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June 18, 2009 / Thursday

Ice, Check

Made it back on the ice today for low-key pickup. I felt good enough to play, but took a little while to loosen up. Mostly, I was afraid of injuring myself. I definitely noticed some discomfort power turning right; it requires "leaning" left at the hip, which my back isn't quite ready for yet.

I got bumped here and there, not very hard, but my back definitely didn't like it. Didn't fall, though. Huzzah!

I had fun, but I don't think I'm ready to play a real game this weekend. I'm still pretty tentative out there, and my body doesn't feel good enough for my brain to green light any explosive movements quite yet. That, and I'll likely get more than just bumped, which I'm definitely not ready for.

That's okay, at least there's pickup. I'm signed up for next Thursday. Who's coming? :-D

10:51 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

May 14, 2009 / Thursday

If Advil's Not Candy Then Why Do They Coat It With Sugar?

Sunday: Injure right shoulder slamming into boards.
Wednesday: Injure left shoulder falling off bridge.
Thursday: Wake up and think right shoulder is all better.
Thursday night: Go to pickup and realize I'm wrong. Really wrong.

No more hockey for me until Dallas next weekend. Just lots of rest and ibuprofen. I've created reminders for myself: 800 milligrams every 8 hours.

In the meantime, I plan to continue riding my bike(s). Gotta stay in shape for the tournament!

Maybe this will help all the other joints that are unhappy right now too: my right thumb, both wrists, right elbow, right foot/ankle, and that somewhat less pesky left shoulder.

I sure hope this does the trick. For all my bummedness about hockey after last Sunday's game, I do seem to be improving. At pickup today I found myself doing the following new things:

- Finally executing right crossovers without tripping over myself.
- Accelerating as I curl with really fast crossovers.
- Catching just-off-the-ice passes with that stick-chop motion.
- Pulling the puck toward my own net, then doing a quick 180 to shake my opponent.

I really don't want to lose that progress. Heal, body! Nao!

10:44 PM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (3)

April 30, 2009 / Thursday

Edible Pucks

After a frantic moment of "Where are my gloves? Can I borrow yours? Oh look, there's a pair in my backpack. Why don't these fit? Oh, wrong hands. Hey look, I found my gloves!" I got on the ice in time for my shift. It was a short rink and we were playing 2-on-2. The other team got the puck, our D was nowhere to be found, our goalie came way too far out of the net, and they scored.

Or so they thought. When I looked in our net, I found a giant yellow Smartie, about the size of an Alka-Seltzer. There was a purple one in there with it.

"That wasn't the puck," I said to the ref.

"Well then, where's the puck?"

I skated to the other end of the rink and looked under the door. I saw a puck just under it, on the other side.

"I think it's under the door."

The refs went to check and I went back to the locker room bench to tell my teammates that the other team didn't really score.

When I arrived at the door, there was a bit of confusion. The puck had turned out to be a potato, which they discovered when they mashed it.

"How do we know this was the puck?" the refs asked.

"Feel it. Is it cold?"

No one could tell, and since we couldn't figure out what to do about the giant Smartie non-puck goal, we decided to rewind the game by adding five minutes to the clock. Yay, more ice time!

09:16 AM | Dreams:Hockey| Comments (3)

March 04, 2009 / Wednesday

Integrate

After rescuing me and my bike a couple weekends ago, Aaron posted to MTBR in search of a sports physiologist recommendation for me. Al from Integrate Performance Fitness responded, and offered to do an eval for me at their studio.

When I talked to Al on the phone a few days later, I mentioned that I was also interested in seeing what their Athlete's Edge class was about. Since the eval was so we could look at how I move to try to spot muscle imbalances, we decided that I would do my eval at the class.

Today was the class. We did a circuit of pushups, rolling ball hamstring curls, one legged squats, squats with a medicine ball, squats with a pulley row, and gosh, did I forget a squat? There were also bridges, lunges, planks, and some leg in the air core work, all modified in some way to make us work harder and really get the burn going.

Burn it did, and now, only several hours after the session, the soreness is already setting in.

But much more interesting and useful are the following two findings:

(1) There's something not quite right with my right hip.

I'm not talking about the hip itself, but about the muscles in that area, which are totally out of whack. My balance and flexibility on the right side were noticeably worse than on the left. It flat out hurts to stretch it in certain ways.

(2) There's something not quite right with my hockey shot.

Okay, I knew this already. I've been working on it a bit in my oodles of spare ice time. (It sits right next to that giant oodle of free time in the corner there.) We looked at my shot because we wanted to see how it could be contributing to my hip imbalance. While looking at my shot, my dissatisfaction with its mechanics increased several-fold, and when I got home I went and watched a bunch of videos on what I *should* be doing. (Let me tell you, half of those videos are wrong, wrong, wrong.) I think my downstairs neighbors hate me now, after an evening of hockey stick on carpet sounds from above.

Need to find ice. Now.

Okay, back on topic. I don't know if the out of whack hip is causing my knee problems, but whether it is or not, I want to fix it.

Next Wednesday, I return with my bike, and will spend an hour or so working with Jamii to do an updated and more detailed fitting. They'll also get a chance to see what I'm doing when I'm on the bike. We'll go from there and see what I need to do to (a) get rid of my knee pain and (b) get my right hip back in whack.

I'm looking forward to it. They're fun to work with and seem to really know their stuff. I'll get scrutinized, a good workout, and, if things go well, happy knees.

Maybe I'll even get a better hockey shot.

08:17 PM | Bicycle:Hockey:Injuries| Comments (1)

February 16, 2009 / Monday

Priorities

Saturday night, I managed to sleep in such a way that when I woke up Sunday morning, I couldn't use my left leg. My leg wasn't cold or tingly or numb; I just couldn't move it or put weight on it. That's never happened to me before. I'm okay with tingly legs and I'm okay with cold numb arms, but being able to feel without being able to move was really disturbing.

I discovered this in the process of getting out of bed, so I sat on the floor for a while because, well, I really couldn't go anywhere. I sat there and worried as I considered the possibility that I may never regain use of my leg. In my groggy morning haze I repeated one thought over and over in my head.

"What if I can't ever skate again?!"

Oh noes! What could possibly be worse??

12:46 AM | Hockey| Comments (3)

February 08, 2009 / Sunday

Practice Practice Practice

Gave my legs a few days of rest and went to go practice all the things I learned at skills today. Let's do another breakdown by stride.

Forward Skating

More focus on pushing sideways with the legs, not crossing my arms on front of me, and keeping my hand low enough to see my palm. I could feel the crunch under my skates, and it felt goooood. I'm still pushing myself at about 90%, but I'm pretty sure I'm already as fast as I used to be at 100%, if not faster. I also feel more stable. No more feeling like my skates are slipping out behind me because, I don't have to cheat by leaning my upper body forward anymore.

Forward Crossovers

I did a bunch of circles on my own. I'm still weaker going right than left, but I'm at least happy that I'm no longer catching my skate blade on the ice. Keeping my body up and away from the turn going right is really not natural for me.

We did a lot of stick handling drills today. One of them involved a fast slalom down the ice, weaving down a line of cones. I naturally crossover going left around the cones, but today I dared for the first time to throw in some right crossovers. I couldn't make myself do it for every cone, but I did get some in there, and whaddaya know, my skate didn't catch.

Backward Skating & Crossovers

I practiced a bit of both backward skating and crossovers when I remembered to in our free time. Mostly, I focused on keeping my legs wide apart, keeping low, and pushing or pulling sideways with my legs. I pushed and pulled at maybe 70% (that's a total guesstimate), but felt faster and more stable than ever before.

Power Turns

This was kind of funny. I did nice tight power turns all during self-warmups. Then we did a power turn drill, and it took me half the ice to complete a turn. Jordan was laughing at me. I was too. That is all.

This Section Has Nothing To Do With Skating

We did a puck protection drill along the boards late in the session. The one big takeaway from that: use my butt to keep my opponent away. I'll have to try it in a real game situation. It was easy at the clinic, but I think that's 'cause I went up against guys who were twice my size and they were trying not to squish me.

Also, while we were doing a stationary stick handling drill, my forearm on the top hand got really tired. What kind of exercises can I do to strengthen it? I can't always have a stick and puck/ball handy.

I'm writing all this down for me, and likely boring all of you in the process. Sorry! But this will likely continue. I'm on a mission to improve this year, in enough ways that I don't find myself feeling as if I haven't gotten any better when 2010 rolls around.

I'm a little amused that I'm already thinking about 2010.

10:31 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

February 07, 2009 / Saturday

Skate Skate Skate!

Robby Glantz power skating camp #2 is now complete. I learned a ton. I hope I can document it all here.

Forward Skating

We worked on this all three sessions. I'd hoped for radar gun plus video on both the first and final sessions like we had last time, but all we got this time was video on the first night. Still, I got a lot out of it. Here's what I learned (some of it is a repeat from last time):

- Head:
  - Keep your head still. It should not move side to side.
- Front arm swing:
  - Don't go across body with arms.
  - Hands shouldn't rise past knees.
  - Stop while you can still see your palm.
- Legs:
  - Push out to the side.
  - Really finish off the stride with the toes. Extend! Push!
  - Bend those knees more.
- Body:
  - Don't lean forward too much or your feet will slide out from under you.
  - Keep the upper body loose.

In the video at the end of the first session, I learned that I've been wasting a lot of energy on side to side arm swing. My legs, on the other hand, weren't pushing much to the side at all. I was also leaning forward too far, which is probably what's been causing my feet to slide out from under me on occasion. On the upside, my head looked pretty still, and my skates returned to center after each stride.

The second night, I worked hard on not swinging my arms across my body and on pushing sideways more with my legs. Brad, the instructor who had helped me with my video, came by and gave me some good feedback and tips. One good way to keep my arms from swinging too far up or over: make sure I can see my palm when my hand is in front of me.

We did the bungee drill at the end of the second session. I got pulled once, and volunteered to pull three times. Why? Because the wee bit of added resistance slowed me down *just* enough to give me a good feel of what I should be doing, and also to give me time to think about proper form. It was hard work, but such good practice.

The third night, I worked on really digging my toes in to finish off the push at the end of each stride. It took me a few trips down the ice to get the left toe to dig instead of slip, but once I did, it felt great. We skated without our sticks to get the feel of keeping our upper body loose, and toward the end of the forward skating drills, I could actually feel and hear my skates crunching the ice. Me, crunching! I really thought that would never happen. I had figured I was too small to ever crunch.

