3. There is no way a serious player who has run a club in the Liga Senior in Madrid does not know this. Which begs the question, what were they playing at?

4. The actions of the Panteras coach showed complete disrespect to his own team (yes, they did get to play the game they wanted, but who else is going to want to play them now?), to the opposing team that had trained for this game and given up their Saturday night to play, towards the official who had given up his Saturday to referee all the games (and the abuse he received was really unpleasant), and to the organisers who (again) gave up their Saturday night so a group of non-Las Rozas teams could come to Las Rozas and play organised games. Including the people that came to watch the game, that's something like 25-30 people he gave the finger too. Nice going.

***: David, Matt, Jose

Samurai 2 - Little Pinguinos 2

Pre-Liga, Las Rozas, 10th February

The Pinguinos opening game of the 2012 pre-liga and this was a much closer affair than the game that preceeded it, in which Campo Real made mincemeat of out an inexperienced Las Rozas team. The Pinguinos turned up with almost a full B team, augmented with Peña to stabilise the defence. Their opponents, the samurai, traditionally one of the strongest sides in the pre-liga. The Pinguinos started brightly, after Juan Carlos made a good early save, Fede and Julio both went close on passes from Oscar,,and Juan hit the post. Paolo and Julio both had good chances before Paolo opened the scoring with a backhand skating away from the goal. Juan Carlos made a great save to keep the Pinguinos ahead and the Pinguinos almost went 2-0 up, but after Fede's initial shot Txoski couldnt find a way to guide a bouncing puck into an open goal.

The first ten minutes of the second period was almost all Pinguinos, Txoski and Paolo (twice) had good chances, Paolo was denied the second time by an incredible stick save from the Samurai keeper. However, it was the Samurais who scored, as ex-Pinguino Ivan made it 1-1, ghosting in behind the Pinguino defence. Juan hit the post and then made it 2-1, skating up the left and forcing home his own rebound, only for the Samurai to came right back and tie it up at 2-2. Oscar was injured while making the save and Juan Carlos had to come in for a nailbiting last six minutes that either team could have won. There was some nice interpassing between Julio, Fede and Dani that almost lead to a goal and the Samurai's keeper made a pad save on Julio, but the period ended with the Pinguinos mounting a last ditch defence to preserve a point.  

Madrid Patina 0 - Pinguinos 17

Liga Senior B, Villaverde, 4th February

In the end it wasn't even vaguely competitive. Before the game there was a lot of discussion about how much Madrid Patina had improved since early in the season and that seemed to be backed up by their 9-6 loss to Speedwheels a couple of weeks ago. But it was all Pinguinos from the moment the puck dropped. Madrid Patina had hardly any shots on target and it is clear that they still have quite a way to go to compete in this league. But you have to admire their tenacity and spirit.

The Pinguinos were missing Aritz and Iakes, but there was good news as Daniel, Peña and Oscar were all last minute additions. Peña in particular deserves special mention, not just for his stellar play in marshalling the Pinguinos back line, but also because in order to get to the game on time he himself had to repair the bus that was going to bring him back from Albacete. It was Peña who got the ball rolling, his cross-rink pass on the second shift found Daniel in space to slot home for a 1-0 lead. On the next shift Gregorio was upended by the most obvious trip in the history of hockey, the referee delayed his whistle until Madrid Patina touched the puck and then inexplicably didn't send anyone off. Not that it mattered, the Pinguinos sent out their power play line in any case, and Txema made it 2-0.on a pass from Matt from behind the net.

Txema had a goal ruled out for being in the crease and spurred on by their escape Madrid Patina had their best spell of the game. Oscar had to intervene a couple of times. After that it was a procession. Martin made it 3-0 by firing home his own rebound and Txema set up Daniel on the next shift to make it 4-0. Martin then put home a rebound off the boards after being put through by Matt before Txema scored off Daniel's rebound to make it 6-0. 

