The NHL season is underway, and now the Quarry Cats' season has officially started. YAY HOCKEY! This is my absolute favorite time of year. The excitement of the new season, with a whole season stretching out ahead of us, games and highlights to watch, plays and hits to talk about, and my own games ramped up now that both my teams are active. Love. It.
This weekend I got to play in two games, and that made me one happy goalie. On Saturday I subbed for the C team. We played in PA and I made the trip out and back by myself, which I enjoyed. Carpooling with teammates is awesome, but there is something to be said for a nice solo ride now and then. Now that I have a nifty little smartphone, I was able to use GPS navigation to get there, instead of scribbling directions down on a scrap of paper from Google Maps. And I discovered something: I kind of like the "nav". I found myself talking back to it without even realizing it. "Turn right onto Polk Street", the female robot-voice said. "You got it," I chirped back as I made the turn. "Ok now what?"
I need help.
Anyway, the game was a lot of fun. I can say that because we won. It was looking like a tie for a long while there, but we managed to break it with literally 30 seconds left in the game. One thing that's kind of neat is that the C team plays in an actual league, which keeps stats and standings etc. (We play an independent schedule, basically a bunch of teams that all play each other but we're not a formal league. We could be in a different division of the C team's league but no one wants to travel as far as would be necessary, myself included). So I got to keep track of my shot total; only 18 shots on me, and 1 goal. Not awful. But on the other end? Holy cow. The girls unleashed 50 shots on the other goalie and she turned away all but 48 of them. I tried to tell her in the handshake line how great I thought she played, but I could tell she was pissed about losing that close to the end of the game. I get it. I would be too.
That was a lot of fun, and I felt comfortable with the girls since I knew several of them from tournaments this summer, but what I was really excited about was my own team's opening game of the season. We played against the same team we opened the season against last year, and I don't know what the deal is, but I always feel like I play like crap when we play them. Maybe subconsciously I'm underestimating them, because they, like us, have improved a lot over the last 2 years. The game started out and on the first rush into our zone, they scored. It was a garbage goal I'd gotten the first save on, but thought I had the puck covered. Not so much. Man, that pissed me off. And the fact is, we spent most of the time in their zone. So there I am, standing around, watching the girls at the other end, with that big fat 1 and 0 on the scoreboard over the other goalie's head. And after they got a second goal (which incidentally was the same kind as the first)? Mortified. And pissed off. Fortunately I played much better after that, and we managed to tie it up in the second period. I think. The tying goal might have come early in the 3rd. Goldfishbrain, remember?
In the 3rd period we went ahead by one, and the bench went nuts and I felt immense relief. No matter what anyone says, I feel like those first 2 goals were on me. Those are pucks I usually smother. Anyway... In the 3rd period they spent a little more time in our end, and somehow I was endowed with a glove hand that actually works, because I snatched at least two pucks right from mid-air. Man, did that feel good. I love that. *Yoink!* Oh yeah, you that was going in, didn't you? Think again, sweetie. Hey. I don't get to feel that feeling very often, so when I do, I bask in it for a few seconds. I also was reminded of the way the announcer described, I believe it was Halak's, jaw-dropping flat-out larceny savegasm of a glove save in Saturday night's game. He said something like "And up comes that smelly leather mitt and nabs it right out of the air, while he's in the splits". Hahaha. Smelly leather mitt indeed. No splits here though. All the yoga and stretching in the world won't get that out of me.
Unfortunately they tied it up with only a few minutes left. I hate ties. HATE them. I know there's a lot of people who hate shootouts, but ties have to be worse. And in this league we don't even get a few minutes of OT to try to settle it. So, the final score was 3-3. I swear, next time we play them I'm going to shut them down.
Our next game is practically a month away, so that's it for now. And the next Hawks game isn't for another week. Fortunately, I have the week off this week, so I'm going to try to get to at least two open hockey sessions. Right now I'm going to enjoy my coffee and figure out which of several projects I'm going to tackle first.
I love hockey.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Of Hybrids, Goalie Pals, and Call-Ups
Hybrid.
