There's no moping in hockey

After the past few games and open hockey sessions I was feeling pretty good about myself. Our first playoff game of the summer season was on Monday night, and we faced a team that had tripped, checked and slashed their way to an ugly 5-2 victory over us in our last meeting. One of those goals was a particularly good display of poor sportsmanship; it was an empty-netter, and the shooter stopped in front of the net and took the time to turn around and look at the clock before turning back and slamming it home as if a hard wrister was necessary at that point. So, I can't speak for the whole team but I know several of us were a bit apprehensive, especially since we were going to be short quite a few guys (and one gal).

But somehow we pulled a win out of our asses, and at the final buzzer when the scoreboard read 6-4 in our favor, I felt relief and pride. It didn't really sink in until the next day, but I spent a decent amount of time pretty pleased with myself for playing so well in my last few outings.

Then came last night. Open hockey at the "other" rink, with a pretty light crowd (which translates to some very tired skaters, when there is only one sub on each bench). On a good night there, I am still the worst goalie they have. These guys are way above my skill level and I just do my best. But tonight I had an off night, and it's nowhere more obvious than at that rink. I've gotten pretty good at just shaking off bad goals and plowing through, especially there where there are bound to be so many, but last night they kind of got to me. I think part of that might have been because the two other goalies there were exceptionally good (one I'd never seen before, who turned out to be the rink manager, and one I hadn't seen in a while). The other part might be due to the fact that I caught one guy going easy on me. Whenever I play there I'm horrendous for the first 20 minutes, until I adjust to the speed of their shots. Then I'm just marginally bad. *wink* It was in this adjustment period that I noticed one guy in particular taking real easy shots at me.

During a break, I mentioned it to Goalie Husband and asked what I should do. I could tell the guy wasn't being an ass about it, he was trying to be nice and not break rule #241, but I hated it just the same. Goalie Husband said I should mention it to him. When I said I wasn't sure, he said he'd talk to him for me. In retrospect, I think I should have done it myself. As far as I know, there were no hard feelings, and the guy denied that's what he'd been doing anyway. And I'm sure Goalie Husband approached it in a lighthearted manner. But I think I need to handle my own issues, not have someone be my messenger. (Unless someone's messing with me in the crease. Then I'm happy to have someone 50-75lbs heavier do my dirty work for me, since nothing I can mete out amounts to much).

And then there was the comment in the locker room afterwards. I wasn't there, since I change in a different room for open hockey, but Spidey relayed later that one of the skaters said to him "Your buddy's wife... she makes all these saves she has no business making, and then these real easy ones trickle past her". Yep. That'd be the dreaded 5-hole, which reared it's ugly head last night. Maybe I was tired. Maybe the fact that my right skate kept blowing out on me had something to do with it. But none of that matters because those things could happen in a game and I have to play through them. So what's this about saves I have no business making? Am I just lucky? Or do I maybe know what I'm doing? If I know what I'm doing, why do the easy ones get past me? Saves I have no business making.... ouch. I don't think he meant it the way it sounds... because I did make some saves that were pretty surprising, especially given the saves I didn't make. But it still gives me pause. And more ammunition to just keep getting better.