10 -1 or 1 - 0? Super Late Update on The GAME!!

So the PFL is over and it's time for the celebrations? Maybe since we have a good reason to.
The final game for the FireBRANDS was against the Dalat Falcons, one of the top teams in the league and basically the defending champs. Our goal points were down to -12 and we just drew our last game. The stakes were high flying and there were three ways this match could go.

OPtion Uno..
FireBrands Lose.. but put up a good fight with whatever they have left and gain some experience

OPtion Two..
FireBrands draw.. still say at the bottom of the table but at least tied two games

FireBRANDS win and move one notch up. Getting 5th overall in the league. and our cousins the frontliners 300 get a medal!! WooHOO!!

The game started with lots of anticipation as everyone was anxious to know the outcome of this match.. Will the FB previal? Will the Falcons hunt them down? OUr players started off with sparks ready to fly.. (and i mean this in a good way) everyone was excited about the game and ready to play.. our routine warmups, prep-talk and prayer before the game.

So everyone headed to the rink waiting for the whistle to blow.. the stands were full there were people who had to stand beside the seats to watch.. It was the first time in PFL history that a Div2 match had so many in attendance. THings were all pointing in an uncertain yet good looking outcome of the day or so it seemed at first.

The game started and quickly our goal was penetrated.. lets say it's the first time our goal was ever bombed first with the first lineup in field. But the effort was quickly replied by ever so vigilant forward Daniel Tan, powering up and running around the post like a vulture ready to strike and with a chance he managed to score what would be our sole goal for the game. Unfortunately it wasn't one that would hold up the scoreline to a draw.. as the Falcons were quick to react again with constant ramming on the defense. Goal after goal the number flipped and flipped on the scorecard..

The FireBRANDS were still spirited and had hopes of bringing a tie..
The condition of the key players however were in a volley.. Some of them had uneasiness and stomach problems right before the game, whether it was because of the game or some food they ate we don't know.. Another guy had slept at 4 that morning finishing his assignment and presentation.. so the lack of sleep and nutrition definitely was the cause of the puncture..
Finally the coach planned a scoring game for the key players bringing all out and putting in the kids.. we were down to 8-1 and switching between players ready to put in the line of attack but suddenly realizing the outcome.. the coach called the A-team out and let the kids play for experience.. this time we were already down to 10-1 and the kids did a great job in holding that even though they were not really conditioned for it they held up and did clear the ball many times :) Great Job to the undersized troops with oversized zealousness.

Although it ended with a 10-1 scoreline at the end.. although we lost the game, deep in our hearts.. the hearts of Fire, we felt like winners, warriors who never give up even till the end of time. because we are FireBRANDS!!!!

AND.... because we are firebrands... we have a star among us.. CONGRATULATIONS to our goalie Bryan for winning the all-star goalie award..

to read more about the game details please visit borakborak or by clicking here

The Game We Hoped To Score

So finally we had to face our counterparts in the dreaded league. Although we supported them, although we cheered for them, even though we will continue to cheer for them and hope for the best of their outcome we had to play our best against them. We had to put our mark on the table or be left to scorn.. haha well maybe not that bad but we definitely had to make a statement in this tourney as a fresh new team being ever so vigilant and persistent in the battle for pride and glory.

As our equally coached counterparts came with a massive herd of 15 players possibly, our small barn yard boys were out numbered with only 8 + 1 to face the Spartans. With a face off between two commanded team of one general the team left alone had to pick a sprite for the replacement commander. Lucky for us we had Lin Ken (which and whom we are ever so grateful for/to) giving out tips and guiding us from the spectator's stands and also cheering us on at halftime giving us whatever valuable advise that would help us in our endeavour; our road to glory!!!

