You know it's bad when they quit keeping score

At least it wasn't JUST my awful play that resulted in Coach Dan and Ref Luther deciding to employ the mercy rule and quit keeping score. The final tally on the board was 12-9, green team, but it felt more like 17-13.

I let in some real stinkers. Like the dump in from the point that I thought was going to go wide and it bounced in off the far post. That one came right after some other goal. Can't even remember how the one before went in, but the next shot came quickly after and I made a great save. This was the third period and I was pretty fired up and really needed a save to pick me up. Pretty sure what came out of my mouth was something along the lines of, "HELL YEAH!!! TAKE THAT, BITCHES!" I mean, I belted that shit out. I was obnoxious. It felt gooooooood. I'm definitely out of the running for the Lady Byng though.

And on that note, I'm finding I'm not the classiest goalie ever. Between that and my new-found urge to slash the person who scored on me if they're close enough... I worry myself a little. But then I tell myself, it's just emotion and passion, baby. I love this game and I love this position. It's unreal. But Jesper's knees were in grave danger on several of the 5(?) goals he scored on me. Scotty, remember our discussion last week where I thought I kinda had a bead on Jesper's style? F**k that noise. He murdered me.

Jessica got a couple but I stopped her quite a few times, too. Including a really funny one where I could see she didn't *quite* have control of the puck as she was coming in on a breakaway, but she was gonna reign it in if I didn't pounce. So I challenged her and tried to poke check and missed, but I startled her with my aggressiveness and she ditched the puck right in front of me. That was awesome. I'm making her work for her goals now, so I like that. Oh, except for the one of hers where she got me moving across the crease and it caromed in off my stick. Son of a...

Joe got an ugly one on me short side. It was a 3 on 2 and he was coming up the wall on my left but I can see two red people to my right just waiting for the pass. And Joe being the red team coach, I was expecting the pass, since that's what coaches tend to do in this league, so I was cheating away from the post. Can't do that, Ms. C.

Anyway, the list goes on and on. I felt bad for the other goalie. He didn't realize there was going to be a 4th period because we had extra ice time and I think the game was over in his mind. His 4th was like my 3rd last week. Every shot going in for the first 10 minutes. He was tired, too, they said.

I dunno how getting lit up like that can be so fun, but it was fun. Go figure. I guess if my team wasn't making things happen at the other end, it would have just been depressing, but they kept putting the puck in the net, god love 'em. Fred (not photographer Fred, green socks Fred) is looking especially good lately. He's fun to watch. Crazy soft hands. If his feet ever catch up with his hands, he'll be a beast.

So anyway, I guess the power of Manny Legace's signature on the backplate of my mask doesn't make me a better goalie. Don't think it made me any worse though. It was just a tough game. And boy, I was sore, feet and calves cramping up, before I even got to the parking lot. Had some awkward landings on some of my save attempts and an awkward fall on my right arm that strained my tricep. Groins are gonna be screaming by about 5 p.m. But it will all be fine by next Sunday when we get to do it all over again. I can't wait!

I actually felt like my stamina was pretty good in spite of the long game. I mixed some Gatorade in my water bottle and I think that helped, even if it was mostly psychologically. But sweating that much for that long, you need to put some electrolytes back and the carb boost is nice, too. One great thing about having done all that marathon stuff was learning what works best for keeping my energy up and stable for long durations. I'm pretty in tune with that and happy with how that worked out last night.

Though I don't eat a lot on Sundays because I get nervous, and the beer I had after the game went straight to my head. Had to hang out longer than I intended just to feel comfortable driving home.

This week I'm going to focus on core strength and flexibility. Last week was endurance/cardio. Amazing how a little bit of extra work during the week can make a big difference on Sunday. I definitely felt less tired during the game last night.