What does that word make you think of? A smart little eco-friendly car? Or, as readers of a goalie blog, a goaltending style? Probably the last thing to come to mind, if at all, is a way to describe a female fan's experience of the game. But in so doing, my intrepid goalie gal-pal MsConduct seems to have opened quite a can of worms, if the endless string of comments is any indication. I'm referring, of course, to her execllent inaugural (and extremely well-illustrated) post over at Backhand Shelf. The Bunny Conundrum, indeed. And it's not just those readers who were inspired to come out of their bunny dens and confess... I as well have to finally admit that I am pretty much a "hybrid" myself. I'll let her column do the explaining, because she does a fantastic job of it. I'll wait while you go read it.
Done? Good. My confession is more of a revelation. I've always been one of those people that thought the love of (and intricate understanding of) hockey and appreciation for the outward appearance of a player had to be mutually exclusive. I always felt like if I ever even indicated that I found Player X or Goalie Y attractive, all my "credibility" as a "real fan" would be lost. But reading MsConduct's post made me realize - it doesn't have to be that way. And the more women (and hell, men too) who can stand up and say "I can tell you about a 1-2-2 forecheck or a left wing lock, icing and offsides do not confuse me, and none of that is diminished by the fact that I am not a robot and can freely admit that that guy could single-handedly melt the polar icecaps", the more people will realize that the two viewpoints do not conflict with each other. I still get defensive though. The fact is I'm not watching it for eye candy, I'm watching it for the love and beauty of the game. But all of you certainly know that I know what I'm talking about, so admiting that Kari Lehtonen was my first Finnish goalie crush, and not only in a goalie-skill-appreciation way, isn't going to take anything away. (And if any of you follow both me and MsConduct on Twitter, that cat has been out of the bag for at least a week now anyway. It's so much fun to share the love.)
Back in the very non-glamorous world of beer league, things have been pretty much status quo for the Hawks. We played again two nights ago, and lost again 6-0. I honestly felt like I had a very good game. But I can't reconcile that with the score, and the fact that a few of those goals were just really awful bounces. (Does anyone else hate that term? Saying "it was a bad bounce" reeks to me of excuses. Maybe I'm just a perfectionist.) One was a screen that even Kari wouldn't have seen through. And... one was completely on me. Yes, we blew our coverage on this one guy, but I had every chance to make the save on him. It just so happened that it was one of their better guys, who knows to go glove side high on me for an easy goal. Damn useless glove hand. But I felt I made a ton of very good saves, many through traffic, and many in tight. I even used the VH a few times, and although it seemed the exact right thing to do, and it worked like a charm, I still question myself now every time I use it, because of the bad rap it's been getting in goalie circles from overuse.
We don't play again for over a week, but in the mean time I have two QCat games on my dance card. We've been practicing for a month now, and our first game is on Sunday. I absolutely can't wait to get back out there with the team. I'm really looking forward to the season; I want to pick up right where I left off before I got hurt. But before that game, I'm filling in for the C team on Saturday, for their first game. They have two goalies on their roster, but evidently neither one could make it to this game, so they asked me. Naturally I said yes, but I'm nervous. I'm sure I'll be fine, but of course I'm worried about making an ass out of myself. Don't worry though, as soon as I hit the ice - in both games - all that will be gone from my brain. Nothing to focus on other than how much I love stopping pucks. Come onnnnn, weekend!
What does that word make you think of? A smart little eco-friendly car? Or, as readers of a goalie blog, a goaltending style? Probably the last thing to come to mind, if at all, is a way to describe a female fan's experience of the game. But in so doing, my intrepid goalie gal-pal MsConduct seems to have opened quite a can of worms, if the endless string of comments is any indication. I'm referring, of course, to her execllent inaugural (and extremely well-illustrated) post over at Backhand Shelf. The Bunny Conundrum, indeed. And it's not just those readers who were inspired to come out of their bunny dens and confess... I as well have to finally admit that I am pretty much a "hybrid" myself. I'll let her column do the explaining, because she does a fantastic job of it. I'll wait while you go read it.
