Goalie magazines rule, too

Finally, after five days off, I got to play today. Unfortunately, I didn't approach this morning's open hockey session with my usual gusto, though I did learn something important. When team mates visit Toronto, they bring back a big box of Tim Horton's doughnuts. Ok... that's not what I really meant, but it's pretty important.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'd just received a few goalie magazines in the mail, which kept my brain in the net this week if not my body. I'm not sure why, but I got two issues of The Goalie News within a few days of each other; one of which is the current issue (featuring Chris Mason) and the other the issue that came out right after the draft (featuring J.S. Giguere). I'm not sure why I didn't get the draft issue when it came out, but the important thing is that I got it. Because as much as I loved the feature article on Giggy (who seems like a really all-around great guy in addition to being a force in net), the technical article on lateral movement made a light bulb go off in my brain.

When I took that lesson with Goalie Coach Dude, we concentrated on very basic things like t-pushes and shuffles; both of which are used for moving laterally while standing. But this article focused on a few different techniques for lateral movement while you're already down in your butterfly. And it hit me suddenly- I have no idea how I move laterally, if at all, while I'm down on the ice. I decided today would be a good time to pay attention to that, at the very least, before trying to implement the things the article talked about.

And whaddya know... I counted at least three goals that got past me because I actually don't move laterally while in the down position. I kind of dive or throw my leg out as far as I can. I think that comes from learning on roller first; where you really can't slide laterally on your pads. This opens up a whole new level of the game for me, but I feel like I need to take it slow. I think I need to practice these maneuvers on my own first, before trying to use them in a game. I tried a few times today and couldn't get enough edge on my skate to push off, or enough power in my legs. I'm not sure which, but I'll figure it out.

I'm not sure there could be anything more boring to a non-goalie-freak than pondering the differences and benefits of knee shuffles, butterfly slides and (my personal immature favorite) backside pushes. But my mind has been mulling over them for days, and I actually feel kind of dumb for not realizing this sooner. But I'll just blame the roller. That sounds good, right? As I learned firsthand after going back to roller after several games of ice, you just don't slide on concrete. Not even a little bit.

By the way, the Hawks' first playoff game of the summer season is tomorrow night. WOOO HOOO. I'm glad I got the cobwebs out this morning. Bring it on!

No hockey until Sunday?!

I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep up this schedule, 4 days a week of some kind of hockey. But I have an enforced hiatus this week. Last night I got a tattoo on my upper back, something I've been planning for and looking forward to for months. But it's a really big piece (from shoulder blade to shoulder blade) and the tattooist said I shouldn't play until Sunday. I asked him about Saturday night, since I had planned to work on those shots that seem to elude me, and he reluctantly gave in, but I'm thinking I should go with his gut and wait until Sunday morning. It's only 8 more hours, I don't think it will kill me.

Fortunately, when I got home from the studio, there were two goalie magazines waiting in my mailbox. Added to the one I got earlier this week, and haven't read yet because I was saving it for today, that's THREE goalie magazines to keep me occupied during my recuperation. The best part is, two of them feature two of my favorite goalies: Cam Ward, and Chris Mason. (The other features Leland Irving, who I know none of you have ever heard of, but he was drafted by the Flames last year and plays in the WHL right now. He's also something of a human interest story, having beaten cancer as a kid and gone on to where he is now).

Viva la gardiens les buts! (or something like that. huh huh huh... you said "butt")

Summer Season Game 8 - Meh

We won tonight, our last "regular season" game, by a score of 11-6. I continue to be perplexed by how I can have that many goals against and people still say I had a good game. People on the other team, even. One of whom stopped me in the hall after everyone had changed and was leaving the rink, and congratulated me on a great game. Hmmmm... that made me feel great, as did some of the saves I made, but six goals? Come on. That's a lot even by our league's standards.

My self-assessment of the goals is that most of them were decent ones. Two were pretty bad... the first one the worst. I went out to play the puck, and I reached it, and got it on my stick (hey so far a lot better than usual!!!) and instead of winging it back around behind the net, pushed it off to the boards for a teammate coming down the wing, and it got snagged by an opponent who tossed it right into the empty net. Stupid, stupid, stupid. When will I learn??? Another was in the second period, when one of our smaller defensemen was suddenly sprawled on the ice, underneath a much larger opposing forward. In the split second that I delayed following the puck because I thought he was hurt, the shooter was able to set up a shot before I got square to him and he had his pick of the net.

