How to Evaluate a Rink Shower

Last week I didn't feel much like writing and reporting the less than successful weekend the Cats (and I personally) had. White tied again, 4-4, in the exact same manner: a late goal to tie it. In fact, it was with 1.7 seconds left on the clock. See? Nothing to write home about. Red lost 3-2, and I felt I could have been better in both games. I sullenly asked what the point was of all the off-season work I did if I couldn't help my team win. Since finishing Ultimate Goalie Training, I've been dithering around with other workouts, mostly back to the start of "Goalie Workout Club", but I wasn't finding that challenging enough. So on Friday I decided to start UGT over again from the beginning. Let me tell you, Phase 1 was nowhere near the piece of cake I thought it would be. I don't know if it was coincidence or not, but last night I felt back to my old form. Confident, strong, and alert. There were a few saves I made that in previous games probably would have gone in. I'd been over thinking things and playing awkwardly. Now I feel much more confident and comfortable in my own skin. We faced off against a pretty challenging team last night and won 5-1. We played a really good game, including killing off almost 3 complete penalties. (The lone goal came at the very end  of the last PK, on a screened shot from the point). I was very happy with the way I played. Nice change of pace.

Today I'm in the net for Red, at a rink we love to visit because of the proximity to a Houlihan's, which we always end up descending upon after our game. It's pretty funny when the conversation in the locker room goes like this:

"Where are we next week?"

"We're at the Blades"

"Yes!!!! Beers and stuffed mushrooms at Houlihans!!!!"


Personally, I evaluate rinks partially by the likelihood of a decent post-game shower. I'm the only player on either of my teams who showers after a game or practice, and I think for the most part this has a lot to do with the distance of my drive home. Most of them live pretty close to the rink, so don't have the prospect of a long stinky ride home. I got into the habit of it when I used to play early in the morning before work, and it seems to have stuck.  A post game/practice shower is not only refreshing, it's extremely relaxing. Unfortunately, the facilities in a lot of rinks leave a lot to be desired. Perhaps men are a lot less picky about their showers, but I evaluate them based on the following criteria:


Is there actually a handle on the faucet or is it just a knob of hockey tape on the naked stem?
This could be a deal-breaker. The ability to turn the water on is pretty crucial.

Is the water at least lukewarm?
Some showers take a while to warm up, so this could be deceiving. I have showered in some pretty cold showers though, it all depends on how disgusting I am. This also helps train you to take quick showers.

Does it smell like a combination of pee and Axe?
If so, a high school team has been in the locker room the session just before you. A sturdy pair of shower shoes negates the risk.

Are there small insects rising up from the drains?
Yes? Well.... when you run the water you'll drown them, so this one can go either way.

Do the showers join two locker rooms, with access from the other room?
Not a concern for guys, I guess, but when you realize some dude could walk in on you, it's going to be a smelly ride home.

Are there suspicious brown smears on the walls?
I'm not sure how these get there, other than by someone holding their butt cheeks open and spraying like a cat, but if showers are in that condition, I will invariably skip them.

Other than the two professional facilities I've played in, most rink showers seem to fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum. Sadly, my home rink doesn't pass most of these criteria, but most of the time I end up showering anyway. With my glasses off, I can't see much anyway, so as long as I don't touch anything I'm pretty good. (Except for the brown smears. That is just unacceptable.)

Game 1 of ???

If nothing else, it's going to be an interesting season. Oh wait. We're the Quarry Cats. It's ALWAYS an interesting season! For me though, it will be a little challenging and I have very mixed feelings. My partner, Bacardi, is unable to commit to the season this year because of some major life stuff going on. She's devastated, as I would be, but she just can't do it this year. The teams have conferred and we think we can keep her involved, playing whatever games she is able to, and I will cover the rest. There are only a few times in the season where it would be physically impossible for me to play both the Red and White game that weekend. But between Bacardi possibly being able to play, and a handful of other goalies (heeeey #goalieharem) we can ask, it should be just fine. Nobody wanted to just go out and get another goalie to take her place. That's not how we roll. And that is what makes this team so awesome. So what does that mean for me? Well, I am in the strange position of looking forward to the opportunity to play lots of games, but at the same time feeling terrible for my buddy. We are keeping in touch though, and I hope she doesn't hesitate to jump in when she can.

