I work out in our (partially) finished basement. There's a wall at the bottom of the stairs which I use for my special tennis ball torture. So where did I find it?
At the top of the basement stairs.
W. T. F. ????
Alright. Who broke into my house and is fucking with me?
**Edit:
WAIT! Hold the phone. I've just been informed by GoalieHusband that that's a different tennis ball, one that was under a pile of cardboard boxes for recycling. I'm relieved... yet still curious about where the hell that damn thing went.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
My laundry room ate my tennis ball
Can I just come clean for a second? I mean, we all know I have an atrocious glove hand and no hand-eye-coordination whatsoever, but good lord, you'd think I'd be able to catch a freakin' tennis ball off a wall. It's truly amazing how ridiculously awful I am at this exercise. Like, to the point that it's pretty humorous. Here I am, doing goalie off-ice stuff, one of the biggest no-brainers of which is catching a tennis ball off the wall, and I'm all thumbs. I can't catch the damn thing to save my life. And I end up swearing a blue streak at myself, which really does wonders for my performance, I'm sure. No wonder the cat perches on top of the wall and watches me.
Anyway. There I was this morning lobbing the ball off the wall and trying to catch it (I'd nab it about 4 times in a row and then it would all go to shit again), when it took a very weird bounce, hit the table to my left.... and completely disappeared. As in gone without a trace. I didn't even hear it land. I'm mystified. In searching for it I found an awful lot of dust bunnies, but no tennis ball. It's going to drive me nuts until it turns up, too.
Oh yeah, and I got another shutout. Yay! Looking strictly at the numbers, that's 2 shutouts in the last 3 outings. Woo and hoo! However... I can honestly say I really didn't do much to earn the last one. I may have had 12 shots. That would be a generous estimate, too. Pretty much the entire game was played in the other team's zone, so much so that after the first period, one of my D said to me "Hey. Nice... stop." Har har. I informed her that I did in fact have TWO shots thank you very much. So, I feel a little guilty being all happy about the goose-egg, because I almost feel like I really didn't earn it. I'll shut up now.
One thing I've noticed myself doing lately is getting all ballsy with the poke-check. Several times I've completely surprised a player by lunging and stabbing the puck right off their stick. I usually do it if I'm already down and I can't maneuver my stick the way I need to in order to corral it, so I shoot it out instead. I know not everyone's a fan of the poke check but I'm really starting to love it. It's not something I come charging out and do on breakaways*, so I don't really feel like it's a big risk, technique wise. It sort of just happens in certain situations. The bench always seems to love it, and the player who just got sniped usually makes some kind of extremely unsatisfied noise. And I love making players make noises like that.
*Hmmmm, I think I actually did do it on two breakaways in mens' league this season. So that's not a completely true statement. But both times it worked, so there.
Anyway. There I was this morning lobbing the ball off the wall and trying to catch it (I'd nab it about 4 times in a row and then it would all go to shit again), when it took a very weird bounce, hit the table to my left.... and completely disappeared. As in gone without a trace. I didn't even hear it land. I'm mystified. In searching for it I found an awful lot of dust bunnies, but no tennis ball. It's going to drive me nuts until it turns up, too.
Oh yeah, and I got another shutout. Yay! Looking strictly at the numbers, that's 2 shutouts in the last 3 outings. Woo and hoo! However... I can honestly say I really didn't do much to earn the last one. I may have had 12 shots. That would be a generous estimate, too. Pretty much the entire game was played in the other team's zone, so much so that after the first period, one of my D said to me "Hey. Nice... stop." Har har. I informed her that I did in fact have TWO shots thank you very much. So, I feel a little guilty being all happy about the goose-egg, because I almost feel like I really didn't earn it. I'll shut up now.
