Moral Victories

Is there such a thing as a moral victory? Or just tough losses?

Last night, OYS's hockey team played an away game at a local school. In their previous encounter, a home game, OYS's team (OYST) trounced the crosstown rival (CR) 8 - 0. OYST also went into the game with a record of 8 - 0, outscoring their opponents by the aggregate score of about 80 to 3.

OYST quickly scored two goals and it looked like another rout in the making. CR then changed goalies and, remarkably, did not allow another goal the entire game. While OYST totally dominated and peppered the goailie with at least 50 shots on goal, they either missed totally wide open nets or could not get the puck by the new goalie. (OYS himself had at least 5 shots on goal and hit the crossbar while killing a penalty). OYST got increasingly frustrated but was never really threatened and the game ended 2 - 0.

Is this a moral victory for CR? While the players on CR should feel good about their effort, at the end of the day OYST is now 9 - 0 and CR suffered another loss.