Crunch!! :-D

Forward Crossovers

In the second session, we learned a bit about crossovers by doing them left and right going down the ice. The session after that, we spent a good amount of time doing crossovers in circles, over, and over, and over. Here are some notes:

- Head up. Don't lean it into the turn.
- Shoulders square and centered.
- Shoulders level with ice.
- Legs and feet are leaned into the turn.
- Upper body is leaned AWAY from the turn for counterbalance. (Really, this just squares you.)
- Outside hip is "tucked" in. Legs and body make a crease here.
- The more the outside hip is tucked, the more power you can drive through that leg.

I had two epiphanies, one in the second session and one in the third. The first one answered something that had been bugging me for years: my trouble with right crossovers. My right skate would always catch on the ice as it pushed under me, and I could never figure out why. Now I know.

Here's the idea behind crossovers. Your legs and feet are leaned in the direction you're turning. To maintain balance, your upper body needs to lean the other way. In my head, I'd always imagined needing to lean my body into the turn to counteract the push. As it turns out, all that did was throw off my center of gravity and screw up my "grip" on the ice. Once I got the upper body leaned in the proper direction, no more tripping over myself turning right.

Why only right and not left also? Because I shoot right-handed, which means when I turn left, my body naturally wants to lean right to hold my stick in a comfortable forehand position. For some reason I want to lean into the turn on my backhand.

There are a couple pictures of me from the MLK tournament last month that highlight this tendency pretty well. In the picture on the left, I'm turning left (and probably about to do a crossover) and my legs are leaned left while my body is upright. In the picture on the right, I'm turning right, and my entire body is leaned in that direction. Knowing me, in that picture on the right, I *should* have done a crossover to power of there but didn't, because I didn't want my skate to catch on the ice. And now I know why.

Yes, I need to bend my knees more and keep my head up.

In the third session, we did a bazillion circles, which was a good opportunity for me to really work on getting my feet solidly under me. We took turns, and I did extra circles at center ice on my own when it wasn't my turn. It was during one of these extra circles that Robby came by and told me to really tuck that outer hip in and drive with that leg. I did, and just like that, I went a heck of a lot faster. It's funny; I remember hearing him talk about it before the drill, but I had to hear it again during the drill for it to really click.

In summary: Fixed the right crossover and came away with a lot of good details to work on.

Backward Skating

We worked a bit on backward skating in the first session. I'm still not great at it, but I'm considerably more comfortable with it now than I was before the clinic.

Skating straight, I made three round-trip passes down the ice, with some coaching in between.

Trip 1 - I railroaded my way down the ice. Pathetic!
Trip 2 - I ignored what Brad said and C-Cut my way down the ice. It still felt pathetic.
Trip 3 - I finally processed what Brad said pushed my leg out sideways hard. Success!

By success, I don't mean I'm a great backward skater now, but for the first time ever, I actually felt stable skating backward. Why? Because I need to get low in order to push sideways. Also, it's a lot easier to think about pushing out than drawing a C. The C happens naturally when your leg comes back in. C-Cut, most confusing term ever! I am never teaching anyone that. Just push out, and let the C draw itself.

Backward Crossovers

We worked a lot on backward crossovers in session three. This is, by far, my weakest event. I dread the backward circles drill at NCWHL evals every season; it's embarrassing!

Let's see how things go after some more practice with the following:

- Feet wide apart.
- Lean forward enough so your head is past your toes.
- Keep low. Don't stand up.
- Really pull that leg in sideways. Don't cheat by pulling back or stepping over with the other foot.

The first three items on that list are for stability. Feet wide apart gives side to side stability. Leaning forward enough gives front back stability. And keeping low is pretty much always more stable than standing up straight. I wasn't doing any of those before.

The last item really highlighted what I was doing wrong. When I first tried to learn backward crossovers, I cheated by stepping over with my outer foot. I eventually fixed that, but still had no power because I was merely sliding my inner foot behind me. I think that was partly because I didn't have my feet wide enough apart, and thus had no room to pull my leg in sideways.

I'm still not great at this, but I'm a lot better than when I started. I feel as if I have the start of what could eventually be a productive backward crossover; I'm not pretending anymore!

Stopping

We worked on stopping in the second session. I feel we could have dissected this one a little more, but I did get one really good tip out of it (it's the first one):

- Don't rise right before stopping. It tells your opponent what you're about to do.
- Feet are staggered and turned out in a V.
- Feet are staggered and parallel if you want to turn that stop into backward motion.

Gonna have to work to break that habit of rising before I stop.

Power Turns

We really briefly covered power turns at the end of the third session. Too bad we didn't have time to really get into it, but fortunately, the power turn is what finally clicked for me in Vegas a week and a half ago. Here's what I remember:

- Feet and body position are really similar to what you do for stopping.
- You may stop a little, if you're going really fast and need to do a really tight turn.

Wrap-Up

So am I faster now? Maybe. I actually think I'm slower than I was before the clinic, but that's because I purposely slowed down to focus on doing things right. I feel a lot more balanced now. I feel I can really push against the ice more. The first step is to do it right. The speed will come once I get used to doing it this way. I have no doubt about that.

Since I don't have any games this weekend, I'll be heading to skills class at Ice Oasis on Sunday. I have long list of things to work on:

- Forward Skating: (1) legs pushing to the side (2) arm swing to the front, not high, and NOT to the side
- Forward Crossovers: (1) tucking outer hip in (2) really driving through with the outer leg
- Backward Skating: (1) pushing to the side
- Backward Crossovers: (1) wide low forward stance (2) really pull that inside leg in sideways
- Stopping: (1) don't rise (2) try to get more out of that front foot

Why I Did This

The last time I did this clinic, it was because I wanted to improve enough to make it into Maroon. I worked on a lot that season; I played on two teams and went to a clinic almost every week.

Now I'm in Blue. I wanted to be in Blue so I would have more people to learn from. I got what I wanted; I'm surrounded by them. When I see them play, I realize how much more I have to learn in every part of my game. Skating is just a small part of that, but I think it's one of the most fundamental parts. I found that I was still spending brain cycles thinking about skating when I really wanted to be spending them on a different skill. I want to get to the point where good, solid skating is second nature.

Given everything I've learned, I think this clinic will help a considerable amount on that front.

11:49 AM | Hockey| Comments (0)

February 01, 2009 / Sunday

Almost Time To Skate Skate Skate

Tomorrow, I start day one of a three day power skating clinic. I did this once before, 4 1/2 years ago, when I was working on getting good enough to make it into Maroon.

The next Red game after that clinic, I blew past everyone and racked up a hat trick before the game was even half over. The clinic pretty much paid for itself right then and there.

Amusingly, it taught me to go too fast for my cornering/stopping abilities, and I ended up crashing into the boards at the end of the rink a lot. Fortunately, my cornering/stopping skills have since caught up.

What am I looking for this time around?

- More efficiency. I want speed with less energy expenditure.
- Better cornering. Sharper, faster, cleaner.
- More stable right crossovers. I feel like I'm catching a skate blade on the ice for some reason.
- Backward skating. I still suck at it.

After each session at the last clinic, I took notes on my then-Palm phone. Those notes were synced into Outlook, and have been synced from laptop to laptop and onto my Blackberry. I carry them with me to this day. Here they are, for posterity, and for comparison three days from now.

Power Skating Notes

forward:
- arms straight
- front to back not side to side
- don't cross arms over center
- palms up / stick backhand
- diagonal movement
- push out not back
- don't kick legs up
- BEND LEGS

backward:
- arms straight
- don't track w/ hand in front
- crossovers don't lift leg
- crossovers wide stance
- BEND LEGS

stopping:
- remember puck placement
- dig for crossover
- BEND LEGS

crossovers:
- shoulders turned in
- inner shoulder up
- BEND LEGS

power turns:
- legs wide
- legs staggered
- braking w/ back leg OK
- BEND LEGS

"BEND LEGS" in every category makes me laugh. I still don't do it.

I finally started doing the bullet points under "power turns" in Vegas last week. (That was the big epiphany I had before the Arizona game.) Maybe I just needed a few years for it to sink in.

I hope to get as much as I can out of this week's clinic, because I think it'll be the last power skating class I take. After this, I think my time (and money) will be better spent learning better stick handling, shooting, positioning (body and overall play), and team skills.

Sounds like I have hockey camp in my future. :)

09:50 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

January 29, 2009 / Thursday

Unholy Pants

After the recent barrage of "Viv, you have a hole in your (hockey) pants," I finally gave in and bought a new pair.

Actually, I had two holes in my pants, for each toot in "Toot toot!" Strangely, there's a hole in the same place in my goalie pants. No, it's not from sitting on my skates with my feet tucked behind me. It must be my fat ass.

The new pants are CCM V06s. More importantly, they do not have holes in the rear.

They make me worry, though. Now that the exhausts are gone, will the increase in backpressure lead to a decrease in power?

Yeah, I'm a dork.

08:11 PM | Hockey| Comments (3)

Hockey Hockey Joy Joy

As I was leaving the garage this morning, I saw my hockey sticks out of the corner of my eye.

They made me smile.

I feel lucky to play a sport I enjoy this much.

04:16 PM | Hockey| Comments (1)

January 23, 2009 / Friday

Burninating Las Vegas 2009 / Game 2: Phoenix WHOA Smokin' Aces

"I'm gonna go check on Chris," Liz said, "She locked her gear in the car."

For those of you who missed this little detail from the previous post, Chris is our goalie. It's kind of hard to play a hockey game without a goalie.

Fortunately, the rink was running behind schedule, and AAA got there just in time to liberate her gear for our game. PHEW.

We played some version of this team last year. This year, they look to have gained more skaters, skills, and organization. They were better, but fortunately, we played better too, as our tournament gelling continued.

Sharon scored first, putting us up 1-0. They answered, and then Murty scored on a breakaway. She made it look good, waiting for the goalie to commit and then sending one across her body into the far corner of the net. Murty had a great game, taking it down the ice several times.

The other team scored again, and we finished regulation tied 2-2. Overtime!

I had not been having a good game. Sometime early in the 2nd period, I totally ran out of gas. I was so tired I couldn't move my arms fast enough to do what I wanted to with the puck. Still, this was overtime. First to score wins. I knew everyone would be playing harder, and I really didn't want this neverending-to-me game's worth of effort to go to waste.

The puck dropped. Stuff I can't remember happened, and then Lucinda sent me a pass up the neutral zone. I brought it in, and for the second time ever in a game (I think), took it around the D one handed on my backhand. I had to; she was big, and big players have long sticks.

I turned back in toward the net, squared up a forehand, and shot it as hard as I could. I watched the back of the net, waited, and saw the puck hit.

First came the everyone-on-the-ice hug. I let out a huge "YEAHHHHH!!!" from the huddle, and then the rest of the team piled in. I don't think I've ever been in the middle of a giant huddle before. I ended up just lying there by the end of it. Wow. Awesome.