So, my very busy season started last night. The White team traveled to face off against the Hawks. Last season we beat them in the regular season (I got a shutout in fact), only to take them too lightly in the playoffs and lose to them in the semi-final. As a result I was looking to the game for a bit of personal redemption. It was that loss that had prompted me to bust my ass training all summer, and I was hoping to make a very good showing. Unfortunately I disappointed myself and, I feel, my team. I know that everyone was busy blaming themselves, and not me, but we tied 4-4 and two of those goals were pretty weak, so I am frustrated with myself. What was all that training for if I'm going to give up goals like that? I'm trying to be patient with myself- it's only the first game of the season.

There were several high points though. I made lots of good saves, and our two rookies each got a goal. One is a teammate from the Red team last season who tried out for White this summer and made it. When she scored a beautiful goal with a shot over the other goalie's shoulder and into the top of the netting, I whooped and hollered with the rest of the team. The other was a girl who had the unusual distinction of earning her nickname at the very first game. Before it, in fact. Her name is Gabby, but she will be forever known as "Pete" now. We already had a Gabbie on the team, and were trying to figure out how to make the distinction. "Old Gabbie" was immediately rejected. "Classic Gabbie", "Vintage Gabbie" and "Pre-existing Gabbie" were floated but when new-Gabby said "You can call me anything you want. You can call me Pete for all I care," that was the end of that. When Coach (i.e. GoalieHusband) came in to read off the lines, and got to her, everyone interrupted him and said "No, her name is Pete!". He paused, confused, and said to her "P-e-a? Or just 'P'?" We all giggled and yelled "No, PETE"! He shrugged, crossed something out on his pad and said "Ok then. Pete it is." So, naturally, when she scored, everyone went nuts and yelled "Peeeeeeeete!"

All teams are off today. Blue played last night as well and won, 7-2, with only 8 skaters. Monx77 netted one after a long and frustrating season off due to injury, which only made that victory sweeter. Next weekend the double-duty starts for me. Red on Saturday and White on Sunday. But before that, practice on Wednesday. A dry glove? What is that?

Greetings, old friend(s)

Making this blog as public as I have has been a bit of a double edged sword. It's neat that my friends and teammates can read it and comment on it, and it's fun knowing other goalies and goalie fans across cyber space have stumbled onto it, either through twitter or other means. Unfortunately it also means that I censored myself quite a bit this season, and haven't felt comfortable voicing all of my thoughts here, knowing that a lot of people I know could possibly read them. I know... that's the whole point of a blog, right? But I really miss it, and so I'm going to try to find that balance between musing/sharing my thoughts and remembering that other people besides me are reading this.

Since my last post was about the all star weekend, I might as well do a quick season wrap-up. As you may recall, I split my time between two teams, the Red team (club team, not in the league) and the White team (in the White D1 division). I'm terrible and don't know the records offhand, but I believe the Red team finished something like 10-10-5. It was a very interesting season, because we had several new players. Two completely brand new to playing hockey, and one who had played elsewhere but had been off for a few years. The difference between that first practice and our last one was simply amazing. Tons of credit to GoalieHusband (head coach of the team) and Hkygrl12 (assistant coach) for teaching them so well. It was a little strange at first, having a very different group of people after the new (White) team was formed, but we really came together. We went to a tournament in February and all the rookies were with us, and what a blast we had. I think the tournament is what sealed the closeness within the team.

The White team finished first in the D1 division. Finishing first is accomplishment enough, but doing so your first season in the league, and your first season as a team, no less, is pretty exciting. There was the same get-to-know-you period going on with the White team, as we had some people formerly on the Red team, some formerly on the Blue team, and a few new members as well. I'm proud to say that team became just as tight as the Red team, and even better, both teams intermingle socially to the point where it just feels like one giant team. Actually it feels like a family. If someone had told me that I'd be feeling like this at the end of this season I wouldn't have believed them, given how unsure everyone was of how the 3-team system was going to work. Watching one teammate go through a difficult time off the ice and seeing how she was taken under the wing of one of the veterans, and generally supported by the whole team, was really moving. Hockey really is an incredible community.