I have to figure out a way to keep myself from panicking the minute the puck gets near me and I have to play it. Because it's really costing my team and after 2 seasons (and countless seasons watched on TV) you'd think I'd have a clue where to throw the damn thing. I think I'm going to go to a notoriously empty open hockey session this week and have Goalie Husband and another of our teammates work with me on that. They offered... I ought to take the opportunity. I'll hate it, but it will help. Heck, I can't do much worse!

Sometimes I wish I had a helmet-cam

Today was definitely one of those days. Open hockey this morning looked at first like it was going to be a bust; three skaters, and TWO goalies. When does that ever happen? But we eventually had enough people for a 4-on-3 (or sometimes 3-on-3, whenever someone on the white team got a clue and realized they had an extra guy on, and someone would sit). It ended up being quite a good game, and I played pretty well despite not being at my best due to some left over grogginess from a tad bit o' wine the night before. With about ten minutes to go, two of the skaters left, and the other goalie decided he'd even the "teams" out by skating out. In his full gear. So for the last ten minutes we played 3-on-3 on half the ice... and I've never seen anything more surreal than facing a shot fired by a goaltender at the top of the circles. Or a goal-mouth scrum, where I desperately tried to freeze the puck while another goalie was trying to poke it in past my foot. I thought maybe I was still in bed, dreaming chardonnay-induced dreams.

And speaking of helmets... I debuted the new mask I bought yesterday. It dawned on me not too long ago that the reason I had such trouble seeing the puck at my feet was because my mask was too small. When I bought my mask, I tried a senior size on, and when it was gargantuan, I didn't even try to shorten the straps enough to make it fit; I just figured it wouldn't. Even a junior mask took a little tweaking to get the right fit. But apparently, it never did have the right fit. It sat too high on my head, which caused the chin portion to block my vision when I looked down. I just assumed that's how it was supposed to be, until I was reading about how a mask should fit, and realized that the cage was nowhere near where it was supposed to be on my face; and I put two and two together and realized I had the wrong size.

So, yesterday I ended up going to a hockey shop, and after some help from one of the staff, got a regular senior size mask to fit me. And what a difference. In warmups, one of the players shot pucks at and around my feet, and I saw them 90% better than I had before. Not only was the line of vision greatly improved while looking down, the cat-eye cage allowed for much a much better view of the game overall. I still haven't got the chin cup quite right, but a little more finagling should get it to where it needs to be.

Oh yeah, and because I no longer have to think about the effect standing in the sun will have on me, I went for a black mask this time. It's cool and imposing... but the one bad thing about it is that it won't show the puck marks from when I take shots to the head. That was pretty cool; shiny new gear is nice, but gear covered in puck marks proves you're doing your job.

Summer Season Game 7 - Leaping the Plateau

Something changed this weekend. Much like when I first set out on this journey and skated around the park at dawn in the freezing cold until I found my center of gravity, something intangible clicked and I feel I've kicked into the next gear. I can't quite put my finger on exactly what has changed, but I know it has something to do with two "a-ha!" moments late last week.

On Thursday night, I went to the skills clinic at our rink, and that night it happened to be run by one of the guys who is really helpful and attentive, and creative with the drills he runs us through. The first part of the clinic is always skating drills, which I hate. And precisely because I hate them, I know that means I need them. I've gotten over the mildly embarrassing feeling of being the last one (by the length of half a rink at least) trundling through the drill; I'm a goalie, and everyone knows goalies can't skate. But that's why I'm there, right? "Coach" had us working on tight turns, and changing direction quickly. Until that night I'd been guilty of the former-roller-hockey-playing style of turning; wide loopy turns. But for some reason the whole concept of inside and outside edges, and keeping yourself low finally clicked for me, and I was doing a pretty decent job. Do I need to be able to make tight turns? Probably not. But anything that improves my skating will improve my game overall.