Final score: 3-2. Jodi found a little red puppy in her bag when we returned to the locker room. We named him Hugs, but I'm not sure I remembered to tell her that. Woops!

After the game, I saw the Polar Cats goalie. We're not playing them this year, but it was good to chat with her and meet her wee little one. We had a big team lunch at the Fiesta buffet, and returned to cheer on the Dolphins. My throat, it hurts from cheering. Eee-ee-eee!

Injuries: The groin is more strained than before, but still functional. I also blocked a puck with my left forearm, realizing upon impact that I am not a goalie and therefore should not be blocking pucks with my arm. Too late. Fortunately, I had brought my ice bag from Colorado with me (Thanks again, Jami's mom!). I iced it some, then gave the bag to Becky when I found out her shoulder was injured. Shoulders, way more important than forearms.

Improvement: I've been trying for well over a year to do a quick, sharp, 180 degree turn with the puck on my forehand. I could do it on the backhand side, but couldn't figure out how to get the stick and puck positioned quite right on the forehand side. During today's warmups, I finally figured it out. (Sorry Chris for not warming you up; I was having a Eureka! moment.)

Remember this picture from last weekend? I've been studying it, along with another picture of me turning the other way. They looked okay, but not great. What was missing? What did I need for those shots to be great? I needed to bend my knees more and increase the distance between my feet. I've known this, but haven't been able to make my body commit to doing it.

Well today, I finally did it. I bent my knees, spread those feet out, and swung easy 180s with the puck on my forehand. The backhand 180 is faster now, too. Hallelujah!

What made it finally click? Putting the 180 and the footwork together. I needed the legs and feet in the proper position so my upper body could get into the proper position so I could hold the stick in such a way that I could control the puck through the turn. (Boy, that's a mouthful.) On the flip side, I needed my upper body in the proper position to allow me to turn in that stance without falling over.

Now, to do it in a game. :)

11:56 PM | Burninators:Hockey:Injuries| Comments (0)

January 19, 2009 / Monday

The Difference A Year Makes

I was pretty disappointed in myself after last year's MLK tournament. We didn't win a single game, I felt I should have been able to help the team more, and I didn't score a single goal. Not one! It was my first scoreless tournament, and I was pretty bummed about it.

This year, things went better. We won a game, I felt like a contributor, and I earned four points in four games.

It got me thinking once more about this past year. Remember my meh review of 2008? Lack of hockey improvement was part of that mehness. I honestly didn't think I'd improved much.

Perhaps "much" still applies, but I've definitely improved some. When I read all those posts from last January about not wanting to play center, I realize I've gotten over it. I played center in Colorado last October, and it was fine. I play center once in a while in my Blue games, and when I do I feel just as comfortable as I do at wing. I have various coaches and captains to thank for trusting me enough (more than I trusted myself) to put me there.

Then there's my backhand. I don't have a great backhand, but I've been practicing against the boards before every game. All that practice finally paid off last night with that breakaway shot over the goalie's shoulder.

[ 2009-02-08 Update: Speaking of backhand, I also learned how to go around a defender with the puck on my backhand and one hand on the stick. It's amazing how much space that buys me. ]

I've also done other little things right or for the first time recently, and I need to remember those things when I feel down about my rate of progress. I also need to remember that hockey is not my day job.

I leave you with a teeny tiny picture from this year's tournament. (It's teeny tiny 'cause I can't buy just one picture in its original electronic form.) My knees, they are kind of (but still not very) bent, and I'm using my edges. Improvement, yes!

04:07 PM | Hockey:Tremors| Comments (3)

January 04, 2009 / Sunday

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em 3-On-3

Played in the Logitech 3-on-3 today with Liz, Andrea, Sharon, and Chris. In exchange for doing the registration, I got team naming rights. Out of the silly name bag came Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. :)

Once again, there was only one women's division, which meant quite the assortment of skill levels. We fell about midpack. Not so bad.

We played our first game against the Xmas Leftovers. Fun team with good folks. I spent most of the game working on passing, purposely scored the first one because I wanted us to have at least one goal to start, purposely scored another in the third because I hadn't scored in a while, and put in another two in the course of good team plays. Final score: 17-3. Crap, we didn't intend for that large a goal difference. Sorry. :(

Our second game was against Team Tang, and honestly, we thought we were going to get killed. Come to think of it, that would have been pretty karma-appropriate. Thankfully, they were nice to us, and we had a challenging yet fun game. How did I know they were being nice? Because toward the end of the game, one of them skated through us with the puck and scored two or three in quick succession. (Insurance goals? Boredom goals?) She made it look easy. I scored three this game, including a roofer through traffic (Whoa, did I really?) and one where I took it in and managed to poke it between the goalie's legs with my backhand while turning away. Final score: 5-8. Thanks for not killing us. I feel a bit undeserving, but very appreciative.

Game three was against Dirty Deeds. They had Nora in net, and she was very much on. She stopped shot after shot after shot. It wasn't until the third period that I figured out how to beat her: approach left (but not too far left), wait for her to drop, shoot right. I finally got two in that way. Final score: 4-1. Total wall.

That was fun. :)

I tried out extra bunga padding over my front right ankle tendon. It helps a bit, but there's still some pain. Oh, and my left front ankle tendon started acting up tonight. Great.

I ordered these ankle inserts a couple days ago. I hope they take care of the problem.

11:30 PM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (2)

December 28, 2008 / Sunday

Accident Magnet

"Don't get injured, Viv."

I lost count of the number of times I heard that before pickup last night.

Pickup is usually fairly safe. Sure, there are some big speedy guys out there, but for the most part, they're not super aggro and they try not to flatten us smaller skaters.

Yeah, I tumbled a few times on the ice. No big deal.

The bench, however, now that's a dangerous place.

An errant puck came off a big stick toward the glass above our heads. I saw it flying over the boards, over our heads, and toward a spot on the glass a few feet above our heads to my left. I figured it'd bounce off the glass and over more of our heads.

Instead, it hit and went straight for the top of my ear.

It HURT. I've never felt anything sting that badly. I actually thought my ear was split open and bleeding. People gathered around to ask if I was okay. I didn't answer, 'cause I didn't know, and it hurt too much to talk.

Finally, I asked, "Is my ear intact?"

Thankfully, it was. It continued to sting and burn, and was hot for the rest of the night, but, thankfully again, nothing more. The slight swelling from last night has subsided. It's sore, but I'll take sore over cauliflower any day. Phew.

No concussion, either. Phew again.

Andrea suggested we wrap me in bubble wrap. I think that's a great idea.

In other news, my new Bunga pads work great for my outer left ankle tendon. I still need to find a way to placate the front right one.

11:06 AM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (3)

December 20, 2008 / Saturday

Ball Punch Skate Mod Home Brew

That problem I've been having with my new skates pushing too hard on the bump on top of my left foot? I spent some time looking into it today.

That bump, it's a metatarsal cuneiform exostosis. I don't remember if it was always there. I don't think so. Fortunately it doesn't really bother me except in these new skates.

I took a look at my old skates. Why didn't they hurt the bump? An inspection revealed an indent in the tongue where it met the bump. That, and the tongue kept a deeper side-to-side curve when the skate was laced up.

I decided to do the same to the new skates. I didn't want to drive all the way to EWH to have this done, so I grabbed the Ramune marble (it's the flaming thing on the left in this picture) we freed last weekend, a long nose vice grip, a rag, and got to work. I put a nice dent in the tongue to match the bump on my foot and laced in.

So far, so good. I'll know for sure tomorrow after the game.

01:24 PM | Hockey| Comments (3)

August 30, 2008 / Saturday

I Just Spent How Much?

We took advantage of the fact that we were near a couple big hockey stores and went shopping this afternoon. I've been looking to get a second stick to match the Synergy Elite I picked up in April, especially since I destroyed my backup stick by shortening it in June. Sure, I could use my old Vapor XX, but it feels heavy compared to what I'm used to now. Gosh, I'm spoiled.

I also wanted a new helmet, as my current one (1) stinks and (2) rocks a bit from front-to-back, I think because the pads have compressed and hardened. I dunked it in a bleach and detergent solution for a good two hours last week, but when everything dried I still couldn't stand having it on my head. And yesterday, whenever I went flying (there were some big girls on the other team) my helmet would shift forward and top half of my world would go dark.

Hockey Giant didn't have what I needed, but Hockey Monkey (now Monkey Sports) did. After trying a bazillion helmets and settings, I managed to get a good fit out of the Reebok 8K, size medium. (Makes sense, since it's replacing a CCM.) I paired it with a silver Itech RBE III cage; I'm hoping it'll be less distracting than the black cage I had before.

When I got back to the hotel, I set about removing all the stickers on the helmet and cage. I counted (of course I counted) 12 helmet stickers and 4 cage stickers. Ridiculous!

I also found the stick I was looking for. I've never had a matching backup before. In the past, I've always rotated sticks into backup duty by purchasing a new model. Not sure how I'm going to choose which stick to use now.

Shortening my first line backup was a really dumb experiment. What was I thinking?

Maybe I was subconsciously thinking, "If this doesn't work, I get to buy another stick!"

Oh, and to answer this post's title, I shelled out just over $360 at the register. Yes, I blinked.

But it's for two good causes: protecting my head and scoring goals! :-D

05:30 PM | Hockey| Comments (2)

August 25, 2008 / Monday

Friday Night At Vallco

I missed a couple Blue/Maroon clinics while away last month, and decided to crash the Maroon/Red clinic this month to make up for it. On the way there, however, I realized that I had no idea where the rink entrance was at Vallco.

I wondered who I should call, but then I realized it'd be more efficient to put out a broadcast on Twitter. That did the trick; I got a few responses within minutes. I don't think I'd have managed to find the inconspicuous rink entrance otherwise. Thank you thank you, Twitterpeeps!

It was really nice to be on the ice with some of the folks from Maroon again. I've really missed skating with them. I felt right at home, although I did find it amusing/weird that the three assistant coaches at the clinic were Blue skaters. (From my team this summer, no less!) It really served to highlight how much of a n00b I still am in that division. Not that I didn't know it already. I'm not there 'cause I'm awesome; I'm there because several someones were kind enough to give me a chance.

We did some skating, some passing, some drills with more passing, some shooting. We also did a drill where we forwards practiced 1-on-1s against the defense. I had a couple runs against other skaters in the clinic, and then a run against one of my Lollerskate teammates. She totally schooled me, and when I got back in line one of my other teammates came up and said, "Don't let her do that to you!" My final run (against one of the other skaters) went much better, and for the first time, I tried to drive wide to my backhand with only my top hand on the stick while holding off the D with my other hand. It wasn't perfect, but I managed not to lose the puck and even curled back to center in time to get a shot on net. I'll have to remember to practice that one some more.

