The Ballad of Mr. Munce

Interesting night tonight on the frozen pond in Reading. I was attending the Royals' home opener vs. Trenton. About 1/2 way through the game, our star goalie got freight-trained by an opposition forward, and had to be carried off the rink. On came our backup, a 2nd or 3rd year player named Munce. Well, as the second period ended, we had a 3-1 lead. A gentleman who was sitting in my row had come back with a few souveniers, and sat down to me and asked if I attend many Royals games. I told him of my past season ticket experience, etc., and asked him in return. He said that this was his first, that he and his wife were down from Missauga, ON to watch their son play. Turns out, their son was the backup goalie. So we talked through the whole intermission, and got on rather well. As the players came out for the 3rd, we stopped our conversation, and he went back to sitting with his wife, about 4 seats away from me.

The 3rd started out pretty well, as we scored again and went up 4-1. Munce was playing well, and I was really happy for his dad. But as the period went on, things started to change. Munce let in a pretty tough shot with about 9 left, to cut the lead to 2. Still not too bad. 2 goals at home late in the game... However, with about 2 and change left, he let in a 3rd goal which was fairly soft. I could barely stand to sneak a peak over to dad, but still, hey, we had a goal lead and it was now VERY late in the game. 11 seconds later, a long shot which may or may not have ticked off a forward's stick found the back of the net AGAIN. Now it was 4-4 and the natives were restless. I sat there and thought of how hard it must be for a father to go through this, but still, we had OT to make it right. Despite having a powerplay in OT, the game ended up tied after the extra session. So on to shootouts. Well now Mr. Munce was on the edge of his seat. The kid would live or die with the one on one's. We shot first. Miss. Trenton's first went in. Dad was stunned. No more goals until our LAST hope, and we finally got one! All Munce had to do was stop one final shot and it would go into sudden death penalty shots. But alas, with dad on the edge of his seat and the whole stadium holding their breath.....Munce couldn't come up with it. Final score, Trenton 5 - Reading 4. Dad and mom were speechless. I felt horrible, but I still managed to go over and tell him it was nice to meet him, and good luck with the season. I left feeling sucker punched. Not b/c my team lost, but because I met a good man who just watched his son fail in front of 7215 people (a sellout crowd). I'm sure Munce will have his good days, but as a father, it was one of the most excrutiating things I've seen in a long time.

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