Done? Good. My confession is more of a revelation. I've always been one of those people that thought the love of (and intricate understanding of) hockey and appreciation for the outward appearance of a player had to be mutually exclusive. I always felt like if I ever even indicated that I found Player X or Goalie Y attractive, all my "credibility" as a "real fan" would be lost. But reading MsConduct's post made me realize - it doesn't have to be that way. And the more women (and hell, men too) who can stand up and say "I can tell you about a 1-2-2 forecheck or a left wing lock, icing and offsides do not confuse me, and none of that is diminished by the fact that I am not a robot and can freely admit that that guy could single-handedly melt the polar icecaps", the more people will realize that the two viewpoints do not conflict with each other. I still get defensive though. The fact is I'm not watching it for eye candy, I'm watching it for the love and beauty of the game. But all of you certainly know that I know what I'm talking about, so admiting that Kari Lehtonen was my first Finnish goalie crush, and not only in a goalie-skill-appreciation way, isn't going to take anything away. (And if any of you follow both me and MsConduct on Twitter, that cat has been out of the bag for at least a week now anyway. It's so much fun to share the love.)
Back in the very non-glamorous world of beer league, things have been pretty much status quo for the Hawks. We played again two nights ago, and lost again 6-0. I honestly felt like I had a very good game. But I can't reconcile that with the score, and the fact that a few of those goals were just really awful bounces. (Does anyone else hate that term? Saying "it was a bad bounce" reeks to me of excuses. Maybe I'm just a perfectionist.) One was a screen that even Kari wouldn't have seen through. And... one was completely on me. Yes, we blew our coverage on this one guy, but I had every chance to make the save on him. It just so happened that it was one of their better guys, who knows to go glove side high on me for an easy goal. Damn useless glove hand. But I felt I made a ton of very good saves, many through traffic, and many in tight. I even used the VH a few times, and although it seemed the exact right thing to do, and it worked like a charm, I still question myself now every time I use it, because of the bad rap it's been getting in goalie circles from overuse.
We don't play again for over a week, but in the mean time I have two QCat games on my dance card. We've been practicing for a month now, and our first game is on Sunday. I absolutely can't wait to get back out there with the team. I'm really looking forward to the season; I want to pick up right where I left off before I got hurt. But before that game, I'm filling in for the C team on Saturday, for their first game. They have two goalies on their roster, but evidently neither one could make it to this game, so they asked me. Naturally I said yes, but I'm nervous. I'm sure I'll be fine, but of course I'm worried about making an ass out of myself. Don't worry though, as soon as I hit the ice - in both games - all that will be gone from my brain. Nothing to focus on other than how much I love stopping pucks. Come onnnnn, weekend!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
New Game
Well folks, since there are only so many ways I can say "we played hard but we lost", I'm going to skip the recap of the latest Hawks game. Instead, we'll play a new game. It's called "New Guy In The Locker Room Bullshit Meter".
As is usual lately, we had quite the short bench, so we had to call in reinforcements where we could. There was a guy who subbed in our last game (and scored a nice deflection goal), and two other guys. One of these guys totally rubbed me the wrong way. When I walked in and introduced myself, he told me he knew me from open hockey. I wondered to myself if it was a game I'd played well in, or one I'd stunk to high heaven. Later I realized it was the latter.
He and the other sub were talking a blue streak about a league in another rink and how disorganized it was, and how uneven the competition can be (sound familiar?), and from the sounds of it, they both played there, but not on the same teams. One guy said that Mats Zucarello had been playing in the lowest level league and only recently had been "found out".
WHHOOOOOPPPSSS there goes my bullshit meter.
Folks, we are one step above "instructional" level. There is no way on this polluted stinking planet that The Hobbit was playing in a league equivalent to ours. And, further cementing his gold standard tool status, this guy went on to sing the praises of a dude who played with us for one season, who is mostly remembered for his 20 minute locker room soliloquy about his Way Awesome Car that was so much cooler than all of ours.
