Hockey :: A-Team II
February 27, 2005 / Sunday
Last Few Hockey Notes Before Bed ...
A few more general hockey notes from the game tonight ...
Running: Apparently I'm still running more than I'm skating. That explains why I haven't gotten any faster lately. What I really need is a video of myself skating/playing, so I can see what I'm doing wrong.
Turning: I really *can* turn left now! It's not as strong as my right turn yet, but it's definitely there. Yes! Thank you skiblades!
Knee: I don't play D much, and as a little wing I tend not to waste my energy skirmishing in front of the net. So, tonight, playing D, I found myself matched up against a guy about twice my size. He somehow managed to hang onto my stick, and I knew I wasn't going to dislodge it with all the tugging in the world. Fortunately, I was behind him, so I gave him a nudge on the back of his knee and, just like magic, I got my stick back. I can't believe it took me 3 years to finally have a reason to do that.
02:40 AM | A-Team II:Hockey| Comments (0)
A-Team II: Cheap Skates
It's been over 3 months since I've played an A-Team II game. It's kinda crazy, but every game since mid-November has either been too late on a worknight or conflicted with an NCWHL game. Tonight's game was late, too (I got home just before 1 AM), but tomorrow's Sunday, so I can sleep in.
Tonight's game reminded me of why I don't like co-ed hockey. Guys, when they step on the ice, turn into idiots. Like the guy who decided to knock me down from the side when I was skating the puck up the boards. Fine, I had the puck, and even though this is a non-checking league, I'll give him that. So, as I went down, I turned sideways, and his leg happened to be in the path of my stick. I wasn't about to pull my stick back to avoid hitting him while in the process of falling, oh, did I mention, because of him, so the stick kept going and gave him a little love tap on the shinguard. He somehow decided that wasn't cool, that his actions were not deserving of a love tap, shoved me in the back, and came up to me after the whistle blew, spewing ... hrmm, I don't know what, because I really wasn't interested in giving him the time of day.
Please, chill the fuck out. You and your team aren't going to be playing for the Stanley Cup anytime soon. I'm not either, which is why I don't want to bother jawing back at you.
In happier news ...
I saw Heidi pull this cool one handed swing-the-puck-way-out backhand move several times during the Vegas tournament. It's a move that I've never tried, and looked to be something that'd take me some time to figure out. I've been working on it in my head the last few weeks. Tonight, I had the perfect opportunity to try it, and whoo, it worked! Well, until the defender who couldn't catch me decided to trip me instead. At least we got a power play out of it. And I got to do a full-on SoopahViv on ice.
In even happier news ...
Jill broke her stick a while back and still didn't have a replacement, so I let her use my old Montreal A stick (I broke the B stick months ago and replaced it with my current baby, the Vapor XX). I told her she had to score with it, and she did, on a backhand that lifted 2+ feet and bounced in off the goalie's arm! What a beauty! Go Jill!
I gave her the stick after the game, 'cause at the moment, she needs it more than I do. Besides, I was never able to make a shot like that with it! Now, let's hope I don't break my Vapor XX in the next few games, 'cause it's all I have left. I donated all my old sticks to my women's league. I've got a couple crappy ones at home, but they're both worn down from pavement, and really, they're there to kill ceiling spiders.
Final score: 2-4. They got the last one on an open net as the seconds wound down. One of the original 3 was my fault, though. I played D, had no legs tonight, and got caught playing *just* a little too aggressively. When it came time to chase, I had nothing left, and the skater broke away and scored.
Looking at the schedule, I think this may have been my final A-Team II game. I'm done with hockey at Logitech. It stopped being fun.
See ya at Ice Oasis.
01:32 AM | A-Team II| Comments (0)
November 14, 2004 / Sunday
A-Team II: Ice Hounds
Update on the slapshot project: I launched another one at our goalie during warmups. I'm definitely not firing them off 100% of the time, but the ones that make it up sure do look good!
That, and I scored our first goal. It was a bit of a gift. The D on the other team got the puck and backed up to get a better look while I was skating at him. He fell over and left the puck sitting there in the middle of his own zone. It was just me, heading into the zone, the aforementioned puck, and the goalie, who was probably having an "Oh shit!" moment. Actually, I was having something of an "Oh shit!" moment, too. I was worried that I'd miss the shot. That would have been lame beyond words.
