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November 14, 2008 / Friday

Who Do I Play For? Team OCD.

Okay, I can't do it. I've documented every scorekept game I've ever played, and I have this really uneasy feeling that if I stop, the earth will come to a grinding halt and we'll all be hurled into space.

I wonder what my doctor would have to say about that.

I felt slightly more comfortable this game than I did the last game, although I'm still not where I think I was at the end of last season. Still, I think there was improvement, and that's a good thing.

Even though this was the first game we won (and not until the final minute of the game), my captains this season have been really positive and encouraging. I think it helps a lot for the new-to-Blue skaters, and it certainly helps me too. There's such an experience gap between me and the college coached / more veteran skaters in the division that I wonder if I'll ever stop feeling like one of the n00bs.

The beginning of this season marked 6 1/2 years since I started playing hockey. Subtract injury and travel time, and that leaves me with 6 years of playing approximately 1.5 times a week. I wonder how many games that comes to. Oh yeah, they're all documented in this blog.

I'm fighting the urge to tally them.

I've had my new skates for about a month now. They're similar to my old skates, although I like certain things about my old skates better. The new skates dig into the side of my left ankle. I forgot to put a Band-Aid over the spot for last night's game and undid all the healing I'd done these last few weeks. Hello, new old hole! Actually, it's not really a hole; it seems my ankle has developed some scar tissue in the location of the old hole, so there was no bloody mess. Just skinless pain. Paaain! It was particularly bad when it struck mid-stride because I reflexively pulled back. I bet I looked gimpy out there in the final period of last night's game.

Oh, and I found myself strangely unable to do right crossovers when I stepped on the ice last night. I've always had trouble with my right outer edge. I used to think it was my skates, but now, three pairs of skates later, I realize it's me. For some reason, when I try to use my right outer edge, it catches and tries to toss me forward. Left outer edge feels fine. I couldn't make it catch even if I tried. What gives? I think I need a one-on-one skating coach for this one.

Final score: 2-1. Hooray, we finally won!

Hooray also, the earth will continue spinning!

11:51 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

November 09, 2008 / Sunday

Another Pseudo-Game Report

Once again, I was fighting the urge to write about tonight's game, but I had some learning related thoughts to document, and, well, this is the place to document them.

This is only my second Blue game in almost three months. I've played pickup and in tournaments since then, but that type of play is really different. The wide spread of skill levels makes sustained and coordinated passing, cycling, and play making difficult.

Thus, my comfort level with playing in Blue has gone down over the break. I can tell because I'm trying to get rid of the puck sooner than I need to. I can tell because I'm not doing a lot of things as deliberately as I should. Sure, there are always good passes, plays, and scoring chances within a game, but seem fewer and farther in between right now.

While giving me advice on something I should have done during my previous shift on the ice, my teammate said, "I learn something every week."

"If you're coaching me," I replied, "who's coaching you?"

"Scott."

Cool, I get trickle-down knowledge from the Sirens. Sounds good to me.

As for the game, we ended up losing 1-2. I had a couple good chances, including this one shot where I took the puck in, saw a gap on the far side, and somehow shot it exactly where I was looking. (!!) And then, freakin' goalie, she reached for the puck, clipped the side of it with the very tip of her outstretched glove, and deflected it just wide. Maybe I should have aimed for the post; that extra inch would have made all the difference.

Or maybe I should have gone for the top corner.

Or maybe I can stop speculating and just enjoy the mini movie I have in my head of the glove clipping the puck. The detail and clarity are amazing; you can't see that stuff on TV. :)

06:49 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

October 26, 2008 / Sunday

More Injury Update Than Game Report

I wasn't going to write a post for tonight's game. It's my first game of the season with this team and I figured it was time to grow up, get over my OCD, and stop documenting every single game I play. But then I realized I have injuries to keep track of, so here I am, writing about tonight's game. It's Blue season 3, game 3. I missed the first two sneezing and playing hockey at altitude, respectively.

To start, there's the new skate rubbing into the outside of my left ankle injury. It started rubbing at last Saturday morning's game in Colorado, and has developed into quite the hole. At pickup on Tuesday, I stuck this nice industrial strength fabric oval from the first aid cabinet at work on it, and that seemed to do a good job against the abrasion. Today, I used a flimsy clear Band-Aid square from my home medicine cabinet, which slipped off right away and left me with an even gianter hole than I had before, along with a bloody mess. Tomorrow, I raid the work first aid cabinet for more industrial strength ovals.

