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.
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