So I got to the puck, picked it up, and shot it five-hole. I didn't celebrate much afterward (I try not to; I don't think it's all that fun to watch from the other bench) so half my team didn't know I'd scored. That was kind of amusing.
Final score: 5-2. We got 3 of our goals from Spike, our ringer sub. On one hand, it's nice to have someone who can carry the team, but on the other hand, I feel bad that he would skate the puck through everyone and shoot. We hate when other teams do it to us; it's not right for us to do it to them.
Dan got a nice goal off a pass from Spike. Go Dan for being open! Later he sent an equally rockin' pass to Robyn, but alas, no goal. I think they should have gotten a point just for trying to execute that play, though. It was pretty!
Next game, I dunno when!
11:12 PM | A-Team II| Comments (5)
November 07, 2004 / Sunday
A-Team II: Ice Monkeys (At The Tank!)
Today we played our long awaited A-Team II game at the Shark Tank. The Shark Tank! Is that cool or what?
Well, actually, it was only okay. They don't light up the whole place when there are only 20 people in the stands, and it's a pain in the ass getting your gear from the car to the locker room. Stairs galore. Stairs and hockey gear, bad mix!
Some good things, some bad things.
Good things ...
GT1: I've been trying to learn a slapshot ever since my Maroon coach gave us some tips at our practice a couple weeks ago. I've been trying very hard to get the mechanics right, and, well, when you focus so much on mechanics, it's hard to do it right. I practiced it a bunch at the Thursday clinic last week, to no avail. Today, during warmups, I halfheartedly tried a couple, applying what I knew, but not really thinking much about the motion. Whap! The puck flew, yes, flew, IN THE AIR, flat disc, and hit my goalie two feet off the ground. Holy shit, did I just do that?! I did, I did, I did just do that! Didn't have much time to launch any more, but now I know I can. I'll have to work on that some more. It'll be a neat trick to bring back to the women's league. ;)
GT2: We faced the Ice Monkeys, who are always fun to play with. Great bunch of folks.
GT3: I got an assist. We had a pretty cool shift toward the middle of the game. It went down like this: I took the puck in, shot, Nicole got the rebound, shot, I kept the puck in, shot, Nicole got the rebound, shot, I kept the puck in again, shot, Nicole got the rebound, shot, scored! All while our 3rd forward got beat up by (tied up :) the other team's defenders.
Bad things ...
BT1, 2, 3: Jena got hurt. I'm not sure how, but her left ankle is busted. I remember hearing the whistle from the bench, looking out, and seeing Jena rolling around on the ice. Her ankle looked floppy after the game, but she was a total trooper and didn't complain one bit, even though she was without painkillers. Jena, are you reading this? How about an update?
BT4: We lost, 1-2. S.Lo scored their game winner. That's like getting squished by Elissa. Not fun, but at least it was someone I like, so okay.
That's all, folks. Next game next Sunday, back at our usual venue.
09:33 PM | A-Team II| Comments (2)
November 02, 2004 / Tuesday
A-Team II: Cheap Skates
What a comeback!
Tonight's game rocked, and not just 'cause we won. It rocked 'cause we won despite being without our fearless leader, most of our usual big guns, and having a short bench. It rocked 'cause we entered the 3rd period down 0-2, and came back to win 3-2.
This game was pushin' late for me, but I'm glad I went! I love the folks on this team. Besides, I hadn't skated with Cap'n Heather in a while!
I ended up playing center, but fortunately I wasn't in over my head with these guys. They're a little shovey 'cause they're at that use-you-for-leverage stage, but they're not nasty about it; they would actually give us props if we made nice plays.
Speaking of giving props, the two refs we had tonight were awesome. They'd let us know if we did something well. Nice play, nice shot, etc. Thanks, refs. Encouragement is worth a lot at this level.
So anyway, this whole 0-2 to 3-2 in the 3rd period thing. First goal, Dan! Go Dan! That was his first ever A-Team II goal! Rockin'!
At 1-2, Annette made an executive decision: Nicole and I would skate together, instead of rotating as centers like we'd been doing all game. Before we even had a chance to do that, I scored. The puck came out of their zone and hung by the blue line. I took it, went wide right, and swung left around one of the other team's players near the boards as I entered the zone. Stick handled, stick handled, shot, final defender, goalie ... goooal! It was especially sweet 'cause I'd been taking the puck down alllll game, and every time I'd get by everyone but the last skater.
2-2. No more need for a Nicole and Viv line. Nicole went out, and minutes later, scored! Top shelf, stick side. Sooo pretty. Go Nicole!
