Stick and puck, sort of

Coach Stalin and I are batching it this week, so we're gonna try and do a little bit of a workout each night since we've got the time to do so. Tonight we were both feeling a bit lazy from hockey yesterday, so we did a little stick and puck work tonight in her driveway.

She's got these cool pucks that actually have about as close to a puck feel as anything I've tried off ice. We just worked on puck handling and then passing for about an hour. Good stuff. I think it was helpful.

More helpful still was just talking about the game last night and some of the *GIRL ALERT* feelings we're having about our teammates and our own playing and stuff. Plus, I asked her a few questions about what I needed to be doing in various situations. One of the things I need to do is ask questions of my center (usually the best player on any of the lines) when we get on the bench if there was a situation that I need clarity on what I should have done.

The double edged sword of novice hockey is that sometimes the play goes pretty fast and its hard to keep up with as a new player. But then they try to accommodate the new players by giving us space when we have the puck, which means everyone on the ice practically stops moving/playing. Well, when you're new, you're taking your cues from your more experienced linemates. So when they and the other team basically stop in their tracks, and the puck is on your stick, sometimes you're left wondering WTF is going on. Especially if it happens around the blue line, because then it's like, Am I offsides? What's going on? Should I clear? Should I get the puck and clear? WTF!?!?

So, I just need to ASK when we get off the ice what the hell was going on there.

Anyway, I feel better having had some good talk about that and all the other stuff going on. It was the catharsis I was looking for but didn't get after the game last night.

Do guy hockey players need to "talk out" their games afterward? :) Neither Coach nor I are particularly "girly girls" so I'm guessing this is pretty normal.