Fooled you!

With the Hawks in between seasons, and no practices or games for the next two weeks for the QCats, I find myself suddenly with... NO ICE TIME! Gaaah! I figured I'd hit the regular Friday morning open hockey session this morning, but was kind of dreading dealing with the influx of college kids home on break. Fortunately, the QCats coach rented out ice at another rink, and invited all of us. Only a few of us could make it, so besides me there were only 2 other women, and one (high school? freshman in college?) girl. The rest? With the exception of about 3 "old farts" (who can skate circles around me with their laces tied together), it was High School Hockey morning. Probably about half of them were still in high school and the other half were college age. So much for avoiding that college crowd eh. (Please note: I have no problem with, and quite frequently do, playing in games where the skaters are eons ahead of me skill wise. It's just that in general, the college crowd has a much higher d-bag percentage and I really just don't need that B.S.)

At first I started out grinning like an idiot behind my mask. I'm so lucky to be a goalie- we can get away with playing in games where we're in waaayy over our heads, and its not as obvious as if we were skaters, who had to physically keep up with and win footraces against the other guys. If I was a skater, I'd have hated this game. I did ok for a little while (about 5 whole minutes) and then it was Christmas-tree time. There really was no D at all on that side, and the opposing forwards had breakaway and odd man rush and 2-on-0 after the other, and I did end up getting pretty frustrated. Not that I had any delusions that I was on their level- what was frustrating me was the realization that my body knew what to do, it just couldn't do it quick enough. As each goal was scored, I growled inside (ok maybe once on the outside too) because I knew exactly what I did wrong and what I should have done, I just couldn't do it fast enough. What a humbling feeling.

I guess they got sick of having me on their side because all of a sudden as I was holding the post and tracking the puck behind the net, I moved back towards the middle and there was the other goalie. In my crease. Saying "switch sides". Ok buddy, knock yourself out. Off I went to the other side. I was barely situated before this kid got beat twice on the exact same plays I was getting beat on.

Ok then... maybe it wasn't ALL me. And I feel very guilty for thinking this about a fellow goalie, but man I was kind of glad to see this kid get lit up too. Not only that, but on the other side, there was some actual defense, and I clicked into my groove and started really kicking ass. In fact I only let 1 goal in during that whole 2nd half, and I was horribly screened. (Thanks, Coach.) Plus there was one guy who I just absolutely owned. I know for sure that I kept him scoreless. And at one point one of the kids turned around and said (with surprise in his voice) "hey you're doing great! good saves!" Ha ha. Thanks. Go wash your gear please.

Yeah that's the other thing. Teenage boy hockey players are really, really... fragrant. In the locker room afterward, the other women were talking about how they had to be pretty aggressive on the bench to get a shift, and one said that she spent some time out of the rotation, down at the end of the bench, just because she couldn't stand the smell of sitting amongst all of them. "God they smell bad," she said. "And they were farting."

All in all, it wasn't too bad. I had fun, I definitely got a workout, and got to challenge myself. When I was leaving the ice, one of the adults came over to me and thanked me for coming and said "I really give you a lot of credit, that really took guts". Dude. Thanks for the compliment but relax. It's still hockey. I'm still going to come out here and give it my all regardless of who else is out there. Russians, college kids, high school kids, whatever you throw at me, I'll at least attempt to stop.

So I guess next week I'll go to the Friday morning session after all, college kids or not. F 'em! I'm bringin' it!