Getting up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning to go play hockey takes dedication. And part of me wanted to roll back over and go to sleep, but I knew I just needed to get out there and play. And boy am I glad I did. It was one of those open hockey sessions that just make your whole being want to yell "YEAH!!!!!!!" The pace was fantastic, just enough skaters but not too many, and just really great feel to the game overall. I was the only goalie, so I got to skate the length of the ice every 10 minutes.
I was also absolutely, 100% in my zone. I was on fire. I felt great in every part of my game; skating, making saves, reading plays, mentally. Everything. It felt great. GoalieBrain took the reins for most of the game, which was fine with me. It's been a while since that complete goalie instinct just took over, and as I told GoalieHusband after the game, it was like "Where ya been, bitch?!" I knew exactly what to do and when to do it, without even thinking about it. I even made a few glove saves- on purpose! My glove hand is so atrocious that mostly I use my glove not so much as a purposeful catching device, but rather something that is on my hand that sometimes stops the puck, or sometimes ends up with the puck in it. But today there were three times when I actually meant to catch the puck with it, and catch it I did. Watched that fucker right into that little basket.
Did I screw up? Of course. But not nearly as much as I had been the last several open hockey sessions where I just felt like I couldn't do anything right. Mentally, this was exactly what I needed. There's another session tomorrow morning that we'll probably go to. And one on Monday too. A game like that just makes you want more and more. Gotta feed the beast.
PS - Completely forgot to mention the goalie clinic on the other ice surface. When I got there they were just getting started so I watched them for a bit. Four high-school aged guys moving smooth as silk and two itty bitty little goalies, falling all over the place. They were just doing skating when I was watching but it was so cool to see a bunch of goalies out there, all moving in unison. Hello, good omen. ;)
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Yay! So glad you had a GREAT ice time! You deserve it after how crummy your league games have felt lately. If goalies could bottle that feeling and sell it, we'd all be super right. Or we'd just hoard it all for ourselves like cookie dough. Haha!
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