Then on Friday night, Goalie Husband and I went to the "other" rink for open hockey. This group of guys is highly skilled, but unlike the open sessions at "our" rink, the attitude is 100% better. There are actually a lot of college-aged guys there, which at first gave me pause, but they're laid back and not hot-dogging all over the place. By no means are they lazy, and their stickhandling and shooting are light years beyond my skill level, but they don't play with the "I'm going to totally school you" attitude you sometimes get from people that age.... and older. I think playing with those guys has really improved my game, but what I noticed this time out was one of the other goalies. I'd been watching him the last few times we played there, since I get 10 minutes on the bench at a time, due to the at least 3 goalies per session. But this time something just fell into place in my brain. I'd been admiring how fluid he was, how economical he was with his movements; i.e., everything he did had a purpose. I can't even tell you what it was, but I guess I picked up on something subconsciously, because on my next shift I kept that image in my head and I played much better. And when I played on Sunday morning, I was still in that zone.

So it was that my confidence yesterday was very high, and I was really looking forward to our game last night. We were playing against a team that we were very well matched with, and when we'd played them in the playoffs last season it was a close and exciting game. We weren't disappointed last night; they were a great opponent, but we jumped out with a 3-0 lead by the beginning of the 2nd period. I was firmly entrenched in my zone and came up with some really good saves. After one especially good one, and another good one on the shot that came off the pass from the rebound, I heard someone off to my right mutter "wow". I got a beaming grin from one of my teammates as we were setting up for the faceoff and a word of congrats from the ref. So I was really doing well.

But it wasn't just me- as a team, we played one of our best games, especially defensively. The D was on last night; everyone's game is improving, and I think people are benefitting from staying with the same partner for the last few games. Unfortunately, I blew my shutout bid halfway into the 3rd period on a disgustingly easy shot that I should have stopped. It was disappointing, but the team was doing so well, and so was I, that I managed to stay focused. But in the last two or so minutes, they scored twice more, which really frustrated me, because I didn't feel the final score of 4-3 reflected the game we played at all. One was a bounce off the crossbar, and the last one was a real killer; with their goalie pulled they had an extra attacker, and the puck literally crossed the line a few tenths of a second before the buzzer sounded. I don't even remember how that one developed. I had worked so hard throughout the whole game, that that one really upset me. I'm sure at some point later it will come back to me how it happened, but it doesn't really matter now.

What I'm really excited about is that we got our 4th (I think?) win, are doing great in the standings, and all of us have improved quite a bit over the last few weeks. And I am getting closer to figuring out what it is that is all of a sudden working for me... so I can keep doing it. I think it has to do with skating and focus on how I move in the crease. I won't bore you with the details, but it's starting to get clearer. I won't play again until Friday night (I'll probably do clinic again on Thursday, but that doesn't really count) and it seems so far away. I can't wait to get back out there.

Me? A role model?

For some time #14 has been telling me about his 8 year old niece, Kelly, who is is evidently very intrigued by the "girl goalie" who plays on his hockey team. A few times he's mentioned that she might come watch us when we were playing outside on Sunday mornings, but it never came to be. I've become curious about this little girl who by #14's account could do with a "positive female role model", and though I had the chance to meet her on Tuesday night, I unfortunately didn't get the chance to talk to her in person.

Tuesday night was another "matinee" game, and #14 said she'd be there with his parents, and he asked if I could go say hello to her before the game. I told him absolutely I would do that, but I feel bad that things didn't turn out that way. I was at the rink early as always- even earlier this time because I needed my skates sharpened. But when Kelly arrived I was probably already in the locker room, my mind occupied by the fact that Goalie Husband wasn't there yet, and worried that he might have overslept. By the time he arrived and I was reassured, #14 realized he'd forgotten his helmet, and went in search of one, and I'd forgotten to ask him to introduce me to Kelly. So it was that I didn't remember until we hit the ice for warm-up, and I saw a young girl at the end of the stands between two adults, the adults pointing in my direction and talking to her. I wanted to skate over and wave, but they were on the other team's side of the ice and though it wouldn't have been a crime if I skated over there, I would have felt odd intruding on "their" space. Besides, I was starting to get into my goalie-mind and wanted to take some warm-up shots. When we switched sides between periods though, I made an effort to skate over to where she was sitting and wave at her and tap my stick on the glass. She waved back, a little timidly. Naturally, they were gone by the time we finished changing after the game. But I hope she enjoyed watching and if she comes out again I will make a concerted effort to go say hi (and maybe recruit another member to the Union mwah ha ha ha).