One thing I've noticed myself doing lately is getting all ballsy with the poke-check. Several times I've completely surprised a player by lunging and stabbing the puck right off their stick. I usually do it if I'm already down and I can't maneuver my stick the way I need to in order to corral it, so I shoot it out instead. I know not everyone's a fan of the poke check but I'm really starting to love it. It's not something I come charging out and do on breakaways*, so I don't really feel like it's a big risk, technique wise. It sort of just happens in certain situations. The bench always seems to love it, and the player who just got sniped usually makes some kind of extremely unsatisfied noise. And I love making players make noises like that.
*Hmmmm, I think I actually did do it on two breakaways in mens' league this season. So that's not a completely true statement. But both times it worked, so there.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
"Totally worth getting changed in the car"
What's worse than NYC traffic on a Saturday night? NYC traffic the Saturday night before Christmas. GoalieHusband and I don't usually carpool to away games, because we live pretty far from the home rink (which is where everyone meets). But last night we were in the area anyway, so met up with a bunch of the team, and thank god for that. Because if I had been driving in that mess, there's no way my head would have been in the game. I think it took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get from Montclair to the GWB. There was Gionta182's car, with her, me and GoalieHusband, and another QCat's vehicle (some kind of insanely enormous SUV) with a total of 5 players and all their gear, with my pads perched on top of the pile of bags. When it became painfully clear that we weren't going to be at the rink anywhere near our scheduled ice time, the girls in the SUV decided to start getting dressed in the truck, and took turns digging around in the bags in the back for their gear. Evidently they even jumped out and switched places (half dressed in gear) at one of the toll booths, much to a policeman's dismay. Fortunately he knew better than to interfere. (One of our Canadian players pointed out that if this was Canada, the cop would have cleared the way and escorted us to the rink. Especially when he saw the goalie pads in the back.)
With GoalieHusband's knowledge of the area and Gionta182's creative driving (and liberal use of horn and middle finger), we got to the rink probably about 10 minutes after the game was supposed to have started. Since the majority of the team had been stuck, the game hadn't actually started yet, but the home team was already on the ice, as were a few of the early birds from our team. The ref started the game without us, which kind of pissed me off- you waited this long, and you see we've just gotten here, and NOW you're going to start? Whatever. I threw my gear on and got into the net with about 8 minutes left to go in the period. Evidently they'd scored 2 goals (and we had scored 1) during that time, but they were nice enough to keep the scoreboard at 0-0 until I and the rest of the team got out there.
After that kind of beginning you'd think we'd all be frazzled and out of focus. I guess it was the adrenaline that spurred us on because we played a GREAT game. We were up 3-1 by the end of the second, and were playing some of the best hockey we've played yet. Great passing, good communication, good pressure. I was pretty strong as well, though there was one dramatic moment when my D really saved my ass. I'd stopped a shot and knew it had bounced somewhere weird but had no clue where it was in the scramble. My D (the same one who fell on the puck and got us that penalty shot a few games ago) snagged it out just as it was reaching the goal line. WHEW.
But in the 3rd it felt like we let up just slightly. I let in 2 goals, neither of which I was too happy about, but one in particular pissed me off. The forward was coming down on a semi-breakaway, got me moving to the left and put it right through the 5-hole. Yes, I was moving. But jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick, why can't I keep my stick in front of my damn 5-hole when I'm going side to side?!!!? UGH. I felt like that goal negated all the really good work I'd done up until that point. The next one was a scrambly bouncy cluster-fuck, and I should have been able to freeze it. So with just a few minutes left we were tied 3-3 and I was really praying they'd be able to break the tie before the clock ran out.
And they did! With a minute left, we scored. I don't usually cheer for our goals, out of respect for the other goalie, but I let out a whoop and a holler for that one. Way to go teamwork. Naturally, they pulled the goalie to try to tie it up again, but we got the puck into their zone as she was coming to the bench, and she played it. With the 6th skater already on the ice. BUSTED! We finished up easily after that.
