Muse back!
January 18, 2010 / Monday
MLK 2010
Ah, MLK. I've played in this tournament the last two years with the perennial underdog Tremors. This year, I returned as a member of the Lady Sharks. What a change in mindset, to go from "let's do our best and hope for a win" to "we'd darned well better win it all". Not that anyone said it, but that's how I saw it. But then, that's our ultimate goal, to win it all... in Green Bay.
Game 1: Fog City Sirens
We opened the tournament late Friday night against the Sirens. The puck dropped, they swarmed, and we weren't ready. That was a tough game. They played well and we felt out of sorts. Not a good start. Final score: 1-2.
I wasn't awesome, but I did manage to do some of the things we've been learning out on the ice. I made some decent passes and some not-so-decent ones that I could at least analyze and learn from. I had a couple good runs down the ice. One thing I need to learn is to cut in with the puck on my forehand. I'm comfortable doing it on my backhand, but I cannot for the life of me remember to do it on the other side. This was exactly the thing I talked about working on with Gina after my last Blue game and already I've forgotten about it! Good thing the coach was there to remind me.
After the game, our coach pulled out an envelope and read a paragraph taped to the outside. It was about Abby Leslie and the "Most Inspirational Player" patches the tournament teams were being given to award to their players each game. I listened and tried my hardest not to cry.
When he finished reading, he turned and awarded me the game patch. Wow, what an honor. That meant a lot to me. The next day, I got a copy of the text from the tournament organizers. Here it is. You can read it and tell me if you cried, or if I'm just a softie.
I spent the next 10 minutes talking to one of my teammates who was feeling down about how things were going. I tried my best to make her feel better but I guess I'm not very good at that. She left the team the next day.
Game 2: Team Abby
On Saturday evening, we faced off against Team Abby. We controlled the game for the most part, but couldn't get the puck in the net despite outshooting them 39-17. Good thing Drea could. She blasted three by the goalie and slipped a fourth by her. Final score: 4-0.
I had another run down the ice this game with a defender on my left, and this time I remembered to try to cut in. Unfortunately, I was neither big enough nor far ahead enough to make any headway. At least I remembered! I definitely need to practice this one. This side feels awkward to me.
Game 3: Eugene Xtreme
Sunday opened with an afternoon game against Eugene Xtreme. After two slow starts, we wanted to come out strong. We did exactly that, scoring three goals in the first minute of the game.
After going up 4-0, we seemed to let up a bit, but then the other team started getting chippy and rough, which made us mad, so we started going at them again. Final score: 13-2. Don't make us mad!
I had a couple goals this game. The first was off a beautiful assist from my new-as-of-this-game center and the second was off another beautiful assist from my new-as-of-last-game wing partner. The three of us also racked up another goal on a power play that involved a lot of scrumming for two of us and a lot of waiting in front of the net for one of us. That was a satisfying assist, as one of the players on the other team skated in at full speed and slammed her body into mine against the boards during the scrum. I responded by taking out her legs, continuing to scrum, and eventually popping the puck out to my linemate in front of the net.
I like my new line. We work well together.
Semifinal: Oakland Seals II
Sunday ended with another late game, this time against the Seals II. Their team this year seems stronger than the one from last year. But then, my team this year is stronger than my team last year. Final score: 4-1.
Before the game, we were told to get on them as they were receiving a pass and not give them time to do anything with it. So I did that, knocked the puck away to keep it in the zone, knocked the puck away again to come away with it, and found myself on a 1-on-3 in their zone. Hello? Team? They were all making line changes. I probably should have bought myself time deep in the zone, but I shot. I thought it'd be cool to score on a 1-on-3.
I didn't score, but I did rack up an assist on a power play late in the game. It happened exactly as we practiced: We spread out, I got open in the corner, got a pass, settled the puck, saw my teammate in the middle, and sent her a pass. Goal!
Halfway through the 3rd period, we heard that the other Sharks team came from behind to win their semifinal game. We squealed and bounced for them. Then they came to our rink to watch the rest of our game and gave us a rousing cheer when they arrived. That was totally awesome.
That's Drea's skate. Fortunately, one of our teammates had just bought new skates, so she ended up squeezing her foot into the spare and finishing the game on a mismatched, ill-fitting skate. No big deal; she still skated better than I do in my own skates!
Championship: Fog City Sirens
REMATCH!! We really wanted this one, especially after our loss to them Friday night. We did a lot better this time, outshooting them 31-22.
Early in the game, our coach said, "The two refs are slow on the whistle. Don't stop playing until you hear that whistle." I have a polite habit of backing off after the goalie gets the puck but before the whistle. This was a reminder that while that's okay in games I don't really care about winning, it's a habit I need to break if I want to be competitive.
And so, up 2-1 with under 3 minutes left in the game, I followed my teammate in, saw her rebound just in front of the goal line, saw the goalie move to cover the puck with her glove, and shoved the hell out of everything with my stick until the puck crossed the goal line, glove and all.
The whistle blew. Goal! It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done, and it made it that much harder for them to tie the game up in the remaining time.
They pulled their goalie with a minute left and we put another one into the empty net. Final score: 4-1. Champions! YEAH!
During the awards ceremony, the Sirens coach shook my hand and said two words to me. "All heart." To me, that was the ultimate compliment. I'm not the big one, the strong one, the skilled one, the flashy one. I just give everything I have every shift I'm out there and hope that it's enough. Today, it was.
Here I am with my medal. ^_^
What A Weekend!
This tournament felt different from all the other tournaments I've ever played in. I felt like we had to win, and I kind of liked that pressure. It made me focus and skate extra hard to try to execute on all the things I've been taught.
This is the first team I've been on where everyone operates on the same page. We rely on our teammates being in a certain place at a certain time every moment we're out on the ice. This is exactly the knowledge gap I was hoping to fill when I went to tryouts at the beginning of the season. That useless "Ahhhhh!" in my head whenever I touch the puck is finally starting to quiet down.
Our team chipped in for photos of all our games. I'm never the prettiest skater out there, but I'm usually not the worst. This year, however, I look like a total n00b compared to my teammates. Oh wait, I AM the n00b!
Thankfully, there's always one good shot per tournament.
Comments
um, i cried.
and congrats on what sounds like a true team win!
Posted by: cheddah at January 20, 2010 08:22 PM
you totally deserve that patch and yeah, i get teary every time i think of her or her mom.
Posted by: andrea at January 25, 2010 04:39 PM