I also remembered to thank one of my teammates for her season's worth of advice this summer. I've gotten good advice from various players this season, but this teammate has had words of wisdom for me game after game. Much appreciation from me on that front.

Afterward, I drove... and drove... and drove in search of the mall exit. I eventually found my way out onto Stevens Creek, after driving around almost the entire mall. It wasn't the street I was looking for, but it was good enough to get me home.

The clinic left my body a lot worse for wear. The shooting drills wrecked my forearm (I've been battling tennis elbow for months) and I somehow managed to pull my right hamstring. The hamstring was especially troubling, as I had a 3-on-3 tournament scheduled for Sunday and a Burninators tournament the following weekend.

In the end, I decided against playing the 3-on-3. After a ridiculous number of phone calls, we were fortunate enough to replace (or, rather, upgrade) me with Shannon.

On Monday, I bought a big thigh wrap for my hamstring, a non-bulky elbow wrap for my forearm, and an ice pack for the freezer at work. I'll rest and ice and stretch as much as I can this week, then wrap myself up and Burninate away.

01:52 PM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (2)

August 04, 2008 / Monday

Yay, Ice!

Went to a hockey clinic yesterday. It was only for an hour, but it wore me out good. We did a bunch of sprint from the line drills, which I love, but it pretty much wrecked my out of shape hip flexors. This morning, putting on my jeans and trying to operate the clutch on my car was a challenge. The sign of a good workout!

Skating felt great; it was really nice to be back on the ice. Stick handling and shooting, not so great. I seem to have forgotten how to lift the puck. No biggie. We didn't work much on shooting at the clinic; I reckon a few minutes with a puck and a wall will bring the shot back soon enough.

Really wishing Belmont was still open. I could sure use some midweek pickup.

11:41 AM | Hockey| Comments (0)

July 30, 2008 / Wednesday

Yes, I'm Behind

Since at least some of you who are wondering about your hockey stats read this site: Stats are at the top of my list! I picked up a giant stack of scoresheet envelopes from the post office (mail hold) on Monday. I wanted to start in on things Monday night, but my brain's been jetlag loopy, and it's a bad, bad idea to try to do stats when you're tired and error prone.

Feeling better today, so I'm optimistic that we'll be up to date by the end of this week, or sometime this weekend. Maybe I should have posted a "statistician is not anywhere near home this month to receive all your lovely scoresheets" note on the website before I left.

Sorry! I'll get on it!

[ Friday morning update: Stats are up to date! Huzzah! ]

12:54 PM | Hockey| Comments (3)

June 07, 2008 / Saturday

Will Bake For Ice Time

Subbed for some team other than my own at Fremont this evening. I got asked to sub by one team (B2?) and tossed over to the other team (B1, then?) when they ended up way short on players. This, however, cost the first team the cookies I'd brought with me, at least until we did a round of cookie handouts with the other team after the game and I brought them over to share with the first (now other other?) team.

The game was scoreless until about halfway through, and then the floodgates opened... on our net. Oh well. I had fun, nonetheless. I even managed a nifty little play where I chased the puck all the way down the ice, bumped the defender off the puck (she actually moved a whole two or so feet sideways; generally I'm the one who goes flying), won the battle for it, and put it on my teammate's stick point blank in front of the net. Unfortunately, the goalie somehow managed to transform into an impenetrable wall and stopped the shot. Freakin' transformer goalie! That should at least count as a half assist for me.

Next game on Tuesday! Hockey hockey hockey whoO! :-D

09:01 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

June 04, 2008 / Wednesday

Now I Can Practice In My Shoes

Okay, it's done. I cut my #2 stick so it goes up to my chin when I'm in shoes. The guy at EWH kept telling me no, no, don't do it, your back will hurt, don't do it, don't do it, but finally cut it for me when I insisted that I absolutely had to conduct this experiment. "But it's a good stick!" he said. "It's my backup," I replied.

I then took my freshly cut stick to Belmont for some pickup hockey. I got there a bit early and fashioned what might be my finest handle yet. Took the stick out for warmups. Maneuverability was good, shots were accurate. Took me a few tries to launch a slapshot, but I could tell it was just a matter of adjusting to the new length.

Pickup started, and I couldn't handle the puck to save my life. I kept reaching a few inches short, too. WTF? I switched back to my #1 stick and played just fine. So much for that experiment! What a waste of a good handle!

Maybe Ellaine's stick is magic. Maybe I should try to convince her to trade me for my now-too-short #2 stick. ;)

I should have cut #3.

08:53 PM | Hockey| Comments (4)

April 15, 2008 / Tuesday

Improvement

The 2007 Winter Season awards were announced yesterday. I opened the e-mail, scrolled down, and saw my name next to "MIP". My first reaction? Relief! I suck less than I did when I started last season! Yeah!

Okay, I don't really think about it in terms of suck, but you get the idea. Most of us have a skewed view of where we really stand, how good we really are, etc., so having my self-perceived improvement validated externally helped set me at ease a bit. Yeah, I know, sometimes I think/worry about this too much. It makes me better, it's annoying as hell, it's good for me, it's bad for me, I should do it more, I should stop.

Relief aside, I'm really quite happy about this. This is why I'm here. Along those lines, I'm also happy that I've had teammates who are willing to help. When I have a question about how I should or could be doing something I ask, and when my teammates see that I should or could be doing something differently they tell me. I'm grateful that they're sharing their experience and knowledge with me.

I'm learning a lot just from watching, too. I find that I'm sometimes wowed by what the players can do, but more often impressed by what they *think* to do. Take last Sunday's game, for example. One of my linemates scored on a beautiful over-the-shoulder corner-of-the-net blazing-fast slapshot. Was I wowed? Absolutely. Soon after, my other linemate scored by lobbing the puck over the goalie's head. You know what I would have done? I would have shot the puck, and it probably would have bounced off someone. Watching that easy lob go in made me grin. I would love to think to do that someday.

11:25 PM | Hockey| Comments (2)

April 01, 2008 / Tuesday

Summer 2008 Kickoff

After not subbing in a single game last season (no) thanks to being way too busy with the bazillion other fun things I try to cram into my life, I kicked off this season as a sub in the first game on the schedule. I was invited to sub by one team and then donated to the other team to even things up. The team I ended up subbing for had only four of their skaters, me, and three Maroon subs. It was a bit of a rout, but that's okay; I was just happy to be skating. Got myself a goal. It's always nice to get that first one of the season in; I feel anxious seeing zeros next to my name.

Along with the scoresheet came the realization that another season of stats has begun. I'm not ready! I still have code changes to make! Slow down, time! Slow down!

10:56 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

January 22, 2008 / Tuesday

The Verdict

Meh.

I've been mulling over this center thing for a couple days. I don't hate it, but I sure don't love it. Two things I definitely need to work on: jumping back into offense quickly and getting back for defense just as quickly. I find this a challenge, but at least I know what I need to do. No big deal; there's plenty of things like this that I need to work on no matter what position I play.

The thing I'm not sure how to address is how to be two people at the same time. I'm supposed to cover open people in my zone. That's fine, but what if there are two? It feels like no matter who I pick, I've picked the wrong one, and people grumble. I don't like making people grumble.

Meh again.

11:48 AM | Hockey:Tremors| Comments (4)

January 20, 2008 / Sunday

So Far So Good...

Two games down, two more to go. This center thing does not confuse me nearly as much as it used to. I still have lots to learn, but my linemates and coach have been really good about covering for me, giving me feedback, and answering my questions. I'm still fighting my tendency to play a little too conservatively, but I think I'm making progress. The coach noted after one of my shifts today that I need to jump back up into offense a little more quickly, and I think I managed to make the adjustment; I actually got a couple breakaways later in the game. I still need to work on that sharpshooter thing, though. Every team seems to have one, and I sure wouldn't mind being good enough to be that one.

I'm not nearly as winded at this position as I thought I would be. I think that comes from being used to playing with two lines in Blue. Three lines is pure luxury. Would you like some champagne while you wait for your turn? ;)

12:11 AM | Hockey:Tremors| Comments (0)

January 18, 2008 / Friday

Anything But...

"Anything but center." That's been my line since I started playing hockey. Anything? Really? How about goalie? Sure. Center? No thanks. Until now.

I'm subbing for the Tremors this weekend and the coach has decided to put me at center with Lucinda and Ellaine at wing. I must say, I'm pretty stoked about the All Look Same line. Stoked enough that I'm willing to give this center thing a fair shake.

Besides, it's time to grow up. I know the game now, I know positioning, I know offense, I know defense, and I know I can keep up. While I prefer to focus mostly on scoring or mostly on D, I'm not such a n00b anymore that I can't do both. So that's what I'm gonna do. Both. Or at least try.

My goal this weekend is to not get yanked off of center. And maybe generate some points while I'm at it.

02:07 PM | Hockey:Tremors| Comments (2)

December 24, 2007 / Monday

Go Nugpot Go!

Played a 3-on-3 tournament at Logitech on Saturday. I baked cookies for everyone; one of my favorite things about women's hockey is all the baked goods the skaters bring to games. I figured I'd do my part.

We were scheduled for three games plus a championship/consolation, but after two games it was clear that the game three matchup would be the same as the championship/consolation matchup. We played the third game as the decider and called it a day, which was great. Call me lazy, but all I wanted was some Christmas weekend hockey with friends, and I didn't need four games for that.

Final scores, since I document everything:

Game 1 against Shaved Ice: 7-4 (1 point from penalty shot)
Game 2 against Jingle Belles: 3-2
Game 3 against Blue Meanies: 2-7 (a.k.a. the "championship" game)

The Blue Meanies had signed up for a division above ours, but since no one else signed up for that division they ended up playing in ours. They beat us handily, but I wasn't too sad about it; I learned a few things that I hope to try at my next game.

And because I record every goal I score, goal counts for games 1, 2, and 3 were 3, 2, and 1.

As for our team name, it probably made a lot more sense to people who saw us in our civilian shirts, which had our names on the back: Maverick, Charlie, Goose, Iceman, and Jester. :)

11:07 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

November 24, 2007 / Saturday

These Gloves Were Made For Fightin'!

Everything but my gloves air dried nicely after Tuesday night's gear washing. I tried tossing the gloves into the dryer with my laundry, but they kept busting their way out. Thump thump thump, BLAMMO! Dryer door open, glove on the floor. Them gloves, they be feisty!

