The Opening Act
Cross-town Rivalry Fuels Exciting Opening Game for West Texas Hockey Invitational Tournament
Written by Benjamin Martin
San Angelo TX — A hockey player stood at the center line of the Kirby Park hockey rink, his white jersey adorned with ‘San Angelo’ in red across his chest. The wind blew the flags softly away from the fence behind the goal that he now faced. He felt the breeze run through the thick beads of sweat that ran down his face. The scoreboard showed a score of 4 goals apiece, and the clock lay at rest — adorned with zeros. The opening salvo of the Annual West Texas Shootout Hockey Tournament had come to an end, and number 7 Austin Scroggs knew that the fate of the game lay in his hands. A few yards away behind a weathered mask and well-worn pads, the Jester’s goalie waited, frozen like cold steel in front of the faded red crossbars. It had come to the shootout, and the gathering crowd waited with bated breath as the Wolfpack forward took the puck and began racing towards the goal.
It was 2 years since the reformation of the San Angelo Hockey Club, and the relationship between the local teams had become a big brother-little brother dichotomy. The older, more seasoned team was the Jesters, through the years of playing together they became good enough to take ownership of the cross-town rivalry from the very first game at the ‘2018 West Texas Shootout’ by defeating the Wolfpack in the opening match 7–1, and again asserted supremacy at the finale of last years’ tournament with a 4–2 win in the championship. The Jesters would continue their dominance into 2019 at February’s ‘San Angelo Showdown’ by defeating the Wolfpack again with the score of 7–5. In fact, to this point in San Angelo hockey history, the Wolfpack had never beaten the Jesters in a game. Not ever.
It was on the morning of the annual December tournament, after the national anthem was over and the players were introduced, the Wolfpack took it upon themselves to change their fate as the little brother of the San Angelo hockey community.
The Jesters struck first, going up 2–0 behind goals from Stephen Butler and Mike Matinchek, but the Wolfpack struck back with a goal from Austin Scroggs to bring them back to within a goal. The Jesters began to pour it on, and behind goals from Mickey Provost and Stoney, took a commanding 4–1 lead going into the break. It appeared the Wolfpack had again been bested, that the game was well in hand for the team in blue jerseys, and the San Angelo Hockey community would remain a one-sided affair for the foreseeable future. But once the second half began, it would be made clear that the game was far from over, and the story was far from written.
The whistle blew, the puck was dropped, and the second half commenced. Keanu Henson got things started immediately, scoring the second goal for the Wolfpack 25 seconds later. Not once, but twice the horn would sound for the Best Buy employee with a man-bun, as Keanu scored a second time 4 minutes later to bring the Wolfpack within a Goal of the Jesters 4 goals to 3. But the captain of the Jesters would not let victory slip away so easily as Stephen Butler worked the score to 5–3 after scoring a quick strike off a pass from Mike Matinchek.
With the clock at less than 4 minutes to play in the game, the 2-goal deficit seemed as though it would carry the Jesters to yet another victory.
But not if Austin Scroggs had anything to say about it. The relative newcomer to the San Angelo hockey community had only started playing in February with the club and was recruited by the Jester’s Stoney and Mickey before being relegated to the Wolfpack side of the bench for the ‘San Angelo Showdown’ game in late February. The man who would become the leading San Angelo scorer learned through practicing week in and week out with Jesters players how to hit the zone hard and use speed to his advantage. Nicknamed “Slippers” for wearing his oft soiled indoor footwear to the rink before putting on his skates, He would join the ranks of the Wolfpack and bond with Laredo Williamson and Keanu Henson to form the first line of the challengers.
Make no doubt about it, he would make his presence felt before the game had ended.
At 3:25 remaining, Austin took the puck and streaked towards the Jesters goal. The goalie didn’t even have a chance as the puck found the back of the net to again put the game within reach for the Wolfpack.
Get Big Ben Martin’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
The score was 5–4, and the pressure was being brought to bare on the Jesters hockey team. The older players wearing the trademark Jester blue were feeling winded in the opening game of this day-long tournament. The sun was barely up, and the Jesters were taking all that the Wolfpack could give them. It was all going according to plan until the shrill whistle of the referee Joe Pa shrieked through the heavy air of competition.
It was two minutes for tripping on number 5 for the Jesters. A steady stream of epithets and curses came from the lips of Stoney as he slowly skated to the penalty box with a sour look of frustration across his face. Time left in regulation was less than the penalty minutes, so either the Wolfpack would score the tying goal and send the game to overtime, or the Jesters would have to hold out on defense while down a man against the power play.
35 seconds into the four on three and Kurt Beuker launched a pass across the front of the goalie to the stick of Austin Scroggs, which snapped to and launched the puck behind the goalie into the net for the tying goal. Stoney jumped back into the rink, and for the next 85 seconds, the puck flew back and forth across the rink before the buzzer to end regulation was heard.
30 minutes wasn’t enough to decide who would take the first win of the day, so the teams were going to the most exciting single event in hockey to decide the victor — a shootout.
Each player took to the rink in turn, one skater vs the opposing goalie, one chance to put the puck into the back of the net, each with an opportunity to win the game.
And for 4 rounds of shootout, neither team could find a weakness in the armor of the opposing goalie. For the 5th round of the shootout, the Jesters led with Mike Matinchek who’s fake had drifted past the outside of the goal into the boards to the dismay of everyone in a blue jersey.
And now it was up to Austin Scroggs. The skinny forward with the short brown beard took the puck on his stick and began to race towards the goalie. The Jester goalie Mason Martin slowly backed up in preparation for the oncoming shot on goal. As he closed in, Austin faked to the left, pulled the puck back across the face of the goalie, and pushed the puck up over the glove hand of mason. The clink could be heard off the top crossbar as the puck dropped to settle neatly into the back of the net.
The referee pointed to the good goal, the horn sounded, and everyone surrounding Kirby Park burst into applause. Sticks were raised and cheers emulated from the visitor’s box as red and white jerseys poured onto the rink in celebration.
Off the stick of the newcomer, in the late rounds of a shootout, after a grueling come-back fueled by a last-minute power play, the incessant runner-up had broken through the glass ceiling. The Wolfpack would play second fiddle no more as they took the win over their cross-town rival Jesters. It was the first of many games to be played that day, but no less important to the San Angelo players who had waited for more than a year to claim their first victory over their inter-club rival.
The first game of the 2019 West Texas Shootout was claimed by the San Angelo Wolfpack as they defeated the San Angelo Jesters by the score of 6 goals to 5.🏒
Benjamin Martin is the Director of San Angelo Hockey club as well as an amateur journalist, professional hockey fan, and sub-par defender who is a complete liability in the rink.
During these turbulent times the recap of the 2019 West Texas Shootout hockey tournament will be republished on a daily basis to bring a little hockey excitement back into our lives as we wait for life to start again.