Grego made it 7-0  with a solo goal and then Jose fired home from the point off Matt's pull back to make it 8-0. Matt then set up Martin for his hat-trick from behind the net again, before Txema round off the scoring for the period with his hat-trick goal off a nice feed from Daniel.

It didn't take the Pinguinos long to get on the board in the second period, Michael banged home Matt's rebound to make it 11-0, before David added the twelfth from long-range. Matt scored his first goal of the season (!) off a pass from David and then Daniel made it 14-0. Matt struck again after being put through by Peña and then the Pinguinos had a goal disallowed when David's shot bounced out from inside the goal and the loose puck then struck Matt before dropping back into the goal. The referee apparently ruled that the two goals cancelled each other out (or something) and no goal was awarded. Not that it mattered, Daniel set up Txema with a sweet pass to make it 16-0 before Gregorio rounded off the scoring with a one-timer off Stefan's pass.  

Speedwheels 4 - Pinguinos 5

Liga Senior B, Barrio del Pilar, 29th January

It wasn't pretty, but it was effective. Two late goals from the Pinguinos defence turned the game on its head and grabbed two points for the Pinguinos that seemed to be slipping away as the time ran out in the second period.

The Pinguinos almost had a full team, but Aritz dropped out at the last minute. With Michael playing forward because of a bad knee, that meant that Iakes had to play in defence. The Pinguinos got off to another sluggish start, and the Speedwheels were able to defend fairly comfortably for the first half of the period. Although Martin put the Pinguinos ahead with a slap-shot, Speedwheels equalised almost immediately, catching the Pinguinos flatfooted on the break, and five minutes later the Speedwheels were ahead with another quick counterattack. 

The Pinguinos thought they had equalised when Matt rammed home a loose puck, but the referee had already blown his whistle. However, they were given another chance to redeem themselves with the man advantage almost immediately after, and the power play worked perfectly with Txema banging home the rebound of Martin's shot to make it 2-2. For the second half of the period the Pinguinos were on top (outshooting the visitors 15-3 from the penalty on), without making too many clear cut chances. But it was the Speedwheels that regained the advantage as the period ended, making good work of a mix-up in the Pinguinos defence to go 3-2 up.

The Pinguinos were playing catch-up practically all of the second period, which made for some pretty desperate hockey. The Pinguinos outshot the visitors 34-10 during the period, but many of the shots were from long range. Martin hit the crossbar, and then at the half-way point Stefan stole the puck and fired past the Speedwheels keeper to tie the game up. For a moment it looked like the Pinguinos might turn their superior possession into goals, but they  got into penalty trouble as first Txema (cross-check) and later Martin (reaction to another punch to the head) left Daniel, David and Oscar defending a 4-on-2 power-play. The Pinguinos did defend the power-play, and as the power-play ended got on a 2-on-1 break, only for the referee to wave play dead. 

Unfortunately, exasperation with the innumerable fouls missed by the referee (it was the Speedwheels, after all) lead to the Pinguinos conceding a fourth goal with just eight minutes to play. The Pinguinos laid siege to the Speedwheels net and finally it paid off when a slap-shot from David whistled past the Speedwheels keeper with just 3 and a half minutes left. And there was still time for Peña to skate the whole length of the rink on a delayed penalty and win the game with a shot that squeezed under the crossbar from a tight angle.

Thanks to Olga and Mayra for the notes again! 

Shots: Pinguinos 55 - Speedwheels 16 (or looking at it another way, Martin 18 - Speedwheels 16)

Tres Cantos C 6 - Pinguinos 0

Liga Senior B, Tres Cantos, 22nd January

Despite the scoreline this was another close game, which was decided by the superior finishing of the home side. The Pinguinos created plenty of chances, but the Tres Cantos goaltender and defence combined to keep them off the scoresheet.