05:02 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

November 13, 2007 / Tuesday

Learning, Unlearning

Hit up the Low-Key Pickup again and had a blast. It probably had something to do with the fact that Lucinda went and I got to skate with her. Hoorays, hoorays, and hoorays! I totally forgot how to do that quick step thing from last week, but on the upside, I'm noticing that I'm scanning the ice more now when I get the puck. I also feel more relaxed with the puck. Something like, "Hey, I got this puck. You want it? Pbplbplbt." Now, to bring that back with me to a Blue game...

As a bonus, the pickup was followed by a Green game, so I tracked down a captain and asked if she had a copy of the (now considered officially missing since it's been over a month and I still haven't seen it arrive in my mailbox) scoresheet from the first game of the season. She did. Huzzah!

11:20 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

November 10, 2007 / Saturday

Hockey and Physics

I snuck into a Maroon practice so I could skate with my friends. Our first practice shift came, and I stepped on the ice. Lucinda was at wing, and the only spot left was center (I hate center!), but I was so happy to be skating with her again I didn't care and took the spot anyway. Then I realized everyone was staring at me. I looked down and I was still in my street clothes, green sandals and everything. I ran off to change. It took FOREVER, and when I was done there were only two minutes left on the clock. Sadness.

The rink was in an old physics lab building on the very east side of the Berkeley campus. When I realized I wasn't going to get to skate, I took my skates off, threw my gear bag on my back (strangely, it was full even though I still had all my other gear on), and set off to explore campus for old time's sake. Lots had changed, and I ended up getting really, really lost. It started to get dark, so I started running. Boy was that difficult with all that gear on (on my back, too). I ran past the east edge of campus, hoping to swing around and find the building from the other side. I ended up on another school's frat row. How did I know? One of the nice sorority girls (is that an oxymoron? in my world it is) told me.

I walked off in the direction I came, hoping to find campus police so I could ask for a ride to "the physics building with an ice rink inside." The end.

09:36 AM | Dreams:Hockey| Comments (5)

November 07, 2007 / Wednesday

Learning New Skills, Ever So Slowly

Or would that be ever so speedily? Went to the Tuesday Low-Key Pickup and cornered faster than I ever have. What did I do differently? I just had to move my feet more! Faster, smaller steps. I usually do full crossovers for big turns and power turns for smaller ones, but with power turns I'm limited by some combination of speed and turn radius. For some reason I started taking quick little steps during my small turns last night and carried a lot more speed through them than I had previously. I'm much better able to change direction that way, too. How come I didn't think to do this before, and why on earth did I start doing all of a sudden yesterday? I hope I remember to do this the next time I step out on the ice.

01:44 PM | Hockey| Comments (2)

October 18, 2007 / Thursday

Bling Bling Stick Joy

Tried out my new stick at the Belmont clinic tonight. Aside from some issues with new tape handle stickiness, it's AWESOME. It's pretty much an updated version of my old Synergy, except with 65 flex instead of 75. I was very pleased with the difference the flex made. My shots fly harder and lift more easily. Even my backhand launches at will. Will this translate into more goals? I sure hope so!

As a silly aside, I had it in my head that the first shot I took would be a slapshot. (For some strange reason I thought that would be a valid test of whether it was a good stick. Yeah, not much logic going on there.) That first shot didn't just launch, it flew across half the width of the rink and hit the glass four feet in the air. Hey, not bad!

But can I make it happen in a game? The good news is, I've been practicing slapshots in motion, and sometimes I do manage to launch them. Now I just need to have the presence of mind during a game to think about doing it, and still have enough time after all that thought to execute.

Somewhat related to the stick, I can finally do that pull the puck back toward me with the tip of my stick blade thing. You see, when I bought the bling bling stick I relegated my old backup stick to living room duty, and I've been practicing that move with a golf ball the last few days. I'm sure my downstairs neighbors hate me for it, but maybe if I pay them a visit and show them my nifty new trick it'll make everything okay.

11:48 PM | Hockey| Comments (2)

October 15, 2007 / Monday

Two In A Row!

Woohoo, another win! We're now 2-2. I feel better. Well, except for my sore back and neck, which got rearranged thanks to my usual on-ice chiropractor. *crack*

Had the usual mix of decent and not-so-decent plays. On the upside, I learned a few things from the not-so-decent ones. The trick is to roll that back into what I do the next time I'm presented with a similar situation. Impatience is setting in again. I want to be better now!

Final score: 4-2. Okay, now on to other hockeyness unrelated to the game.

After last Tuesday's game, I (finally) retaped my stick, saw that the blade was starting to chip at the end, and decided it was time for a new one. I figured three years was a long enough time to have played with it, I owed myself a present for making Blue*, and my $100 award check** from work was burning a hole in my pocket. Off to EWH I went, where I promptly dropped twice the amount of my award on an Easton Synergy Elite***. I didn't have a chance to tape it before yesterday's game, so I'm hoping to get some ice time with it during the week. Thursday clinic, anyone?

* Everything is an excuse to buy gear!
** After taxes, that would be, what, $60? Still, it's better than nothing!
*** Note that I didn't TOTALLY splurge and buy a Stealth.

12:32 PM | Blue Timber:Hockey| Comments (4)

September 24, 2007 / Monday

Bad Data Makes Me Cry

Got my hands on scoresheets from the two Fremont games yesterday. They included one missing roster and three full rosters with subs and no one marked absent. No goalie names anywhere, and no way to match the goalie jersey numbers written on the scoresheet. It's a good thing I saw who was playing in net for the two games!

I stared horrified at such bad data so early in the season, and was immediately motivated to send instructional reminder emails to the captains and coordinators. I really hope that's enough of a kick in the butt to make a difference.

01:24 PM | Hockey| Comments (11)

September 23, 2007 / Sunday

I Prefer To Call It Triple Prime

Now that I've had a jersey in all the NCWHL divisions, a post about my various jersey numbers. For posterity and all, eh?

Green 5 - I like prime numbers and I like multiples of five. This jersey is perfect for me.
Red 7 - It's prime and it's a single digit. Can't go wrong there!
Maroon 97 - I didn't like having two digits, but then I realized it's the largest two digit prime number. Rad.
Blue 27 - It's not prime, but it's three cubed, and 3x3x3 == 3^3. Three threes! So beautiful.

10:16 PM | Geek:Hockey| Comments (1)

September 16, 2007 / Sunday

Holy Crap, I Made It!

Blue. Whoa.

11:10 PM | Hockey| Comments (11)

Lardball Tryout

Skated the second of two Blue tryout sessions today. My lardball week has not served me well; I felt noticeably slower and more tired (body tired, not leg tired like last week) than I did last Sunday.

I left feeling like I'd done enough damage to undo any high marks I may have earned in the first session. I wasn't bummed; I quite like playing in Maroon and was pretty happy to visit my friends preparing for their session right after mine. I figured Maroon would be a good place for me to work on some more skills for another couple seasons.

I noticed several things the Blue players were doing that I wanted to work on. For one, they all skate with their head up. Me, I skate with my head down. I can deke around people all I want, but at some point I run out of rink, and because I haven't looked up, I don't know what my options are. Plus, some of them just look GOOD out there. I can pull a fancy move, but I'm trying so hard to do it that it comes out looking all spastic. When they do it, it's precise and effortless. There is so much for me to learn and work on.

Anyway, that wraps up the tryout writeup. I left thinking I'd spend another year in Maroon, and I wondering whose team I'd end up on...

10:35 PM | Hockey| Comments (3)

September 09, 2007 / Sunday

One Down...

Skated the first of two Blue tryout sessions today. I was pretty bummed all day because my legs were ass tired from yesterday's ride and I hated the thought of not being able to do my best, but fortunately they didn't hurt once I got going. I don't know if I just needed to warm up, or if it was adrenaline that got my legs moving (to me, the forward drills are races, and I hate losing), but I felt pretty good sprinting up and down the ice. Even the dreaded backward drills didn't totally kick my ass. Granted, I was no superstar, but at least I didn't get embarrassed off the ice.

Even better, I managed to launch all four of my slapshots during the shooting drills. They wobbled only slightly, and hit the goalie square on at about shoulder height. Thank you, slapshot, for being there when I needed you! (Please make another appearance next weekend. See you then, okay?)

The scrimmage went fine. I had fun, and felt comfortable enough to try to do what I usually do in Maroon. It felt like any old scrimmage; I didn't really think about what division it was for... which is how it should be.

I could use some stick handling practice. I didn't feel very crisp going around the cones today. Ironically, I think I demonstrated that drill at last season's evaluations. Tuesday stick time, here I come!

08:51 PM | Hockey| Comments (2)

August 29, 2007 / Wednesday

At Least The Handwriting's Neat

Home Team: Blue
Away Team: White

Followed by...

Home: White
Away: Blue

No goalies, no rosters.

This, from a veteran scorekeeper. How disappointing.

We should require that scoresheets meet a minimum standard for scorekeeper payment.

[ Update to update: Killed update. ]

10:54 PM | Hockey:Rant/Whine| Comments (9)

August 20, 2007 / Monday

I May Not Make It

... but if I don't try I definitely won't make it.

Honestly, I think I'll be skating in Maroon next season. Even if I miraculously learn to skate backward in the next two weeks, there's a large gap in experience, skill, and heads up play between me and most of the skaters in Blue. That gap, however, is precisely why I want to play with them; there is so much more I can learn in that division.

Plus, the jerseys are a prettier color. I've wanted one of those since I was a Greenie. :)

11:47 PM | Hockey| Comments (4)

August 14, 2007 / Tuesday

My First Blue Game

For the first time ever, I got asked to sub in a Blue game and I was actually free to do so. Why? Because school is over! No Tuesday evening plenary session this week! Huzzah!

I was excited, and a little nervous. I believed that I was up to the task, but without ever having done it, I had no idea how it'd go.

It went pretty well, actually. The pace felt fine, although perhaps it was a little strange because there was only one goalie that switched teams halfway through the game. Both teams had short benches: 8 skaters total as opposed to the 12 or 13 we like to keep in Maroon. Amazingly, I didn't get tired. Hooray for cycling!

The best part about playing in Blue? There are so many things to learn from so many different skaters. I'll probably fall asleep tonight running various moves through my head. I'd love to be able to do some of the things I saw today.

Final score: 9-3. The other team scored only when we had a goalie, which actually wasn't all that surprising since quite a few Blue players are former goalies. I scored a goal, too, but it was while we had the goalie, so it only sort of counts.

But let's just count it here and say that I scored a goal in my first Blue game. ;)

10:35 PM | Hockey| Comments (1)

July 01, 2007 / Sunday

One Game Winning Streak

Subbed for M4 today and got to partake in their second win of the season! A win! This calls for another ZOMG. ZOMG! And hooray!