And from what I heard, he was none too gracious on the bench, either. I'm sure he had plenty to say about my couple of deer-in-headlights, didn't-even-flinch goals against, and that's fine. That's the first game I've ever played where I wasn't sure if I was going to puke or pass out first, for pretty much the entire game. And that's after a weekend of relaxation. I'm not sure what was going on there, I haven't ever felt like that, not even in a tournament. We have over a week to rest before our next game. One of our regulars who has missed all the games so far will be back. Hopefully we can put together at least a close game, if not a win.
In the mean time- QCats practice tomorrow night. I'm totally psyched for our first game, which isn't until the 16th, but until then: HOCKEY SEASON IS STARTING!!!!!!!!!! GoalieHousehold finally at long last has DVR. Ahhhhh.... no more missing games because of practices or games of my own. No more getting home, rushing to have dinner cooked by 7pm so we can be settled in front of the TV for our Rangers. This also means all the Law & Order SVU episodes I could ever want. Oh, the wonders of technology!
As is usual lately, we had quite the short bench, so we had to call in reinforcements where we could. There was a guy who subbed in our last game (and scored a nice deflection goal), and two other guys. One of these guys totally rubbed me the wrong way. When I walked in and introduced myself, he told me he knew me from open hockey. I wondered to myself if it was a game I'd played well in, or one I'd stunk to high heaven. Later I realized it was the latter.
He and the other sub were talking a blue streak about a league in another rink and how disorganized it was, and how uneven the competition can be (sound familiar?), and from the sounds of it, they both played there, but not on the same teams. One guy said that Mats Zucarello had been playing in the lowest level league and only recently had been "found out".
WHHOOOOOPPPSSS there goes my bullshit meter.
Folks, we are one step above "instructional" level. There is no way on this polluted stinking planet that The Hobbit was playing in a league equivalent to ours. And, further cementing his gold standard tool status, this guy went on to sing the praises of a dude who played with us for one season, who is mostly remembered for his 20 minute locker room soliloquy about his Way Awesome Car that was so much cooler than all of ours.
And from what I heard, he was none too gracious on the bench, either. I'm sure he had plenty to say about my couple of deer-in-headlights, didn't-even-flinch goals against, and that's fine. That's the first game I've ever played where I wasn't sure if I was going to puke or pass out first, for pretty much the entire game. And that's after a weekend of relaxation. I'm not sure what was going on there, I haven't ever felt like that, not even in a tournament. We have over a week to rest before our next game. One of our regulars who has missed all the games so far will be back. Hopefully we can put together at least a close game, if not a win.
In the mean time- QCats practice tomorrow night. I'm totally psyched for our first game, which isn't until the 16th, but until then: HOCKEY SEASON IS STARTING!!!!!!!!!! GoalieHousehold finally at long last has DVR. Ahhhhh.... no more missing games because of practices or games of my own. No more getting home, rushing to have dinner cooked by 7pm so we can be settled in front of the TV for our Rangers. This also means all the Law & Order SVU episodes I could ever want. Oh, the wonders of technology!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
The Quarry Cat Choir
"Jesus this crease is a mess, what the hell was this guy doing down here last period? [scrape scrape scrape]. Ok ready to go, guys are lining up. [tap....tap-tap] Nice, we got the faceoff win. Ah shit nevermind here they come. Over the blue line and..... YEAH haha Grimm got ya buddy. That's my D-man! Now we'll get some zone time. Huh, wonder who those two in the stands are here for. Never seen them before. The dude is taking lots of pictures too. Weird. Wonder if they're New Guy's friends. Wonder where the hell New Guy came from anyway- ah crap
Man on! Man on!
Follow the puck follow the puck Хвилюватися немає причин, як дають, то бери Якщо б’ють, то біжи, кричи. Технологія проста: ким би ти не став Зранку встав, присідай до ста і читай устав... Oh yeah pad up against the post, seal that shit, HA! How come every time I make a save in VH I think man @TheGoalieGuild would hate that
On you, on you, around around!!!