The new skate is stiff, which does not bode well for my bony feet, especially the big bump I have on top of my left foot. (There's a bump on my right foot too, but it's smaller because I'm unevenly bumped.) It hurts quite a bit to tighten the skate over the bump. I'm thinking some strategically placed Bunga Pad (which I forgot to bring to the rink today) just in front of the bump will keep the tongue from pushing down too hard on it. That, or I could learn to skate without cinching my laces down like my life depended on it. I bet if you were to take my skates and dangle me upside down, shake a few times, and then spin me like a carnival ride, I would not fall out of them. My feet probably won't even shift.

I didn't talk about this as part of my Pucktoberfest post, but in the first game I landed hard on my the inside of left knee with my legs bent, which created a painful (to push on and to skate with) and nasty looking bruise at the tip of my quad. In the second game, I landed hard on the exact same spot. I spent the rest of the weekend icing it, which must have helped, because for the first time ever, I had a bruise clear up in a week. A giant nasty one, at that!

And then today, I tripped over a stick and landed on that same spot. Dang it! Currently icing. And dang it some more!

Since I'm writing about the game, I'll write about the outcome. Scoring, by period: 0-3, 3-0, 0-1. Final score: 3-4. Dang it again! Still, fun, and challenging. I've been off for so long I'd forgotten what the pace was like.

I have two teammates this season who will yell at me on the ice and tell me what I should be doing on the bench afterward. While it's never easy to hear that you weren't doing something right, I'm thrilled that they're willing to say something about it. Keep talking to me; I'll learn eventually. And, if I ever forget to say it, thank you.

As for the hamstring, which I first truly injured after a hockey clinic more than two months ago, I've been stretching and doing foam roller massages several times a week, which seems to help a ton. I've been able to skate twice this week without the giant neoprene sleeve, and it's feeling pretty good. Keeping my fingers crossed...

07:36 PM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (0)

October 22, 2008 / Wednesday

I Wasn't Done

I know it's hard to believe, but I didn't say everything I wanted to say in my Pucktoberfest mega-post from earlier this week.

I didn't want to name names because I didn't want to single anyone out or forget anyone, but I really meant it about everyone getting a personalized award. I'll jot a little list here. It's incomplete, but I'm just trying to catch the little thoughts floating around in my head while they're still floating.

Things I remember cheering for, admiring, and grinning about:

• The teammate who skated her ass off game after game despite being so sick that she lost her voice, couldn't sleep, and had to play with a box of Kleenex on the bench.
• The teammate playing in her first tournament who played hard and improved game after game, to the point where some of us on the bench were calling her MVP material by the final game.
• The teammate who said she'd try to do a certain move/skill during the next game, and did it. Twice, and that's just when I was looking.
• The teammate got her first ever penalty, unintentionally I believe, which happened to be a huge along the boards layout of someone twice her size.
• The teammate who saw a ten dollar bill lying on the floor, picked it up, and handed it to the nearby restaurant staff without a second thought.

I could go on. There's something for everyone, but I'm not aiming to write another mega-post.

I'll remember Jami's dad, who, upon meeting us, told us with a grin on his face to vote for McCain. Later, he accidentally knocked on my and Jenny's hotel room door. When he realized what he'd done, he announced that he was going door to door stumping for McCain. It was especially funny because that's what Jenny spent the next two days doing in Colorado... for Obama.

I'll also remember Jami's mom, who bought me a much needed refillable ice pack, which we went for an unsuccessful hunt for after our game the first night. It was a total life saver; I carried it with me all Saturday afternoon. Me and all my achy parts, we are eternally grateful. Plus, it's nice to have a mom at tournaments. :)

Okay, now we're approaching mega-post length. Just one more thing.

Either late Saturday or sometime Sunday, Ellen shared something she'd learned from... I don't remember where now. I don't remember exactly how she phrased it either, but for me, it boiled down to this:

For all the negative things you say to yourself during and after a game, ask yourself if it's something you'd say to a teammate. If it's not, you shouldn't be saying it to yourself, either.