With our players only down to 8 running around seem to be a lot more taxing than before. With the main man Mike from the 300 to be wary of someone had to stand between him and the net which our raging Bull, Andrew did. With Jason Ong suffering from a leg injury and our cilipadi Chan Per Yue on leave, our main line was mainly rotating in roles taking turns to move up and stay down. 20 minutes did seem to be a very long time on the court with so many calls to be aware off as we had been penalized for numerous times in one of the previous games we managed to keep it close to none but was detered by James when his stick was found to be in the goalie's crease... sad but oh well.. the team managed to keep the ball away from the goal mouth with the 2 minutes power play.

One highlight of this match would be the penalties for both teams surprisingly. Well the one against us was caused by James from the previous call.. and same was with the other team when we got our chance. Both teams had their goalies come out strong to block the shot but with our lack of experience in taking penalties the young Daniel mistakenly pulled back the ball which caused a disqualified penalty, it's part and parcel of learning this relatively new sport.

All in All it was a good game that we played and hope for the best in the next face off.
Congratulations again to the team and thanks to all our supporters, we finally have one point on the table!

Through a Spectator's Eyes

So, you've heard it from a Fireliner's view, now it's time to hear it from a fireBRANDS' supporter.
Now I may not play floorball (I'm more of a Captain Ball person, you see) or understand the game completely, but I know enough to say that today's match was definitely worth the watch (even though my favourite player, Chan Per Yue was absent from the match)!

Shall I begin with how I was "warmly" welcomed into the court by the Frontliners' Captain, Michael? Yes I think I shall.
So I walked in just behind today's Center, Andrew through the doors closest to where the players were gathered. I then continued my journey cross court to the bleachers where Joyce was seated and where Sarah Khoo was very dutifully opening the blinds? As i passed the side of the court hidden beneath the cap I stole from Le Roy, I had not noticed a floorballer practicing his shooting just beside me until I heard a rather sharp, loud whoosh-ing sound pass me just inches away from my face. Had I been a few seconds later to walk past, I would've met my fate with a floorball ball to my face.
But of course, Captain Frontliner did apologize numerous times as I stood there in shock. Lol. It was sorta funny looking at his facial expression. I think the application of "look right and left and right again before crossing" would've been much to my advantage here if I had known better!

The match only started pass 11 and the rest of the fireBRAND noise-makers were no where to be seen. First half of the match for us started with a bang with Dan scoring yet another first-goal-of-the-match, giving us the lead 1-0. Being the fireBRANDS that we are, we made the whole place a ruckus even though there were only less than 10 supporters by the bleachers..? Ohhh yeahhh, that's the fireBRANDS power right there. LOL. Anyway, the match continued and the kin cheong-ness grew as the first half ended in a 2-1 lead for us :) Oh and not forgetting our very own fireBRANDer who played for the opposing team (haha, it's better than calling you "the fireBRAND who betrayed us", Tania) who fought over the ball with Dan numerous times! It was kinda funny watching no.5 vs no.5 going after the ball. I cheered for you, Tania!!!

The rest of our usual supporters then joined us in time for the second half along with our stand in coach for the day, Linken. Poor guy probably went home without half his hearing after sitting on our side of the bleachers. Nonetheless, I'm sure our team was thankful for his guidance and for giving us supporters even more to cheer for! Linken's words to us before the second half started, "This should be an interesting second-half" (or somewhere along that line, I'm sorry I can't remember the exact words) definitely came true.

Second half of the fireBRANDS vs Frontliners match was nothing short of exciting. The heat was on at it's maximum. The supporters were full-on ready to lose their voices. The weather was getting hotter. The crowd was getting restless. The players were getting tired. The camera batteries were dying.

fireBRANDS' team went full throttle, head-on with their attacks and Bryan's goal defence was at it's peak. We were shocked at Michael's sudden half-court goal which brought the score to 2-2, but we didn't let it bring us down. I missed that shot though. I must've blinked or something. Anyway, our fireBRANDS spirit and ever famous "never say die" attitude was given a loud awakening after that shot and floorballers' engines at turbo speed.