It was a fun game, but did get a little chippy toward the end. They started whacking at me late, and I was more than happy to return the favor. So was the rest of the team. When one player slashed at my back while I was covering a puck, one of our girls said something to the ref, who said "she was going for the puck". Oh really? The puck was on my back? That's a new one. But they all stood up for me and I stood up for myself pretty well. I think it's just one more indication that this team is really getting solid. Naturally it's the D I'm most familiar with, but I really think we have a great defensive unit and we work really well together.
Now on to the next game- tonight at 6:30. It's another away game, but not quite as far, so hopefully we won't have the same problem with traffic. Last night was our second win in a row. Definitely striving to extend that streak tonight.
With GoalieHusband's knowledge of the area and Gionta182's creative driving (and liberal use of horn and middle finger), we got to the rink probably about 10 minutes after the game was supposed to have started. Since the majority of the team had been stuck, the game hadn't actually started yet, but the home team was already on the ice, as were a few of the early birds from our team. The ref started the game without us, which kind of pissed me off- you waited this long, and you see we've just gotten here, and NOW you're going to start? Whatever. I threw my gear on and got into the net with about 8 minutes left to go in the period. Evidently they'd scored 2 goals (and we had scored 1) during that time, but they were nice enough to keep the scoreboard at 0-0 until I and the rest of the team got out there.
After that kind of beginning you'd think we'd all be frazzled and out of focus. I guess it was the adrenaline that spurred us on because we played a GREAT game. We were up 3-1 by the end of the second, and were playing some of the best hockey we've played yet. Great passing, good communication, good pressure. I was pretty strong as well, though there was one dramatic moment when my D really saved my ass. I'd stopped a shot and knew it had bounced somewhere weird but had no clue where it was in the scramble. My D (the same one who fell on the puck and got us that penalty shot a few games ago) snagged it out just as it was reaching the goal line. WHEW.
But in the 3rd it felt like we let up just slightly. I let in 2 goals, neither of which I was too happy about, but one in particular pissed me off. The forward was coming down on a semi-breakaway, got me moving to the left and put it right through the 5-hole. Yes, I was moving. But jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick, why can't I keep my stick in front of my damn 5-hole when I'm going side to side?!!!? UGH. I felt like that goal negated all the really good work I'd done up until that point. The next one was a scrambly bouncy cluster-fuck, and I should have been able to freeze it. So with just a few minutes left we were tied 3-3 and I was really praying they'd be able to break the tie before the clock ran out.
And they did! With a minute left, we scored. I don't usually cheer for our goals, out of respect for the other goalie, but I let out a whoop and a holler for that one. Way to go teamwork. Naturally, they pulled the goalie to try to tie it up again, but we got the puck into their zone as she was coming to the bench, and she played it. With the 6th skater already on the ice. BUSTED! We finished up easily after that.
It was a fun game, but did get a little chippy toward the end. They started whacking at me late, and I was more than happy to return the favor. So was the rest of the team. When one player slashed at my back while I was covering a puck, one of our girls said something to the ref, who said "she was going for the puck". Oh really? The puck was on my back? That's a new one. But they all stood up for me and I stood up for myself pretty well. I think it's just one more indication that this team is really getting solid. Naturally it's the D I'm most familiar with, but I really think we have a great defensive unit and we work really well together.
Now on to the next game- tonight at 6:30. It's another away game, but not quite as far, so hopefully we won't have the same problem with traffic. Last night was our second win in a row. Definitely striving to extend that streak tonight.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
A Blowout, and a Shutout
Ya gotta love a league with 4 teams in it. Even a team with a 1-11 record gets a "playoff" game. It's also great when the league has this rule, that all players must sign in before each game, so they can keep track of how many games people have played. Beacuse if you haven't played 4 games (i.e., are a ringer), you can't play in the playoffs. Pretty good system, right? (Leaving out the part where anyone can put a check mark next to anyone's name, whether they're there or not...) It was great to see that policy enforced on Sunday night when we got to the rink for our "playoff" game. There were no less than five non-rostered names written in on the D-bag Team's sign-in sheet. I guess they weren't happy with beating us 5-2 a few nights before that, so they had to bring in their ringers. Rolling over us 11-0 is so much more satisfying, don't you think?