As I was leaving, I saw the refs sitting at the tables rinkside. I went over to thank them again, and to tell them how great it was to have such positive reffing. They jokingly said to me, "Aww, that's only 'cause you scored! You'd be telling us how much we sucked if you guys had lost!" No no, really, you guys, I mean it! You were way rad!
Gave them a big grin and headed home. But not before I got a few more OOOOO-ah!s in at my teammates.
OOOOO-ah!
12:21 AM | A-Team II| Comments (0)
October 26, 2004 / Tuesday
Truckin'!
Our goalie got his truck back! Here's his update blurb from the team Evite:
Unbelievable news police called about 7:30 tonight said we found your truck can you come get it . every thing still there except some pens and pencils,notebook and a couple of jackets. It even had more gas than when they took it..
Awesome that all of his tools (he's a contractor) were still there. Funny that there's more gas in it than before. Big sigh of relief!
11:30 AM | A-Team II| Comments (4)
October 24, 2004 / Sunday
A-Team II: ARH
Finally, the A-Team II had an early enough game so that I could actually play. I think it's been over a month since I last skated with them! It was good to be back on the ice with that group again. As a bonus, I finally got to meet my timeshare, Nicole. She's totally rockin' on ice. It was fun to be out there with her, 'cause we're fairly similar in speed. It's always nice to be speedmatched with your linemates. :)
I didn't score, but that's okay. I was just happy to be skating out again. I didn't tire as quickly as I'd feared. Perhaps my efforts to eat better this past week have paid off. Yay.
We lost, 3-7, but oh well, these guys were considerably bigger than us. I don't hate them, I don't love them. Whatever. It's ice! I'll take it!
Big bummer after the game, though. Some idiots had gone into our locker room during the game and stolen a few people's car keys and wallets. Actually, they not only stole our goalie's keys and wallet, they also stole his truck. Holy shit! Not cool. Anyway, Einsteins that they are, they used one of the stolen credit cards a couple hours later at a liquor store where the cashier recognized them. So let's see, they're on ice rink surveillance camera, they've committed felony grand theft, and they visit their local liquor store with someone else's credit card!? Any one of those would easily be evidence of their lack of brain cells, but I'm thinking perhaps they've got some sort of negative brain cell thing going on, like little black holes in their heads or something.
Anyway, I hope they find those foolios tonight. Our goalie needs his truck (and everything in it, I hope) back.
11:32 PM | A-Team II| Comments (0)
August 10, 2004 / Tuesday
Lyrical Blip of the Day
just keep skating
just keep skating
just keep skating skating skating
Dori on ice, yo. Either that, or the A-Team II bench song.
And you people wonder why I drive so far for hockey.
05:40 PM | A-Team II:Lyrical Blip| Comments (0)
June 21, 2004 / Monday
A-Team II Game: Re-Habs (Bonus Weekend Ramble At The End)
Man, I hate playing against this team. Last time it was because they were running us over (literally). This time, well, they had a few skaters who were just a wee bit (several divisions wee) above EEE. I guess they were trying to make up for the newbie girl and the twirp who would fall over every time you nudged him (and whine if he managed to remain standing).
I got flattened by a 6 foot tall suspected hired gun on their team, but it was either that or watch him get a wraparound right in front of me. No goal, and I managed once again to whack the back of my head on the ice. It was hurting pretty good for a while after that. Cool that he stopped to ask me if I was okay. Stopped as in, the play was going on elsewhere and he didn't leave to go join it 'til I managed a "Yeah." Thanks, but still, ow.
Oh well, whatever, it's ice. I got myself a goal. Elissa did all the hard work, though. She took the puck in to about 4 feet from the goal. All I had to do was whack it in. Whack! Whoo.
Final score: 2-8. Not beautiful, but at least we got on the board.
I didn't do so terribly considering I (1) helped Doug move this weekend and (2) ate fried chicken and curly fries shortly before the game.
More on point one: Doug's new place is cool. It's got hardwood floors so you can spin the cat around when he lies on his side. That, and it's hooked up with DSL (already!), which was good because I needed to get online to do some work this afternoon. Boo for routers that say they allow IPsec passthrough but don't. Yay for DMZ hosting, with the exception of that bit about being totally exposed to all the evil people out on the Internet.