Before we even realised it, the match had come to and end as the final whistle was sounded. And even though we didn't win, we didn't lose either, so that's good :D

So to the fireBRANDS floorballers, game well played! Though saying "well played" may be a bit of an understatement for us who are relatively new to this sport. Keep up the fireBRANDS spirit, you are the fiery floorballers, after all.

To describe your performance today in one word ;- AWESOME.

Thank you for giving us supporters a fun match to watch... and sore throats. You make us proud to be a part of the fireBRANDS :)

Signing out.-

Pictures will be added as soon as
I get my lazy self to upload them into the computer!

by Chew Yan Y

The Fireliner Speaks.

Accused of betrayal, the Firebrand/Frontliner has decided to write a personal account on the recent Frontliners 300 v Firebrands match.


I really don't know why I bothered waking up so early.

I had a healthy two hours before June'd come and fetch me (thank you june!), and I felt like practicing floorball.

Went to get the stick, and guess what? I forgot - it wasn't with me.

Pfft.

So I read Sejarah Tingkatan 4 instead. Yes, before that floorball match I so very badly and desperately wanted to win (partly so that Andrew won't have a chance to scoff at me lol).

..

Gosh the black jersey's huge. I was drowning in it.

..

The morning at Dalat started off with exchanging grins with Andrew while thinking of the repercussions of a loss.

Yup, one thing Firebrands has which Frontliners definitely lacks sometimes: a bunch of supporters.

Really, I didn't know whether to be happy or otherwise to see 'em in one awesome group in the stands.

I think the warm-up was kinda lackadaisical.

..

So the first half was pretty great, for me - at least I got to go in there (the court I mean).

Go in there and chase after that pesky fella (apple-green number 5 with Mikey's old pink stick) who basically ran everywhere.

And so it happened while I was out of court, watching from the sidelines as the ball came towards our goal - Daniel Tan taking very good advantage of the loopholes in 300's defense - and, to say the least, it was messy. Scrappy. The horrible ball-bouncing-helplessly-in-front-of-goal-as-huge-clump-of-people-try-in-vain-to-clear-it scenario.

You could see that everyone's stick was trying so desperately to clear that ball. Except for that one pink blade which kept uncannily calm until the perfect moment and...

...the pink blade slapped the ball.

And the ball went past Soon Khai, and the Firebrands supporters cheered and Daniel Tan was all smiles.

Oh crap.

What a way to start off.

The goal was nothing like the ones from the land where Henrik Quist and Swiss cheese comes from. It was messy. But still, it was a freakin' goal.

..

And after what seemed like really, really long moments, Mikey equalised, thankfully. Great job Mr Cheah.

..

And boy oh boy those Firebrands were quick and more than happy to reply, this time with a beautiful long shot from (correct me if I'm mistaken) Andrew (the big, fat (no offense! but relatively, he was?), hulking number 10) and the ball went past Khai like lightning, flying past the keeper into the top of the net.

EDIT: Sorry. Pesky (you know how he runs everywhere...) number 5 scored that goal, not Andrew.

..

So we shall skip now to the second half, when I didn't get to play, to the dismay of my adoring fans who just came from JYB. Haha.

It's okay I'm used to it. Plus firstly, I wasn't the only one and secondly, cheering from the sidelines still counts.

It was extremely excruciating waiting for an equalizer, which took like forever to come.

Even more dumbfounding was June getting sent off (from the first half, spilled over into the second) once for I-don't-know-what, secondly for walking over to the sidelines once her 2 minutes was over, thirdly for the same reason as the second time. It's okay, we would've done worse without you, June.

Mikey was placed in defense with June/Roselyn backing him up, and Megan centre, and Julian/Tristan/Kenneth as forwards.

And the Coach's (who I forgot to mention lost his voice so Kuan Yang did most of the shouting from the stands instead) plan finally paid off, well into the second half, when one of Mike's terrific long shots found its way past Bryan.

What a relief.

Mikey looked like he'd just won the lottery.

Andrew won't have much scoffing rights after all.

..

