The training wheels have come off the bike, ladies and gentlemen, and the ride was much smoother than I thought it would be. Things have a way of working out like that don't they?
The newly-formed Hawks took to the ice in our first D level game recently, and though I was expecting to be the whipping-boy of the league, it actually turned out that we played extremely well. So well, in fact, that we won 4-1. It was great playing with old team-mates again, and it was a lot of fun to play in a much faster paced game. But what really stood out to me was the amount of teamwork on the ice. For whatever reason, whether it's skill and experience, or just the personalities of the people on the instructional league team, we don't work as a team as much as we used to. This was different though. I saw people set each other up in the other end, passing back to the points (hallelujah!) and just in general being aware of who was open and getting the puck to them. And in my end, the defense was fantastic. Several times they just picked the puck off an opponent's stick, totally nullifying their chance at a shot. There were also a few instances when they completely saved my ass by swatting a loose puck (which I had yet to locate) out of the crease and up the boards to safety.
I personally also had a very good game. I didn't count the shots; I can't do that because it messes with my head. I don't want to be thinking about my save percentage during a game, I want to be in the zone. I think there were roughly 25 shots, give or take a few. And the one that beat me was a deflection off something... a skate or a knee, I didn't see clearly, but I definitely did see the puck suddenly change direction and angle. Other than giving up a few too many rebounds I was pretty happy with my game. Ok, I was really happy with it.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the season; I know we won't win every game, and I'm sure we'll get blown out in some. But now at least I know we can more than keep up with them. Bring on the next one.
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Pardon this long comment. I think the difference between the leagues is this:
When there is an "all star" on the team at the lower league, everyone wants to stop him, so everyone converges, we don't play positionally, and we beat ourselves. In our first game at the high level, each guy on the other team was very good - and so we had to play a sound positional game or else we would have gotten our clocks cleaned. Knowing you have to respect every player on the ice equally sets you up for not chasing the puck.
Also, because you're just too damn tired!
Great job, goalie.
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