The lost post (as in blog post, not post-my-best-friend)

I wrote this a week ago but forgot to hit "publish". Woopsie.

If you've been a longtime reader, you know that I have always been a little shaky with handling the puck. (If you're new, well there you go, I just told you). I haven't mentioned it much in the last year or so, but it's something I've been making a concerted effort to work on. I got past the complete deer-in-headlights stage where I was petrified to even try because it would invariably end up in the net, and now I'm fairly confident and even have a clue what I'm going to do with the puck once it's on my stick. Last night I even passed to a teammate who was up near the blue line! Go me. However, as with all learning processes, there's always that time now and then where things don't go quite as planned. I guess I was feeling a little cocky after that pretty pass in the 2nd period, because in the 3rd I gave my entire bench a heart attack. In my defense, there was no one around for miles when I went out to get the puck as it came into our zone on a power play. I was all "oh, no big deal, I'll just mosey out here and get it, and-" OMG WHY IS GOALIEHUSBAND SCREAMING "MAN ON!!"???!

A forechecker had come flying out of nowhere and the puck squirted out into the slot. Both of us raced for it, and I swear it was one of those slow-motion moments, in which I got to the puck a fraction of a second before he did through nothing more than sheer force of will. I was even gritting my teeth and maybe even growling a little. I went flying on my belly as I poked it and somehow he ended up on the ice too, crashing into me. All I cared about was the puck was off in the corner, far away from any green-clad players. As I got up and retreated to my crease, he skated by and said "Sorry man," then did a double-take and said "uh... girl?" Ha. Dude, if I'm going to be offended by being called "man", I think I'm in the wrong sport. Funny thing is, that's the second time that happened in that game. The first time was after a Mack truck barreled into my head while I was crouched over a puck to freeze it. I was in a little less of a good humor at that point though.

What really made my night though, was hearing about something that was said to a teammate. After a very frustrating game, which we lost 2-1 despite the fact that we actually scored 3 goals, a good number of us hung out on a glorious spring evening for a beverage or two. Hkygrl12 told me that a fellow teammate had been at clinic a few days before, and someone from another team in the league was there as well. That person stopped him and asked him "What have you been feeding your goalie??" I didn't get it at first. But then Hkygr12 explained that the goalie they'd had the season before was also female, but I guess made less saves. (Trying to be diplomatic. You know me and how much I love to toot my own horn.) This person apparently thought it was the same goalie, but much improved. (I'm cringing even writing this, feeling bad for the other goalie, who hopefully will never read this). I'm not going to lie, hearing that really made me feel good.