The Pinguinos first game post-James, got off to a bad start as Tres Cantos got an individual goal on the second shift. From then on the first period was evenly balanced, as both Tres Cantos and the Pinguinos had chances. Gregorio and Stefan were strong early on and both had shots well saved in the first couple of shifts. Daniel created a chance from a quick breakout, before the Pinguinos got the first powerplay in what was a well refereed game. Although the powerplay was a bit tentative at first, Martin rang a shot off the post and then Txema went close. But Tres Cantos started to get on top after that and hit the post before a mix-up in defence lead to a second goal. As the period came to an end it was all Pinguinos and Matt was denied a goal on a rebound attempt.

The second period could not have begun in a worse fashion as Tres Cantos scored on their very first shift to go 3-0 ahead. And there was just no way past the Tres Cantos keeper, Daniel had a shot well saved, the keeper made a save on Txema with the shaft of the stick, a shot from Jose hit the inside of the post and Stefan was denied by the goaltender mask. At the other end Tres Cantos were making their chances stick and went 4-0 up, before two quick gaols made it 6-0 to the home side. Aritz was denied on one last chance for the Pinguinos.

Pinguinos 4 - Tres Cantos C 7

Liga Senior B, Tres Cantos, 19th December

An early Christmas present

Tres Cantos sauntered to a 7-4 win thanks to a string of dubious penalties. Although the Pinguinos outplayed the locals convincingly 4-on-4, the now traditional 7 penalties allowed Tres Cantos to get a lead they never lost and totally broke up the rhythm of the game. It seems that the referee had made the decision to call a tight game in order to protect the girls' team, but totally forgot that you have to (a) see the penalties to call them and (b) call the penalties the same way on both teams, especially when the local team is living up to their nickname the "Tres Cantos Slashers".

This was the continuation of another twice-postponed game, so the teams were limited to the players signed up for the game that was called off after 3 minutes when the referee noticed the rink was wet. It was also James's last game for the Pinguinos before he flew back to Vancouver and it would have been nice to have had a game against Tres Cantos where the local team weren't helped to win what is (for them) a training exercise. (Anyone remember the three illegal goals they were gifted the last time we played? The "it sounded like a goal" incident? But of course we had forgotten it was Christmas ...)

The Pinguinos started strong with Txema making a great play to hold onto the puck and feed James in the slot. They had a power play shortly after too and Iakes had a good shot well saved before the Pinguinos messed up a line change and had to defend a penalty themselves. But fifteen minutes into the game the referee took change. David Peñaranda fell down in defence and a Tres Cantos player launched herself over his prostrate body a good two seconds later. Tripping apparently, and Tres Cantos were back on level terms after a well-worked power play goal. A minute later James was called for slashing (it happened right in front of us and it wasn't, unless the Tres Cantos player was guilty of the same offence) and Tres Cantos took the lead for good with another power play goal. It was that easy. 

Before the Pinguinos could recover it was 3-1, but James pulled a goal back with a shot that went in off the post. And then when the Pinguinos got a make-up penalty Tres Cantos scored short-handed to make it 4-2. For the last five minutes of the period it was all Pinguinos with Martin getting off a number of shots. However with five seconds to go in the period Jose put his hand up for a line change and the referee called him for a penalty. Third bogus penalty, third Tres Cantos goal when the locals converted the power play after the interval.

Note to Pinguinos, don't ever put your hand up. The referee will assume that you must be guilty of something.

That wasn't the end of the dubious penalty calls. Txema went in hard against the boards mid-way through the second period and this could possibly have been called as boarding or checking, but not interference because the puck was right there and Txema, not on Stefan who was standing still five metres away. At least the Pinguinos defended that penalty.

Txema fired home James's initial shot with 20 minutes to go to bring the Pinguinos within two and after Oscar had pulled off a couple of great saves to deny Tres Cantos, James scored his hat-trick goal on a breakaway as Stefan's penalty expired. With the score at 5-4 and with 13 minutes to go, it was suddenly a game again, and Stefan and Matt combined well to go close, but after all those penalties the Pinguinos could not get the line matches they wanted (at least without leaving players sitting on the bench) and Tres Cantos got a breakaway goal to go 6-4 up. At the end of the game the Pinguinos got two penalties that they did deserve and Tres Cantos got another power play goal to make it 7-4. Not that it counts for anything, but the Pinguinos won the 4-on-4 match up by 4-2.

