Too good to be true?

I'm almost afraid to come here and write another post about how great I feel and how it seems like the pieces are falling into place, but they are. And other people are noticing. A few nights ago, the Hawks got their 2nd win in the season, which is pretty much over. I think we have 3 games left? Not only that, but it was a 4-2 win. A 4-2 win that was 4-1 until 50 seconds left in the game. The first goal came early in the first period; a penalty shot by their best guy. That last one was a shortie, and everyone got a bit lazy on that one. Myself included; although my D apologized to me, I really felt like I should have had it. It was a breakaway for God's sake, just me and the other guy. The goalie definitely has the advantage there.

But regardless, we won, and I only had two goals against! Pretty awesome right? I can't really take much credit for it though, it was really quite the offensive effort, even on the part of the defense. I honestly didn't even feel like I had that many shots, but after the game when I said "thanks" to one of the refs, he said "you played great, you had a lot of shots". So who knows. What's important is we all played our TAILS off, and got the win. And I felt great and still do.

I also further cemented my about-face in terms of what exactly I'm going to be doing next season. I had an opportunity to fill in for an instructional league scrimmage at the last minute, and it was pretty interesting. I got the email from Gionta182 yesterday afternoon; there was going to be a scrimmage (with refs) and a goalie was needed. Naturally I accepted. I'm not too clear on the situation but one chick told me while we were getting changed that the other team was supposed to play a regularly scheduled game, but their opponent couldn't come because there was a death and lots of players weren't going to make it. I hope to God it wasn't the death of an actual player. Not sure what that's all about. But I got the impression that they put the call out to get some skaters and a goalie to scrimmage against so as not to lose the ice time.

I thought there were going to be two goalies, but when we all hit the ice, there was the blue team, and the hodge-podge white team (which Gionta182 was a part of), and neither had a goalie. Since the white team was Gionta182's, I started on that side, but I'd told the other guys I'd split my time. Well, Gionta182 wasn't too happy about that. She protested, saying if I really was an asshole, I'd just stay on her side. I tried to bait her, asking if she didn't want to try to score on me.... BITCH??!? Hahaha. Her teammate appreciated that. That's when she said "No... I actually want to have a chance to score. You're like Marty in there." Now who's baiting who? I think Maaaaarttyyyyy probably dropped dead wherever he was. What, me? A butterfly goalie? Compared to him? THE HORROR!!!! Ahhh rivalries.

But I got off track. What was interesting about the experience was that I felt like a fish out of water. While the white team had it together, the blue team was giving me fits. I had no idea what to expect from their shots, and consequently was beaten on two I would have normally stopped. I think I had too much time to think. And now, after thinking for a bit, I definitely don't think we belong in Instructional. It seems like that's the general consensus of the others who were thinking about leaving as well, so I don't think I have much crow to eat. Really, when all is said and done, I just want to stay with my team. I think a big part of the problem was my confidence, and I am starting to get that back now. Hopefully I haven't just completely damned myself writing a post like this. I'm on a mission now. I think open hockey holds the key. The more I get myself out there, the better I feel, the better I play. I guess I'll just have to sleep when I'm dead.