It really struck a chord with me because I'd been kicking myself repeatedly over whiffing on the most perfect pass ever in front of the most open net ever. As I write this, I realize I'm still kicking myself. But you know what I'd have said to my teammate if I'd been the one who'd made that pass to their eventual whiff? It's no big deal. You were in the perfect spot, you did a great job calling out to get my attention, and you caught the pass. Everyone whiffs. We'll get the next one.

Thanks, me. I feel better. :)

10:26 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

October 20, 2008 / Monday

Pucktoberfest 2008

Eat. Sleep. Hockey.

That pretty much sums up this past weekend. I barely had time to take notes, much less blog about the games as we played them. Thus, I now present to you this mega-post, about one darned fun hockey trip to Colorado with the Bucktooth Angry Dolphins.

Colorado? Didn't I swear I would never play in Colorado again? I did, but I broke my own rule, and I'm glad I did.

We got up really freakin' early to catch a 7-something flight out of SFO to DEN, where we rented a car and drove to Colorado Springs. First stop, hotel! And my, what a hotel it was. It deserves its own section in this post.

The Hotel

We stayed at the Clarion on Bijou. It's right off the freeway, and currently undergoing renovations. Either that, or they're roping off sections of the hotel as things fail. Now that I think about it, it's more likely the latter.

We pulled into the parking lot, and were immediately approached by a man from the 7-Eleven across the street. He asked for a few dollars, and was pretty persistent about it. And why? Not because he was hungry, but because he wanted cigarettes. At least he was honest about it.

We checked in, and they gave us happy hour drink coupons. One free beer or wine per person. I asked if I could use it for a soda. They said no. That confused me.

The entrance to our rooms was in the back, so we drove over, unloaded the car, went inside, and dragged our gear down a mini flight of steps. All weekend, we dragged our gear up and down those steps to get in and out of the hotel. What do handicapped people do?

The hallways, they were old and narrow and scary. There were sections of hallway and rooms roped off in seemingly random places. I was getting seriously creeped out, and I hadn't even reached the elevator! Then, when I got to the elevator, it creeped me out even more. Two people (with gear) at a time. Hope you don't get stuck! Oh, and later in the weekend, one of my teammates actually did get stuck. But not for too long. Phew.

The power sockets in the room, they were old and loose. So loose, in fact, that I couldn't power my laptop from most of them. The only semi-convenient one I could find was next to my bed, far away from the table. Since I didn't want to smother the laptop vent in the blankets, I stored my always-running laptop either upside-down or on its side when I wasn't using it. This somehow caused my laptop to freak out and think it didn't have a hard drive. The resulting laptop crash, followed immediately by a hotel wireless network that went down and disappeared, made me think that my laptop had somehow fried its wireless card in the process of crashing. Symphony of fails!

The ice machines, they worked when they wanted to, which was not very often. I got a bucket of ice from the 3rd floor ice machine when we arrived, and it never worked again after that. I got my second bucket of ice from the 2nd floor ice machine, and it stopped working afterward too. I spent the rest of the weekend walking down to the first floor for ice. At least that machine worked!

Around midnight on Friday, after our first game and just before we wanted to go to sleep, I discovered that our shower didn't have a shower curtain. Since it was late and I didn't want to wait for them to deliver us a shower curtain, I took a reeeally careful shower. I didn't get to wash my hair that night. Ew.

There were a couple positives about the hotel, but they had... surprises.

Positive #1: The balcony. Despite the too-dirty-to-sit-on plastic furniture, this was great for drying gear, until Saturday afternoon, when a squirrel visited us. He wanted food, so I fed him a peanut. He came right up to my hand and ate it. He wanted more, so I gave him another. This time, he grabbed my hand and took it from me. (!!) Crazy squirrel! I tossed a third peanut onto the adjacent balcony, shut our balcony door, and hoped that he wouldn't get mad and poop in my helmet.

The next morning, I went outside and found a yellow jacket on my gear bag. It saw me approaching and crawled inside my bag. I tried to see where it went, and in the process discovered a second yellow jacket on my gear bag. Ack! I went inside, put a sweatshirt on, pulled the hood over my head, shook out my hockey gloves, put them on, and got to work locating and squishing yellow jackets. A couple of my teammates came out on a nearby balcony as I was doing this, laughed at my ridiculous getup, asked what was going on, and ran back inside with all their stuff when they found out.

I made it to the rink sting-free, but the balcony held a final surprise for me. As I unpacked my gear in the locker room, a spider dropped off the towel in my hand. I screamed, shook it to the ground, and stomped wildly at it way more times than I needed to. Eeek!