Anyway, thanks for everything and good luck, James. At least you have the consolation that you will be playing real hockey now, which must have been what that Tres Cantos player meant when she told you "play hockey, gillipollas" in the line up after you congratulated her on a good game.

Pinguinos 16 - Fenix C 4

Liga Senior B, Vicente del Bosque, 18th December

The James Franey Show

Nine goals from James powered the Pinguinos to their fifth win in a row and kept them in second place prior to tonight's show-down with Tres Cantos. The game was finely balanced until the fifteenth minute, but with the visitors just 3-2 down, the Pinguinos blew the game apart with four goals in 59 seconds and from then on the game was never in doubt.

The Pinguinos side had just 9 skaters, with Michael playing on one leg and Stefan with a cold, but it didn't matter because James was on fire. The Pinguinos started well with James hitting the post and Aritz the crossbar in the first few minutes and David Peñaranda opened the scoring just over three minutes in with a shot from a tight angle. The Pinguinos kept the pressure on and James converted Stefan's pass to make it 2-0 before the visitors started to get back into the game. Juan Carlos was forced to make three good saves in the space a few seconds and then Gregorio was called for a penalty and the visitors pulled a goal back. 

After the goal the Pinguinos regained control of the game and James put the home side two in front again, but the Fenix made it 3-2 against the run of play just 26 seconds later. At the point the floodgates opened. James started it off with a breakaway goal and just 24 seconds later picked up the rebound of Matt's shot to score his 100th point for the Pinguinos. Txema made it 6-2 eleven seconds after the face-off and converted another pass from Gregorio on the same shift for his 50th goal as a Pinguino.

Aritz made it 8-2 right with a cannon from the point and then the Pinguinos got their first power play, which was converted by Gregorio after the Pinguinos pinned the visitors in their own end and Stefan whipped in a pass from the left boards. The Pinguinos went 10-2 ahead when Stefan picked up Gregorio's rebound and lifted it over the Fenix keeper, but the visitors pulled one back twenty seconds before the end of the half. Shots in the first period were 38-14 in favour of the Pinguinos.

The visitors began the second period well and for the first four or five minutes outplayed the Pinguinos. Juan Carlos had to make a number of saves and the Fenix got the goal their pressure deserved to make it 10-4. But from then on it was all James. He put the Pinguinos 11-3 ahead with 20 minutes to go by scoring a short-handed goal on the break after Stefan had hit the post James added two more goals. Jose Manuel made it 14-3 sliding home a rebound from James and then James got his second short-handed breakaway of the period. With 30 seconds to go James scored his triple hat-trick goal to make it 16-4.

All shots: Pinguinos 62, Fenix 26

Thanks to Olga and Mayra for the notes!

Las Rozas 0 - Pinguinos 16

Liga Senior B, Las Rozas, 11th December

A surprisingly comfortable win for the Pinguinos against a team that had tied with Speedwheels just a few weeks ago. While Las Rozas showed little of their early season form, the Pinguinos played as complete a game as they have all season, and the win put the Pinguinos (at least temporarily) in second place in the league. 

The Pinguinos arrived with just 9 fit skaters (without Matt, Daniel, Michael and Iakes), but there was more than enough firepower for Las Rozas. Though the Canibales put up a fight at the start of both the first and second periods, the wheels came off in the second half of both periods and the Pinguinos were scoring more or less every shift. 

The Pinguinos were slow to start and Juan Carlos had to pull off a good save in the first few minutes, but the Pinguinos got on the board first when Stefan banked in a pass from Gregorio from behind the net. James and Stefan linked up well and then Martin made it 2-0 when he picked up a pass from Aritz and fired home. Moments later Txema put in his own rebound to make it 3-0 and after that it was all Pinguinos with Las Rozas barely escaping from their own half. James scored twice in quick succession, the first from the high slot and the second from a pass from behind the net from David Peñaranda, and then Gregorio made it 6-0 by putting home David Juan's rebound. James lost the puck on a breakaway chance (the Las Rozas rink is not what it used to be), but scored his hat-trick goal shortly after, and then Gregorio scored off a wraparound to put the Pinguinos up by 8. James fed Stefan from behind the net at the end of the period to give the Pinguinos a convincing 9-0 lead.

