A slow decline, or maybe it was rapid and I was too tired to notice

Tonight we had extra ice, so we had 45 minutes or so of practice and then we scrimmaged for 4 periods.

I started about here with a really good, focused, productive practice:



Started with a nice 3 on 2 drill that got the defense some good work and some good practice staying square to the puck with a bunch of passing for the goalies. Scott had me and Bang rotating out, which was great because we didn't wear out as fast and we could talk about what we just did with some immediacy. I LOVE instant feedback. It really helps me analyze things better in the moment.

Then they moved to a backchecking drill that we do quite often, and I think it really helps the skaters. Plus it's fun for me. I love shootout-like situations. Mano a mano, baby. That's my favorite. Plus, my timing was really good tonight and I was really stopping folks. I credit a few good rounds of Wii Tennis earlier in the day where I was really focused on improving my timing. I guess that "patience under pressure" training carried over to hockey pretty well!

Also, on the way out to the rink tonight, I knew I needed to do some attitude adjusting with regard to Hot Shot. Same thing I had to do back when Jessica used to keep me up at night. Basically have to tell myself, when he's barreling down the ice at me, to think, "Yay, I get a chance to try and learn to stop him." rather than, "Fuck. THAT guy again." It helped. I stopped him several times tonight. Though I took one right in the boob. Damn, that hurts. But I stopped it. Pain goes away. :)

Green was a little thin on bodies, so Scott played D for me. Maybe it's candyass of me but it's comforting when he's on my side. I think WAY too much when he's shooting on me, so it's a relief to not have to worry about that.

Anyway, I had some good saves. First period was really good, and green lit Bang up pretty good so it was pretty lopsided. But I fell apart in the second. And fell and fell and fell.

I was trying hard to stay focused, but 4 periods on top of a practice was pretty rough and I was getting dehydrated. And I rationed my Gatorade with the impression we were doing 3 periods, not 4. So the 4th rolls around and I'm dry, but so fuzzy headed and tired by now that it takes me half of our 2 minute break to figure out that I should probably go put some water in my bottle.

By then, everyone's getting back on the ice and I figure I won't have time to drink it anyway, so whatever. But in the 4th, my calves and hamstrings started cramping. Ohhhh, sweet mercy, that hurt. Luckily, my team always cleared the puck when it was happening, so I had time to recover.

First time I've ever gotten that dehydrated playing hockey, so that was an unpleasant experience. Puts a little hair on your chest though, so that's okay. Part of goaltending is playing through whatever you've got going on. No bench to go sit on when you're tired or hurting. Shake it off and keep going.

I let in at least 2 that I would have stopped if my right pad had rotated correctly. Geez, that's fuckin' frustrating me. And 2 more bounced in off my pads. Just laziness on my part there. Seemed like there were more pucks getting tipped or coming off skates or whatever tonight. But hey, gotta stop those, too.

But in the 4th period, I was definitely feeling like this:



I wondered a couple of times if I was even going to get back to the room, but I did. Just very very slowly. Guzzled 3 bottles of water after the game and still have absolutely no urge to pee. I haven't been this dehydrated since our 26 hour Hurricane Rita evacuation. 2 bottles of Gatorade weren't enough.

Other stuff: Not much really. One of the screws fell apart on my right pad toe tie flappy thing. I was leaving parts all over the ice. Still missing one but I think I can buy a replacement at the hardware store.

Also noticed a little rust on my cage. That annoys me because I'm so fanatical about airing it out. It also occurs to me that I should wring out my sweatband between periods. I was getting a river of cold sweat down my face when I put my mask back on to start the period. Nasty and annoying to get sweat dumped right in my eye.

I ordered my new glove and blocker yesterday, so hopefully that will come this week and I can start breaking in the glove and USING the blocker. OH to not be able to poke my fingers through the holes in the blocker glove! And no ass funk smell on my hands after! Heaven! I can't wait. Probably won't use the trapper on Sundays until after Labor Day when I've had time for Mr. C to play a bunch of catch with me and break it in a bit.

Oh, I don't think I mentioned the score. Frankly, I don't remember what it was because my back was to the scoreboard when the game ended and I just wanted to get the hell off the ice and sit down, but I know we lost. If I'd just been a little more focused on some of those sloppy goals we might have squeaked past them, so I feel badly about that. But not so badly that I'm not going to get a sno-cone tomorrow to treat myself. ;)