Shark food

Open hockey's been pretty brutal lately on Friday mornings. All the college kids are home and it's so far above my level I can't keep up. I love skating with a higher skilled group because it challenges me and that's how I learn. But there's challenging yourself, and there's throwing yourself into the shark tank. And that's what it feels like I've been doing lately. There were a handful of "regulars" (maybe 4 of us) but other than that it was all 20 yr olds. Oh, and a guy who was probably only slightly older than them, who was clearly dumbing it down but even then was schooling them. And man did he own me. I was his bitch. At least he wasn't an asshole about it. That's all I can ask for. And I did stop him two or three times.

Since it was clear from the get-go that I was going to get my ass handed to me, I was actually ok with the whole thing mentally. I just kept reminding myself to do the best I could do, and concentrate on doing stuff right, and acknowledging that I could only do so much. What was frustrating was realizing that I was just flat out too slow most of the time. I knew what I was doing was right, but I was just moving in molasses compared to them. (And then there were the times when I knew I was doing something wrong and my brain was yelling "what the fuck was THAT?")

Thankfully, it was a 4-goalie morning. I don't think I could have withstood that onslaught for two straight hours, not after the beating my hips and butt took in yoga last night. I was in pain before I even hit the ice. Now? Well I haven't gotten out of my chair in a while so I'm going to just stay put for a bit longer. Two of the other goalies were guys I haven't seen in a while, one of whom I really enjoy playing with. He's super friendly (no, he's not hitting on me, he's friendly to everyone. really. he doesn't shut up. even in the net.) and just insanely good. I love watching this guy play. I think I learn something every time I watch him. Also, he and his buddy have quite the banter going, which makes it interesting. He's a Ranger fan. His buddy's a Devils fan. When they were out there, his buddy let the first goal in, and you heard from the other end of the ice: "MAAAAARRR-TYYYY!"

Not to be outdone, when AwesomeGoalie let in a goal, his buddy tried to answer back with "HENNNNN-RIIIIK"... but it's just not the same. Muahaha. And once on the bench when it was time to change, AwesomeGoalie said to me "go take Marty out, he's fat and tired". Haha. Gotta love a good Marty joke.

League game on Sunday night. Thankfully it's at a decent hour. They saved the 11pm game for Tuesday. *groan* The late nights have most of the team pretty disgruntled, to the point of one player "protesting" by not coming out for the last game. I'm not sure who he thought he was sticking it to, other than his teammates, because we were short that night to begin with. But whatever. I want to play. I'll show up at 11 if I have to, I just want to be out there.