And as Senator discovered when he did a little digging on the league website, this team is 11-1-1, with - wait for it! - 74 goals for and 26 goals against. Yep. They belong in our league. Clearly. (The point could be raised that if they weren't in the league, it would be just 3 teams, but that is a non-issue now with another team coming down from the level above).
I'm not sure if anyone's going to say anything to the new league coordinator, who's come in with all kinds of plans on cleaning up the leagues. We've heard all of that before though, which is why I'm personally not making any noise about it. Nothing like apathy right?
Fortunately I got a little pick-me-up a few days later, in the form of an outdoor game with the Quarry Cats. I have to tell you, I was not nearly as excited as the rest of the team with the prospect of playing outside. Yeah, yeah, hockey's roots... but there's an awful lot to be said for being able to feel your hands and face while playing hockey, and playing indoors has totally spoiled me. Although it was on our dinky flooded outdoor roller rink that I fell hard and fast for hockey on blades instead of wheels, I wasn't all that anxious to get back out there in the biting cold. Most of what I remember from playing outside is literally not being able to feel my fingers at all- except when I gloved a shot or stopped one with my stick. Then it was all nerve endings firing pain signals at once. Frozen water bottle... runny nose... fogged up glasses... none of that was on my list of things to look forward to.
However, I was pleasantly surprised. There is no comparison at all between a posh country club rink and a town-run outdoor cement rink flooded in the winter for skating. The country club rink has a zamboni. So right there, there's no divets or bumps to ruin your skates. They also have REAL INDOOR LOCKER ROOMS, so getting dressed doesn't reduce you to the equivalent of a popsicle before you're even ready to play. (An added bonus of country club locker rooms is, not only do the showers not smell like pee or have bugs coming out of the drains, they're actually clean and have soap provided!)
As soon as we got out on the ice I realized this was a piece of cake compared to what I remembered, and I relaxed and had fun. We had no coaches, but the team played a great game. It was probably the most pressure we've had offensively in any game yet, and it paid off in the 3rd period with 3 goals. Going into the game our record was 0-2-1, so it was our first win on the season. And, a shutout! That was certainly not a bad feeling after all the winless games, both teams combined.
But I really need to work on something. Now that I've got the stick angle thing figured out, I desperately need to not give up so many rebounds. Some Twitter and message board pals linked me some videos and suggestions, and I pin-pointed one thing I'm doing that's causing them, but I can't fix it without massive repetition. There's no time to think "do this with your pad, not that" when making a pad save- it needs to be burned in, rote muscle memory. So I have to figure that out. Because trust me guys (and gals), I know, the rebounds are bad.
It's a busy hockey weekend coming up- team party on Friday night, and an away game each on Saturday and Sunday. My goal, besides to deny all of them, is to keep my rebounds in check. Oh yeah, and to have fun on Friday night. If there's one thing the QCats know how to do, it's party.
And as Senator discovered when he did a little digging on the league website, this team is 11-1-1, with - wait for it! - 74 goals for and 26 goals against. Yep. They belong in our league. Clearly. (The point could be raised that if they weren't in the league, it would be just 3 teams, but that is a non-issue now with another team coming down from the level above).
I'm not sure if anyone's going to say anything to the new league coordinator, who's come in with all kinds of plans on cleaning up the leagues. We've heard all of that before though, which is why I'm personally not making any noise about it. Nothing like apathy right?