More on point two: I don't know why I wanted solid food before a game, but I'm glad I had enough restraint to eat a small portion. We went to Cluck U Chicken near Santa Clara University. I'd heard that they had really spicy buffalo wings worthy of a wall of fame and I figured since we were down in the South Bay I could get Doug (eater of all things ridiculously spicy) to test 'em out, 'cause I (avoider of all things more than very mildly spicy) sure wasn't going to. Anyway, Doug ordered the global thermo-nuclear buffalo wings, took a bite, and declared the sauce a too-vinegary 7 out of 10. I'd have to agree; my pinky dab test didn't kill me like the juice from the Prince of Wales habanero burger did.
Hrmm, let's see, moving, working, hockey, wedding (see previous post). Yup, that about sums up my weekend. Blah for moving, boo for weekend work, hooray for hockey, yay for wedding. On the upside, I got to spend some time with the Douglet. A hundred huzzahs for that.
12:01 AM | A-Team II| Comments (0)
June 01, 2004 / Tuesday
A-Team II Game: Ice Hounds
No pancakes this time. No full meal all day. Energy bars and liquids and PB&J sandwiches. It's all about the PB&J, you know.
Yup, that PB&J fueled me to my First Ever Hat Trick!
Let me say that again ... my First Ever Hat Trick! Yeah!
Or, as Andrea put it, a double halfhat trick, or half a dozen halfgoals.
I lucked out tonight. Liz put me on a line with two Very Good Players. Apparently I thrive as a grasshopper. Thank you Liz for creating that line!
Observations of a grasshopper: It's waaay cool when the people on your line are faster than you, because then you can see the play develop in front of you and position yourself to create the best possible triangle. It's also waaay cool when they have the speed to be right where they need to be when you try to take the puck in. I think I passed my most beautifulest backhand drop pass in my life tonight, and all because I glanced over and saw my wingpair a few feet back and to my right, heading straight for the goal.
Got me an assist, too. Icing on the cake. Roo!
Had a Very Nice D Moment also. Hustled down and tied up a Very Open Opponent in front of a Wide Open Net just as the puck sailed by. I somehow ended up on my ass in the process, but it was well worth it.
Took my first puck in the foot toward the end of the game. Man, that hurt! Hooray for stiff hockey boots.
Broke my first stick. Don't know when that happened, but my B stick developed an unhealthy rattle between the last A-Team II game and tonight's game. Had to play with the A stick tonight (co-ed games thrash my blade so I usually go with the B stick). Looks like it's time to go stick shopping!
Felt cold and tired and calf crampy before the game. Thought I was going to suck. Good thing my body got going!
Oh my, I'm being a bit of a me-me-me-me-me blogger today. Um, hey, we won! Final score: 7-5.
Oh hell, it's my blog. Me-me-me-me-me posts are allowed! Hat trick hat trick hat trick! Me-me-me!
Got to play with a nicely tuned Corrado on my drive home. Corrados are old, but I have a fondness for the well tuned / well maintained ones. 'Twas a friendly VW exchange; we traded leads and Fun Corners with each other. Had the tires squealing getting on Lake Merced Loop from Brotherhood Way. Probably not a good thing. After all, curbs are bad for suspension, so I probably want to lay off a bit to avoid them.
I have Massive Hat Head. That, and I'm Capitalizing Everything Tonight. I promise to stop after this. I'll quit with the me-me-me-me-me thing, too.
That is, unless I get another hat trick tomorrow night.
Just kidding!
12:38 AM | A-Team II| Comments (0)
May 16, 2004 / Sunday
Sunday Sunday Sunday!
A few blurbs about what I did today ...
Boogaloos
Doug and I felt breakfastey, so we headed over to the Mission to try a place called Boogaloos. On their menu they claim that they will charge $1 per indoor cell phone use offense. I wonder if they ever do. I'd like to see a charge for that on my bill. That'd be classic.
I had a couple cornmeal pancakes for breakfast. Me, eat pancakes?! Where's the protein?! I justified my blatant consumption of carbs with the fact that I had a hockey game in the early afternoon. Hooray for excuses.
A-Team II Game: Ice Monkeys (My Excuse For Eating Pancakes)
I'm not going to number my A-Team II Game posts anymore, since I don't play every A-Team II game. I've lost track! Anyway, we played the Ice Monkeys this afternoon at 12:15. So early! My body was definitely not in hockey mode, and didn't get into hockey mode until well into the 2nd period. I scored my first A-Team II goal today! Must have been 'cause I finally got my jersey. It's got my name on the back: SOOPAHVIV. Yeah!
