Mercy me! My first league game(s)

After playing with the women's group for only a few months, an opportunity arose for me to substitute for their regular goalie in their league game. Several of the gals (and a handful of guys) had a team in the rink's beginner level league. Let's call them the Clippers. One evening, Maria asked me if I was available to play in their Clippers game the next night, since the regular goalie couldn't do it. I accepted right away, not without nervous apprehension. I'd never played in a league before.

When I arrived at the rink the next night, I was in the restroom changing at the same time as another Clippers member, who I found to be quite candid to a newcomer about what turned out to be some internal problems. I mentioned that I was nervous, and she said not to worry, that I couldn't do any worse than their goalie had done in the last game. I asked what the score had been; she said 8-0. Ouch. Surely I could do better than that, I thought. Apparently the score wasn't the only problem. Evidently this goalie had taken her frustrations out on her teammates, which I came to understand was a regular occurrence.

By the time the game started I had forgotten all the locker room drama and was focused and ready to go. Right off the bat, I could tell I was in for a lot of work. The play was in our zone the entire time. Literally. The entire time. I made a lot of saves, sometimes second and third saves, but the goals just piled up. It's hard to defend against a forward line that camps out in front of you, completely unchallenged. By the middle of the second period, the score was 8-0 and the game was called for "mercy". Both teams wanted to keep playing though - why not, we had the time- so I agreed to stay out there and go until our time was up. I wasn't thrilled with the result, but at least it wasn't the first time (or the last) that it would happen to this team. In the locker room several people even commented that it was a much more pleasant "mercy kill" than the last one. I just kept my mouth shut. I wasn't there to compete with the other goalie or fuel any fires.

Some time after that, at our regular women's game, I ended up talking to the other goalie about it, purely by accident. She confided in me that she wasn't going to play with the team in the next season, because it was the same result all the time, and it was really having an effect on her confidence. I was glad to know it wasn't just me.

Unfortunately, I filled in for her one more time, and once again, I did all I could but we ended up "mercied" again. This time I was not so relaxed about it. It really got under my skin, actually. From the time of that first league game until the time I played my last game with the women several weeks later, my confidence took a huge nosedive. It took a little while- and another encounter with ice- before I was back to my old self again.

Joining the Ladies

I heard back from Maria right away; she emailed me describing what the "women's league" was all about. It wasn't a league in the typical sense, more like a group of women who got together to play every Sunday evening. I could pay up front for a whole season, or pay by game on a drop-in basis. Since I was chomping at the bit to get any experience I could, I signed up for the next season, which happened to be starting in a few weeks.

Playing with them was different than what I was used to with the guys outside. The biggest difference was we had a clock and a ref. I'd never had to deal with faceoffs before, and despite the fact that there were fans mounted above the nets, the period breaks were a welcome chance to cool off and get some water. But of course it was different playing with a group of women than it was playing with men. Stereotypes seemed to hold true; the women weren't as aggressive or show-boaty as the guys can be. I had been reticent to play on an all-female team because of some bad past experiences with a high school field hockey team, but they all seemed very nice right off the bat (hockey stick?).

It was good for me to experience playing with a different group of people, and the indoor league at that rink piqued my interest somewhat, though I wasn't sure I was ready for that, skill-wise. Fortunately or unfortunately, my opportunity to test those waters came sooner than I expected.

Scouting the Ladies

Oddly enough, not long after I witnessed the women's ice team in action, a newcomer to the outdoor rink mentioned to me that a local indoor roller rink had a women's team, and they were looking for a goalie. I was apprehensive, but he said based on what he'd seen of my play, I'd fit right in, skill-level wise. It took me a few weeks to get used to the idea, but Goalie Husband and I finally went on a scouting mission one Sunday evening.

I realized right away that the newcomer was right- it looked like I could handle the pace and skill with no problem. In fact the game looked quite a bit slower than what I'd gotten used to on the outdoor rink. The goalies that night were both guys, filling in. Despite Goalie Husband trying to convince me to go talk to the women after their game, I was too nervous, and we left without talking to anyone.

We went back the next week, however. Again I watched from the sidelines, and what I saw confirmed what I'd thought last week; that it would be a good fit for me. Somehow I summoned up enough nerve to go talk to the women in the locker room after the game. I was so nervous that I hardly remember the conversation, but they seemed nice, and the de-facto leader seemed glad to have another goalie. I gave her my information and left the rink ecstatic. I had pushed through my nervousness to take the next step in my very young "career"; playing for some kind of (albeit very loosely) organized team.