Fortunately I got a little pick-me-up a few days later, in the form of an outdoor game with the Quarry Cats. I have to tell you, I was not nearly as excited as the rest of the team with the prospect of playing outside. Yeah, yeah, hockey's roots... but there's an awful lot to be said for being able to feel your hands and face while playing hockey, and playing indoors has totally spoiled me. Although it was on our dinky flooded outdoor roller rink that I fell hard and fast for hockey on blades instead of wheels, I wasn't all that anxious to get back out there in the biting cold. Most of what I remember from playing outside is literally not being able to feel my fingers at all- except when I gloved a shot or stopped one with my stick. Then it was all nerve endings firing pain signals at once. Frozen water bottle... runny nose... fogged up glasses... none of that was on my list of things to look forward to.
However, I was pleasantly surprised. There is no comparison at all between a posh country club rink and a town-run outdoor cement rink flooded in the winter for skating. The country club rink has a zamboni. So right there, there's no divets or bumps to ruin your skates. They also have REAL INDOOR LOCKER ROOMS, so getting dressed doesn't reduce you to the equivalent of a popsicle before you're even ready to play. (An added bonus of country club locker rooms is, not only do the showers not smell like pee or have bugs coming out of the drains, they're actually clean and have soap provided!)
As soon as we got out on the ice I realized this was a piece of cake compared to what I remembered, and I relaxed and had fun. We had no coaches, but the team played a great game. It was probably the most pressure we've had offensively in any game yet, and it paid off in the 3rd period with 3 goals. Going into the game our record was 0-2-1, so it was our first win on the season. And, a shutout! That was certainly not a bad feeling after all the winless games, both teams combined.
But I really need to work on something. Now that I've got the stick angle thing figured out, I desperately need to not give up so many rebounds. Some Twitter and message board pals linked me some videos and suggestions, and I pin-pointed one thing I'm doing that's causing them, but I can't fix it without massive repetition. There's no time to think "do this with your pad, not that" when making a pad save- it needs to be burned in, rote muscle memory. So I have to figure that out. Because trust me guys (and gals), I know, the rebounds are bad.
It's a busy hockey weekend coming up- team party on Friday night, and an away game each on Saturday and Sunday. My goal, besides to deny all of them, is to keep my rebounds in check. Oh yeah, and to have fun on Friday night. If there's one thing the QCats know how to do, it's party.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
1-11
The Hawks finished the season 1-11, with another balls-out game. We lost 5-2 (lowest goals against of the season! w00t!!!), but we really played hard and I don't think they were expecting it. This was against the team I've been referring to as the d-bag team, however they actually weren't d-bags that night. In fact one could have really put me out of commission for a while, but he had the decency to hold up and not come crashing down on me while I was in a defenseless position. Maybe they respect us a little more, for stepping it up the way we did. Maybe their major d-bags just weren't there that night.
Since the game was right after practice, we had fans again. Yay! Once again @gionta182 brought her GIANT sign and vuvuzela, and several of the gals stuck around for the first period. GoalieHusband earned himself a nickname, without even knowing it. He recently purchased plastic guards to go over the tops of his skates, to protect his instep and ankle from blocking shots (which he does quite a lot of). They're clear plastic though, and apparently they reflect the light and from the bleachers it looks like he's got glitter on his skates. He's been dubbed "Coach Sparkle" by @gionta182 and another d-girl. It's already stuck; even one of the Hawks referred to him that way during a post-game email exchange we had. Fan-freakin-tastic. He hasn't been able to be at practice for a few months because of his work schedule, but hopefully will be back in January. The ones who came up with the nickname realize they're going to get skated to death when he comes back to practices... but I think they also think it's worth it.
So, the Hawks' season is over, with the exception of one "playoff" game tomorrow night. Hey, when there are 4 teams in the league, EVERYONE makes the playoffs. Even teams with a 1-11 record. I'm not sure how long the break is before the winter season starts, and it looks like we'll just squeak by roster-wise and be able to play again. I think the plan is to give it one more season and see if we can't get our shit together. Hopefully we can. I don't want to see the team go separate ways.
Personally, I think we should switch back to our blue jerseys. There's another team coming into the league next season and they're- you guessed it - blue. So between them, Original Blue Guys, and We're Blue But We're Supposed To Be Green Guys, that's three blue teams right there. I say we add ours to the mix and really confuse the hell out of the refs. Hey if you can't win, at least make it fun right?
