The Battle of the Five Armies was symbolically re-enacted
this past weekend at the Hyde Park Arena, with the Wargs (Waterloo
Wolves), Elves/Men (St Catharine's Warriors), and Eagles (Monroe County Eagles) battling it out on the ice.
Rounding out the five armies were the arbitrarily appointed "Dwarves" of Onondaga[1] and "Orcs" of Clarence.[2],[3]
As in the stories, the Dwarves (Onondaga) settled into a commanding position early in the tournament (winning 9-0 against the Eagles, apparently failing to understand whose side they were on), while the Warriors and Orcs were fighting each other to a standstill on the ground outside the Mountain (a 2-2 draw). The Wargs entered the fray a little late, going to a first defeat against the Warriors (2-1). They managed to regroup for their next attack, however, taking the fight to the defensively-positioned Dwarves (3-3), while the Orcs dealt another blow to the Eagles (4-0).
A match against the two lowest ranked armies, the Wargs and the Eagles resulted in a knockout blow to the Eagles (8-0 scoreline, Wargs over Eagles), who were the first to exit the battlefield. It appeared that unfortunately, by not following the script and waiting until late in the battle to arrive, the Eagles found themselves a little outmatched against fresher opponents. But they fought hard, especially defensively (many shots were saved by a valiant goaltender).
The next matchups saw the Wargs facing the Orcs and the Warriors of Elves and Men facing the Dwarves. (Presumably this was to determine the sides to represent good and evil in the final reckoning.) As it turned out the Dwarves' defensive positioning remained a significant asset, and they handily fended off the Warriors who had been pressing at the gates (4-0). And the Wargs triumphed over their Orcish friends with stellar defence from the whole team, and some impressive offensive blows resulting from a couple of smart moves (2-0 final).
That the final matchup as a repeat battle between the Dwarves and the Wargs, after their previous encounter had ended in a draw. The Dwarves had used their excellent defence to their advantage throughout the tournament - indeed, in their previous three battles, only the Wargs had managed to breach their defences, with shutouts in the other two matchups. The Wargs, on the other hand, had used speed and surprise attacks to sow confusion in the ranks of their opponents. And indeed, the matchup was incredibly close-fought, with first blood going to the Dwarves at around the half way mark, followed by a return blow from the Wargs about 5 minutes later. Going into the closing period, the match was entirely even. But with about 5 minutes left in the battle, the Wargs dealt their opponents a second blow, to take the lead. The Dwarves realised that their defence was not going to be enough to win the war, and for the last minutes of the game abandoned their last line of defence[4] to put all their forces onto the attack. Unfortunately for them, the Wargs took advantage of this, slipping behind the attacking forces to launch two more successful raids past the gates of Erebor.
Ultimately, the outcome of this version of the Battle of the Five Armies was a bit of a deviation from the author's original ending, with the forces of evil[5] triumphing over those of good. Although it looked quite decisive from the final result (4-1) in reality it was incredibly tight, and extremely hard played by both sides.
Despite a number of outstanding individual contributions, the main victories were achieved with smart team plays, as well as an ability to stand firm and hold out the goals despite being two or more men down, on occasion (mostly right at the end of the games, for most entertainment for the fans). Some individual highlights were: one player scooping the puck out from behind the goalie just before it went over the line (66); a beautiful bar down shot from a fast-attacking defenceman (7); a magnificent behind-the-body glove save (31); a first shutout of the season against tough opponents (33); a couple of brilliant plays passing the puck to a team-mate and before finding a position in front of the net for the return pass (66 and 5).
[1] Technically the Thunder, but Dwarves are pretty close. Certainly, though, the team bore little physical resemblance to Dwarves, to say the least.
[2] An even greater stretch for a team actually named Mustangs, but you can't have a Battle of the Five Armies without them, and this is the residual side. No aspersions on the character of the team intended at all.
[3] Also, purists, yes the Eagles are not technically considered one of the Five Armies, with Elves and Men counting separately, but since those two co-operated throughout and the Eagles were clearly pivotal, this is a canonical error. Please don't send hate mail.
[4] Ie, pulled their goalie.
[5] Not really, again, poetic licence!