I mean I get his point but it's not ALWAYS bad Хвилюватися немає причин, як дають, то бери Якщо б’ють, то біжи, кричи. Технологія проста: ким би ти не став Зранку встав, присідай до ста і читай устав... ack, penalty. Well GoalieHusband hasn't played in a while, he's gotta get those penalty minutes logged, Mark's encroaching on his title bahaha.
[etc etc, fast forward to the end of the period]
C'mon c'mon guys... yeah Senator, you got it... right... HA! MURPH! WAY TO GO. Wtf? What's with all the yelling? No one in the stands.... OH HEY GIRLS!!! Ha. Nice, they stopped by. Pounding on the glass, cool. Oh shit, that means in a few minutes I'm going to be down there in that net by them. Hope they don't embarrass me too much Хвилюватися немає причин, як дають, то бери Якщо б’ють, то біжи, кричи. Технологія проста: ким би ти не став Зранку встав, присідай до ста і читай устав... Хвилюватися немає причин, як дають, то бери Якщо б’ють, то біжи, кричи. Технологія проста: ким би ти не став Зранку встав, присідай до ста і читай устав...
[horn sounds.... between period huffing and puffing and bench pep talk...]
Alright, heading back to the net. What... why are they opening the door???!??
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
Ahhh hahaha cute. Ok ok,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOOO YOU!!!
OMG. They're not going to sing the whole thing are they??? [take off glove and give them the finger]
HAPPY BIIIIIIIIIIIIRTHDAY DEAR MAALIVAHTIIIII....
Alright I'm just going to crouch here in the crease and pretend I don't exist. Holy crap are you kidding me girls? The other team is staring. Ohhhh some of them are tapping their sticks... haha thanks guys. Ref is laughing too. Nice.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOOOOOOOOO YOOOOUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!
Oh dear lord I can't believe this. Ha. Ok now they're done let's get on with the rest of the game here. Ref's getting ready to call us
GOALIE!!! [other goalie waves]
[pause].... BIRTHDAY GIRL!
Ah fuck, seriously man? [wave] Let's go [tap....tap-tap]
...and so it went. Yes, my girls embarrassed the hell out of me. Yes, GoalieHusband skated back towards me at 12:01 to say "happy birthday" (sending up a giant "AWWWWWWW" from the peanut gallery). And throughout the 3rd period, I'd make a save, get an appreciative tap from the opponent and hear "nice save..." [chuckle] "...happy birthday". And yes, we lost, and it was frustrating as hell and I still don't know what I'm doing in this league, because I made some really good saves last night, overall I had a really good game, but inconsistency still haunts me. I make great saves and then give up shitty goals. But given all that, and all the horrendously awful stress at work, I still found myself thinking of the Quarry Cat Choir from time to time during the day, and grinning like an idiot. I am so, so blessed. I have not just one, but TWO awesome teams. Totally different, but awesome each in their own way. Not a bad birthday, not a bad birthday at all. So thanks, @hkygrl12, @lct29, Scarey D, Mayor, and KK, for making me want to disappear but also making me feel loved. Also, can't forget @gionta182 showing up prior to that and screaming her head off for "Coach Sparkle", ragging him and yelling "I KNOW YOU HEAR ME!!!". That's my girl.
Ok, enough of this mushy shit. I have to go do some deadlifts or plyo pushups or something to get that tough-guy, don't-fuck-with-me, I'll-rob-you-blind-sucker feeling back.
(And thanks to this guy for the inspiration for the style of this post.)
Man on! Man on!
Follow the puck follow the puck Хвилюватися немає причин, як дають, то бери Якщо б’ють, то біжи, кричи. Технологія проста: ким би ти не став Зранку встав, присідай до ста і читай устав... Oh yeah pad up against the post, seal that shit, HA! How come every time I make a save in VH I think man @TheGoalieGuild would hate that
On you, on you, around around!!!
I mean I get his point but it's not ALWAYS bad Хвилюватися немає причин, як дають, то бери Якщо б’ють, то біжи, кричи. Технологія проста: ким би ти не став Зранку встав, присідай до ста і читай устав... ack, penalty. Well GoalieHusband hasn't played in a while, he's gotta get those penalty minutes logged, Mark's encroaching on his title bahaha.