After the break the Canibales came out with renewed purpose and held the score at 9-0 for quite some time, but a goal from James started the rout again. Martin fired in his second off a pass from James and Gregorio had four shots well saved in quick succession before Martin got his hat-trick goal to make it 12-0. Stefan picked up on a defensive lapse to skate the puck round the keeper for the 13th goal and then Txema added his second off a long-range shot. Stefan roofed a pass from Gregorio to make it 15-0 before James rounded off the scoring.

Pinguinos 6 - Speedwheels 3

Liga Senior B, Polideportivo Vicente del Bosque, 24th November

The second half of the Pinguinos - Speedwheels tie was a totally different game. While the first half was actually a hockey game based around passing and shooting a plastic puck, the visitors decided that the remaining 20 minutes were going to be intense and they were going to take no prisoners. But the final result was the same.

The Pinguinos arrived missing Daniel and Stefan and with Martin ill, and had to do some emergency reshuffling with their forward lines. The Speedwheels played with a shortened bench and all their star players playing as forwards. 19:09 of the second period remained at the drop of the puck.

The tone was set right from the start with a Speedwheels player running Michael into the boards on the second shift. The majority of face-offs involved at least a subtle cross-check and there was a lot of less than legal stuff going on behind the play. But the referee was perhaps feeling a bit sorry for the visitors after their recent run of results and the only penalty the Speedwheels picked up was a minor for hooking with less than 20 seconds on the clock. It is worth mentioning that the penalties in this game have been the only penalties the Pinguinos have picked up this season, and you know you have had a bad day in the office when the penalty minutes are 2-13 in the Speedwheels favour. 

The Speedwheels were on top quickly with their dangerous forwards getting behind the Pinguinos defence again and again. Luckily the puck didn't always get through and when it did Juan Carlos was always well positioned and bravely mopped up all the loose pucks. Six of the first seven shots came from the visitors, but gradually the Pinguinos got back into the game until Gregorio was called for a trip with his stick at least a foot away from the nearest object. But playing short-handed worked in the Pinguinos favour as James raced away with the puck and tucked it home for a 5-2 lead. Unfortunately just when things were looking good for the Pinguinos they were called for another penalty when David Peñaranda was given two minutes for an aggression in which he was the victim. James came close to scoring again, but this time the Speedwheels scored with a slapshot as the penalty ran out.

But that was all they got as the Pinguinos took over the remainder of the game, outshooting the visitors 13-4. Jose Manuel snuffed out the best chance the Speedwheels had, the forechecking of Michael and Iakes slowed down the distribution from the back, James hit the bar and as the visitors pushed forward both Gregorio and James both had breakaway chances. With a minute and a half to go James put the icing on the cake with his hat-trick goal, backhanding it past a keeper who had stopped the Pinguinos on numerous occasions during the game. 

At this point and three goals down most teams would have thrown in the towel, but Speedwheels did not and continued to take advantage of the referee's back being turned. Michael finally took a retaliation penalty with a minute left, a minor pull, which the over-reaction of the Speedwheels player turned into a major penalty. The same Speedwheels player even ended up with the last laugh (which just goes to show that it DOES pay to be a douche), when he managed to fall on Michael, tearing his MCL and possibly putting him out for much of the season. Twenty seconds later David Peñaranda's patience snapped too and the Pinguinos had to skate 4-on-2, but nothing much troubled Juan Carlos in the goal.

Thanks again to Paolo and Mayra for annotating the goals and important moments and kudos to Martin who played both halves of the game despite being crocked.