That was it for the match, and I wasn't happy, obviously, cuz firstly I wanted to win against Firebrands and secondly, like Carrard said, most of our hopes for a medal went up in flames.

..


Conclusion?

I love being a Frontliner. Darnnn I'm gonna miss you guys.

But still.

I'm a Firebrand. And that's that.

(And yes, it was hard but I've thanked God for the draw, even though I don't like the measly one point when we could've gotten two, but ah well, give thanks for everything.)


One last note: Unfortunately Andrew still managed to scoff mildly at me and I had to endure countless references to the floorball match later that night. Pfft. Though, I admit, as a Firebrand, I'm happy we (Firebrands) got a draw. As a Frontliner though, I'm not satisfied with the draw we (Frontliners) got.

posted by tania loke

The Account of James as Stand-In Coach for the day.

FireBrands vs Ztec Phoenix

3 – 6

The Game of games we are to face. Placed at the top of the table the phoenix team have a greater advantage and experience on the court. I was faced with sleepless nights and distressing pressure on my part. The news came two nights before the game. To take note I was already trying to figure out what can the team do without a coach and not only that, the coach will be against us when we face the FL300. Then the coach let in the bomb.. “I won’t be around this sat.. coz of national training” my heart sank.. I was feeling desperate and now all hope is lost.. I couldn’t sleep for almost 2 weeks with the thought of facing 300 and now this.. the top team in the league. It was beyond belief or my imagination of worse things to happen in my sporting life. I was given the responsibility of taking over the coaching role of this team in a sport I hardly played for only once in the whole year against a more experienced team and this wasn’t a sport I’d come to personalize as I had with American football. Still I was already given the word which to me felt like weighed a ton on my already sleepless nights, on that night I couldn’t sleep till about 3 a.m. The only remedy I could think of was to somehow do something that would get rid of this feeling. So I called on our faithful goalie, Bryan the man who faithfully came to train with me for two days before the game Daniel and Gary were also there supporting and training at the same time. I really thank God for these two young men.

Finally the morning came I arose from my sleep feeling somewhat better from the past two days of extra effort training and letting out of my pumping adrenaline; I was calm and excited at the same time. I was confident that I could bring the team through. Gulp down a glass of creatine, went to Khaleel for breakfast with Daniel and Gary, and went on to the battle field or skills and mental health. The team was there early. I was preparing myself mentally and also thinking of what to say to boost the team. The younger boys were running around having fun with the ball that we split in half during training due the amount of beatings it took against the concrete wall. I was happy to see their carefree hearts as well as wanting them to get their head in the game that it’s no hobby thing that we’re doing out here but a competition that we are participating in.

I pulled myself together as I geared up myself with my guards(wrist, elbow, finger) to suppress the minor strains and injuries I sustained from the training the last 2 days. Got the team together for warm up, told them about the formation and play routes that were important to minimize the opponent’s score and gave some pep-talk before it all began. Alex prayed and we were off into the arena. My first team: Daniel, Per Yue, James(myself), Alex and Andrew. Everything felt still and quiet as I walked to face the opponent captain, I could almost hear my own heartbeat as we greeted each other somewhat silently, the wait for the whistle felt forever. I could almost laugh but nothing came out. It was so immense, thinking “c’mon ref we’re both ready, blow that thing already!!” As soon as the whistle went off everything passed like a whiff. Players running around the court chasing for the ball or guarding their assigned players. I was observing my line as I was hunting for the man coming with the ball hoping my team mates stayed in their course and thankfully they did. The ball went up and down the court swiftly, we were pressuring them as our forwards were trying to find an open space while our defense was also in the volley of tipping away the ball with our blades. After a series of attempts finally our team scored the first goal of the day. Even against a far superior team we managed to land the ball behind the net first 0:49 seconds into the game which came as a total surprise but quickly we settled down and played on and went on to a reverse in the score line as they returned us the favor 3 times over and the score was 3 – 1. Time was running short in the first half and we kept on pushing the line and trying to hold their offense away suddenly the ball was in their zone and unexpectedly a goal, for us; Per Yue our undersized forward line put the ball in their net the second time. The team, the fans, all were ecstatic, it was unbelievable as the Phoenix’s goal had only been broken once and by Dalat which was also a very good team last year’s reigning champion. We’ve made the score line close again. In minutes the halftime whistle blew, we were relieved at that, it meant a breather for us after running around the whole first half chasing scores.

