In 1997 the Aces were a struggling bunch of young upstarts trying to find their way in an oldtimers’ hockey league that had been around more than 20 years already.
That same year, NASA launched its Cassini-Huygens probe to Saturn, some 1.2 Billion kilometers from earth. To get there, it would need to execute a ‘slingshot’ maneuvre around Venus (twice), the Earth and finally Jupiter. Skimming perilously close to each of these planets, the probe would use their gravitational fields to increase its speed in order to reach Saturn by 2010.
In 2017 the Cassini mission came to a spectacular end, with the little probe hurtling into Saturns atmosphere and burning up as it transmitted its last data back to earth.
In 2017 the Black Aces embarked on a mission of their own, as they began their attempt to capture an unprecedented 6th straight league title. In order to succeed, Aces engineers decided to execute their own slingshot maneuvre, using the black hole of Last Place to provide the gravity assist needed to propel the aging team into the finals once more.
As the team fell through the standings throughout the season, what looked to their opponents like failure was really just the Aces gathering momentum. With 2 games left in the season a software glitch sent them off course with 7-4 win over the Battlers, but they were thankfully able to course correct in their latest game, a 5-3 loss to the first place Wyse Guys. This “loss” enabled them to regain their lost momentum and unless something unforeseen happens in the final game of the regular season, the Aces should have all the momentum they need as they swing around the COTHL basement singularity and head for the playoffs.
Aces’ Chief Astrophysicist Pete S summed up the mission by saying “It’s a bunch of really big numbers, like math and shit. You probably wouldn’t understand.”
Like space stuff? Check out the Cassini site at NASA. Image credit: NASA JPL from their collection of cool retro mission posters.
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