Movin' on up

The training wheels have come off the bike, ladies and gentlemen, and the ride was much smoother than I thought it would be. Things have a way of working out like that don't they?

The newly-formed Hawks took to the ice in our first D level game recently, and though I was expecting to be the whipping-boy of the league, it actually turned out that we played extremely well. So well, in fact, that we won 4-1. It was great playing with old team-mates again, and it was a lot of fun to play in a much faster paced game. But what really stood out to me was the amount of teamwork on the ice. For whatever reason, whether it's skill and experience, or just the personalities of the people on the instructional league team, we don't work as a team as much as we used to. This was different though. I saw people set each other up in the other end, passing back to the points (hallelujah!) and just in general being aware of who was open and getting the puck to them. And in my end, the defense was fantastic. Several times they just picked the puck off an opponent's stick, totally nullifying their chance at a shot. There were also a few instances when they completely saved my ass by swatting a loose puck (which I had yet to locate) out of the crease and up the boards to safety.

I personally also had a very good game. I didn't count the shots; I can't do that because it messes with my head. I don't want to be thinking about my save percentage during a game, I want to be in the zone. I think there were roughly 25 shots, give or take a few. And the one that beat me was a deflection off something... a skate or a knee, I didn't see clearly, but I definitely did see the puck suddenly change direction and angle. Other than giving up a few too many rebounds I was pretty happy with my game. Ok, I was really happy with it.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the season; I know we won't win every game, and I'm sure we'll get blown out in some. But now at least I know we can more than keep up with them. Bring on the next one.

I'll take the win

Our team won last night, but other than that the game wasn't much to write home about. I was doing my best impression of a big juicy rebound factory, and it cost us two goals. But, we managed to score 4, and that's what put the W on the board for us. I have to hand it to the other team; they only had two subs, compared to our full bench. They fought hard right up until the 4th goal, which seemed to take the wind out of their sails.

I don't know if it was me, or the fact that one of the refs was new, but it seemed like the icing calls were all kinds of screwed up. That threw me off a little. I also was doing a very poor job of getting the puck along the boards, which resulted in me not attempting it anymore. I hate that I make my D work so hard but I just can't get past this mental block. And that's what it is; I'm so afraid I'm going to screw up (as I have, horrifically, in the past) that it keeps me frozen in my crease. Just one more thing to work on, I guess. That's what open hockey is for...

...and I belch, too

I had a kick-ass game at open hockey today. I mean, I was in the zone. I was so in the zone that The Goaliebrain talked to me. It's been a while since I've heard from her. (Him? It? Does it matter?) See, I do my best to keep my regular brain busy/sedated while I play. If it wakes up it starts causing trouble. Either it over-analyzes what's going on, starts in with the negative self-talk, or just wanders off to places that have nothing whatsoever to do with the game and are just distracting. Like how you'd spell "Gretzky" in Cyrillic. I shit you not, that's what I was thinking about for a few minutes today when I was distracted. (In case you're curious, it would be: грэцки)

I use music/repetitive lyrics to lull my regular brain into sedation. It's during these times that The Goaliebrain talks to me. Most of the time she tells the muscles what to do without me hearing her. But today she was like a little drill sergeant in my head. I love it when that happens. It means I know what I'm doing. I had an opposing player a few feet in front of me (out of poke check range, but pretty close) all alone with the puck. I don't remember the exact play that lead up to that but I think he got it from a pass, because I just got into position in front of him as he received the puck. Goaliebrain barked at me "Blocking butterfly! There's no time!" Boom. Down I went into a nice tight butterfly and the shot bounced harmlessly off me and I smothered it. It's different than thinking. I didn't think "Ok, I don't have enough time to read the shot off the stick and he's real close in, so a blocking butterfly would be best here". Its like it came from somewhere else, but still inside me- instant knowledge.

So, I was really rolling. (There was a brief period where I did my best impression of a sieve and no its wasn't when I was spelling Gretzky's name in my head). Apparently I impressed one particular defenseman. He was quite the chatterbox. At one point one of his buddies on the opposing team semi-whiffed a shot and I stopped it easily. He said to me, loud enough for his buddy to hear "Tell him that the girls in your women's league have better shots than that." To which I responded, with mock (mostly) testiness; "I don't play on the women's league."

After that we had a few other short and friendly exchanges. It was after I gave esteemed reader and commenter "#48" a few good shoves from behind for being in my crease, that this guy came over, cleared him out, and then turned to me and told me I was a hockey player's dream woman, being out there and hustling like that.