Erm.... where was I? Oh right, the end of the White season. I probably veered off because I don't really want to think about how it ended (ice-wise).  We went to the semi-final as the first seeded team, playing the fourth. In truth, I think we took the other team a little lightly. I think our success went to our heads a little and we were looking past that game to the championship game. I think given our circumstances it was kind of understandable that we were all a little giddy. Unfortunately we didn't expect the other team to be as physical and tenacious as they were (they hadn't played that way during the season) and it kind of set us back on our heels a little. The final score was 4-2. I couldn't get off that ice fast enough. I felt like the entire weight of the result was on my shoulders. When we got into the locker room it was very quiet, and I felt tears coming on (wtf??!?) and buried my head. Someone said "no one in this room should hang their heads, we had an incredible season" and I just lost it.  I was off in my own little world of self-recrimination, sobbing quietly in the corner, head down so others wouldn't see me, and the next thing I knew a teammate was draped over me, enclosing me in a giant hug, and telling me I had NOTHING to be upset about, that we win and lose as a team. I actually don't even really remember exactly what she said, I just remember the feeling of her arms around me and the support coming off of her. I'm getting teary just thinking about it now. I eventually calmed down enough to be joking ruefully with everyone else. I'll tell you something though, mine were not the only eyes rimmed in red when we left that locker room. No crying in hockey, my ass. Losing like that really, really stung.

That loss, that feeling, and the very serendipitous timing of @revcon's special offer for the Ultimate Goalie Training VIP program prompted me to get my ass back into training. No more slacking. For whatever reason, ever since I came back from the knee injury, I just could not get back into a consistent rhythm working out. I'd get all gung-ho and get myself to the gym a few days one week, and then it was back to hitting the snooze button and feeling like a slacker and a slug all day.

So what's different about UGT VIP? Don't I already have a full UGT program sitting downstairs gathering dust? The thing that I think is the key with this one is the interactive coaching aspect of it. This program is a monthly one, paid for in installments. It's a six-phase program, one phase per month. You get access to the training logs, videos, etc for the phase of training you're doing, plus an online forum for members and a monthly webinar with Maria. It's fantastic. I know I should be my own motivator, but having the accountability component to this is what I think is making the difference for me. And I was lucky enough to jump on board when she was offering the program at an extremely discounted rate. It certainly wouldn't be feasible for me otherwise.

It's been a week and I'm loving it. I'm doing the in-season schedule instead of the off-season schedule because of all the tournaments. I also wanted to make it more realistic- if I went full bore on the off-season schedule I think I'd have a much higher chance of slacking off and having it fall by the wayside. And in response to a forum post about my motivation concerns, Maria said to set a goal for the next 30 days, and hold myself accountable. If I don't achieve that goal what will I give up? You have to set that ahead of time, to make it concrete. So I've made my goal to stick to the schedule for 30 days. If I fail at that, I will not be allowed to buy Dunkin Donuts coffee on my way to work for a whole month. (Believe me, that's a sacrifice. I think they put crack in it).

So you read it here. Now I'm accountable to myself, the UGT team, and all my blog readers. If that doesn't motivate me, I don't know what will. Oh yeah.... that awful feeling in the locker room after that loss. Nothing inspires victory like the bitter feeling of defeat. Look out, bitches. I know it's a team sport but I'm working my ass off right now to be the best goalie I can possibly be. No excuses.

PS - Back in Florida for Nationals in 10 days. We got bumped up a level after winning it all last year, so we have our work cut out for us. Stay tuned.

Still Giddy

Two games and 69 shots later (9 shots in one game, 60 in the other), I'm still giddy about the "all-star" game on Saturday. I was grinning like an idiot today at work telling people about it. So I'm back to share some pictures. For the most part I keep this blog vaguely anonymous, but ever since I linked it to my twitter account and GoalieCrease.net account I've long since lost any illusions of privacy. Might as well post some pictures, right? Here are some of my favorites:

The corner of the locker room I dubbed "Goalie Land", since when I walked in it already had two bags, sets of pads, and sticks there, and a third empty chair just waiting for me and my load of crap:

My entrance onto the ice from the tunnel - I knew GoalieHusband was there somewhere, and I wanted to look around for him, but I was busy trying my hardest not to make an idiot of myself by falling the second I stepped onto the ice:

Here's a shot of me and the other goalie making our way to the sin bin while we waited our turns (I'm #39):