After the first half and a close fight for scores at 3 – 2 the team deserved a pat on their backs. We all took a well deserved break and prepared for the next half with hopes of getting in more goals or preventing the other team from doing too much damage after seeing their spirits ready to give us a heck of a run. The ball rolled and I tried for a run for goal as soon as the ball left the face off but was met by 2 defensive players (=. They then kept the line of defense busy and being the centre trying to cover up for holes ended up taking shots from their forwards blades numerous times only to let one in the ball hit my foot and skipped over Bryan’s hands. The Phoenixes were keen on firing more shots at our goal, but our determined forward line were also eager to land as many shots as we can, so leaving the defensive player and the center behind Daniel managed to give their defense another run and this time managed to land another shot in the back of the net with the score now 3 – 5 and minutes left to go, we conceded another goal but tried to keep a balanced attack and defense routine however, the formation which held the team this far finally broke and the last score of the day was shot in by the Phoenixes. We were now playing to keep them from scoring anymore shots and then the whistle blew to our relief of holding up anymore, it is finished as I quote (=. Even though we physically the match in terms of score, we felt like winners inside. It was a great achievement for a team totally new to this game and the league to have maintained a 3 – 0 win and not more from the league leaders who only did the same to the two previous teams they faced.

OH and I finally got my sleep back!!

*taken from James personal account.

PFL - The League

Our first time as an official club joining the Penang Floorball League. Seen as the underdogs or rather the newbies to this league dominated by clubs that have been established at least 2 years or more. With the lack of experience the first game was a havoc as we saw a 8 - 0 defeat by Contact-Bullets who gave everything they had on a bunch of boys only supported by 2 older(in age) players. The result was devastating as we didn't expect a whopping and so much damage expescially by the underdogs of last year's league. Some of the players were benched due to lack of attendance for training so the young team literally in age and experience had to play with two players short of attendance.

But our spirits were not dampened by the fact that our first game went down the slope. Instead the boys got together to work harder for the next round and this time around more attendance was seen in the training sessions, much more effort was put in to picking up the game and teamwork. We were put up to face another experienced team in the league; the Z-tec Griffins. With only our past results to hold us in view of what the possibilities might be we hoped not to let the scoreline go any further. We managed to gain the first score in the first half just minutes into the game and then for the rest of the time left we conceded two goals. With Bryan our faithful keeper tending the goals we were able to keep the other team from bombarding the net and almost got a tie when our young aspiring forward Per Yue took a shot at the goal but was unlucky not to score as the ball landed right on the line in front of the net. the game ended with the score 1 - 2 against us.

The third game was a challenge. The real challenge for the team. Coachless and facing the giants of the league. Currently at the top of the table were the Z-tec Pheonix team, their previous games were against their comrades the Griffins and the defending champions Dalat with both games ending with the score aggregate of 3-0 each. Out team pitched at the bottom of the table were in surmountable pressure to stay afloat in this fight for our pride. With coach Jason delegating the job to James, the team somehow managed to pull together with a lot of persistance in each and everyone. All spirits were high and we didn't care too much of what was going on around. Everyone focused on what we had to do. As the game started, we were again the first to score only 49 seconds into the game. And of course the guy that landed the ball in was again Daniel Tan who scored the sole goal in the previous game. Then we were down to 3-1, the crowd asked for one more and this time Per Yue managed to land a goal. The first half ended 3-2. We managed to score another one in the second half as they pounded our defense on and on. the final scoreline 3 - 6 against us.