I scored another goal, maybe two. I think the scoresheet says two, but I have no idea how the first one went in because there was so much traffic. When the refs asked me afterward who scored the goal, I shrugged and said, "I don't care, CL can have it." One of them then laughed at me. Really, I didn't care; I was just happy the puck crossed the line. :)

Final score: 4-2. M4's captain, in typical I-can't-quite-figure-out-how-serious-she's-being fashion, said that her team, now on a one game winning streak, was going to blow my team out 10-0 next week.

That's gonna be a good show...

09:03 PM | Hockey| Comments (3)

June 21, 2007 / Thursday

Instant Backhand

At practice today, one of my teammates, whom I shall identify here as a great player with an excellent attitude who sometimes scores out of turn, was practicing her backhand against the boards, trying to lift the puck. I skated over and said, "It looks like you're releasing too far back." Picture me placing stick blade near back foot. "Try releasing up here instead." Picture me placing stick blade near front foot. Said teammate tried it and sent the puck into the boards 3 feet off the ice. She tried it again later with the same result.

Dang, I wish I could learn that quickly!

12:26 AM | Hockey| Comments (0)

June 04, 2007 / Monday

Quad Cramping, Neck Cracking Fun

Subbed for M4 at Belmont last night, a couple hours after a 14+ mile mountain bike ride. Needless to say, my legs were tired. I don't think it slowed me down much, but it certainly made for a lot more falling and crashing than usual. At one point in the 3rd period, I felt my quads tighten. Oh no, impending quad cramps! I didn't know those were possible, but I was pretty sure that's what was going to happen if I didn't get off the ice FAST. Hopped off, stretched them out, and made it through the end of the game without additional issues. Phew.

I made a sideways dive for the puck about halfway through the game. When I landed, every vertebra from the top of my neck to just past the base of my neck cracked in order. Today, I have whiplash, but it was worth it for the cracks. That was totally cool.

03:09 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

May 10, 2007 / Thursday

I Found My Outside Edges!

Went to the Belmont clinic tonight and, for the first time, completed the outside edge C-cut drill without stumbling or falling. They weren't pretty C-cuts, but they were way better than the clumsy straight lines I made the last time I tried this a couple years ago. What changed? I made myself bend my knees and balance with my body. That worked way better than standing straight up and trying to correct with my legs. Go figure!

11:17 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

May 06, 2007 / Sunday

Some Hockey To End The Weekend

Got to sub for M1 (What's their name, anyway?) at Belmont tonight. I think this was my first game there this season. I was a little tired from climbing ("new" activity == sore muscles) and we had only two lines, so I was happy to be at the little rink.

Got to play on a line with Jenn, which was cool because I don't get to see her much these days. Skated my ass off and got some decent shots off, but didn't manage to score. Managed not to elbow anyone in the head today, had an amusing blue line keep in on my stomach which garnered a cheer and a "What was that?!" from the other bench, and pretty much just sported my usual really-glad-to-be-on-the-ice grin the entire game.

Late in the 3rd period, I had a head-to-head collision with Sharon (a.k.a. Clutch), bounced off her, flew backward, and knocked my head on the ice. It definitely jarred my brain a bit, and when I looked up I could see Sharon above me, asking if I was okay. The play was still going and for some strange reason I didn't want the whistle to blow for me, so I lied and said yes, chased after the puck, cleared it out, and made a beeline for the bench. I felt a little strange after the game and my head hurts a wee bit, but I think I'm mostly okay.

I thought about the collision when I got home, and I have to give props to Sharon for stopping to see if I was okay. Sharon is always in "GO!" mode, and I've never seen her stop for anything while the puck is in play. It's part of what makes her a great player, and makes it mean that much more that she did stop to check on me.

Final score: 2-1. I'm glad at least the teams I sub for get to win.

11:28 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

May 04, 2007 / Friday

Beavers?!

Subbed for the Beavers (Beavers?!) tonight and got to play back on D. Had a suuuper shaky first ten seconds, but fortunately no goal was scored and I stopped losing the puck in our own zone after that. What a way to start a game. Thanks for letting me sub, let me give up a goal in return? Anyway, phew.

Not much scoring this game. Christy got a nice one through the goalie in the second, the other team sent one through traffic shortly afterward, and we went into overtime tied 1-1. The clock ticked down, and just when I thought it was going to end in a tie, Peggy got the puck heading up ice...

She skated hard toward the net. A few more seconds ticked down. With just her and the goalie and seven seconds left, she sent the puck neatly over the goalie's shoulder, into the back of the net, and won the game. Wow, that was pretty! Final score: 2-1.

As always, more things for me to work on...

(1) Quit elbowing people. I seem to have forgotten what they taught me at the Robby Glantz camp. Instead of swinging my arms forward and back I throw them side to side. It's inefficient for me and painful for others. Perhaps it's time for another camp!

(2) Keep my hands farther apart on my stick. Despite teaching the GHATD skaters how to approximate where to place their hands, I apparently don't follow my own advice and keep both hands toward the top. Actually, now that I think about it, holding my lower hand lower might actually make me bend my knees more, which would help me skate faster, and make for prettier pictures. Prettier pictures, now that's incentive!

Thanks Karen and Lisa for sharing. :)

11:12 PM | Hockey| Comments (2)

March 30, 2007 / Friday

Friday Night Ice

Woohoo, I got to sub in tonight's Maroon game. I was feeling like ass from a week of sitting in a training room all day eating donuts and Oreos, so it was good to hop on the ice and get moving again. I continued my week of bad eating with some pre-game Doritos, which, as usual, hurt my stomach but resulted in a not-too-shabby breakaway goal. What can I say? They're magic.

We played against SharoN's team, and the two of us spent a good part of the game fighting for the puck. I always find this matchup really fun. We compare well in speed and style of play, and she's a few steps ahead of me in skill, positioning, poise, and patience. This creates an excellent challenge and learning opportunity for me, even when I'm on the other bench. I watch and learn, and am reminded of what I should work on when I'm out on the ice. As I told her after the game, playing against her makes me play better. I feel lucky to have someone I can learn from out there.

In sucky news, I fell forward with my left arm straight out (I was probably reaching for the puck) and reinjured my left shoulder. It's the same injury I had from repeatedly diving to cover the puck as goalie a few years back. Having now established that I can't avoid this injury simply by staying out of net, I might as well suit up again.

That way, my right shoulder can join in on the pain. I'm all for equal shoulder opportunity.

11:03 PM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (4)

March 21, 2007 / Wednesday

School Hates Hockey

I was reading some old posts related to school and noticed that I've been counting the number of missed league pickups since August 2005. As of two weeks ago that number has increased to three.

Three, as in three out of three. Why, school, why?

I'm also going to be missing the Maroon draft this coming Friday. I'm co-captaining a team and I can't even be there to help pick it. Why again, school, why?

12:49 AM | Hockey:School| Comments (2)

March 18, 2007 / Sunday

Last Day Of Evals

Last night, I had a dream about showing up to run the Red eval session and finding a drill sergeant there barking orders at the skaters. I was fine with letting him run the show, until he tried to separate the Red skaters from the Green, his reasoning being that the Red skaters didn't need to do the eval drills. "No!" I told him, "We need them as benchmarks!" I don't remember what happened next, except that I was walking out of the rink and along beautiful Lake Tahoe to go get a paper bag from some place 5 minutes away for my leftovers, and on my way back I saw a woman in a bikini waterskiing in the lake's chilly March waters. Um, yeah, and brrr.

In reality, the Red session came and went with minimal barking, in part because we had only two drills on the schedule. I was able to get everyone to behave and do everything they were supposed to and no drill sergeants appeared to tell them otherwise. Phew.

Kim, who was originally scheduled to run the show, was there to back me up and make sure I didn't screw up too badly. Thanks Kim for the opportunity and coach coaching! It was really nice to step out there, do my thing, and step off the ice knowing that there's really nothing scary about it after all.

And while I'm blogging out thank yous, thank you Carolyn for letting me borrow a pair of socks! For some reason, even though I vividly remember grabbing a bunch of socks to put in my hockey bag, those socks somehow did not end up there. Where are they? I'm not sure, but I'm willing to bet that I picked them up, got distracted, and dropped them right back into the sock bin.

Feedback from today's session included a comment about how I need to speak up more. Speak from the diaphragm, I was told. Funny, that sounds familiar. Oh yeah, my physical therapist last year told me to breathe with my diaphragm more. Apparently, I'm doing this breathing and speaking thing all wrong. Well, I guess I knew that about the speaking, although I always forget how exactly I'm supposed to project my voice. I should leave a note on my coach whistle for next time.

Speaking of feedback, what could I have done differently or better? Comment, people, comment!

Got into the rest of my gear for the Maroon session immediately following. What a crowded session! When it came time for semi-circle shooting I decided to let the hopefuls have more shooting time and skated over to wave hello to Val, who responded by reaching her little baby hand for my gigantic gloved hand on the other side of the glass. Holy smokes, the tip of a gloved hockey finger is the same size as an entire baby hand! I learn something new every day.

As usual, had fun in the scrimmage at the end of the session. Two plays of note: (1) Batting a pass out of the air with my stick and taking off with it, seeing nothing but ice between me and the goalie, promptly losing the puck, and holding my head while yelling, "Aaagh! Why do I always lose the puck?!" in reference to a similar open ice puck loss incident at least week's eval scrimmage. (2) Deciding to take the puck in from somewhere near our own faceoff dot, maneuvering through three (ooh, maybe four?) of the other team's defenders in what felt like a very small space, and taking a solid shot on net. Unfortunately for me, Cara came up with an equally solid save. No matter, I was just thrilled that I'd managed to squeeze through such tight traffic. In fact, I was so excited I immediately returned to the bench and hopped off the ice. Can't top that, I'd better sit!

And so it ends, another set of pre-season evals. Now let's play some hockey!

07:36 PM | Hockey| Comments (2)

March 16, 2007 / Friday

Hockey Stick Multitool

I drove over a plastic bag on my way to work this morning and didn't see it exit in my rear view. When I stopped, I looked under the car and saw it hooked around something a couple feet past arm's reach. The ground looked nasty so I didn't want to crawl under the car, but I didn't want to leave the bag there to make a melty smokey stinky mess. What to do? No branches around, darn. Oh wait, I have hockey sticks! That did the trick. So useful.

No spiders were harmed in the making of this post.

11:16 AM | Hockey| Comments (5)

March 12, 2007 / Monday

Whistles And Stuff

Yesterday morning, I found a league-wide e-mail in my inbox asking for a last-minute on-ice coach for the Red evaluation session later in the day. I'd been contemplating on-ice coaching since a request for a Green session coach went out about a week ago, but I'd never run a session on my own before and didn't feel comfortable with the idea of doing so. When I saw yesterday's e-mail, I thought, "This scares me, and that's why I should do it." Besides, better a n00b coach than no coach. Despite having what I believed to be several hours of schoolwork to do that night, I contacted the evaluation coordinator and offered to help.

