Good thing it's a team effort

Our undefeated streak (if three games can be called a "streak") continued last night, but I personally wasn't happy with the game, my performance in particular. The offense saved my butt, racking up 8 goals to the opponent's 4 in a late flurry of third-period firepower. But those four goals were all saves I would have made any other night in the last few weeks, so I don't feel especially victorious. Here's the breakdown...

Goal 1: Guy shoots from roughly the top of the left circle. I have a clear sight on it, there's no one in between me and him, and I went to the post and put one leg down (outside leg) but either I left a gap or didn't get my leg down fast enough because it went right past me. Argh.

Goal 2: Lots of activity in front of the net. I'm on the right post, focused on the guy with the puck, who is just in front of the goal line, and I hear a stick tapping to my left. For some reason I picked that moment to glance over to see if a guy was free so I could tell my D... and that's when the puck carrier took advatage of my inattention and shot it. Note to self: don't take your eye of the puck. That one sucked.

Goal 3: A pass to a wide open man, and I have to move laterally across. Any other night I'd have followed that pass and been there to make the save but I was just a second behind on my reactions (see: no focus).

Goal 4: Particularly frustrating because it was a breakaway, and the puck carrier didn't do much deking or anything fancy with it. I forced him to my stick side and went down to block it- and did. But it either bounced over my pad or slipped under it and into the net. Argh again.

I realize I'm focusing on the negative here, but it's just to illustrate what a lack of focus can do. For some reason I didn't feel like I was "there". I tried all my little mental tricks to get myself to focus, but it didn't really work. What made it worse was that play was mostly in the other end, so here I am not getting many shots and the ones that do come my way- in the net. Way to inspire confidence in my team-mates. Fortunately I pulled a flashy glove save out of my ass in the third period, and that seemed to get the bench going. If not for that save, I'd feel like I brought nothing to the game.

But it's a team effort, and the rest of the team was fantastic. Thankfully they covered my blunders, which I guess is what it's all about- working together.