[etc etc, fast forward to the end of the period]
C'mon c'mon guys... yeah Senator, you got it... right... HA! MURPH! WAY TO GO. Wtf? What's with all the yelling? No one in the stands.... OH HEY GIRLS!!! Ha. Nice, they stopped by. Pounding on the glass, cool. Oh shit, that means in a few minutes I'm going to be down there in that net by them. Hope they don't embarrass me too much Хвилюватися немає причин, як дають, то бери Якщо б’ють, то біжи, кричи. Технологія проста: ким би ти не став Зранку встав, присідай до ста і читай устав... Хвилюватися немає причин, як дають, то бери Якщо б’ють, то біжи, кричи. Технологія проста: ким би ти не став Зранку встав, присідай до ста і читай устав...
[horn sounds.... between period huffing and puffing and bench pep talk...]
Alright, heading back to the net. What... why are they opening the door???!??
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
Ahhh hahaha cute. Ok ok,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOOO YOU!!!
OMG. They're not going to sing the whole thing are they??? [take off glove and give them the finger]
HAPPY BIIIIIIIIIIIIRTHDAY DEAR MAALIVAHTIIIII....
Alright I'm just going to crouch here in the crease and pretend I don't exist. Holy crap are you kidding me girls? The other team is staring. Ohhhh some of them are tapping their sticks... haha thanks guys. Ref is laughing too. Nice.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOOOOOOOOO YOOOOUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!
Oh dear lord I can't believe this. Ha. Ok now they're done let's get on with the rest of the game here. Ref's getting ready to call us
GOALIE!!! [other goalie waves]
[pause].... BIRTHDAY GIRL!
Ah fuck, seriously man? [wave] Let's go [tap....tap-tap]
...and so it went. Yes, my girls embarrassed the hell out of me. Yes, GoalieHusband skated back towards me at 12:01 to say "happy birthday" (sending up a giant "AWWWWWWW" from the peanut gallery). And throughout the 3rd period, I'd make a save, get an appreciative tap from the opponent and hear "nice save..." [chuckle] "...happy birthday". And yes, we lost, and it was frustrating as hell and I still don't know what I'm doing in this league, because I made some really good saves last night, overall I had a really good game, but inconsistency still haunts me. I make great saves and then give up shitty goals. But given all that, and all the horrendously awful stress at work, I still found myself thinking of the Quarry Cat Choir from time to time during the day, and grinning like an idiot. I am so, so blessed. I have not just one, but TWO awesome teams. Totally different, but awesome each in their own way. Not a bad birthday, not a bad birthday at all. So thanks, @hkygrl12, @lct29, Scarey D, Mayor, and KK, for making me want to disappear but also making me feel loved. Also, can't forget @gionta182 showing up prior to that and screaming her head off for "Coach Sparkle", ragging him and yelling "I KNOW YOU HEAR ME!!!". That's my girl.
Ok, enough of this mushy shit. I have to go do some deadlifts or plyo pushups or something to get that tough-guy, don't-fuck-with-me, I'll-rob-you-blind-sucker feeling back.
(And thanks to this guy for the inspiration for the style of this post.)
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Conversations from GoalieHousehold
My birthday is coming up. I kind of hate saying it because I've never been one of those people to make a big deal about their birthday, but I just realized that I mentioned it in my last post, and it's central to the story I have no choice but to share here. My husband, bless his oft-concussed head, has the short term memory of a gnat. A few weeks ago he was lamenting that he had no idea what to buy me for my birthday, and I offered a few suggestions, though being money-conscious right now they were all on the inexpensive side. Ok, not all. But most.
Today he started the same line of complaining, realizing that he doesn't have much time left. I reminded him that I'd given him some suggestions, but upon seeing his sheepish look, asked "You forgot, didn't you?" He admitted he had. I started to say that one of the things was a subscription to Goalies' World magazine, which I used to have a while back and loved, but realized there wouldn't be enough time for that now.
Him: What do you mean, not enough time?
Me: Well if you want to give it to me on my actual birthday, you won't have it in time.
