I'm not the only one

I used to like the Lightning, when Khabibulin was there. But now.... on top of the Bulin Wall being gone, I can't stand Coach Tortorella and his incessant goalie-bashing. Up until now I hadn't noticed any commentary in the press about this, but I finally came across something this evening. I discovered a weekly feature on Goalie's World magazine's website, called "In Goal This Week". It's a lot of statistical stuff, but there are writeups about certain situations as well. Finally, this issue gets some attention. Ironically, this was written earlier this week, before Denis was put on waivers. Ever since last season when they decided to throw Ramo into the mix, I've felt bad for him. I don't see this ending well for him at all. Here's what Gilles Moffet has to say:

Goalies’World rookie of the week

Ramo is new actor in soap opera

After three straight weeks as Goalies’World Rookie of the Week, Carey Price (Montreal) stepped down from the podium. This time the honor goes to Kari Rammo [sic - it's Karri Ramo], of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Recently called up from the Norfolk Admirals, Ramo had two home starts and he was red hot, stopping 64 of 67 shots. He first made 31 saves on Thursday in a 2-1 win over the Leafs, and on Saturday, he stopped 33 of 35 in a 4-1 loss to the Hurricanes. Needless to say, Ramo is the new ingredient in the goaltending soap opera that goes on and on in Tampa Bay. The Lightning is desperately trying to make a number one goalie but do they have one? The only one with proven credentials is Marc Denis but with only one hot performance out of 10, he is not exactly forcing the hand of coach John Tortorella. On the other hand, Tortorella hasn’t showed any respect to Denis. He hasn’t previously, and he hasn’t this year. In fact, it’s awful how he is treating Denis who only had four starts this year. Six of his 10 outings were in relief duties and if you don’t believe that’s an insult, read this. After three average (but not bad) starts On Dec. 11^th, Denis had his best start of the year in Montreal, making 28 saves on 30 shots and stopping all three shootout attempts to lead the Ligtning [sic] to a 3-2 shootout win. How was he rewarded? As of Dec. 23^rd, he as yet to get another start and they called up Ramo. Now, despite his solid play this week one may wonder how long that will last. Ramo has not even proved that he can be a dominang [sic] goalie in the Amrerican [sic] League. And Tortorella expects him to be a number one in Tampa? It just doesn’t make sense. Tortorella is not helping Ramo. He is not helping Denis. He is not helping Holmqvist. He is not helpimg [sic] his team.

(Note: What this magazine lacks in editorial ability it makes up for in technical knowledge and pure statistical prowess. Still, I crack up at the myriad spelling and grammar errors I come across in each issue. It looks like the website is no different).

Out of the mouths of babes. Ok, college students.

I miss out on some interesting conversations on the bench while I'm out there in my net the whole time. According to my husband and Senator, here are two that took place the other day when we were somehow dropped into the middle of a college hockey game.

Conversation #1
My husband overhears two other defensemen discussing the next move they're going to make when they go up ice against me.

D-man #1: Check it out, this is what I'm going to do when I get up against the goalie (describes move that would be akin to killing an ant with a nuclear bomb).

D-man #2: Dude, if you do that, you'll either get it, or you'll run her over.

My husband: Please don't run the goalie over.

D-man #1: Why not?

My husband: Because that's my wife.

D-man #2: Seriously?

My husband: Yes, that's my wife.

D-man #2: Wow.



And conversation #2, which I found infinitely more amusing. Apparently this occurred between Senator and another forward, who were on the other team.

College kid to another college kid: I think the goalie is a chick.

Senator (overhearing them): Yes, she is.

College kid: Yeah, I thought she smelled good.

Senator (laughing): Dude, you see that big defenseman on the other bench in the blue jersey? That's her husband, so don't get any ideas.

College kid (looking at my husband): Oh.


Ok.... I smell good?! That's classic. Even if my gear didn't have the obligatory hockey stink, how would this guy have any idea beyond that what I smell like? It's certainly better than being told that I stink, though. That did happen one especially blistering summer day out on the outdoor roller rink. A very unencumbered-by-gear forward skated past me and informed me that he got a good "whiff" of me any time he went by. Yeah, and if he was wearing all that gear in that heat, I'm sure he'd smell like a daisy. Which is exactly what I told him.

Hockey at 90 mph

I'm sure I have windburn on my face as I sit here typing. This afternoon I participated (if you can call it that) in the fastest hockey I have ever been a part of. I know there have been a few times in this blog alone that I've said something like this, but this blows all previous experiences out of the water. My husband and a few friends and I went to the Christmas Eve afternoon open hockey session at our rink and found ourselves in the middle of a college game. Complete with checking. The speed and footwork alone was stunning, but add in the stickhandling, the zillion mile an hour shots, and we clearly weren't even in the same hockey universe as these guys. For the first time since my first few initial outings, I let in exponentially more goals than I stopped. But I can't even feel bad about it. These were bona fide honest to goodness college hockey players from some notable schools, home on break, and they let fly.

