Nothin' but good stuff

The Hawks have a game tonight, and I'm sure it'll be a tough one. I'm ready for it though; I'm really pumped and can't wait to get out on the ice. I think my recent improved mental outlook (and improved play) has a lot to do with the training I've been doing. I was talking to GoalieHusband today about this, and I can't really put a finger on it, but ever since I started the training, I feel so much better out there. Maybe it's partly the training itself and partly mental, but I just feel great when I'm on the ice. I feel strong, I feel quick, I feel like I know what I'm doing. (Unless I attempt to play the puck...) I can tell that my hamstrings have bulked up somewhat, and I didn't even realize I was really training my hamstrings. I guess that means it's really working; if you notice a difference and you didn't even know you were working on that thing to begin with. I'm completely sold on Maria's philosophy of death to machines. There is no way working on machines would have ever given me the increase in stamina and sport-specific benefits I'm seeing now. So major kudos to Maria; any goalies out there, check out her newest product. (No I'm not getting anything for this, I just really think she knows where it's at.)

Good Stuff #2: finding pants that fit. Holy cow. If you've been reading this blog for a while you know what a royal pain in the ass it's been for me to find a pair of goalie pants that fit. I'm still wearing the pair I bought 4+ years ago when I first started playing - on pavement - and man is it evident. GoalieHusband and I went to the Hockey Monkey store today, with my pads, to try on some pants and hopefully finally find something that works. And hallelujah, we did. They're more than I was planning on spending ($170), but they fit pretty much perfectly. The secret? Once again: intermediate sizing. The Vaughn Velocity 7300s in intermediate XL fit absolutely perfectly. Now I just have to wait to save up my shekels and hopefully they'll still be either at the store or on the site and I can order them. The ones I'd gone to try were Vaughn Epics, in a senior size small; glad I tried them with my pads on, because the legs were way too long. The Velocity is a step up, quality wise (or, at least price wise), but that seems to be in fitting with what I'm finding. Intermediate gear seems to mostly be the higher end stuff. I guess if your kid is old enough to be wearing that size, he's pretty serious about hockey, so it's the higher end stuff that sells. Senior size stuff can have lower end quality because there will always be beer leaguers out there. Heh heh.

Good Thing #3: the thing that is most important and will actually also make my team-mates happy. Remember my conundrum over my stick position? Here's a picture of my basic ready stance, and this is how I was taught to hold my stick:


As you can see, the blade is at an angle to the ice. I was taught by my coach to hold it like this, and that was reinforced by seeing the goalies I've watched holding it like that. However, it resulted, time and time again, in a puck hitting it at that angle and going straight up over my shoulder and into the net. Much to my team-mates' constant frustration. Obviously I understood that holding the stick like that was causing the problem, but I couldn't understand why my coach would tell me to hold it like that, if it was going to result in that kind of angle with the puck. I admit I stuck to it rather stubbornly, thinking if Coach D told me to do it that way, then it has to be right. (Seriously, he's pretty awesome.)

It wasn't until today that I finally understood the problem, and it took a fellow goalie over at GoalieCrease.net forums to point it out. That stick position is correct if I'm facing really hard shots. It's supposed to deflect the puck up and over to the netting or glass behind the net. But in my leagues, the shots aren't that hard. So they don't have the velocity to go that far; instead they go up over my shoulder and arc back down- right into the net. I have to think that some of the guys I face in open hockey (and some of the ringers that show up in the beer league) have hard enough shots for the puck to go where it's "supposed" to with that angle, but I'm not going to screw myself up with testing it out. Up until now I thought it was just when going into the butterfly that I should be having my stick blade perpendicular to the ice, and that was my problem; not bringing it up to the right position when I dropped. But I guess I have to focus on having it perpendicular ALL the time.

It seems silly, but it's such a relief to finally figure out the disconnect between what my coach had taught me and what was actually happening on the ice. Obviously if I was still taking lessons I could have talked to him about it, but I haven't had a lesson in a long time. So thank you, ItechWarrior, for making it finally make sense!

And... I'm sure I've lost about 99% of you by now. But hey, this is my blog and this was a huge "ah-ha" moment for me, so there.

Now it's off for a pre-game nap. Looking forward to KICKING SOME ASS tonight.