Him: Yes I will, I'll just buy a copy at Borders.
Me: Borders closed remember?
Him: Oh... Ok well then I'll get you a Playgirl and just say it's goalies.
Me (laughing but pretending to be insulted): Fuck you!
Him: What! It's got sticks...
It does indeed. He has a point. Now if you'll please excuse me, I need to ponder the possibilities of "Playgirl" and "goalies" in the same sentence....
Today he started the same line of complaining, realizing that he doesn't have much time left. I reminded him that I'd given him some suggestions, but upon seeing his sheepish look, asked "You forgot, didn't you?" He admitted he had. I started to say that one of the things was a subscription to Goalies' World magazine, which I used to have a while back and loved, but realized there wouldn't be enough time for that now.
Him: What do you mean, not enough time?
Me: Well if you want to give it to me on my actual birthday, you won't have it in time.
Him: Yes I will, I'll just buy a copy at Borders.
Me: Borders closed remember?
Him: Oh... Ok well then I'll get you a Playgirl and just say it's goalies.
Me (laughing but pretending to be insulted): Fuck you!
Him: What! It's got sticks...
It does indeed. He has a point. Now if you'll please excuse me, I need to ponder the possibilities of "Playgirl" and "goalies" in the same sentence....
Sunday, September 25, 2011
All Goalies, All the Time
We have a lot of September birthdays in my family, so to make matters simple, we gather on one day to celebrate all of them. This of course includes a massive amount of food and dessert, and laying about on the living room floor after consuming way too much of both. (It's the truth. My Dad was laying on the couch, but my Mom, GoalieHusband, sister and I were all lounging on the floor, which prompted my mom to wonder aloud why they even bothered to have chairs in the room at all). But in addition to feeling like I feel after Thanksgiving dinner, I also have some pretty neat gifts. This one I think will get lots of use. As a matter of fact, it already has. It was a huge hit with my nieces, once I explained what the heck it was and showed them how to use it. They're still at the age where they think everything they see Aunt Maalivahti doing is really cool. I'm sure that'll wear off eventually, but hopefully not before I can get one of them into some goalie gear. Muahaha.
So while I sit here and wait for my food to digest before my game later tonight, I figured I'd share the experiment that is the Goalies-Only Fantasy League. I've always wanted to see if it was possible to have a fantasy league where you only draft goalies, and this season GoalieHusband obliged my curiosity by creating one on Yahoo. Although it would probably be fun to have other people in on it, I sensed that he wanted it to be "our" thing, at least for this inaugural run, so we had to each create two teams (Yahoo's minimum number of teams per league is 4). The categories are: wins, goals against avg, shots against, saves, save %, and of course, shutouts. We decided that each team should draft 10 goalies, for a total of 40 goalies in the league. This forced us to pick a few backups, which I thought would make things interesting.
(At this point, it occurs to me that you all probably think I'm totally nuts).
Here are the goalies I drafted, in the order I drafted them, for each team. I warn you right now that I am supremely awful at drafting for fantasy hockey leagues, so have fun laughing at my selections.
Team 1: The Guardians
Rinne
Quick
Rask (I know, I know... I couldn't help it....plus I have a gut feeling)
Roloson
Ward
Lehtonen
Anderson
Theodore
Smith
Enroth
Team 2: The Charlatans (haha... get it? it's like a fake team??? ha.)
Thomas (see what I did there?)
Price
Crawford
Backstrom
Bryzgalov (we were both really reluctant to pick him, but I ended up caving)
Halak
Dubnyk
Bernier
Neuvirth
Auld
As you can only have 5 goalies playing on any given night, we're going to have to be really diligent about staying on top of our rosters. (edited out dirty thought) Man, this has trainwreck written all over it. I can't wait.