And here is a sequence captured by our team photographer- "the save" that had everyone on the bench asking "Whose goalie is that??!?" (according to Hkygrl12, who said she was proud to say "MINE!"). Before I put the pictures up I will add a caveat: this is a really really awful save, in terms of technique. It looks even more awful if you don't realize that in the first picture I'm squared up perfectly to the person with the puck - who is not the person with the puck a millisecond later in the next picture. I squared up to the shooter, but there was a wide open person on the top of the crease, and the (original) shooter passed to her the second I got set. I should have slid over instead of diving, but my instinct was to dive, and I got awfully lucky that I was able to knock it away (and that the rebound got scooped up by my D and not the other team). I'm almost cringing, putting it here where people who know what they're looking at will realize how sloppy it is, but, it kept the puck out of the net, and it made everyone cheer. You can't really argue with that. 

And last but not least, my very favorite picture. GoalieHusband usually has to work on Saturdays but he arranged his schedule so he could have the day off, and it meant a lot to me to have him there. I think he had almost as much fun as I did, being down there with "his girls". Here we are with shit-eating all-star grins after the game:



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.

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.

Swindled?

I've been accused of being a goalie whore, and it's really not that far from the mark. I instinctively side with the goalie in a given situation, and I'll sub for pretty much anyone who needs a keeper. (Pretty much- there are certain teams I will never ever play for). But I never expected to be playing against my own team- or rather, one of my own teams. This came about as a result of a miscommunication at best - at worst, I was tricked into it. But let's leave the jury out on that one.

I received an email last weekend from another team in the league the White and Blue QCats both play in. (Remember, White is the "middle" team, the team I've been splitting games with Bacardi for. Blue is the highest level.) The email went like this: "Hi, I'm Jane Doe from X-Team Blue, and we need a sub for our game against QCats Blue next weekend. Since it's your home rink, would you be willing to play?" I actually kind of laughed to myself. Why not, I thought, I've played against the Blue team twice already this season. It's not like they're "my" team per se. So I told them I would do it. And then I posted on FB about how hahaha isn't it weird that I'm playing against Blue again this weekend. Major confusion ensued.

White teammates posted saying they were playing this weekend and I must be playing against them. I insisted that it was a Blue game, as that was what the woman who emailed me said it was. But I looked at the schedule and yes, it was one of those cross-division games, where X-Team Blue was playing QCats White. I went into full panic mode. How could I possibly play against my own team??? Yet how could I go back on my word of saying I would sub? I frantically emailed the QCat Blue goalie to see if she could fill in for me (she can't). Then I texted the coach and the Captain of White and explained what was going on. The response, in essence, was don't worry about it, it doesn't count for us because it's a Blue team, and they're the only team in the league that beat OUR Blue team, so we don't expect to get many shots on you anyway. It'll be fun. Uhhhh... ok. Well I'm not sure about "fun" but at least my loyalty issues were allayed. Gionta182 did offer the solution of her taking my place and playing in net and letting in a bunch of goals, but I couldn't go for that. I think of myself as a pretty honorable person. If X-Team was purposely trying to mislead me, that's on them. I'm not going to be a jerk back and replace myself with a skater, or play like crap on purpose in return. Besides, it could have been an innocent error. (Ha.)

Honestly I half expect to get there and find that they rostered a different goalie to sub, because although I had emailed explaining the situation, and saying I was trying to find someone else to play for them, but then emailed back saying, it's ok, put me on the roster, they responded to that email with "Just tell us what name to put down". Erm. I just said me. So I replied again telling them to put me down. I never got a response to that second email, so who knows. It's not a big deal because it's my home rink, and since it's a Saturday night I'd probably be going anyway to watch.

It should be interesting to see how this unfolds. Maybe @hkygrl12 will score on me (again). Maybe I'll be as bored as @gionta182 predicts. At least I'll be on the ice. Too bad I don't have a USA jersey to wear. Gotta change that....

A loss, a tie, and shirts vs skins

Hockey weekend started with a surprise party on Friday night for one of our own who is getting married. It was the most dressed up we've ever seen each other, and it was quite odd. The Mayor and her husband picked GoalieHusband and I up and we drove to the restaurant. We were all spiffy and felt like "real adults", going out for an evening. Fortunately, you can dress us up, but you can't make us act mature. The happy couple was surprised, and made sure to share some of their bacon-themed gifts with everyone. The bacon flavored jelly beans were NOT a hit. At all.

