To the surprise of Seamus O'Slapahan, the use of a time turner in order to be in both the IIHF and WJC tournament is going much better than expected. This great Irish technology is as fascinating as it is pretty useless. How could a 350 TPE defensive player really affect the game? Seamus is a young player still growing into his skills. At first there was worry that coming to play in the big leagues would be an embarrassment to his fine sensibilities of being a big tough guy out there on the ice. As of the writing of this important money grabbing article. Ireland sits 5th in the tournament after 9 games played. This is definitely due to drop once other teams that are close in the ranks play an equal amount of games, but Seamus is quite happy with this first foray so far.

Playing in the last pairing at this world stage, Seamus has already garnered his first assist, a positive +/-, 16 blocks, and 11 hits! That 16 blocks is good enough to put him in 3rd on the Irish team. This means that the good irish lad is putting his body on the line for his country. A quote from Seamus on this regard:
"I keep going down on these shots that other teams are putting out because I am not the fastest out there, nor am I the most accurate passer or shot, but I have two good eyes and a strong body. That and I drink at least one beer a night per shot blocked so it's an incentive to me to keep going. Me and Edge Rocks are out there every night with a nice competition on who will out block and out drink the other. Slainte!"

In the bigger picture of the IIHF world, this team is really shutting down the opposition with only 14 goals against and 26 goals for. These boys out there are playing as close to parity as can be with close fought games and going out there and shutting people down. Given a few more years and some solid recruitment, we could see Ireland start taking over the IIHF tournament and winning that coveted gold that has been forsaken to them in many years.

So lets break down the 9 games so far
Game 1: Ireland vs Great Britain (1-2 Loss)
Seamus started off strong with a great 1 shot bloc, 1 give away, and 1 take away in this debut game for the IIHF season. The kid didn't trip over his own feet and cause any own goals so I take it as a great success. He played 18 minutes and sources say it was good defensive hockey.

Game 2

Game 3: Ireland vs Japan
Got a -1 but came about with 1 blocked shot and 2 hits. Doing what I can.

Game 4: Japan rematch
No goals against this time and managed a better stat line, but we still got shutout. These Japanese players are tough! Got a shot on goal which seems interesting because that does not usually come often to me. Got a clean block and 2 hits. Tried to put in some effort. The team got 5 penalties so my time on the ice got cut to 15 minutes. I am already taking notes on how to improve our penalty kill in a few years.

Game 5: Ireland vs Germany
Shutout win for the ol Irish. 3-0 for the good guys. I came out with my one and only apple this game in the first period! Got a shot on goal and blocked another shot. I got to up these blocked shot numbers if I want to take that gold this season.

Game 6: Ireland vs Czechia
A hard loss, but I came out swinging with 3 blocked shots and 3 hits! I put the fear of O'Slapahan in these boys and girls. Also some how got a shot on goal. I swear I need glasses to hit that net.

Game 7: Ireland vs Great Britain
2 more blocked shots. Another close win by the leprechauns in green.

And more games that I do not feel like writing about. All I can say is that it has been a fun experience and everyone should take a look at IIHF because its a feature and not a offseason curse. Also they let you write media about it to get money and it is worth double the words. So in that essence I am going to talk about my experience on opening day because as far as I can tell we need to have some idea of what it is like.

Bright lights, big city. The first things I know about Germany is that they have good beer and they have good bratwurst. So obviously the entire time that they are introducing the teams and going through the anthem and talking about how great the sport of hockey is and that no other sport can compare. I am just standing there on the ice looking for the fastest way out to go get some grub. I can kind of see an exit pretty far away and if I take a deep sniff it almost smells like meat. Some people call me crazy, but I just have a nose for these things. Coach lets us know that the game against Great Britain will be pretty early in the day and that we should not go and get ourselves lost. Better yet, don't leave the arena that we were to play at. Fat chance, only so many times you get a free flight to another country to play some slap puck. Plus I always do better with a little beer in the belly. The magical slosh really brings out the color in a game and is a fancy way to dull any pain. They say it makes you sluggish, but no one said Seamus was a speedy player. I can move, but speed is for those fancy forwards flying around. The crowd winds down with an oooohhh and ahhhh and some shouts of celebration. It's good to be in a country where people enjoy the sport. It's too bad that Germany doesn't have a league of it's own that they are forced to participate and watch the SHL that's based in America. I hope this picks up in future generations and we can have separate leagues. Just not enough people looking to go pro.

The end