Coupe de France

Last night was our first game in La Coupe de France as we skated to a 3-2 win over Strasbourg in front of 1000 screaming Epinal fans! A little background on this tournament for those who are unfamiliar, La Coupe de France is not just played in hockey, but in most sports, with Soccer "Football" being the most popular. This involves all the teams in France, from our Elite League, Div 1, Div 2 and even a few Div 3 teams. The first round is played by region and depends on which team you draw. Last year we drew a Div 2 team, Mulhouse, and smoked them 10-0, but this year we drew Strasbourg, who plays in our Elite League and already beat us this season. In this single game elimination, you often see some big teams fall, like first place Briancon losing last night to 10th place Dijon. Anything can happen in just 1 game.

Two years ago that was the case with our small budget, small town Epinal Dauphins, who knocked off some pretty good teams on their road to the Coupe de France Finals in Paris-Bercy. They eventually lost to a much stronger and much richer Angers team 4-1 in front of 14,000 fans. I was not a part of that year's team but hope to be a part of this one as we strongly believe we can make it to the Finals in Bercy.

Last night we got off to a rough start, already without our Captain and leading scorer Jan Plch due to injury, we were scored on in the first minute. In Jan's absence, I was the captain for the game, which was an honour for me as Plch is a great leader, trying to fill his void for that game would be a tough task. Also out of the line up for the 3rd straight game was Caicco serving his last game of his suspension for "allegedly" kicking a Rouen player.

Trailing 1-0 after the first period, the hometown favorite Tarik Chipaux put away a rebound on the power play to tie it, then a few minutes later I sprung Jan Simko for a breakaway goal to put us up 2-1. Actually it wasn't a breakaway until he turned on the jets and blew past the defenseman. This guy is the fastest skater in the league and wouldn't be far off many of the great skaters in the NHL. He played in 2 World Junior Championships for Team Slovakia in 97 and 98 and in his second year he played along side NHL star Marian Hossa when the games were held in Finland. Ok back to the game....it was a penalty filled game, both teams had numerous power play opportunities, we killed off a 2 minute 5 on 3 late in the second to keep the lead. In the 3rd period, just as time was expiring on our power play, I got a pass from Simko at the blue line and wristed a quick shot through a great screen from our big Finnish winger Ilpo Salmivirta!

Strasbourg came close with a late goal but we played a great defensive game and killed off a 6 on 4 advantage in the last 2 minutes to prevail with a 3-2 victory and eliminate them from La Coupe de France. After the game our team president came into the room and told me that there was a fan who had a birthday present for me! Today is my actual birthday but we played last night so she brought it to the game. Candice, who is 12 or 13 years old and sporting #15 Gervais jersey gave me great bottle of champagne to celebrate my birthday with! She has been a loyal fan and I can often hear her cheering in the stands with the rest of "Les Supporteurs." Thank you so much!!!

Well I don't want to spend too much time here as it is my birthday, but stay tuned for tomorrow's edition of the Perfect (birth) Day!!!