Saturday's game was much anticipated by all three teams. It was QC Blue vs QC White, and the Red team came out to cheer us on. I got to play the first game of the season for the White team, since Bacardi was in Rhode Island for the weekend. It was a blast. And even though we lost 5-0 (I swear one of those goals should not have counted), we played great against the Blue team. GoalieHusband was running the bench, and came into the locker room afterwards and said "I'm going to use a big word.... The score was not indicative of your play". Haha. He said "dick". It was actually a really fun game, in spite of the score. I made a few pretty decent saves, and my glove made a few saves on its own. Nice to see it's back for the season. Afterwards we all hung out for quite a while- I was pretty shocked when we left the rink and the clock read 1:00 a.m.

But two hockey related events aren't enough for one weekend, and we got up the next day to transfer the smelly gear from our car to Gionta182's and head south. To Delaware. It was a long rainy drive, but at least we got to listen to decent music. Gionta182 and GoalieHusband and I don't have the exact same taste in music, but it's a lot more similar than the general locker room population it seems. I'm not sure how the Golden Girls theme song became standard Blue team locker room pre-game fare, but there you go. Different strokes for different folks. Wait, that's a whole other TV show.

We played a pretty good game, but it was obvious about halfway through the 2nd period that we were pretty gassed. Our second game of the season, coming back to back after our first game, which was against our higher level sister team, had left most of us with not a whole lot in the tank. Except apparently for @pinballkillsyou, who hadn't played the previous game, but was skating with a pretty decent hangover, and managed a hat-trick. (Or two goals... depending on which score sheet you go by: what they called on the ice, or what they actually wrote down. #beerleaugeprobs) Even Gionta182 was somewhat subdued, even though she hadn't played the night before either. She chalked it up to getting the feel of the league, but we all know what the problem was: the pink tape on her stick. Breast cancer awareness is a great cause, but there was more than one double-take when we saw her taping her stick up in the locker room. She didn't get the nickname "#&(*)@!" for nothing.

That game ended in a 4-4 tie, which felt (at least to me) more like a loss. We were up 3-0 at one point, but they came back to tie it, and even though we scored a go-ahead goal, they pulled their goalie and tied it up again with about 30 seconds left. I played ok but I should have had that last goal, and 1 or 2 others that were screwed up bounces. Stuff isn't bouncing off my stick blade anymore, but in the last two games weird bounces off my blocker have gone in. Must examine this phenomenon. Practice would be a good place to do that, which leads me to.....

Last night. I learned a pretty valuable lesson too: one must eat properly on practice days. A day of very light consumption topped off by a Celeste microwave pizza and a bunch of BBQ potato chips does not provide much in the way of energy for practice. I ended up swooning in the crease and sat out a good 10 min of practice, stripped down to my shirt while my body righted itself and got its bearings. Fortunately I was recovered enough to participate in the Shirts vs Skins Scrimmage.


Yes, shirts vs skins. I certainly never expected to play a game of shirts vs skins in hockey, much less in women's hockey, but there we were at the end of practice, scrimmaging with the Blue team. After splitting up the players, GoalieHusband (or maybe someone else?) declared that one team keep their jerseys on and the other remove theirs. It was pretty hysterical. I was on the jersey-sporting side, but I yelled down to the other goalie that she had to take her jersey off too. She played the rest of the scrimmage in her chest protector. I was actually standing there in my crease just laughing, watching people skate around in various stages of undress. (Some of our skaters don't wear shirts under their chest protectors).

I'm off this weekend, as Bacardi is back and taking both White games this week. Next weekend we're both in the net; a Red and White game for each of us. I think. This scheduling thing is a little difficult to get used to, especially for someone like me who likes to have everything defined and mapped out. We've managed to split up all the games for this month and will deal with next month as it gets closer. I guess that's a pretty good compromise. So, no hockey for me this weekend. At least, not unless we end up at the rink anyway to cheer on the White team...