Positive #2: Hot breakfast. This was a nice perk, and the service was great. The fruit, however, was a little strange. I imagined the fruit coming out of a giant plastic foodservice bag. Still, I tried one piece of each type of fruit, which turned out to be a really bad idea when I reached the slice of banana. It looked normal, but when I bit into it, it felt like biting into foam rubber. I rarely spit out my food, but I was truly afraid to eat it, and it ended up in my napkin. Grody!

So, um, let's not come back to this hotel.

And now, on to the games!

Game 1: Durango Fury

I think I played this entire game with a huge grin on my face. Elevation be damned, I was just in a really good mood! Maybe it was because I was happy to be playing my first game in over a month and a half. (!!) Maybe it was because I was pleased to be wearing orange. Orange! What a wonderfully ridiculous color for a hockey team. And the name! And the logo! Hah!

I thought the team we played against was pretty cool. For the most part, I just played my game, had friendly little conversations with the other centers before faceoffs, and had fun. Oh, that's right, I played center this game. Actually, I played center for the entire tournament. I thought I'd hate it and screw up royally, but it felt pretty natural and actually turned out okay. I should write down a couple pieces of advice that helped me.

From Ellen: No more than 10 feet from the puck at any time.
From Kim: Make triangles.

In the past, I've been overly defensive and not been much of an offensive contributor when playing center. With Ellen and Kim's advice however, I did much better. I scored twice, once on a rebound and once on a beautiful pass to a wide open me in front of the net. The coolest thing about those two goals? They were both due to the combined efforts of my line. I had Jami on the left and Ellen on the right, and they were awesome.

Tracy had a great goal this game, too. She busted on down the ice, got the puck past the goalie, and went sliding head first into the boards. Yikes! And score!

The other team got some of their own, though, and we ended up losing the game 3-5. Despite the score, we had a ton of fun.

Game 2: Colorado Springs Timberwolves

This game was against one of the host teams. Another cool group of gals to skate against. Before the game, Tracy wrote a bunch of key points to keep in mind. They helped, as we won this one 3-0. Ellen scored on the very first shift! She and Jami both had a great game; Ellen scored again later when Jami took the puck in through traffic and Ellen picked up the backdoor rebound.

For my part, I played like I wasn't getting enough oxygen, which was particularly evident when Jami put the most perfect pass on my stick with a wide open net in front of me and I completely whiffed on the puck. Completely, as in the puck didn't move at all. I would like to have that moment back, please, so I can either try again or erase it.

Nancy scored, too, although I didn't see her shoot it. All I saw was the puck going over the goalie's shoulder and into the back of the net like a bullet. No one else on our team shoots like that. What a beauty!

Back to the hotel we went for the aforementioned balcony squirrel encounter.

Game 3: Pucking Witches

This team, they wore orange too... which meant that we wore white, which ended up being really confusing at the beginning of the game, when I found myself passing the puck to the other team and then watching them skate toward my goalie as I wondered who the heck that was in the orange jersey... and why my goalie was wearing white.

After we got over that bit of confusion, we had a couple strong skaters to deal with, one of which I shall refer to as roller hockey girl. Roller hockey girl was noticeably better than most people on the ice, and gave us quite a headache, but I must say, Tracy did a great job against her. Way to go, green helmet girl!

Nancy decided to put on a puck protection clinic along the boards, and even finished off one of those sessions with a beautiful goal into the top right corner of the net. Ellen then joined in on the fun by going on a breakaway and finishing it off with a backhand over the goalie. I got something of a mini breakaway also, but couldn't decide which way to deke. You know what happens when you can't decide which way to deke? You don't score. Fortunately, toward the end of the game, I took the puck all the way down, got around roller hockey girl, saw a gap between the goalie's feet, and slid the puck in right where I was looking. The goal was nice, but getting by their best player was even nicer.

Final score: 3-2. This win put us in the championship the next day. This required some flight changes for those of us who didn't want to rush from the ice to the airport. That turned out to be a great decision.

Championship Game: Durango Fury

It was quite fitting that we played the championship game against the one team that beat us. We were all pretty tired by then (our first three games were played in under 22 hours), but despite that, we all skated hard. We held them to one hard earned goal (No one was left open; the goal was simply the result of a very long shift that ended with an everyone-tied-up scrum in front of the net.) until the very end, when we pulled the goalie and they scored on the open net. Final score: 0-2. That's okay. We played better against them this game than we did in the first game.

