Most Awkward Game Ever

Well, that was just about as weird as I thought it would be. It was strange enough being on the other end of the ice from my teammates, but when play started and I had to yell "man on", etc., to the team I was playing for, I felt like a traitor. This team, however, was made up of all 20-something girls fresh out of college, with absolutely boundless energy and amazing skill. As a result, I didn't have to do too much. I think I had 5 or 6 shots. Which was absolutely fine with me, except for the fact that it meant that Bacardi was getting absolutely hammered (haha no pun intended) at the other end. The final score was 11-0, and it could have been much, much worse if the Wunderkinds hadn't backed off and focused on passing instead of making it a shooting gallery.

The strangest thing for me was seeing our team from a perspective I never see them; that of the other goalie. I am very glad I don't have to face #66, our very strong power forward, with a foaming-at-the-mouth tenacity for puck possession and a wicked shot. Seeing her come flying in on the forecheck was pretty intimidating! And our diminutive but speedy center known as "Pirate" was just as annoying around the net as she is in practice. No one ever seems to notice her buzzing around on the back door. So, in that regard it was pretty cool, seeing our forwards in action from a perspective other than hustling down on a backcheck or executing a breakout. Still, that is something I will never do again. Ever. It was just too weird. I had to stop thinking of them as the individual people they are and think of them as just some team in white. I have to say I am glad I got the shutout, if only because a goal on 5 shots would have made for a terrible save percentage going on the books.

We have another game today. By "we" I mean QC Red. (This multi-team thing is so confusing). It's a home game, early on a Sunday evening, so we'll have a bench full beyond bursting. I think all 17 of our players will be there, and so we'll probably doing some kind of team picture- I just hope it's before the game and not after. I'm going to be a very busy goalie today, this team we're facing is quite good. Two players who usually play on our tournament team are on this team, and it's always a fun challenge to face them.

Speaking of challenges, I have my work cut out for me. I've long known that I'm horribly un-flexible, in goalie terms, and today I had it unilaterally confirmed. Super awesome goalie fitness and training guru Maria Mountain posted a 9-point goalie assessment on her site a few days ago. Today I finally got around to taking it. I wasn't surprised by the results. In the area of mobility, I flunked big time. The only test I passed in that area was the one that was part of the butterfly flare widening program of hers that I did a while back. Hmmm... coincidence? Doubtful. Lesson learned: stretching DOES make a difference. Fortunately in stability and strength I passed with flying colors. But as she points out, what good are those if you don't have a strong  foundation of mobility? Time to get to work on some serious stretching. I'd started planning out a fitness program that works with my schedule, and interestingly enough, I made stretching a big part of it, with injury prevention in mind. Hey, I'm 38, and I have had a few small reminders in the past week or so that my body is not as young as it used to be.  But now I know exactly which areas to focus on.  So I guess I'll spend a little less time on the stationary bike and a little more time stretching. My plan is to do the assessment again in 3 months and see if there is any improvement.

Oh yeah, and the lockout is over. Almost forgot about that. I'm of two minds about it. There's the "meh, whatever, I'm totally disgusted" part of me, but then there's the "ZOMG HOCKEY'S BACK!!!!!!!! THERE WILL BE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS! YEEEAHHHHHH!!!!" part. The latter part is winning out, but you can be sure I won't be buying any tickets or merchandise for quite a while. Will it matter much in the long run? Probably not. And if we all did that, the owners would cry even more poverty and there we go again... but at least it makes me feel like I'm not TOTALLY drinking the Kool-Aid. I just want to watch some hockey, dammit. The WJC was awesome and now that it's over I want more. Oh I get to watch Tuukka again? Yeah, I'm not that mad/disgusted. Give me the remote.

Welcome Back, Old Friend

I have a confession to make: I'm a slacker. I haven't been working out like I should, and I think that is part of my problem on the ice lately. (GH made the observation that I'm not as quick as I was before). Between an absolutely brutal tournament schedule (one had me on the ice for 6 games in the space of about 50 hours) and quite a bit of a mental funk, I've completely dropped the workouts. It took me literally 4 days to recover from one of the tournaments; I wasn't about to pile more abuse on my body in the form of workouts. That's not dedicated, that's just stupid. But of course I could have stretched every day. That wouldn't have worn me out. Did I? Nope. Or I'd recover from a tournament and then have a game the next day. My schedule got completely out of whack. And as I mentioned, I've been in a bit of a mental downward spiral. Time to change that. I worked out yesterday morning and again today, and I forgot how good it feels later in the day. I forgot the energy you get from keeping your body moving. I do have more tournaments on the horizon, but that doesn't mean I have to drop everything completely.

I'm determined to get back on track but I need some help. One thing that was great about when I had lessons with a coach, besides the lessons themselves, was the accountability factor. I had to be up at 4:30 in the morning to be on the ice with him in time to make it to work on time, and you can bet your ass that sucked. But I did it, because I knew he'd be there at the rink waiting for me, and you can't just not show up because you "don't feel like it". I need to apply the same discipline to getting out of bed and going downstairs to work out. (Thankfully, I don't have to get up at 4:30 to do that!). One idea I had was to keep a log, where I write each day what I did, or if I didn't, why not. For example:

Monday - Sp/Core/Mob (from UGT)
Tuesday - St/Mob (from UGT)
Wednesday - nothing - didn't get up on time <--- slacker!
Thursday - nothing - late night practice last night <---- this is ok
Friday - 90 min on the ice (open hockey)

etc, etc.

Clearly, this didn't keep me honest enough to not completely fall off the training wagon. So, I could use some suggestions. Should I tweet each day what I did or didn't do? Not sure about that one- who the hell cares, right? Keep up with my written log and add smiley faces and sad faces because I don't like seeing sad faces? You'd think the motivation of being better on the ice would be enough. I feel like a jackass that it isn't. Maybe I should put a sticky with the scores from my worst games next to my alarm clock, that way if I don't feel like getting out of bed, I have the motivation staring me right in my face.

And in Stanley Cup news, while I was writing this, Mr. Inappropriate came and asked me who I want to win, and then gave me crap for rooting for Boston. Sorry buddy... I know as a NY team supporter I'm supposed to hate all Boston teams, but Timmy is a BEAST* and half my family is from Massachusetts, so too bad. Mr. Inappropriate has a region-appropriate hatred of Boston teams, so he is rooting for the Canucks. He challenged me to a $5 bet, and we pinkie-swore on it. So that makes two bets I have going on the B's. The other is with twitter buddy DWKeoughan: the loser changes their avatar to a picture of them in the winning team's jersey. (I believe that's what we settled on... correct me if I'm wrong?) So you Bruins better bring it, because I don't feel like losing TWO bets!!!

*No, I have not forgotten Tuukka. I feel so awful for him, not playing any games, having the crappy season he had, but with Thomas playing as well as he has, how could you possibly not play him?