Fun and Misery, and WWF on Ice

I'm not the only injured Quarry Cat these last few weeks. One of my D, "Flipper", partially tore a ligament in her ankle about a week or so before I got hurt. She's been in a boot, and should be out of it this week. We've been commiserating a lot, and decided we need to text each other a "positive thought of the day", rather than dwelling on the fact that being off the ice sucks major donkey balls. In truth, it really has helped to have someone else on the IR. Misery loves company and all that. We've been going to the games and helping out on the bench; her with the D door, me counting shots. And yelling our heads off, of course. As she said in an email to me after last night's game: "I can't understand how I can enjoy a game as much as I did tonight, while at the same time being absolutely miserable."

Yep, that about sums it up. I go to the games because need to. And for the most part it's really a good thing. Last night's game was pretty awesome. We won 6-1 against a team that, in the year or so that I've been around, has beaten us every time. 6-1. Not only that but we had 28 shots on goal!!! Shots-for was a place we'd been struggling a bit at the beginning of the season. Not anymore. I was so proud to report that number back to the coach at the end of the game. Way to go Offense! It wasn't just the shot tally either; it was seeing them use the plays we've been working on in practice, and several times it worked perfectly. This team has come a very long way in a year and a half.

There was also a fight. Yes, an actual real fight. I didn't see what started it, because I had been looking down at the sheet I was using to keep track of shots, but I looked up and saw "Pants" (which is actually really her nickname) and another player punching at each other and yelling. And then Pants sort of jumped her, bear-hugged her, and took her down to the ice. WOW! Even in mens' league I haven't seen a take-down like that! There was actually a group of people watching the game, a fair number of them kids, and they all swarmed over and were cheering and banging on the glass. Both combatants got 4 minutes (for high sticking, I think) and a 10 minute misconduct.

Evidently Pants was retaliating against a 2-handed chop to the head. I had missed that part, but GoalieHusband took that opportunity to teach the D on the bench about not retaliating, because the refs always only see the second infraction. Don't retaliate, he said.... just get their number and get them back later. Still, I don't think a single person can blame Pants for retaliating against a cheap shot like that. And I wish I had a video camera, because that take-down was a thing of beauty.

The next game is tomorrow night, at the outdoor place. I'm going. But... BRRRRRRR that's gonna be cold. Playing outside is one thing. Being behind the bench is another thing entirely.

And then comes next Sunday, which is the first Hawks game I'll be missing. That one is going to be really, really hard. I'm hoping the fact that I'll be 5 days away from getting out of the brace will help temper it a little. Almost there. I'm almost there. It won't be long before I can be working my way back to game-shape. Almost there.