Tuesday night drop-in

Wow, was that fun! Most fun I've had in goal in a long time. Of course, it's always fun with a new group because they don't know the many ways in which I suck, so I'm just gonna enjoy this feeling of hopefulness that I haven't felt in a while.

They asked me to be one of their permanent goalies IF I can be there regularly, which of course, I can. I've been looking for a mid-week game for a while and this is a great level for me. Not novice, so nobody's worried about me seeing enough shots... they just play as predictable defense as they can at their skill level, which makes it so much easier for me to read the play. Not so fast and good that I'm getting discouraged but challenging enough that I'm working my ass off and seeing a variety of shots.

Definitely easier than the Monday night bunch, and should help with Sundays, too, as far as slowing those games down.

And I swear to god that rink at Memorial City is bigger. Man, it's the hottest motherfucking rink in the city, maybe the world (still kinda feeling like I might barf, I got so dehydrated) but it just feels good to play there. Decent ice, lots of space. Nice place.

As far as my game, they don't keep score and frankly, neither do I. I just try and stop as many as I can and learn from the ones I don't.

I played with my new gear mod for the first time and it worked great. Instead of wearing the volleyball knee pads, I cut the pad part out and sewed them into the tights I wear under my pads and pants. No tight thing around my knees and no banging my knees on the ice! Fabulous!

I did start feeling pretty shitty in the last 20 minutes and stuff was getting past me that shouldn't, but I rallied at the very end and made some nice stops.

Even had a sweet little glove save. I dropped into the fly and the puck hit my stick and rebounded back to the shooter who lifted it up this time, but it was a little bit of a floater so I could see it better and I just nabbed it. Maybe all this catch I've been playing with Mr.C and my new glove is helping a little?

Had a few dumb ones go in on me, a few I stopped but have no idea how, one that hit my shaft so hard it knocked my stick out of my hand (but the puck went into the corner so yay). They were definitely shooting 5-hole a bunch because I let a couple in early, but I started shutting those down. Stick on the ice, dumbass.

I love learning the shooters. That's a really fun part of goal for me. Some guys, you can see them looking for that hole that they think I don't know about. Like under my arm. I must have caught 3 in my armpit tonight. 2 from the same guy. Reading a shooter who thinks he's being clever and stopping his shot is up there in the top 5 great feelings ever. Stuff like that is why goalies love the position. You just can't get that feeling any other way.

Anyway, no sour looks after and a few compliments and some appreciation for coming out, so that was nice. And then I get in the car and... well, y'all know how I have my "goalie empowering" songs right? It's dorky but I'm a dork, so it all works out... Anyway, three of them in a row came on as soon as I started the car, including that awesome new one by Muse. Perfect ending to a great night of tending goal.

So, here's the thing... I've had 3 hockey player sightings today.

• Ryan Miller's less attractive Hispanic twin brother served me my lunch today at El Rey Taqueria. Tempura shrimp torta. OMG, so good.
• The other goalie tonight looked like the love child of Cory Schneider and Chris Osgood. That's a compliment. When we talked before the game, I thought I detected a French accent and I thought, "Oh shit. A ringer from Quebec!" Had some nice saves but wasn't Brodeur, thankfully. Probably wasn't really even a French accent.
  
• And finally, saving the best for last, one of my defensemen in the second half was a dead ringer for Clayton Stoner. It was, frankly, distracting. Good defenseman, too, which made him all the more attractive because good defense = love in my book.
  

Anyway, lots of fun.

Oh crap, I'm so tired. To bed with me and another jug of water.