All-Star (sort of) weekend

It's not very often your run of the mill beer leaguer who started playing in their 30's gets a chance to skate on professional ice, in a "real" arena. But that's exactly what I was doing on Saturday afternoon, and it was just as awesome as I expected it to be.

The league one of my teams is in holds what they call a "Classic" every year. Apparently it used to be an all-star game, but they changed it somewhat. Everyone still calls it the all-star game, even though I feel a little strange calling it that because based on stats, there's no way I'd be in it. But I was, and I stole the goaltending show for my side, so maybe it wasn't completely unwarranted for me to be there. It was held in Hershey this year, though I understand in other years it's usually an NHL affair. There were two different games (different levels), and later that evening everyone came back to watch the Hershey Bears vs the (I can't even type this with a straight face) Connecticut Whale. The league did a fantastic job with it, and I soaked in every minute of it, from stepping out onto the ice from the tunnel (don't trip... don't trip... don't trip...) to the end when it was over and everyone was taking pictures.

The benches were packed; with four full forward lines and three lines of D, there wasn't any room for us three goalies, so the two who weren't playing got to have a seat in the penalty box. That was pretty amusing. Even more so was the quip by the ref as we went in. I made a comment about how we had already been bad, and she said "this is your penance for all the times your teammates have had to sit for your penalties." I suppose that's fair.

There were three goalies for each side, so I sat for the first two periods and played the last. Still, with only 12 minutes of playing time I managed to get into the flow quickly and ended up with three bench-banging, audience cheering (!!!) saves. We were down 4-3 when I went in, and fortunately our forwards scored to tie it up. I kept my end of the bargain and flat out robbed a girl on a 2 on 1 with one of those saves my glove makes all by itself, and another desperation save where I launched myself to my left to stop a shot that was coming from an open player on the weak side. One of the spectators told me I looked like I was completely horizontal and not touching the ice at all, flying through the air.

There were several other QCats on my side, and one on the other side. It was really an experience playing with them in a game like that. Several other teammates made the trip out as spectators as well, so we ended up with a pretty large group tailgating in the parking lot between our game and the Bears game. It was the most pathetic tailgate ever in the history of tailgates I think. But it was also a ton of fun- other than the part where we nearly blew ourselves up with a small portable propane stove that wouldn't light. Until it WHOOOSHED into life, flames engulfing the whole thing. Most of us ran away from it, but one quick thinking Cat doused it with water, and we were able to take the propane canister out and keep the two components safely apart. Frankly, I'm surprised she found water so quickly. Most of what we were drinking was flammable.

Being at the Bears game was fun too; there aren't any AHL teams near us, and it's not a big college hockey area, so options for watching a live game of pro or similar caliber are limited. This was the first game most of us had been to this season, and it re-ignited the thrill of watching the greatest game on earth, live. Being able to hear the puck hit a stick on a perfect tape-to-tape pass, the sound of the skates on the ice, just watching the whole thing unfold... we all really missed it.

Tonight I'm subbing in the AIL, where the last version of the Hawks most recently played. The team pretty much disbanded, but one guy is still playing, and asked if I could sub. Eco_panda is on the team as well, so it should be fun. And the team we're playing against has a QCat too. It'll be her last game in the league for the foreseeable future, so naturally she'll be gunning for a goal. And of course, I plan on stopping her.