And speaking of kids, I had a midly amusing experience when I went to the rink last night for a clinic. The group that was using the ice before us was a large group of kids, ranging in ages from pretty young (probably 7-ish) to pre-teen. Since we were on the rink with no "womens locker room", I had to change on the other side and walk through the lobby and into the rink area in full gear (including mask). Just as I was coming into the rink, the kids and their parents were pouring out, lugging bags of gear behind them. One of the younger kids' dads pointed to me and said "Look, this guy's a real goalie." He said hi to me, so I gave him the goalie nod, said "Hey, how ya doin' ", and grinned at him. As they walked away, the dad said, loud enough for me to hear, "Maybe when you grow up you can be a goalie like her". Just then, a precocious little kid looked up at me and said "Hey, where were you, we needed a goalie!" I didn't even know how to respond to that, but I'm sure it wouldn't have done much for my confidence to have a bunch of 10 year olds scoring on me at will. Wouldn't that have been a sight; the big awkward goalie facing skaters a third of her size zipping around like those mosquitos that "walk" on top of water. Actually, I think I'd have a blast.

Summer Season Game 5 - Net Envy

I left for vacation knowing that a pretty good goalie would be taking my spot on Tuesday night, and I was all worked up about my goals-against so far; in the 4 games I'd played, I'd let in 5, 5, 4, and 4. I was starting to get very distressed about letting in so many, especially since there seemed to be at least one cringe-worthy stinker in each game. So when I heard who my sub was going to be, I admit I sulked a bit.

I knew somehow that the score of that game would be 8-2. Call it goalie intuition, or just a lucky guess. But I fretted that my team would be relieved to know they didn't have to go into the game knowing they had to get at least 4 goals to break even, maybe more. I worried that they'd get a taste of some good goaltending from a guy who can actually play the puck (and does it extremely well). So when I got the text message late that night, that we'd won 8-2, I was very happy for my team, but I had a hard time knowing that the sub had let in half of my lowest amount that season.

I needn't have worried. (I know, that's obvious, but I was a little off emotionally). It turns out Super Sub faced probably 8-10 shots, and that made me feel a lot better. It also sounded like the guys (and gals) got back to the teamwork that made us successful in our first two games. And logically, I knew the sub was never going to take my place, but I had a little jealous monster in the back of my head stomping its foot and whining "but that's my net!!!".

Which brings me to one of my favorite quotes from Miracle. After an embarrassing loss to the Soviets in an exhibition game, by a score of I believe 10-2, Herb Brooks told starting goalie Jim Craig that the backup would be playing the next game. Jim Craig argued back and said "you can't do that. That's my net!" The venerable Herb Brooks looked at him and said... "They just scored 10 goals, Jimmy. It's anybody's net."

Summer Season Game 6 - Victory in Defeat

It's late, and I've just come home from an 8-5 loss. Given my previous insecurities about my goals-against, you'd think I'd be off moping in a corner somewhere. But instead I'm bouncing off the walls. I drove home with a big grin on my face as I replayed the game in my head. Yes, we lost. But we lost to a team that until tonight had only had 5 goals scored against them all season. We lost to a team that was well-matched to ours, and it was a very good game. The score doesn't reflect reality, as we had several bad bounces (and one major screwup on my part, but that was negated by a major screwup on the other goalie's part, so that makes me feel a little better).

But the gleaming gold cap in my toothy grin tonight was the save I made on the penalty shot late in the third period. At first, I thought I was the reason for the call. As an opponent skated in, I went out to poke the puck and we both fell. What I didn't see was one of our D hook him from behind. The ref made the call, gestured for a penalty shot, and skated past me and said "you have to stay in your crease until he touches the puck". I thought about that for a minute and as the other team was choosing their shooter, I skated over to the ref to plead my case- the other goalie had come all the way out to the blue line to play a puck (and got burned but that's besides the point). "I mean for the penalty shot. The call was for the hook from behind," he said. In the back of his mind he was probably thinking "settle down, Beavis".

I think the other team purposely didn't choose their best player for the shot, since they were already ahead 8-5 with just over a minute left. Regardless of who the shooter was, I'm proud of my save. I really waited him out, and at the last second when he tried to deke around me, I got my glove out just in time to completely rob him. Right now I can't think of a better sound than the thunder of my teammates' sticks against the boards after I made that save.

I can't wait for next week.