Summer Season Semifinal: Now I get it... we're a team!

I guess goalies can have an overdeveloped sense of self-importance. It's part of that whole "last line of defense" mentality. (Some goalies can have an ego the size of, say, New Jersey, but that's for another post). Without a doubt, the pressure is on and you're in the spotlight. There are times when a goalie can lose a game almost singlehandedly, or when he or she can steal a game the team had no right winning. But those times are rare. Thankfully, last night was not one of those times.

We went into our semifinal game with a full bench, if not fully awake; the game was at the ridiculously late time of 11:30 pm. At some point between the locker room and the bench though, the team woke up, as we were up 3-0 by the middle of the first period. Most of the play was in our opponents' zone. And there, I think was my problem. After all was said and done, the Hawks won by a score of 10-6. Definitely not one of my better performances. I was sloppy and unfocused. For the amount of time the opponent spent in our zone (hardly any) there is no way they should have had 6 goals. (Nevermind that 5 of those 6 were scored by one player, clearly a ringer). I think I actually play better when I play up a level. Maybe I had too much time to think. But I was nowhere near as quick on my feet or with my reactions last night as I was when I played open hockey with the scary good guys. Maybe I needed more adrenaline, more action in my own zone.

But I'm not going to complain, because that's part of being a team. I had a mediocre performance, and the rest of the team picked up the slack and kicked ass. Two of our players got their first goals ever, and the win brought us up against a great opponent for the championship. I love to play this team. I have a bit of a competition with their goalie, since he started around the same time as I did. He's been skating out since he was god knows how old, but he's only been in the net as long as I have been on ice. And the rest of the team is well matched for our team and we always play them very well. It should be a great game. I'm looking forward to it, for sure. No problem focusing for that one!