When I arrived at the session, I was somewhat relieved to see Kim, the originally scheduled evaluation coach. She had an injured ankle, but was still able to run the drills and needed me only to referee the scrimmage. During the drills, she explained to me what she was doing and noted some things to keep in mind. I've been to evaluations as a skater, an evaluator, and an organizer, but never as a coach, so it was good for me to hear what she had to say.

Then came the scrimmage. I'd never reffed anything before, not even a scrimmage such as this one with no real goals, icing, or freezing of the puck. Whoo, my first puck drop! How exciting. Yes, really, I was excited about dropping the puck. I even told the two Green centers, who didn't seem to believe me.

I will sum up the scrimmage in three words: Reffing is hard! I had suspected that there was a lot to keep track of, but wow, I was having trouble simply staying out of everyone's way, much less count players, watch for offsides and icing, whistle goals and puck freezes, and call penalties. How do they even see penalties if they have to keep track of the puck? I was glad for the loud people on the bench who yelled offsides for me. (Was that you, Secret Weapon?) Oh yeah, I'm supposed to blow the whistle now!

Speaking of blowing the whistle, I'd never been da coach (only assistant coach) before, so I'd never had to blow a whistle on-ice. In fact, I hadn't blown a whistle since my last rave, which was years ago. At one point, I heard some commotion about too many skaters on the ice. I counted, then counted again. Six? Wait, let me count one more time, just to be sure. Six! I guess I should blow my whistle. Pffffft? Pffffft?! Pfooooot!!! It took me three tries, but I finally managed to make it sound. Phew!

Speaking of whistles, where IS my rave whistle? I should coach with that one. If I remember correctly, the lanyard glows in the dark. Doo-DOOT doo-DOO-dooooo! *plays with light switch*

Anyway, I hope I didn't screw up the scrimmage too badly. At the very least, it was great being on the ice with folks I don't usually get to skate with.

Next week, I may get a chance to run the Red session (with guidance, if needed). I'm more excited than scared by it now, having done part of it and survived. I'm looking forward to moving another item from the "scares me" list to the "not actually scary" list.

Off to find my party whistle.

11:03 PM | Hockey| Comments (7)

March 10, 2007 / Saturday

Wow, It's Been A Long Time

At the Red session last night, I ran into a teammate I'd played with in Green (PPG, may you live forever!) and Red. I hadn't seen her in ages, and was super excited to have discovered her again. She couldn't quite figure out who I was at first, until she heard me yelling her name. "What happened to your hair?" she asked. "Was it normal the last time you saw me?" Yup, it was. I guess that means it's been three years.

It was really good to see her again. :)

04:03 PM | Hair:Hockey| Comments (0)

March 05, 2007 / Monday

Five Years Of Hockey

Holy moly, half a decade! March 12th is my official 5 year hockey anniversary, but since my 10th NCWHL season has now ended, now is as good a time as any to write about it.

Five years. I feel like I should be better than I am after all this time. But then, I guess it's not my full time job. Hell, it's not even part time. I suppose I shouldn't expect to be pro-quality ;) from only a game or two per week.

Five years. Wow, how time flies.

I was reminded of my hockey beginnings this past Saturday at GHATD. The Superman drill always brings me back to my first day on the ice. It was the first Green session of the season, and I had no idea what to expect. Heck, I wouldn't have even made it onto the ice if someone hadn't helped me put my gear on. I don't remember who the coach was, but I do remember the first words out of her mouth. "Who doesn't know how to skate?" Almost half of us raised our hands. Minutes later, we were Supermanning ourselves across the ice. What fun!

Also at GHATD, I was reminded of how long it took to learn how to stop. One of the skaters was getting frustrated because she wanted to execute the perfect hockey stop, and couldn't understand why simply snapping her body sideways didn't do it. I worked with her a bit, telling her that stopping is something you work your way up to. (Stopping on a dime is really just a very hard and short shave into the ice; you learn how to do that by starting with gentler, longer shaves, not by throwing your body into it when you've never done it before.) I also told her that it took me half a season to learn how to stop. That seemed to help some with her patience. I hope it sticks.

But yeah, it was half a season and many run-ins with the boards before I learned how to stop. It took another season before I could stop on both sides. I still remember Red tryouts at the beginning of my second season. I had no clue how to stop on my left side, but whoever was coaching told me to try anyway. So I did. I tried, I tumbled, and I slid into the boards. So I tried again, and again, and again, to no avail. It wasn't until halfway through my first season in Red that I figured out the other foot.

Even then, I'd often forget to stop. I relied on the boards quite a bit, until one day in Maroon a ref pointed out that I was perfectly able to stop under my own power and therefore did not need to be cross-checking the glass. Woops. Sorry, glass. Thanks, ref.

And then there was shooting. My wrist shot, which I could not lift for at least a couple seasons. The one that is now sometimes dead on, often three feet wide, but at least manages to hit the back of the net every once in a while. My slap shot, which I learned at the expense of my right wrist, then forgot due to disuse, and is back again at partial strength. This one I've attempted a handful of times in games, initially accompanied by my whiffing and/or falling on my ass, usually weakly executed, and once or twice hitting the goalie square in the chest. Finally, my backhand, which I learned in Josepi's backyard. This one needs a lot more practice. Perhaps it's time for another visit.

And let's not forget everything and everyone else on the ice. Never mind positioning, cycling, and lateral motion; when I first started I didn't even know what the lines meant! Icing? Offsides? What do you mean I can't whack people in the head with my stick? Why am I always confused in the 2nd period? And who is this big teammate I just bounced off of?

Five years. Five years of new skills, excellent exercise, tournament travels, and many good friends. There may have been some injuries during that time, but I have a short memory. ;)

Five years. Here's to five more.

10:27 PM | Hockey| Comments (8)

February 04, 2007 / Sunday

What? I Like Center Now?

Subbed for M3 and got put on center. (I guess the other captains still haven't noticed that I never play center?) I gave it my best shot, and, strangely, kind of liked it. I'm not sure if I did everything right, but we gave up no goals and I won (defined in my mind as the puck coming off my stick to approximately where I want it to go) most of my faceoffs. That's new. Neato.

05:55 PM | Hockey| Comments (1)

January 21, 2007 / Sunday

Ugh! Blah! Gag!

I just washed some of my hockey gear in preparation for the Vegas tournament this coming weekend (yes, it's a busy non-work month for me). I think I'm about to pass out from the bleach fumes in my apartment.

09:09 PM | Hockey| Comments (6)

December 27, 2006 / Wednesday

The Slapshot Is Back!

Well, sorta. It's 40 percent back. Better than zero.

The backhand is 20 percent back. Also better than zero.

It's amazing what a little extra practice and ice time will do.

10:50 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

December 24, 2006 / Sunday

Agh, The Knee

I think I tweaked my left MCL yesterday. I was playing in the Logitech 3-on-3 tournament, was tired enough by game 4 that I couldn't skate properly, fell funny with my left leg in a butterfly-like bend (which is very not okay if you're not in goalie gear), and felt a small pop on the inside of my knee. I registered it at the time, but because it didn't hurt I continued to play. Last night, my entire left knee felt mildly sore. Today, only the spot of the pop is sore, but I definitely feel it when I bend my leg.

On the upside, I can now look at my just-begun 4 week hockey hiatus as an opportunity to heal.

12:50 PM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (2)

November 30, 2006 / Thursday

Stuffy Head Reprieve

When I have a cold, there's nothing like hockey to make me feel better. No matter how many Kleenex I've blown through or coughing fits I've had that day, when I step on the ice my head instantly feels clear. I don't cough, I don't sneeze, I don't need a single Kleenex. It's sickie bliss.

Afterward, itchy ears and a scratchy throat all the way home.

At least I had my hour.

On the personal hockey development front, I worked on backward launches today and finally understand why they tell you to start at a 90 degree angle from where you want to skate. Until now I've been doing wussy little scaredy cat "c" cuts. That's "c" in quotes because I'm embarrassed to call them that. Tonight, I decided to bend my knees, get low, commit, push off hard, lean into it, not worry about falling on my ass, and to simply trust that I would generate enough backward motion to keep me on my feet. Whaddaya know, it works! Instant backward speed!

I hope I'll remember to do that when it counts.

11:07 PM | Hockey| Comments (2)

November 13, 2006 / Monday

Too Much Time Off

Two weeks off isn't bad just because of conditioning. I fall more the next game, too. Today's inventory of pains:

- sore legs
- sore hip flexors
- sore upper traps
- bruised tip of left hip
- bruised side of left knee
- pulled abs

Ow. Waah. Ow.

10:50 AM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (0)

October 28, 2006 / Saturday

Cen-TARRR!

Subbed for M2 last night. Played center. (Why do I always end up subbing as a center? Don't people know that's my worst position?) Tied someone up to prevent a sure goal against us. Scored a goal later on. Made only one "Holy crap that was a really bad idea!" pass, which fortunately did not result in any damage.

I still hate playing center. It's tiring and confusing. I'm on offense. No, I'm on defense. Offense. Defense. Wait, what am I again? Blaaah!

03:01 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

October 23, 2006 / Monday

A Question For You Hockey People

So here's the situation: I feel like I have a bazillion big things to schedule, some of which overlap with each other, some of which overlap with school, and some of which overlap with hockey. Some things, such as school, can't budge much. Other things, such as hockey, stand to be obliterated. Worst case scenario: I miss every hockey game in December and January. That's 7 games and 2 months without skating, which would likely leave me in really bad shape for the Vegas tournament the final weekend of January. Best case scenario, if I can tweak scheduling appropriately: I miss 2 games in January. Hockey-friendly scheduling is proving to be difficult, though. Very, very difficult.

Every time I look at scheduling, I see all the games I stand to miss and I get really anxious and upset. Any suggestion that may lead to more missed hockey makes me furrow my brow as I fight the urge to throw my hands up, say, "Screw it! I'm not doing any of this!" and run away.

To a non-hockey player (i.e. Aaron, who has to put up with me), this probably seems silly. It's just a few games, right? But for someone who doesn't like to miss even one game, and who finds it difficult to get enough Winter season ice time over Thanksgiving and Christmas as it is, the thought of missing two solid months of hockey literally drives me to act like a crazy person.

So, hockey people, am I crazy? Or would having to miss two months of hockey when you're perfectly healthy and able to play drive you mad too?

