We know how to have fun

I recovered from a nasty cold this week just in time to have some great memorable times with my QCat girls. Originally there had been a game on our schedule for Saturday night at 9:15, but we found out last week that - surprise! - in actuality it was Saturday morning at 9:15. Initially I said no problem, I could do it. But by Thursday night I was feeling so awful that I figured there was no way I'd be able to get up early on Saturday morning, make a nearly 2 hour drive, play a tough game, and have another almost 2 hour drive home. They found a sub for me, fortunately, and I got some much needed zzzz's.

But since everyone had Saturday night open, we figured... why not have a party? Or, as our captain put it in an email "turn an 'oopsie!' into a party!". 'Cause we really need an excuse to party. Happily for me, by Saturday night I was feeling well enough to hang with my girls and knock a few back. And participate in the invention of a new drinking game we called "carpet pong" (lesbian overtones not intended, I swear). Basically it was born of about 9 of us all sitting around on the (carpeted) floor, suddenly realizing we should play beer pong, but too lazy to actually get up. So we started flinging a set of about 6 ping pong balls around at each other, attempting to sink the balls in each others' Red Solo Cups of Joy. Strangely, after a a little while balls started disappearing, prompting shouts of "Everyone! Check your triangle for balls!!!", and much delight upon finding said balls, which by then were both wet (from the beer) and hairy (from the dog hair on the carpet, which though I'm sure was recently vacuumed, anyone who has a pet can attest the job is never truly done).

Can I use more parentheses in a paragraph? I'm not sure I should try. I may have used up my quota for the rest of my life.

From Saturday night's fun we rolled right into Sunday evening's light-hearted game. The team we had been scheduled to play tonight blew us off at the last minute, something they are known to do, not just to us. We were able to get a few players from other teams, and snag our (male) coaches and a few players sons, and we had ourselves a scrimmage. Since the ice time was booked as a game, we had our 2 refs and a scorekeeper, so even though it was essentially a scrimmage amongst ourselves, it felt like a decent game. We split the "kids" and the guys between the two teams, and split ourselves up pretty evenly. The goalie who subbed for me on Saturday came out to play in the other net.

We had a fantastic time. The game was actually quite fast-paced. I continue to marvel at this team's ability to rise to the level of our opponents. And having the guys and the youngsters involved did raise the bar quite a bit. There was an awful lot of good-natured chirping and even a few "scrums" between a mom and her teenaged son, and we came out with a 2-2 tie. Pretty fitting; I guess you can say we all won. In truth, I was a little peeved at the 2nd goal against us. I was on the white team and we had initially gone up 2-0. In the 3rd period, GoalieHusband was covering someone in front of the net, and I was yelling bloody murder about the wide open guy on the back door, but no one got back in time and he buried it. Then only a few minutes later a collective lapse lead to a weird bounce off my D's shinpad into my net. I was pretty ticked about that one. Not at the D - she at least was trying. But for about 6 or 7 minutes there it seemed like some folks were more concerned with screwing around than playing an actual game. I'm all about having fun- you guys know that. But I'm also competitive as all hell, and that just frustrated me.

All in all though, it was a blast. A good note on which to end a pretty crappy week, personal-life-wise, and not a bad one to take into our now 10 day break. (Our next game isn't until Feb 11th.). Add to that the ridiculously long layover the Cougar(hawk)s have had and hockey's a bit sparse for the next two weeks. Somehow though, I'm sure we'll find a way to get on the ice one way or another. There's been some talk of a "We Don't Care About the Superbowl" ice rental for next Sunday. Sounds good to me.