And damn, did they shred ice! On April 5, 2020, RFCP established a formal ice hockey season within the boundaries of the army itself. The first of an expected series of several games was played between the Red Team and Blue Team, which renamed themselves the Tigers and the Sharks, respectively. That tigers are tropical animals and sharks cannot breathe oxygen are irrelevant matters.
Although within the traditions of worldly ice hockey, some rules were adjusted for play on Club Penguin.
Before face off, teams also must respect starting boundaries.
Teams were created by responding to polling in the RFCP server: Red and Blue (the two colors offering hockey uniforms on Club Penguin). That Commander Prior chose red is no surprise–his second favorite U.S. team is the Capitals. His first is the Hershey Bears.
From there, team group chats were made, names were selected, and captains were elected. The Sharks chose Pixie as captain, and, after offering others the position, Prior eventually accepted his teammates’ request that he serve as team captain as well. Anilia agreed to be the Tigers team manager, and Opino claimed goalie.
Red also assigned numbers:
The blog spoke to Pixie for an inside look into the blue team’s establishment as well.
BLOG: So tell us who the RFCP Sharks are.
PIXIE: Well first of all, I think you should check your sources, haha. We’re the Recon Sharks, and we’re the RFCP hockey team clad in blue!
BLOG: We’re using abbreviations to be as brief as your victory str–I mean, we’re asking non-biasedly. Give us insight into the teambuilding process that took place in your group chat.
PIXIE: Hah! Well, our group chat was pretty quick to go right into choosing a name. I’ll admit, it took us a bit before we finally decided on the Recon Sharks. Lots of ideas for the team name flew around, including Coolj’s idea of calling the team the DNC in order to rile the rival captain up a bit [Prior is a vocal “white upper-middle class male Reublican”]. Every member of the Sharks was eager to step up and help out, which I think is one of the reasons why our teamwork was so stellar. Sillabye offered herself up as goalie, which she played beautifully, and from there it was pretty easy for me to come up with a game plan for positioning and strategy. We also came up with a team chant: “SHARK BAIT OOH HA HA.” I think it helped boost our team spirit quite a bit.
For almost an hour, the teams strategized and prepared for the big opening game. The red team even drew up plays.
At the referee’s whistle, the game blasted off. Prior lunged for the puck and hit it before Pixie could steal. The shot bounced off the rim, evoking a growl from the frustrated center. Teammates swept in to jumble the puck to and fro from there. While the red team executed a breakneck offense in both periods, blue owes their win to goalie Sillabye, who staved off a remarkable six shots from red. The final score was 20-17 blue.
We asked Prior how he felt about the first game.
“I had a f***ing blast.” He grinned at us, which was surprising given the Commander doesn’t like to lose [see Rowan’s open letter #5]. “My heart was pounding, my palms sweated, and I smiled like a moron the entire time.”
It was nice to see the Commander so breathless and happy. We checked in with Pixie as well.
BLOG: The first game was aggressive and close. What do you expect for the rest of the season?
PIXIE: The first game went exactly as I figured it would. From knowing the Tiger’s Captain Prior Bumble, I expect him to use similar strategies for the rest of the season. As for the Sharks, we don’t plan on backing down. You won’t be needing to use abbreviations to be brief for long.
BLOG: We heard you and Prior, uh…met up? After the game? What was that about?
PIXIE: Oh yes, we did, ahem, “meet up.” A certain bet that was made needed to be seen through.
BLOG: Huh.
PIXIE: I won’t be commenting on it any more than that.
And what should fans expect from the rest of the season? Well, the teams themselves are tasked with deciding how many games will make up this series, and that meeting has not yet occurred. A Stanley Cup of sorts is anticipated to be awarded at the end. Best of all, fans can tune in to the RFCP YouTube channel for recordings of all the games.
Ice hockey is a sport sacred to penguins everywhere thanks to the rink on Club Penguin’s home island. But Commander Prior thinks the sport can become another sacred, unique cultural trait of RFCP itself.
“We’re not interested in playing other armies here,” said Prior. “Red, Blue, we’re all RFCP. Ice hockey is my favorite sport, and I’m thrilled to be playing it competitively right here in-house.”
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