positive feelings we experienced as a team.
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