Since the game was right after practice, we had fans again. Yay! Once again @gionta182 brought her GIANT sign and vuvuzela, and several of the gals stuck around for the first period. GoalieHusband earned himself a nickname, without even knowing it. He recently purchased plastic guards to go over the tops of his skates, to protect his instep and ankle from blocking shots (which he does quite a lot of). They're clear plastic though, and apparently they reflect the light and from the bleachers it looks like he's got glitter on his skates. He's been dubbed "Coach Sparkle" by @gionta182 and another d-girl. It's already stuck; even one of the Hawks referred to him that way during a post-game email exchange we had. Fan-freakin-tastic. He hasn't been able to be at practice for a few months because of his work schedule, but hopefully will be back in January. The ones who came up with the nickname realize they're going to get skated to death when he comes back to practices... but I think they also think it's worth it.
So, the Hawks' season is over, with the exception of one "playoff" game tomorrow night. Hey, when there are 4 teams in the league, EVERYONE makes the playoffs. Even teams with a 1-11 record. I'm not sure how long the break is before the winter season starts, and it looks like we'll just squeak by roster-wise and be able to play again. I think the plan is to give it one more season and see if we can't get our shit together. Hopefully we can. I don't want to see the team go separate ways.
Personally, I think we should switch back to our blue jerseys. There's another team coming into the league next season and they're- you guessed it - blue. So between them, Original Blue Guys, and We're Blue But We're Supposed To Be Green Guys, that's three blue teams right there. I say we add ours to the mix and really confuse the hell out of the refs. Hey if you can't win, at least make it fun right?
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Yeah, about that double-header
(I wrote this Wednesday evening but forgot to post it. Oopsie)
Let's file one game under "it was a loss, but damn it was fun and I played my butt off" and the other under "meh".
The Quarry Cat game was the first one of the night, and we ended up with a 4-1 loss. I wasn't crying in my beer over that one though, because I felt like I stood on my head. GoalieHusband said he counted at least 50 shots and knows he didn't get them all. We were up against a team we'd never played before, and they were quite a bit faster than we are. Still I think we didn't do poorly. The D was absolutely fantastic. I can't speak to the forwards much because I wasn't really watching them. I got to experience the fun of a penalty shot, too. I don't even remember exactly how it got there (I think took a weird bounce off me while I was holding the post?) but the puck ended up behind me in the blue paint, skittering towards the goal line, while I was facing the right corner. One of my D launched herself towards it, with the intention of shoving it out with her hand, but when she landed she obscured the ref's vision and he assumed she landed on it. TWEEET. Penalty shot.
I felt really confident, like eh... no problem, I got this. Then I heard the bench chanting my name. Gals, love the support but that's making me nervous as hell. Benefit of having your husband on the bench as assistant coach? He knows stuff like this. Unbeknownst to me, he told them to stop saying my name and just cheer or call me "Goalie", because that's what the cheering suddenly changed to. Girl picks up the puck, comes down the middle.... fakes a shot that I don't bite on... so on her way in she tries to flip a backhand over my right pad. OH LOOK my leg is over here now. DENIED. Bench erupts in cheering and stick-banging. Damn, that feels good. I know I'm not supposed to get all carried away, but I have to say there's nothing like hearing your bench go nuts after a save. Warms my goalie heart.
After the game we had beer and pizza with the other team to welcome them (or maybe just because we wanted beer and pizza...), and a few gals stuck around for a while with us, but eventually we were left on our own just killing time waiting for the Hawks game. The team I subbed for was playing about an hour before our game, so we at least had that to watch for a while.