So while I sit here and wait for my food to digest before my game later tonight, I figured I'd share the experiment that is the Goalies-Only Fantasy League. I've always wanted to see if it was possible to have a fantasy league where you only draft goalies, and this season GoalieHusband obliged my curiosity by creating one on Yahoo. Although it would probably be fun to have other people in on it, I sensed that he wanted it to be "our" thing, at least for this inaugural run, so we had to each create two teams (Yahoo's minimum number of teams per league is 4). The categories are: wins, goals against avg, shots against, saves, save %, and of course, shutouts. We decided that each team should draft 10 goalies, for a total of 40 goalies in the league. This forced us to pick a few backups, which I thought would make things interesting.
(At this point, it occurs to me that you all probably think I'm totally nuts).
Here are the goalies I drafted, in the order I drafted them, for each team. I warn you right now that I am supremely awful at drafting for fantasy hockey leagues, so have fun laughing at my selections.
Team 1: The Guardians
Rinne
Quick
Rask (I know, I know... I couldn't help it....plus I have a gut feeling)
Roloson
Ward
Lehtonen
Anderson
Theodore
Smith
Enroth
Team 2: The Charlatans (haha... get it? it's like a fake team??? ha.)
Thomas (see what I did there?)
Price
Crawford
Backstrom
Bryzgalov (we were both really reluctant to pick him, but I ended up caving)
Halak
Dubnyk
Bernier
Neuvirth
Auld
As you can only have 5 goalies playing on any given night, we're going to have to be really diligent about staying on top of our rosters. (edited out dirty thought) Man, this has trainwreck written all over it. I can't wait.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Way to go, Goalie
On the heels of another blowout loss, I'm actually not moping and navel-gazing. Last night was another 6-0 loss for the Hawks and it certainly wasn't the best game I've ever seen us play (myself included). Two goals in particular stick out as ones I definitely should have had (ok, maybe three). From my vantage point, it seemed like we just couldn't get it together offensively. In the second period, with the score 1-0, one of the guys had a great chance on a wide open net but I guess he was going too fast and the shot was just a few inches shy of the mark. I don't usually do this but I let out a "ugggghhh!". No sooner was it out of my mouth when I thought, "Ooops. Probably shouldn't have done that. Now watch I'll get scored on." Ohhhh look, here comes a breakaway. I stayed with him pretty well but I guess I wasn't square because the puck hit the top edge of my pad and bounced in. CRAP. That should have been an easy one to take right in the flaming C logo.
The other one was another breakaway, with one of our guys coming back and almost even up with him, but the gravitational pull of my enormous 5-hole sucked the puck right off his stick and into the net. That one was just plain awful.
I did make some good saves, but overall I feel I could have played much better. Obviously, without anything on the board for us, none of those bad goals were difference-makers. But I can't rest on my laurels on that fact, because there will come a time when a goal will make a difference, and I can't be letting sloppy shit like that past me. (Naturally, I don't want to let anything past me, but really big errors feel worse than when you give it all you've got).
So either I finally have some perspective, or I'm just tired, but I'm kind of filing last night's game under "it is what it is". We have another game Wednesday night, right after QCat practice. It's a notable one for two reasons; we're making it "throwback night" and wearing our fancy blue jerseys, and we'll be playing the team we had that really nasty game against a few weeks ago. Maybe we should have someone film the game and make it pay-per-view. It'll help defray the cost of the jerseys we got one season's wear out of.
The other one was another breakaway, with one of our guys coming back and almost even up with him, but the gravitational pull of my enormous 5-hole sucked the puck right off his stick and into the net. That one was just plain awful.
I did make some good saves, but overall I feel I could have played much better. Obviously, without anything on the board for us, none of those bad goals were difference-makers. But I can't rest on my laurels on that fact, because there will come a time when a goal will make a difference, and I can't be letting sloppy shit like that past me. (Naturally, I don't want to let anything past me, but really big errors feel worse than when you give it all you've got).
So either I finally have some perspective, or I'm just tired, but I'm kind of filing last night's game under "it is what it is". We have another game Wednesday night, right after QCat practice. It's a notable one for two reasons; we're making it "throwback night" and wearing our fancy blue jerseys, and we'll be playing the team we had that really nasty game against a few weeks ago. Maybe we should have someone film the game and make it pay-per-view. It'll help defray the cost of the jerseys we got one season's wear out of.
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