All Shots: Pinguinos 49 (21) - Speedwheels 39 (14)

Final Stats: James 3+1, David P. 1+1, Stefan 1+1, Daniel 1+0, Gregorio 0+2, David J 0+1, Martin 0+1

***: James, Iakes, Juan Carlos

Pinguinos 8 - Walkyrias 2

Liga Senior B, Las Rozas, 20th November

Stefan opens his account against the Walkyrias

Another game moved to Las Rozas and it was a good job too because the rain was coming down hard all day. In the end a comfortable win for the Pinguinos, but a much-improved well organised Walkyrias team made them fight all the way to the end. Despite carrying much of the early play it took the Pinguinos a while to begin firing on all cylinders and they did not take the lead until mid-way through the first period. The goal came from Martin who fired home low and hard after a strong run up the left wing. Martin also hit the post shortly afterwards before James made it 2-0, firing home from the slot. James and Daniel combined well, and then Stefan added a third after Gregorio turned the defence.

Two shifts into the second period James found Martin with a quick pass from behind the net and the Pinguinos were 4-0 ahead. Daniel then clanged a shot off the crossbar before making it 5-0 by firing through a crowded goalmouth. Although Walkyrias cut the difference to four, the Pinguinos kept coming forward and Daniel hit the metalwork again.

The Pinguinos started to lose their shape a bit in the second half of the final period, but with ten minutes left the Pinguinos got a power play. Martin, Gregorio, James and Daniel passed the puck around beautifully with Gregorio and Daniel setting up Martin's to score his hat-trick goal from a slapshot. James found Stefan from behind the net for Stefan's second goal, and right afterwards the Walkyrias pulled one back to make it 7-2. At the end the Pinguinos had another power play and this time Stefan picked up his hat-trick goal, retrieving the puck from the half-way line and rifling home a snapshot.

Thanks to Paolo for annotating, Olga for the notes and Mayra for the photography!

All shots: Pinguinos 45, Walkyrias 9

Stats: Martin 3+1, Stefan 3+0, James 1+2, Daniel 1+1, Gregorio 0+2, Michael 0+1

***: Martin, Stefan, Daniel

Pinguinos B 6 - Las Rozas C 1

B team friendly, Las Rozas, 20th November

The first game of the new Pinguinos B team came just after the Liga game against the Walkyrias. The Pinguinos were playing a team of mostly beginners from Las Rozas and on paper looked to have the better team. The Pingunos managed to get together a team of seven, with Fede and Javi making rare appearances and Moli and Oscar making their debuts. We also had a spare shirt with the name "Sara" so we borrowed the best player from Las Rozas too (who was also called Sara) - just to even the sides up a bit, obviously.

The Pinguinos were unsurprisingly on top for much of the game, with forwards Fede and Sara combining well on one line and Paolo and Oscar piling on the pressure on the other line. It was the Pinguinos that went ahead first, Juan skating up from defence and laying off the puck for Fede to open the scoring. By the half-way mark of the first half the home side had tied the game up, but Paolo put the Pinguinos up for good shortly afterwards on a pass from Oscar. Fede made it 3-1 after a nice passing move with Dani and Javi and then Dani made it 4-1 firing home a rebound at the half-time buzzer.

In the second period the Pinguinos turned up the pressure, but with fewer results as the Las Rozas keeper pulled off a string of saves. However, in the end the goaltender was powerless to stop Javi marking into an open goal after a perfect pass from Fede. Oscar rounded off the scoring with his first goal for the Pinguinos on a pass from Javi.

Stats: Fede 2+1, Javi 1+2, Dani 1+1, Oscar 1+1, Paolo 1+0, Juan 0+1, Sara 0+1

***: Fede, Juan, Sara 

Pinguinos 23 - Madrid Patina B 0

Liga Senior B, Las Rozas, 13th November

This game was moved to Las Rozas after the problems we have had playing in Barrio del PIlar recently. No, not because the rink is crap (we all know it is), but because the last two games were rained out and we had five games at home before Christmas. Going into the game Madrid Patina looked to be struggling in their first season in the league, losing 14-2 the week before, but the Pinguinos were not expecting to dominate as much as they did. It did not help Madrid Patina's cause that the Pinguinos played their most controlled game of the season and after early goals sapped the visitors confidence and the result was never in doubt. Still, Madrid Patina showed a lot of fighting spirit and did not let their heads go down despite the basketball score that the Pinguinos were running up on the scoreboard. 