Annnd... as for the Hawks game I really don't have much to say. We lost, I think the score was 9-4 (see? blocking it out already), and it's just really starting to get old, letting that many goals in every single game. I'm really starting to feel like I am part of the problem. Guess I just don't belong at this level, and that's a very tough pill to swallow. "This level" is a step above instructional, and its depressing as all hell to think that I'll only ever be good enough for an instructional league. (That said, the levels at this rink are so f'd up it's unreal. Their "instructional" would be most rinks' D, and their "D" should be a C or higher, etc..)
But I have a game tonight, so all that is going in the vault.
Let's file one game under "it was a loss, but damn it was fun and I played my butt off" and the other under "meh".
The Quarry Cat game was the first one of the night, and we ended up with a 4-1 loss. I wasn't crying in my beer over that one though, because I felt like I stood on my head. GoalieHusband said he counted at least 50 shots and knows he didn't get them all. We were up against a team we'd never played before, and they were quite a bit faster than we are. Still I think we didn't do poorly. The D was absolutely fantastic. I can't speak to the forwards much because I wasn't really watching them. I got to experience the fun of a penalty shot, too. I don't even remember exactly how it got there (I think took a weird bounce off me while I was holding the post?) but the puck ended up behind me in the blue paint, skittering towards the goal line, while I was facing the right corner. One of my D launched herself towards it, with the intention of shoving it out with her hand, but when she landed she obscured the ref's vision and he assumed she landed on it. TWEEET. Penalty shot.
I felt really confident, like eh... no problem, I got this. Then I heard the bench chanting my name. Gals, love the support but that's making me nervous as hell. Benefit of having your husband on the bench as assistant coach? He knows stuff like this. Unbeknownst to me, he told them to stop saying my name and just cheer or call me "Goalie", because that's what the cheering suddenly changed to. Girl picks up the puck, comes down the middle.... fakes a shot that I don't bite on... so on her way in she tries to flip a backhand over my right pad. OH LOOK my leg is over here now. DENIED. Bench erupts in cheering and stick-banging. Damn, that feels good. I know I'm not supposed to get all carried away, but I have to say there's nothing like hearing your bench go nuts after a save. Warms my goalie heart.
After the game we had beer and pizza with the other team to welcome them (or maybe just because we wanted beer and pizza...), and a few gals stuck around for a while with us, but eventually we were left on our own just killing time waiting for the Hawks game. The team I subbed for was playing about an hour before our game, so we at least had that to watch for a while.
Annnd... as for the Hawks game I really don't have much to say. We lost, I think the score was 9-4 (see? blocking it out already), and it's just really starting to get old, letting that many goals in every single game. I'm really starting to feel like I am part of the problem. Guess I just don't belong at this level, and that's a very tough pill to swallow. "This level" is a step above instructional, and its depressing as all hell to think that I'll only ever be good enough for an instructional league. (That said, the levels at this rink are so f'd up it's unreal. Their "instructional" would be most rinks' D, and their "D" should be a C or higher, etc..)
But I have a game tonight, so all that is going in the vault.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Oh hi, blog
Kind of a "blah" week on the hockey end, so I didn't really have much inspiration to write. It started off with a big smack-down from the Hockey Gods, losing 7-4 on Sunday night. We had only 8 skaters vs their full bench, but I wasn't at my best either. So much for all that crowing about how strong and good I feel. Lesson learned there. I'm a little annoyed about the whole 8-skater thing; yeah it's a late night, but that's not exactly a surprise. Whatever. The general apathy is starting to seep back in, and whether we'll have a season after this one is up in the air. I get really grouchy about that, so best to move on.
Wednesday night was Quarry Cat practice, and while it was an excellent one for the team, it wasn't all that challenging for me. At the beginning of practice, Coach was talking about what he wanted to work on, and one of the things was a "firing squad". Rock on! I love that one. About six players line up across the slot in front of me, and two players are down behind the goal line, one on either side of the net. They alternate passing pucks up to the players in the slot, who fire one timers or really quick shots at me. I have to go back and forth really fast and it's exhausting but it's great. Unfortunately, we never did the firing squad drill; I guess we ran out of time or maybe there were too many people. We did work some more on set forechecking plays, and that's really coming together quite well. This time he added some D to D passing, which is really great. If we start doing that in games, it'll help out the offense big time.