D-man: Do you drink beer too?

Me: Hell yeah.

D-man: Damn. If I get divorced will you marry me?

Me: I'm already married.

D-man: Ok. If we both get divorced will you marry me?

I figure, sure.... if he can put up with The Goaliebrain.

Delayed review

Hanging out after a late game drinking beer is fun, but it sure does tax one's system. Two such nights in a row tired me out and though I probably would have been fine playing open hockey today, I decided to pass (mostly due to other factors). The second game of our back-to-back schedule gave us another much-needed win, and put us tied for 3rd place. (I think....) I've personally played better games; I did play well overall but two brain farts and one bad angle cost us 3 goals. The final score was 4-3. The new pads are still awesome, but I think I did the straps a little differently, because they felt a little looser that night. One of the goals was a result of the puck getting caught in my feet, and as I fumbled around to find it, I kicked it in. Argh. I'll blame that one (and the first one; a lousy 5-hole) on the new pads. Convenient scapegoat.

And speaking of 5-holes... here's an article that discusses the changes the NHL is making to goaltending equipment over the next two seasons, and why goalies with narrow butterflies will be affected this season while their counterparts with wider butterflies won't have to adjust until next season.

Addendum

In my sleep-deprived state last night (not that I'm in much better shape now), I forgot to mention something I was extremely happy about, besides the shutout itself. I noticed, just as I did in my last clinic, that my rebound control was really good. My coach would be so proud. Just about every puck went off into the corner off my stick, instead of bouncing off my pad right back out into the slot. This is was something we worked on A LOT; getting that first shot to go off into the corner. And in the one instance where I didnt' turn far enough (the breakaway) and got a pad on it instead of a stick, it didn't bounce very far out at all. I'm not sure how much of that is the speed of the shot and how much is the different foam in the new pads. Time will tell. But I do know that some pads are manufactured to give really long rebounds (the thought being that the farther away it goes the better) and some are manufactured to be really dead, and give a very close rebound (so you can pounce on it and smother it). I don't think my old ones were either: I think they were more of the "get the cheapest stuff in there that you can" variety.

Awww, I feel bad. They served me very very well. They're too beat up to try to sell, so I guess they'll just sit in my basement until my niece is big enough to wear them.

Oh and while I'm feeling bad, let me just apologize to that defenceman who I was ready to strangle last week, because I owe that goose-egg on the board in part to him. During a goal-mouth scramble, when I lost sight of the puck but heard the ref yelling "LOOSE! LOOSE!", and finally saw it just as it squirted out of my reach into plain open blue ice, said D-man was half a second quicker than the opponent who saw it at the same time and batted it out of the zone. There was no way I could have stopped that puck if the other guy got to it first. So thanks, D-Dude.

But that doesn't mean I still won't whack the back of your legs if you don't stop screening me.

I should be sleeping

Yeah, it's 1:37 a.m. And yeah, we have another game tomorrow, the second of our back-to-back games in this strangely scheduled season of the instructional league. So you'd think I'd be tucked into bed, snoring away.

Except I can't go to bed just yet.

No, I'm not up stewing over a loss. I'm walking on air because in my debut game with the new pads, I kicked that downward spiral in the face. I got my first shutout!!! My team made it pretty easy- most of the play was in the other end. But there were periods where the puck was in our zone for quite a bit. I'm not sure how many shots I had. Maybe 20? It wasn't a lot. But I'm proudest of two saves; one on a breakaway where I got a toe on it and then smothered the rebound, and the other was a glove save off a shot from about the top of the right circle.

What a way to break in the new pads eh.

It's go time

Oh yeah, I'm ready. I wore the new pads for the third time today and felt a lot more settled and comfortable with them. While the skaters were doing skater drills this morning, I spent some time working on moving around in the crease, and some butterfly slides as well. All systems are go.The biggest indicator to me that I'm getting used to them is that I wasn't thinking about them. I was doing my usual thing facing shots. (And I must add, I put just about every shot into the corner... awesome rebound control today, hopefully it'll stick!) I'm surprised it happened so quickly- the first time I wore them I thought it would take forever. They still don't have enough puck marks for my taste, but that will change quickly I'm sure.

These pads rule. They're just so awesome. Oh and did I mention they're the same ones Kari Lehtonen has? *swoon* (As an aside: he better bring it this season or he's gonna find a permanent place in the doghouse down there).