We lost, 1-3, but we had fun, so it's cool. I got to play wing and had a great center, which made life very wonderful.
Yummy Food. Go Sharks!
Had lunch with some of the A-Team II crew at Aqui. Cool restaurant, great food! Got to watch the oh-so-exciting 2nd period of the Sharks game, too. BuRp! WhoO! YeaH!
$$$ Motorcycle Gloves
I've been feeling a little uneasy about my motorcycle gloves since my last flop. I didn't even really slide on the pavement, and yet my right glove was starting to look worn down and slightly unstitched. I had doubts about whether it would hold up enough to save the skin on my hand in the even of a slide. I asked Doug about it, and he agreed that I should get better ones.
Tried on a bunch of gloves at Cycle Gear and Road Rider this afternoon. In the end, I debated between a pair of Alpinestars GP Plus gloves and Alpinestars GP Tech gloves. The GP Plus were $160, the GP Tech were $216. The difference was the GP Tech had an armored gauntlet and this extra material (I later found out it was Kevlar) right where you'd slide on your hand. What to do? I imagined sliding down feet after feet of pavement and decided I wanted the GP Tech gloves. Bye bye, money. Hello, skin on my hands, glad you're still there.
More Hockey!
I got to sub for Red Fury tonight. I even played center for the first time in longer than I can remember. This time, I didn't screw it up! Yeah!
I did pick up my first penalty in over a year, though. Tripping, the ref said. She also said she could easily have called roughing. I was puzzled, but there was no point in protesting. From my point of view, I was going for a puck along the boards, and I was travelling at the boards. The other player was going for the same puck, and she was coming up the boards. We got there at the same time. We collided. She fell. I didn't.
Nonetheless, since she fell and they called a penalty on me, I made sure she was okay when she got up. She was fine. No harm done, and we killed the penalty without a giving up a goal. Woop.
Still, we lost 0-2. Bummer.
Trying To Get The Hair Just Right
I can't figure out what product to use to make my hair stand up and be spiky. I had spiking pomade, but it flopped over. I think tomorrow I'll try either ridiculous amounds of the pomade or my new gravity-defying spiking gel. I'll get my hair to spike yet!
11:46 PM | A-Team II:Food:Hair:Hockey:Motorcycle| Comments (0)
April 19, 2004 / Monday
A-Team II Preseason Game 2: Ice Monkeys
We won! We won! Final score: 2-0. I did a rare stint playing D tonight. I didn't totally suck. Cool.
Did the team have a good game? Most definitely! We won! And a shutout, no less!
Did I have a good game? I'm not sure. I was tired from my NCWHL practice just before the game, but still faster than a good number of our forwards tonight. That made for a fairly frustrating night at D, because I'd pass the puck up and want to go-go-go, but the forwards would go or go-go instead. So then I wanted to take the puck up myself, but my legs were tired and I couldn't quite get past the other players. I'd get to the neutral zone and lose it. Dammit.
What does this mean? It means more conditioning work for me, so I can skate like a maniac on double-header days like today.
The power turn project is coming along nicely, by the way. Now if only I could turn left! I feel like Derek Zoolander.
12:44 AM | A-Team II| Comments (0)
April 14, 2004 / Wednesday
A-Team II Preseason Game 1: ReHabs
I had fun tonight. We lost, but it was a close game. Final score: 1-2. Not too shabby. I had a couple shots on goal, but no points came of them. Annette scored our lone goal. She's on my Red team this season. Coooool.
It took me a couple shifts or so to readjust to playing co-ed hockey. It's definitely faster than playing in Red Division, and there's a lot more pushing and shoving and running into people. Fortunately it didn't take me too long to find my pushing and shoving legs and stay upright ... for the most part.
Ironically, my only injury came from a self-induced slide. In an effort to keep the puck in the zone I dove sideways, stick out. My shoulder didn't like that. Even worse, the puck glided right past the tip of my stick by about two inches. Not worth it, man! This screws up the rotator cuff day I had planned for tomorrow, too. Boo.
My highlight of the game came in the 3rd period, when the other team was attacking and I found myself playing D. I turned and skated backward, picking up speed, and hallelujah, I finally did my first ever backward crossover in a game! Even better, it was intentional, and sooo smoooooth! I was, and still am, very excited about it.
I will now take my sore shoulder and backward crossover excitement and go to bed. Good night!