11:13 AM | Hockey| Comments (13)

October 22, 2006 / Sunday

Saturday Night Pickup

Had some fun playing pickup with a bunch of friends last night. Worked on my disappeared slapshot with a tip I picked up from Peggy after her multiple slapshot game last weekend. Whaddaya know, my slapshot reappeared. It's not as strong or as accurate as it was before its disappearance, but I'm glad it's not gone forever. I'd like to work on it some more, but I wonder if it'll result in the wrist problems that caused me to stop taking slapshots the first time around.

Lindsay played with us, and I watched intently every time she got the puck to try to learn some of her fancy moves. I'll see if I can try one of them out at my game tonight. ;)

Other random things: (1) Fighting with Elissa for the puck in the corner of the rink, bumping the boards and feeling it give way. Wha? Turns out the Zamboni door wasn't latched. Good job, Lake Belmont staff. (2) Feeling so silly and excited to be playing pickup with my friends that when someone came off the ice, I literally tried to jump on. Since the boards are low at that rink, I totally cleared them with my front leg, hung on to the top of the boards for dear life as the rest of me flipped over, slipped a bit as I tried to get my feet under me, and finally lost my grip and fell flat on my back. Good job, me!

We played for what seemed like forever, then went to IHOP for a celebration of Cheddah. (Because cheese is cool.) It was great to see and skate with friends I don't usually get to spend much time with. Hooray for random ice time. :)

12:59 PM | Hockey| Comments (4)

October 08, 2006 / Sunday

Misdirected Heat

I took a few shots today that had enough heat on them to make me think, "Whoa! That's a nice shot!" Well, except for the fact that they kept hitting the post or sailing 2 inches wide. It's great that my wrist shot's finally cookin', but geez, I gotta learn to aim!

I guess that's better than a week ago, when they were still wobbling a bit and sailing wide by 2 or 3 feet, or two weeks ago, when they were wobbling lots and not sailing much at all.

On an amusing and related note, I've been afraid to retape my stick the last couple games because I don't want to mess with progress and screw up my shot. My stick will probably start leaving disintegrated tape bits on the ice in a game or two.

11:30 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

Anything But...

I played center for most of a game today, didn't completely blow it, and even scored a goal. I still can't say I'm comfortable playing center, or that I even like playing center, but perhaps I don't suck as much at it as I thought I did.

Thanks, host captains, for making me play out of my comfort zone.

That said, if anyone asks, my official line is still "anything but center". Anything, including goalie. ;)

11:19 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

August 27, 2006 / Sunday

Good Thing I Didn't Asplode

The looong shifts and nonstop skating during yesterday's 3-on-3 tournament made for some interesting numbers on the heart rate monitor. My average heart rate during each game was around 190 bpm, divided into approximately 8 2-3 minute shifts. I also hit a new max heart rate of 235 bpm. Yes, 235. That's no typo. At first I thought it was an error, but when I looked at the graph I knew it was not. It happened during the last shift of the last game, after a period of really short rests. I didn't know the heart could beat that fast. It worries me a bit, actually. Maybe I should get that looked at.

03:23 PM | Hockey| Comments (2)

Too Much Hockey

Ow, everything hurts. The mysterious pain in my left wrist has returned. My right hand is sore, as are my glutes, hip flexors, and upper traps. I have bruises on the top of my left forearm and the bottom of my right forearm. Most annoying is that my left shoulder blade hurts when I turn my head. Ow, ow, and ow.

Waah.

11:13 AM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (0)

August 26, 2006 / Saturday

Logitech 3-on-3

Yeah! Logitech Ice now has Wi-Fi. :)

Today was 3-on-3 tournament day. 4 games plus championship in one day. 3 8 minute running clock periods per game. 4 skaters per team, plus goalie.

Game 1 vs. SL @ 11:15 AM - Final score: 5-3. I scored two, but I didn't remember until everyone else claimed only one. I'm pleased with how we played this game. SL has some pretty strong players, plus a coach. A couple of them seemed pissed that they lost. I think they were expecting to win every game. We play them at least once more, so they'll get another chance at us later. As I write this, they're having a pow wow with their coach in the locker room.

Game 2 vs. CB @ 2:10 PM - Final score: 7-6. A fun game against a fun bunch. I'm tired as hell. I think I might be getting sick. I've been sneezing all day and my nose won't stop running. Waah, waah, waah. Despite feeling somewhat crappy, I scored three, maaaybe four (I can't remember!) goals. It's always nice to know that your goals made a difference in the win/loss outcome of a game. But ugh, I feel like a ton of bricks. Went home after the game for some Airborne and Sudafed.

Game 3 vs. SL @ 5:30 PM - Final score: 2-3. We played a pretty even game and finished the 3rd period tied 2-2. They won the shootout 1-0. It wasn't a big deal; by then we both knew we were already in the finals, so neither of us played all out. I have no idea whether I scored or not.

Game 4 vs. CB @ 6:20 PM - Final score: 7-2. We were tired, but the other team looked to be also. By the 3rd period our team focused mostly on passing, and slowed the game down a lot. It was really cool to see our team clicking, after only a day's worth of games together. I can't remember how many I scored. Two, maybe three? It's hard to keep track when you play so many games in one day.

We were scheduled to play the championship game at 7:35, but one of the players on SL injured herself at the end of our 2nd game against each other, and when she refused to go to the hospital, her teammates decided to pack it up so she couldn't play and injure herself more. Kudos to them for making that decision.

So we ended up winning the championship by forfeit. They gave us T-shirts with funny looking "hockey players" printed on them. And we to go home early. Hooray, 'cause I'm beat!

10:32 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

July 05, 2006 / Wednesday

Damn Those Boards

Yesterday, while climbing up and down (and all around) a bunch of boulders, I felt a pain in my back doing a certain motion. I told my physical therapist about it today. She had me do the motion, reproduce the pain, and describe it to her. Unlike the back-only pain we'd been working on, this one seemed to shoot from the back straight out to the front. We isolated it to a single front rib, which she proceeded to push on while I said "Ow" and made faces.

Strange, I thought, why this rib, and why now?

Oh yeah, I remembered later, I got a little too friendly with the boards Friday night.

03:58 PM | Hockey| Comments (2)

May 05, 2006 / Friday

Engagement Party on Ice

Skipped the Bandits game last night to go to Kendra and Mike's hockey engagement party. (Hooray!) Got to see (and play with!) a bunch of folks I haven't seen (or played with!) in a while. Also got to meet baby Trevor, who is a total cutie.

Had a ton of fun on the ice. Spent most of the night chasing Lucinda. Every time she touched the puck she'd take off with it. I think she had at least 2 breakaways per shift, and that's factoring in the fact that she was trying to avoid me and my swollen knee!

Speaking of the knee, I managed to stay on my feet the entire game, until the very end when one of the players on the other team decided that a fair tradeoff for my taking the puck from her would be to trip me. I landed on the good knee. Phew!

Hung out and chatted over some tasty food afterward. Then it was back on the road for me. As per usual, I couldn't find the freeway and drove aimlessly around Oakland for 15 minutes before hitting 880. Still, it took me considerably less time to get lost and drive home at 10:30 PM than it did to drive there during rush hour. 2 hours, it took! My bladder almost exploded. I bet that would have hurt.

12:45 PM | Hockey| Comments (4)

April 03, 2006 / Monday

Hooray, My Sticks Are Back!

I didn't even realize they were gone until I checked my e-mail this morning. There was a message in my Inbox about "two sticks (1 Bauer Vapor, 1 Easton Synergy) in a very new Itech stick bag" left at the rink last night. Hrmm, I thought, those sound like my sticks.

Crap! Those ARE my sticks! I'd been so busy making sure I'd properly packed my cookies and crack peanut brittle for the ride home that I'd forgotten about my sticks.

Fortunately, Kevin was there for the pickup after my games. He rescued my sticks and sent a note out to the league (to which I n00bily sent the reply to the entire league). A 5 minute drive from my office later, my sticks are back in their usual spot in my car. Yaaay.

Thanks, Kevin!

12:39 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

March 21, 2006 / Tuesday

Ow, My Groin

I strained my right groin during Sunday's Maroon placement session, and it's not healing.

Waah.

That is all.

02:30 PM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (1)

March 13, 2006 / Monday

Harumph

My back's not exactly sore, but I feel a constant pressure near the disc(s) that got compressed from a trip-induced flying splat during Saturday night's game. It worries me some, and that's making me grumpy.

*makes grumpy harumphy face*

12:51 PM | Hockey| Comments (13)

March 04, 2006 / Saturday

And So It Begins Again...

Bye bye, NCWHL league-wide pickup. Hello, first night of new team meetings for school.

That's two now. Siiigh.

09:28 PM | Hockey:School| Comments (2)

February 27, 2006 / Monday

Ball Punching

bluepoof: we went to public skate yesterday and i could only skate for about 10 minutes because my feet started hurting so badly :(
bluepoof: but we took the skates to east west and they did something that sounded like BDSM, ball punch or something
SoopahViv: i had that prob with my bauers
bluepoof: yeah, these are bauers too
SoopahViv: i do well with ccms
SoopahViv: they're wider, methinks
SoopahViv: but i didn't put my bauers thru bdsm
bluepoof: i haven't skated in them again after the ball punching
bluepoof: maybe tonight
bluepoof: peter and the dude at east west looked a little nervous that the ball punching made me giggle
bluepoof: O:-)

10:54 AM | Hockey| Comments (0)

January 06, 2006 / Friday

Weekend of Things I Haven't Done in a While

Thing I Haven't Done in a While 1
Hockey, after a 3 week hiatus. This was exciting, until...

Thing I Haven't Done in a While 2
Goalie, after a 5 month hiatus. This is exciting, and a little scary, but not as much as...

Thing I Haven't Done in a While 3
A real motorcycle ride, after what I believe is a ~2 year (?!) hiatus. This is very exciting, and more than just a little scary.

I'm totally looking forward to all of it. I'll be back on the ice, playing with friends, trying to be a wall, and riding with Bluepoof... and her shiny new bike.

04:26 PM | Goalie:Hockey:Motorcycle| Comments (5)

December 29, 2005 / Thursday

It Cracks Me Up When Sharkie Bites Someone's Head

Went to my first Sharks game in years last night. (Thanks, Susi!) Totally fun, even though they lost. Why don't I go more often? Perhaps I should!

01:13 PM | Hockey| Comments (4)

December 25, 2005 / Sunday

I Sure Hope This Works

Gloves and elbow pads now swishing in the washer.

Oh, how I miss Clean Solutions!

02:06 PM | Hockey| Comments (4)

December 19, 2005 / Monday

Question of the Night

If you're busy holding my stick with your hand, how are you going to shoot when the puck comes?