The Pinguinos began the game with James and Dani on the top line and defencemen Michael (with Stefan) and Aritz (with Txema) playing forward too. It did not take long for their early pressure to pay off, with Stefan feeding James for the opening goal with less than three minutes gone. Forty seconds later on the same shift Daniel set up James for the second and half a minute later Michael found Stefan from behind the net to put the Pinguinos 3-0 up.

After that Madrid Patina were pinned in their own half for the remainder of the period. Juan Carlos did not face a single shot and in fact the visitors did not cross the half way line in control of the puck until the second half. Txema made it 4-0 taking advantage of a goaltender error and two minutes later Michael collected Martin's slapshot and picked out Stefan in front of goal again for the fifth. David P. scored the sixth, ghosting in on the end of a nice passing move with Stefan, David J. hit the post and then made it 7-0 with a slapshot with five minutes to go in the period. Ten seconds later it was 8-0 as Martin fired one home from a face-off and Aritz rounded off the scoring in the period from the slot.

Madrid Patina started the second period off strongly and Oscar was much busier than Juan Carlos, but at the other end the goals kept going in. James hit the crossbar and then made it 10-0 with his hat-trick goal, Txema netted one shooting between his legs two minutes into the period, and then Martin, David J and Txema scored in just over a minute and half to make it 14-0. At the other end Oscar made a good save, but the Pinguinos did not let up and James scored twice on the same shift to make it 16-0. 

Txema was next to score two in a row, putting in Jose's rebound and then squeezing another one home five minutes later. Stefan got his hat-trick goal, firing home a misplaced Madrid Patina pass, and then Michael hit the post after being put clean through by Stefan. With 8 minutes to go David P. made it 20-0 and Daniel netted number 21 off a pass from Martin. Txema added his sixth (and his fifth of the period) before Jose put the icing on the cake with a goal just as buzzer sounded, the second time that has happened this season.

Stats: Txema 6+0, James 5+1, Stefan 3+2, Martin 2+3, David P. 2+1, David J. 2+1, Daniel 1+4, Jose Manuel 1+3, Aritz 1+2, Michael 0+4

***: David P., David J., Stefan

Pinguinos 4 - Speedwheels 2 (TBC) 

Liga Senior B, the crap rink at the Polideportivo Vicente del Bosque, 6th November

After last week's game against Tres Cantos was rained off, there was more of the same for the visit of the Speedwheels. Clouds threatened at the start of the game and after a light shower stopped play mid-way through the first half, it started to rain more seriously five minutes into the second half. The game will have to be resumed at a later date with the Pinguinos 4-2 ahead.

With the last minute withdrawals of Txema and Aritz the Pinguinos managed 10 skaters, with David Juan, James and Iakes making their season debuts, and David Peñaranda making his Pinguinos debut. The Pinguinos made a good start with Daniel and James forcing a save out of the visiting keeper, but an early goal by Speedewheels put the home side on the back foot and for the first five minutes Oscar had to be at his best. The Pinguinos played better after a time out to reshuffle the defensive lines and James quickly tied the score up, putting in a rebound off the keepers left pad. The Pinguinos grew in confidence and began to dominate the game. Gregorio hit the crossbar before Daniel finished off a beautiful passing move with James by sweeping the puck into the empty net. David Peñaranda made it 3-1 with a debut goal from the point. The Pinguinos outshot Speedwheels 12-6 after the time out and fully deserved their lead. 