Season of Change

Shame on me for letting the blog go "dark" for a few months. But the old adage about absence making the heart grow fonder appears to be true- at least in terms of my hockey journey. It's been several months now since the terrifying night GoalieHusband's playing days ended, and since I decided to take a little break. I think it did me a world of good. I've come back from the time off with renewed hunger, impatiently straining at time's leash to get back on the ice and in the swing of a season again. I've decided to continue my break from the Instructional League, mostly for financial reasons. We have a kitchen remodel (of necessity, not vanity) looming over our heads in the next few months, so the more pennies saved the better. As much as I will miss playing with the guys (and with guys in general), it's something I need to do right now. And as it stands, it doesn't look like I'll be hurting much for ice time anyway, with the new structure of the QCats teams. This is another reason I didn't write over the summer- I had some very mixed feelings about how this season would turn out, and was hesitant to express them. But here it is, opening night of our season, and writing seems to go hand in hand with the cycle of schlepping gear, playing games, relaxing in stuffy locker rooms with a cold beer, and long road trips on Sunday afternoons. As such I guess I ought to welcome you to the new world of the red white & blue Cats.

Over the past season or so, our two adult teams began realizing that our numbers were swelling beyond the confines of two reasonable rosters. There are also several girls' teams, the oldest being U19, and we started to see girls who "grew up" in the organization coming back from college still wanting to play. It became pretty obvious that we needed to expand, and a lot of thought and meetings and organization went into how we would do it. Somehow I ended up part of this committee. I know, I know, they really had to twist my arm. The end result is that we now have three adult teams, two of which play in a league, and the other remains a "club" team. This is the team formerly known as the "D" team, which has been my team. The "C" team will continue to play in the league they've been part of for the last few years, and our new team will play in the same league, one division down. The league designates levels by color: red, white and blue, with red being the novice level, white the middle, and blue the highest. It's taken everyone a good month or so to get the hang of using colors instead of letters, but I think we've got it now. We're calling the "D" team the "red" team even though it's not part of the league, because if it was, red would be the level it would be in. (Technically there are several white divisions in the league, designated by number. Don't ask me why they did it that way)

Are you confused yet?

Red - "my" team, the D team
White - middle team comprised of some D players who wanted a bigger challenge, and some C players who felt this new team would be a better fit for them.
Blue - the "C" team, the young fast ones. Hehe.

Lucky for us, we already had 3 goalies amongst our 2 adult teams: me, "Bacardi", and "Dina". (The "Bacardi" nickname should be self-explanatory. "Dina" on the other hand, is not the real name of this goalie, but apparently that's what a lot of the girls call her because she looks like someone on Jersey Shore. I'm going to have to take their word on that one). Dina will play most of the blue games, and Bacardi and I are going to split the white and red games between us, with both of us subbing up on the blue team if need be.

Ok, admit it, NOW you're confused. Don't worry, it took us forever to figure it out too. Because Bacardi also runs the girls' teams in the organization, she ends up with schedule conflicts a lot more frequently than I do. Guess what that means for me - more games! Yay! For instance, tonight's game, our season opener. Since I think I've bored/confused you enough with league details, I'll skip the bizarre (but sound) logic that results in our blue team playing our white team in the first game of the season. Because Bacardi is away this weekend, yours truly will be in the white net, facing Dina and all the hot-shots on the blue team. We're making a party out of it, and the red team is coming to cheer us all on. (I have informed several team members that I expect their loyalty to be towards white tonight.)  Tomorrow white is off to Delaware for another game. That's one thing about the league that is a bit of a drawback - most of the away games are quite a hike. I'm happy about this though, because it means there wasn't a mass exodus from the red team to the white team this summer; the red team still has a decent core of players and although we lost some of our best, we should still be able to compete.

It's been a little bit of a rocky summer, figuring this all out, and adding in the emotional factor of splitting up a team that has been extremely close for the last few years, and people unsure of where they will end up or what the season ultimately will look like. But I think for the most part, folks are excited about growing the organization, and realize that this inaugural season will undoubtedly have some kinks that need to be worked out, and we just have to roll with it. I'm really looking forward to being able to play some games in the league with the white team, and I'm happy I'll still get to play with my buddies on the red team. Really, I have the best of both worlds. And tonight should be very interesting. Me and hkygrl12 vs eco_panda and monx77, with lct29 & cohorts cheering us on. There is no way this is not going to be a blast.