Exploring new territory

On Friday night, a bunch of us went to a different rink than usual for open hockey. The one we'd been going to has canceled open hockey on account of all the school teams that need ice time. I'm all for youth hockey but come on, don't they teach about sharing any more? Argh. Anyway, the end result was that this rink was the only one in the immediate area with any open hockey that night. Fortunately, it wasn't flooded with goalies. In fact, I was the only one. It was, however, flooded with skaters. There were probably about 6 guys on each bench at all times. It didn't seem to be too bad though, because it seemed like the skaters were rotating pretty evenly. I hope everyone got a good amount of ice time.

I had an absolute blast. Besides several of my team-mates, there were a lot of guys there I'd never played with before. Many of them were very, very good. A few had shots so fast they were barely visible. One even plays in the ECHL. Fortunately, I think I had a pretty good game. I made a few of those saves that I have "no business making", and it felt really, really good to rob those guys. One was a glove save on a rebound that I'd initially stopped with my left pad (breakaway) but he got to it and flipped it up but I snatched it right out of the air. Another was a flurry in a forest of skates and legs where I made about four saves and ended up on my stomach before finally smothering it. Both benches erupted in a storm of stick-banging, and I couldn't help the big grin that was on my face.

Oh, I made my share of mistakes, and had my share of bad goals. But I was very glad to know that I could at least keep my head above water and have fun, rather than having that sinking "I don't belong here" feeling. It was a more physical game than I'm used to, and I got bumped around a bit more than usual, but I actually didn't mind it. I will definitely go back next week. It would be really nice if there's only one other goalie there most weeks. I really hate having to take shifts in the net. That probably won't happen, with the other rinks closing down their open hockey, but a goalie can dream...