With 8 minutes to go Martin was called for a penalty to Martin, which the Pinguinos had almost killed off when it began to rain. The game was stopped for 15 minutes and after the restart Speedwheels came out with renewed purpose and again Oscar had to face lots of shots. Despite this it was the Pinguinos that scored first with David Peñaranda and Gregorio combining to set up Stefan for another beautifully worked goal. Immediately afterwards the Speedwheels got the goal their pressure deserved, but this only inspired the Pinguinos to pile on the pressure as the period ended. James hit the post, Daniel couldn't quite connect with the puck with the goal open and the Speedwheels keeper pulled off the save of the year to deny Daniel again.

After the break there was time for just five minutes play and then the heavens opened for good ... TBC

Shots: Pingunos 28 - Speedwheels 25

Stats: James 1+1, David P. 1+1, Stefan 1+1, Daniel 1+0, Gregorio 0+2, David J 0+1, Martin 0+1

***: 

Linces 6 - Pinguinos 2

Liga Senior B, Aranjuez, 16th October

Newcomers take no prisoners.

First game of a new season and the Pinguinos had the dubious honour of being the first victims of the new Aranjuez team, a team that is destined to be playing Senior A next year. Although the Pinguinos held their own in a finely balanced first period, the Linces ought-played and out-hit the Pinguinos in the second period. The Pinguinos arrived armed with nine skaters, but were reduced to just six skaters by the end of the game as the excesses of the home side took their toll.

Thie game was pretty even in the first period. The locals got on the board first, scoring off a rebound and the Pinguinos thought they had tied it up shortly after 

Stefan

 put the puck in the net. But the Linces moved pretty smartly to retrieve the puck out of the goal line and the referee waved the goal off (fun fact, that's now FOUR illegal/missed goals 

this 

referee has cost

 us 

in the last two games

 he's controlled

). And instead of tying the game up, the Penguinos went 2-0 down when Aritz's errant pass went off the goal post and fell perfectly to the stick of a Lince. 

Martin, Txema, Daniel and Gregorio all had shots stopped before Gregorio picked up a loose puck and slid it past the keeper to pull a goal back for the Pinguinos before the break. 

The second period was all Linces and they moved the puck around well as the Pinguinos tired. Oscar stopped chance after chance before Aranjuez finally broke through, and then the home team had a large slice of luck when a hopeful shot took a colossal rebound off a defender and looped over Oscar to make it 4-1. Aritz got his first senior goal, finishing off a textbook give and go with Txema that caught the keeper out of position, but the Linces made it 5-2 on the very next shift, and then the Pinguinos started falling like flies. First 

a Lince wrecked Martin's knee by charging him against the boards (no penalty), then 

Michael went off with an egg-sized bruise after blocking a shot, and finally Txema was left semi-conscious by an elbow to the head (no penalty). Matt moved into defence for what was left of the game as the Pinguinos limited their losses.

Stats: Gregorio 1+0, Aritz 1+0, Txema 0+1

***: Juan Carlos, Oscar, Aritz

Pinguinos 7 - Walkyrias 3

Amistoso, the crap rink at the Polideportivo Vicente del Bosque, October

The Pinguinos evened up their pre-season results with an entertaining 7-3 home win against CPL W. The Pinguinos lent the visitors Luis and Alvaro and got off to a good start when Daniel found Matt with a cross-rink pass and Matt put the home side 1-0 up. James and Txema formed a good partnership up front and James scored twice from Txema's passes as the Pinguinos raced to a 3-0 lead. The Walkyrias pulled one back, but then James put the Pinguinos 4-1 ahead with his hat-trick goal, again with an assist from Txema. The period ended with Matt having  good shot saved.

In the second period James put the Pinguinos 5-1 ahead before the Walkyrias had the best period of the game, putting the Pinguinos under a lot of pressure. Daniel put the Pinguinos 6-1 up and then the Walkyrias were forced to play five minutes without their goaltender. The visitors raised their game, to such an extent that the Pinguinos were not even able to get a shot off. The Walkyrias then pulled a goal back before two goals from James made it 8-2 and the Walkyrias rounded off the scoring with a well-taken individual goal.  

Stats: James 6+0, Matt 1+1, Daniel 1+1, Txema 0+3, David J 0+1

***: Er, James, maybe, Txema, Matt