Thursday night I got a call to sub for a friend's team, which naturally I jumped at. I knew going in that it was going to be a rout; this team is playing one level above where the Hawks are, and really should be in the same level as us. They get demolished every night. Nevertheless I got pretty rattled when, after the first period, the score was 8-2. It was pretty bad. My friend apologized to me profusely and said that was the worst defense they'd ever played (almost all of the goals were from a wide open guy on the opposite side of where I was squared up to the puck carrier). However, there were a few that I know I would have stopped if I wasn't so rattled. I felt totally shell-shocked. But I pulled it together and played much better in the next two frames, and so did everyone else really. Eight goals in the first period, two in the second and two in the third. Not too bad after that horrendous start. But still pretty traumatic. I felt like there was no way they'd ever call me again if they needed a sub but she assured me that first period was on them. Not sure how much of that is "platitudes to make the goalie feel better", but I'll take it.
Hoping to turn the corner tonight; I have two games on the ticket. Quarry Cats at 5pm, and then Hawks at 10:50. If we lived closer to the rink we'd come home in between, but it doesn't make sense to drive back and forth, especially since there's probably going to be some sort of pizza party thingy after the Quarry Cat game. The team I subbed for on Thursday has a game at 9:20, so I guess that gives us something to do for a while too. I'll have to try to avoid comparing myself to their regular goalie and wondering how he'd have handled Thursday night's game.
Fortunately the Hawks game isn't against the douche-bag team, so we probably have a fighting chance... if we can ice a full bench.
Wednesday night was Quarry Cat practice, and while it was an excellent one for the team, it wasn't all that challenging for me. At the beginning of practice, Coach was talking about what he wanted to work on, and one of the things was a "firing squad". Rock on! I love that one. About six players line up across the slot in front of me, and two players are down behind the goal line, one on either side of the net. They alternate passing pucks up to the players in the slot, who fire one timers or really quick shots at me. I have to go back and forth really fast and it's exhausting but it's great. Unfortunately, we never did the firing squad drill; I guess we ran out of time or maybe there were too many people. We did work some more on set forechecking plays, and that's really coming together quite well. This time he added some D to D passing, which is really great. If we start doing that in games, it'll help out the offense big time.
Thursday night I got a call to sub for a friend's team, which naturally I jumped at. I knew going in that it was going to be a rout; this team is playing one level above where the Hawks are, and really should be in the same level as us. They get demolished every night. Nevertheless I got pretty rattled when, after the first period, the score was 8-2. It was pretty bad. My friend apologized to me profusely and said that was the worst defense they'd ever played (almost all of the goals were from a wide open guy on the opposite side of where I was squared up to the puck carrier). However, there were a few that I know I would have stopped if I wasn't so rattled. I felt totally shell-shocked. But I pulled it together and played much better in the next two frames, and so did everyone else really. Eight goals in the first period, two in the second and two in the third. Not too bad after that horrendous start. But still pretty traumatic. I felt like there was no way they'd ever call me again if they needed a sub but she assured me that first period was on them. Not sure how much of that is "platitudes to make the goalie feel better", but I'll take it.
Hoping to turn the corner tonight; I have two games on the ticket. Quarry Cats at 5pm, and then Hawks at 10:50. If we lived closer to the rink we'd come home in between, but it doesn't make sense to drive back and forth, especially since there's probably going to be some sort of pizza party thingy after the Quarry Cat game. The team I subbed for on Thursday has a game at 9:20, so I guess that gives us something to do for a while too. I'll have to try to avoid comparing myself to their regular goalie and wondering how he'd have handled Thursday night's game.
Fortunately the Hawks game isn't against the douche-bag team, so we probably have a fighting chance... if we can ice a full bench.
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