My favorite personal play of the game: Chasing down a breakaway and catching the skater. Why? Because it's a mental battle for me to make myself keep skating, keep moving my feet, and not think about the puck. Just skate. Skate hard. When you get there, THEN you can worry about the puck. It's amazing how much moving your feet is worth.

After the game, awards. Ellen and I got jerseys for making the All Tournament Team. :) And for the champs? They got spa packs instead of trophies. Nice!

If I had my way, everyone on our team would get a personalized award. There was not a single player on the team who did not do something on the ice this weekend that made me cheer, wow, smile, you name it. People played their hearts out, made awesome plays, set goals for themselves, learned, improved, and did it all while having a blast.

For the rest of the day, I sported a silly grin on my face and randomly exclaimed, "That was fun!" It was a wonderful reminder of exactly why I like to play hockey. Thanks, Dolphins, for a great weekend.

And thanks, Pucktoberfest organizers, for a great tournament. :)

09:06 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

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

Oh, And The Tournament!

I've been so busy thinking about this center thing that I haven't really reflected upon the MLK tournament. So here's my reflection: I had fun. We didn't manage to win any games, but everyone played hard and kept an awesome attitude. To me, that's a team. And it was nice to be part of it.

Final scores, because I keep track of things like this here:

Oakland Seals II: 1-5
SJ Lady Sharks C: 1-5
Kamloops Lightning: 2-5
Fog City Sirens: 0-9

Oh, and I got this out of it too. Look, I'm not just standing there!

12:36 PM | Hockey| Comments (2)

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| 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| 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| 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 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?

01:04 AM | Hockey:Question| Comments (3)

December 04, 2005 / Sunday

No Hockey For Mom

A week from today, my mom is coming to visit me and my aunt. Since the last time she visited was before I started playing hockey, I asked if she wanted to come to a game.

"Oh, no, people hold sticks. Too violent for me."

"Plus, everyone wears all this armor, and it's so fast. Makes me nervous. Especially if you're playing. Remember when we used to watch sports games on TV? When it came down to the final seconds I'd go into the kitchen and cook because I was too nervous to watch."

"I hope you understand."

Absolutely.

She's so cute sometimes.

06:55 PM | Famidotes:Hockey| Comments (5)

December 03, 2005 / Saturday

Ice: Smooth / Me: Not So Smooth

I stepped on the ice for the first time in almost 2 weeks last night, and boy did it show. I spent the first period falling all over the place. Finally, after finding my ice legs, I got stuck trying to get over the boards. I hung on for dear life until my D partner skated up and pushed me onto the bench. Phew!

11:18 PM | Hockey| Comments (1)

November 13, 2005 / Sunday

No Motivation

Saturday night ...

SW: You going to the game tonight?
SV: I'm wavering.
SW: Me too.
SV: I'll go if you go.
SW: I'll go if you go too.
SV: Okay! Don't go!

Fortunately, Secret Weapon came by to rescue me from unpackingmania and drove us to the game, which turned out to be great fun. Huzzah!

09:28 PM | Hockey| Comments (0)

September 11, 2005 / Sunday

Hockey Kicked My Butt

I suppose I should have known that skating a Maroon conditioning/placement session after a three week hiatus from anything even remotely resembling exercise was a bad idea.

Not that I shouldn't have gone, but perhaps I should have attended a public skate or a clinic before this weekend.

The end result, a groin flareup! It sounds funnier than it feels.

I thought I was done with that injury. As if my shoulder wasn't enough to deal with.

Waah, my shoulder. Look at me, I'm Rob from TUF2.

Yeah, okay, maybe one of you understood that last sentence.

06:38 PM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (4)

August 14, 2005 / Sunday

Mudskippin' II

Subbed for the Mudskippers (a.k.a. the fun team) tonight. Had a blast! There was positive energy both on and off the bench all game. Good stuff!

Even better stuff: the Mudskippers won! As Jessica yelled all game, "GO MUDSKIPPERRRRRS!"

I played wing, and even though I didn't score, I had a great game. I'm finally fast again! WaahoO!

