"Hall Pass" - The Official Ironmen Blog of Ryan Hall

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Back in the Hunt

Hello Ironmen fans, I hope everyone is doing well this week. Crazy game this past weekend. To recap the Ironmen pulled off an absolute must win beating the Milwaukee Wave 15-12 in overtime. In my opinion the score really doesn't represent the game all that well. I thought for the first three quarters we ran Milwaukee out of the Prudential Center. The fourth quarter was a different story. From the stands, it looked as though Milwaukee was playing with a certain desperation that wasn't present in the previous quarters. With that being said, we had plenty of opportunities to put the game out of reach but in any case Milwaukee was able to creep back into the game and tie it up. With two minutes and change we gave up a critical blue card. Milwaukee had a perfect chance to go ahead with less than two minutes in the game. Our power play defense team did a great job sliding and blocking shots killing off their power play and forcing the game into overtime. In overtime the Ironmen went back to business scoring in just 27 seconds. Lucio crushed a ball just out of the reach of a diving Vorberg.

So what does all this mean?? This was an absolute must win for us. Now we are only a 1/2 game behind Milwaukee and a game and a 1/2 behind Detroit with one game in hand on both teams. Not only do we have a game on both teams but three out of our last four games are at home. It will still be a tough challenge in the remaining four games but its comforting to know that we control our own destiny. This upcoming weekend is as big if not more than last weekend. We play Detroit Friday at home and then travel to play Milwaukee on Sunday. The team enjoyed the win on Sunday but are now back to business and refocused to take on Detroit. We look forward to seeing everyone Friday night at the Rock for a 7:30 kickoff....

On a side note, I know all of you have been following the Syracuse Orange in the NCAA tournament. They have won their first two games and are now in the sweet 16 against a tough Oklahoma sooner squad. So this is a VERY important weekend to say the least ha! Look forward to seeing everyone on Friday night!! Go Ironmen!

posted by NJ Ironmen Defender Ryan Hall # 7:36 AM 1 Comments

Friday, March 13, 2009

Geatest game ever!!!

Last nights game between my alma mater Syracuse and the University of Connecticut was easily the greatest college basketball game in history. For those of you who didn't watch or have been living under a rock today let me just fill you in... This was the quarter final of the big east tournament in which #20 Syracuse faced off against their big east rival #4 Connecticut. Both teams are projected to make it into the NCAA tournament and in an earlier meeting this year UCONN won 63-49. Well that was not the case last night. The Orange pulled out an unbelievable and unforgettable victory winning 127-117 in the 6th overtime! That's right 6 overtimes. I have never seen anything like this before in any sport. The initial tip off was around 9:36 pm east coast time and by the final buzzer it was 1:22 am, 3 hours and 46 minutes long! Eight players (four from each team) had fouled out and in the final overtime Syracuse had a walk-on and another player on the court who had a combined playing time this year of 21 minutes. I am not taking anything away from Connecticut because both teams played their hearts out and left nothing on the court. I can't imagine how either team had any gas left in the tank but fortunately for us we were able to squeak out the win.

Now I am blogging about this for a couple of reasons. First and foremost I went to Syracuse so obviously I am a fan. On Wednesday night I dragged Tim O'Neil, his girlfriend Liza, and my roommate Evan McNeley to the Madison Square Garden for the second round games of the big east tournament. We bought some tickets off a guy on the street and watched as Syracuse knocked out Seton Hall. I had to do some convincing in order to get Timmy, Liza, and Evan to go with me. Tim went to St. Johns so he was interested in the tournament but not so interested in seeing Syracuse play. Evan went to Oregon State and I figured he would be interested to see what a real basketball team looks and plays like. In any event everyone was willing to go and we ended up having a great time. The crappy part is that we decided to go on Wednesday instead of Thursday and ended up missing arguably one the greatest college games ever....

I also want to point out all the "haters" out there. Throughout the entire game I was receiving numerous text messages from everyone and their mother. Those who know me know that I am proud of my alma mater and support them in every sport. Usually when one of their game is televised it gives former teammates and friends the chance to do a little trash talking especially if Syracuse is losing. Its all in good fun and I have no problem firing back about whatever teams (college or pro) they support but now its my turn :) Here is a list of those who were texting me.....

Jon Ball (former teammate)
Brian Farber (former teammate)
Aaron Susi (former teammate)
My brother (can you believe that?!?)
C.J. Marentette (high school friend)
Paul Nagy (former teammate)
John Archibald (Director of Communications with the Ironmen)
Antonio Sutton (former teammate)

Just thought I would get a little shot in while I could. Next up the Orange play West Virginia in the big east semi finals. The game is tonight at 9:30 and I don't know how Syracuse is going to be able to play after last nights game but we shall see! I am planning on attending the game, so if anyone wants to meet up at MSG let me know! Go Orange!!!!!

posted by NJ Ironmen Defender Ryan Hall # 6:57 AM 0 Comments

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Big Time Win

I am sure many are aware of the result this past weekend. What a big time win for the guys to pull out a 10-8 overtime win in Detroit. If you didn't get to watch the game let me tell you that the team looked and played great. From start to finish they played hard, focused, and as a team. You can definitely tell there is a sense of urgency throughout the team. We dominated the game controlling the ball for much of the match. As in any game, there are still things we as a team can work on and this game was no exception. We had several power play opportunities in which we didn't capitalize and need to in order to put games away early. On the flip side, when Detroit went on the sixth attacker we need to be able to put the ball in the back of the open net when we get a chance and not allow Detroit to tie the game with a minute left in the match. Never the less, the team pulled out a much needed win that propelled us with in 2 1/2 games of first place.

This win has set up for another huge game this weekend as the team returns to Detroit for the second week in a row. We are building a confidence now winning 3 out of our last 4 games that could be very dangerous for other teams. The day this team starts clicking on all cylinders is the day the rest of the league should just call it a day and go home. If we can pull out another much needed win then we are only a game out of first place behind Milwaukee with all the momentum in the world.

There was a different buzz this week in practice. Unlike previous weeks, you can really tell that the team is feeling confident about our play yet we are not content. Players (other than myself) are healthy and growing more comfortable with one another everyday. It was also productive week of practice. We focused on the areas I mentioned earlier and also on our fitness. With a full week before our next match, coach decided it was a good time to work on some fitness early in the week and taper the training sessions from then on to allow us to recover.

On a side note, a familiar face was back in training this week. Tim O'Neil was here and training with us. For those of you who don't know him, Tim played some games last year in an Ironmen uniform. We actually go back several years where we played two years of outdoor in the A-league together for the Syracuse Salty Dogs. He is a great player and hopefully he cant make an instant impact on the team. Enjoy the upcoming weekend and look forward to talking with many of you soon!

posted by NJ Ironmen Defender Ryan Hall # 3:23 PM 0 Comments