Fortunately, they were really cool with us beginners- they gave the skaters space and they didn't play cat and mouse games with me. Not that they went easy on me. I could probably count on both hands the number of saves I made in an hour and a half, but I did very well in realizing there wasn't anything else to do but try my best. For the next half hour after the game ended, my head was still spinning. It was just insane.

Usually when I play open hockey, I'm playing with guys way above my level. But I can normally keep my head above water, and at least use it as an opportunity to learn something. This.... well it was so fast I didn't even learn anything. GoalieHusband said that we got nothing at all out of that session, but I pointed out that we did: exercise. And boy did we. He said he hasn't skated like that in a very long time, and I myself was (and still am- my eyes are barely open) completely worn out after the game. And yet I find myself considering going back later this week, even though it will likely be the same crew (or same type of crew). Our league doesn't start until mid January- there's no way I'm going to let some college kids keep me off the ice until then.

So, for the next few weeks, I better get used to the feeling of windburn and a spinning head. At least I'll be able to keep an eye on the pucks as they hit the twine behind me.

Where did the month go?

That flu really knocked me for a loop. After two weeks of complete inactivity I finally got back on the ice for a game with my team. I wasn't expecting anything grand, given how stiff and inflexible I felt. Luckily for me, I wasn't the only one not having the best game- it was a team-wide meltdown to the tune of a whopping 9-2 loss, one that was best put behind us quickly. I personally felt like I was skating through molasses and looked forward to a few open hockey sessions between then and the next game.

Unfortunately that was not to be. The germs were persistent little buggers and hung on for a while, resulting in me not playing any more hockey at all until the next week's game; the final game of the fall season. Fortunately that had a much better result. Even though I hadn't played all week, I felt in much better shape that night, and came up with some big saves. The team was back on track too, and we won 7-4 (against that other goalie that I have a competition with in my own mind. Him: 0 Me: 2. Ha.).

This morning GoalieHusband and I went to an open hockey session at our "regular" rink. We got there early, just as the on-ice private lessons were wrapping up and I saw my coach. It made me realize just how much I want to get back to the lessons, even though I'll have to wait a while yet for outside reasons. I've been frustrated and feeling like I lost all the quickness and strength I gained through the lessons, but after playing this morning, I think it'll come back pretty quickly. The good thing about the holidays is the rink added a bunch more open hockey times, so hopefully I'll be able to get my fix even though the season is over. There's talk of putting together a team for a 3 on 3 tournament, but I'm not sure that will get off the ground. I've never done anything like that before, so I'm looking forward to it if it does in fact happen.

Happy Hockeydays! ;)

Two weeks...

Two weeks since my last game, and I'm itching to get back on the ice. I could have played some open hockey last night, but given the fact that I was asleep on the couch by 7:45, it's probably a good thing I didn't go. (It's also a good thing I slept through the Rangers latest loss...)

With not much to report on my own progress, I offer an interesting article about Hannu Toivonen, who was recently thrust into the role of starter with Manny Legace's knee injury.

Humbled

Moaning and groaning about missing ice time and feeling like crap in general feels pretty silly in comparison to stuff like this.

Whoa, what day is it?

How fast the time flies when you're flat on your back in a fevered fog. The first part of our trip went beautifully- we got to see the Predators and Blues, and made it back home in time for a few hours of sleep before heading out for our last "regular season" game. I'm glad we did it that way, and would probably do it again, even though I'm sure the push to drive through the night and not sleep is why I ended up sicker than I've been in a very long time. Oh, I felt fine on Monday night, great actually, because we were out for revenge on a team that beat us a few weeks earlier, and got it: to the tune of a 5-1 win. And yes ladies and gents, that is officially the lowest goals-against of my "career". So I was quite happy about that.

Unfortunately, by Tuesday afternoon I was huddled in bed, sweating and shivering, and my husband finally had enough of my moaning and dragged me to a doctor on Thursday. He says I had/have sinusitis, I think I had/have the flu. Regardless, he gave me antibiotics, and today I'm actually fever-free for the first time in days. I still feel like a bus hit me, but at least I was up and around a little bit today. Unfortunately, this ruined our vacation plans of playing lots of open hockey, and traveling to Ottawa for today's Ranger/Senator game. And now I am feeling just good enough to be frustrated. I have several important events coming up this week; Monday we have our first playoff game and we have tickets to the Rangers game on Thursday. (The other is not hockey-related). As it is now, I'm not sure if I'm even going to work on Monday, so I doubt I'll be playing. Which is really, really, really hard for me to do. Because I'm sure I could probably push myself to play. In fact, I may feel pretty good on Monday night. Not playing if I feel good is going to be extremely difficult, but I think it will have to be done. Under no circumstances do I want to be that sick again if I have anything to do with it. I really hope that by Thursday I can go to the Rangers game, but I'm not even counting on that.

I'm never this sick, this often. I think it's time to start drinking a lot more. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. The fever left me extremely dehydrated, and I probably wasn't hydrated well to begin with. Lots of fluids and vitamins for me now.... I'm not letting this happen again.