At one point, we were having so much fun that we started cheering for random things on the bench (e.g. "Whoo, Peggy! Great job sitting there!"). Our cheering somehow coincided with one of the other team's players falling on the ice. The other coach thought we were cheering for the fall, and yelled something at our bench about how it's not funny when someone falls. We looked at each other for a bit. Then people on our team started randomly yelling, "It's not funny!"

And it wasn't. It had somehow become hilarious, and we laughed on "It's not funny!" cue for the rest of the night.

Final score: 4-1. Sarah was full net pimpin' tonight, stopping 44 of 45 shots. Hooah!

10:14 PM | Hockey| Comments (8)

August 02, 2005 / Tuesday

Blaaaaah!

I'm starting to get really frustrated by the way I'm playing. Subbed for the Ice Chex tonight, and while I didn't COMPLETELY suck (I hope), I didn't play nearly as well as I would have liked. That said, I haven't played as well as I would like to be playing since the groin pull. I guess it didn't help that I had a great final game before sitting for the injury, and that's my reference for how I think I should be playing.

What's not there? My head? My body? Both? That bugs.

Any suggestions?

10:56 PM | Hockey| Comments (7)

August 01, 2005 / Monday

Sub A Dub

Is it weird that I feel more pressure to play well when I play for other teams than for my own team?

Not that I don't play hard when I play for my own team, but as a sub, I realize that the captain has a choice of airlines to fly players to pick, and a good game speaks volumes more than a bunch of thank yous.

In the end, I don't think there's a difference in how I play. I just show up and do my best and have fun.

As long as no one's yelling at me. Or knocking me over. Neither of those are very fun.

09:55 AM | Hockey| Comments (1)

July 27, 2005 / Wednesday

I Scored. Oops.

Guestcoached at the Green practice tonight. Always fun 'cause the folks are great. I goofed around in the scrimmage at the end and accidentally scored, which prompted Ellaine to throw things at me. I didn't mean to! Well, okay, I did mean to, but I was in the middle of the other team's zone looking to pass, and the only skater I had near me was covered by another skater and ... the goalie?! I shot the puck as a way of saying, "Hey, why are you 7 feet out from the net and not square to the puck?!" Actions, not words, right? Well, I guess I should have followed with an explanation. I'll have to remember to do that next time I see said goalie.

12:16 AM | Hockey| Comments (0)

July 10, 2005 / Sunday

I'll Admit, It Would Have Been Funny

The groin is okay and the neck isn't sore from last night's self-boarding incident.

That means I don't have to limp around in a dress with my head semi-permanently turned to one side at my friend's wedding today.

Phew!

11:36 AM | Hockey| Comments (0)

July 09, 2005 / Saturday

Refs Taking Numbers

Guestcoached at the Green game tonight, where I tried to bring some sort of order to the away team offense. After our team's third goal, one of the players came off the ice and said to me, in a rather concerned tone, "One of the refs took my number. Why?!"

I looked at her, grinned, and replied, "Because you scored!"

Too cute!

12:48 AM | Hockey| Comments (1)

July 04, 2005 / Monday

More! I Want More!

I want to play more, but nooo, I have to rest another week. :(

Waaaaah!

11:36 AM | Hockey| Comments (0)

July 01, 2005 / Friday

I Can Skate!

Now the question is, can I skate in a game?
And if I can, can I do it without reinjuring myself?

I sure hope so. I have to play in net after my Maroon game Sunday.

01:08 AM | Hockey| Comments (0)

June 29, 2005 / Wednesday

At Least I Could Walk

Heard from Howitzer today that his teammate had to be carried off the ice for a groin pull this past weekend. With that in mind, sitting out for 3 weeks* doesn't seem long at all.

Oh, right, I was taking time off for my concussion.

*I hope it amounts to only 3 weeks. I'll find out at public skate tomorrow.

11:57 AM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (4)

June 22, 2005 / Wednesday

Green Practice

Went to help out at the Green Practice today. Totally glad I went. I spent most of the session imparting bits of goalie knowledge (from what little I know!) to Susi, who suited up and tried the goalie thing out for the first time tonight. She did pretty well! It's fun teaching her things 'cause she listens and works hard to learn. Low frustration for the teacher, high reward for everyone. Woot.

Other events of note, in no particular order ...

Jennie made her return to Green Division tonight! Welcome back, Jennie! :)

Cheddah was there, too, and she gave me a present. A 6-sided mirror! No, wait, there was something inside. I opened up the shiny little box, and out came a penguin! Thanks, Cheddah! You rule. And rock.

