Game 1

I was telling one of the other players last night that while I was feeling just fine last night, by 5 p.m. today, the soreness was all gonna hit. And boy do I know my body. I got up from my work chair a few moments ago and suddenly felt everything. Where I fell on my ass going over the boards, where I fell on my hand (wrist! again! fuck!) when I crashed into some big dude on the red team (of course, he didn't fall... chivalry is so dead), and my abs are sore in every direction. My wrist really hurts and that bothers me most of all because I've done this before and it takes a good 6 weeks to stop hurting.

I'm not going into a ton of detail because I honestly spent a good 6 hours after the game with every moment of the game swirling in my head, and I've finally pushed all that aside so I'm going to let sleeping dogs lie.

But it was fun. A LOT more fun than practicing, doing swizzles, etc. But it's a big effort in swallowing your pride because there's nothing pretty about a brand new hockey player. There's so much new information you're taking in that it really kind of becomes a blur and you just hope to absorb some of it for next time so you can do slightly better. There's just lots of falling, being lost, trying to help your team in some small way (but really, until you know somewhat what you're doing, the team/score/etc. is secondary to trying to learn the game).

The thing that really stood out to me was how freaking nice everyone was. Even the players on the other team were telling me where I needed to position myself if I was out of place. My centerman for the last 4 periods (yeah, it was a long ice session so we played 3 stop-time periods and 2 more 10 minute run-time periods) was so incredibly kind and supportive and watchful of us (my other wing has only been playing a couple of months longer than me), I feel I really owe him a debt of gratitude. I wouldn't have been so patient, especially if I were as good a player as he is. So, thank you thank you thank you, Dan!

Coach Stalin said I looked like I was afraid of the puck and afraid of the net and that I wasn't skating fast enough. All of which were true. Not really afraid, but I felt like for my first time out, if I could just break up the plays of the better players, I'd be doing well. And as far as the skating, I honestly spent half my time on the ice trying to figure out which end I was in because the goalies switched teams and all my visualization had me shooting on the guy who is now our goalie. So, that messed me all the hell up. Plus, switching ends between periods is a mindfuck. Especially when you've been playing for 2.5 hours. Sheesh. So, when you don't know where you are, and don't know where you're going, it's hard to want to go quickly in any direction. Especially when you suck at stopping. :)

But I know that stuff will come. The worst thing is climbing over the boards. I know that will get better, too, but I really hate doing it. I need to reframe it and find some love for it or it's going to have me wound all the hell up before every game.

Anyway, all in all it was good and I went with the flow as well as I could.

I can tell you this with great certainty. I'd still rather be a goalie. In a big way. I mean, it's fun to skate out, but I'll be honest... my heart of hearts isn't in it. I mean, I want to do well and learn and have fun, but it's not where I keep my fuzzy slippers. My fuzzy slippers are in the crease and I don't want to lose my focus in that regard.