I also got to meet Betty Shinka tonight. I kept trying to take pictures of the cool Shinka logo on the door, but it was too shiny and I couldn't manage a picture of the logo without a reflected background. Betty Shinka rocks. And rules.

The groin pull is still on the mend. There will be no hockey for me this coming weekend. Another three games missed. I was going to waah, but as Andrea reminded me earlier tonight, it's less time off from hockey than I'd have to take for a broken bone.

Good point.

12:31 AM | Hockey| Comments (8)

June 17, 2005 / Friday

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My hockey schedule for this weekend, originally:

Thursday: clinic (goalie)
Friday: clinic
Saturday: clinic
Saturday: Ice Oasis
Sunday: Le Snack

My hockey schedule for this weekend, in reality:

Thursday: cancelled
Friday: 45 minutes of clinic
Saturday: cancelled
Saturday: cancelled
Sunday: cancelled

I don't know how I did it, but I pulled a groin muscle in the first period of last weekend's Le Snack game. I played hard on it the rest of the game, and spent the first half of this week limping. I thought I'd healed enough to skate 80% on it at the clinic tonight, but after a few drills I was hurting. A lot.

All I can do now is rest and hope to be back in action for next weekend.

At least I was able to dislodge an ice pack from the iceberg that is my freezer.

Yes, I'm icing my groin. Yes, that's pretty funny.

11:48 PM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (6)

June 11, 2005 / Saturday

Mudskippin'

Subbed for the Mudskippers at Fremont tonight. We faced the Replacements, who had previously dominated games against this team.

It was different tonight. We did well! We had 27 (or was it 29?) shots to their 20, and that was with 10.5 skaters on big ice. Great job, Mudskippers!

Final score: 1-3. The Replacements had Tami in net. She was giving up a *few* more rebounds than usual, but stopping every first shot goes a long way.

I had a ton of fun (and a nice trip to the net on my first shift, woot!). Lots of great folks on this team. Hooray for fun teams!

Oh, and they really liked Le Snack, and would like to play us every game. :)

Go, Le Snack, go!

12:32 AM | Hockey| Comments (0)

June 10, 2005 / Friday

EWH Blurb

Stopped by East West Hockey to get my skates sharpened today, and was met with what looked like a very empty store. Turns out they're in the midst of expanding. Go EWH!

While I waited for my skates, I browsed their goalie equipment, and saw, to my surprise, goalie jills! Finally, a shop in the area that stocks them! I already bought mine (in Canada, eh?), but this is great news. Go EWH again!

11:47 PM | Hockey| Comments (3)

June 02, 2005 / Thursday

Progress!

I'm sore and somewhat injured from my out of shape goalie game on Tuesday, but I wanted to test out a couple of Josepi's hockey tips, so I headed to the Belmont clinic tonight.

Not having skated in so long left me feeling uncomfortable on my skates. Turns out that was a good thing. When it came time to do our customary Russian circles, instead of doing what I usually do, which is fast and "comfortable" but not technically correct, I focused on doing things correctly, 'cause heck, everything felt funny tonight anyhow, and doing something a different way didn't feel any funnier.

After a couple trips up and down the ice, I finally found my outside edge. It took 3+ years, but damn that feels nice!

It turns out I've been putting weight on the wrong side of the edge. The enlightened me says to the pre-clinic me, "Duh!" Bye bye, outside edge unstableness, hello, world of outside edge fun!

I also spent some time working on my new backhand. I managed to lift about 40% of my shots, and they actually had some heat! Even the ones I didn't lift weren't wimpy like they used to be. Woot!

As for my wrist shot, I definitely have some bad habits to break. I did, however, see a glimmer of what it might become someday. There's hope yet!

Thanks, Josepi. :)

Played a little 4-on-4 at the end. I was beat! How long before I'm back in hockey shape?

11:27 PM | Hockey| Comments (6)

May 11, 2005 / Wednesday

Worse, Not Better

Practice last night appears to have aggravated my left wrist injury. I've lost range of motion. Ack!
To the medicine Advil cabinet!

11:02 AM | Hockey:Injuries| Comments (4)

May 04, 2005 / Wednesday

Ow, My Other Wrist

My right wrist still hurts, but my left wrist now kills. *#(&^(*@!!!

01:11 PM |