Goal-Setting Sunday & other stuff

So, after last weeks misery and some help from lots of folks to pull me out of my mental funk, I had my chance to redeem myself tonight with a novice game.

It was one of those fucked up nights where I played like shit but my team played great and we ended up winning. My first win in a long time, and while I wish I could take some credit for it, I think my D could have kept the score lower if they'd just been playing a 3rd D back.

HOWEVER....

I'm not beating myself up. I'm staying positive. Because I went in to tonight with the goal of just "moving up" when I could see blue paint in front of me. And I did that all night. I stayed at the top of my crease and just tried to get used to not seeing paint. It actually wasn't as scary as I thought it would be and it made me feel more confident the more I got used to it.

But, I think maybe I was relying too much on my depth to save me, because I had a real problem being square to the puck rather than the shooter, and I had a few go past my toes that I really should have had.

So, tomorrow night, we build on this progress with the main objective continuing to be, "If you see blue paint, move up" but also keeping somewhere in mind to stay square to the puck, not the shooter. I guess playing at the top of my crease, I have more ground to cover to stay square, so I'll have to get used to that.

I think what's happening is that I've just gotten so balled up in this and that, that my fundamentals have just gone to shit, so I'm really just having to simplify big time. Almost like I've built up this certain level of strength and skills and knowledge, and it's time to circle back and make repairs to the foundation.

I feel good though. All I can do is keep learning and building on whatever progress I make.

Fun things from the night were when I skated out to play a puck that was floating in on me. I thought I got pretty good wood on it but a red player got it and I didn't get back fast enough and they scored. But I'm okay with that. I'm gonna fuck that up a few times before I start to get it right. I should have moved the puck to the boards rather than trying to use a lane up the center of the ice. Next time I'll do that better.

Also, you know how sometimes you see a goalie in his crease and his d-man has the puck behind the net and there's an opposing player in on the forecheck who is just kinda crowding the crease, waiting for the d-man to make his move. And then the goalie will skate up really fast to sort of "scare" them back away from the net? I finally got to do that tonight and it actually worked! It startled her and she backed right off... though we were both laughing about it. :)

Anyway, enough of that. On to the "other stuff"...

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I forgot to mention in my game report from the Aeros game yesterday that I actually got to see former President Bush (the dad) Saturday night. We were headed to the locker room to interview and got held up because they had his SUV there to take him home.

So, he was walking to his SUV about 10 feet from me and he sees me and gives me a wave! I was like, Holy crap! I totally didn't vote for you and I think your son is a slack-jawed idiot, but you were the freaking president! So, HIII!!!!! *wavewavewave*

He's still pretty dapper, I have to say. It was cool that he and Barb and some grandkid of theirs came out to the game. Glad the boys put on a great show for him and that their presence works better for the Aeros than it does for the Astros. Ha.

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Finally had to toss my original mask sweat band after the game tonight. The end of an era, my friends. It was starting to not be very absorbent any more, or at least starting to leak way too early in the game. I was getting big drips into my face after only an hour. Used to, it would hold the sweat back for 2+ hours without issue.

So, we'll see tomorrow night how these new ones I got off ebay work.

Speaking of gear, I'm IN LOVE with my Maltese neck/clav protector. Took me about 3 games but it's comfortable and doesn't smell and is soft and not hot. I LOVE being dangler-free!!!!

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Yeah, so another 3 in 3 this week, but the off-ice distractions I had last week have been put to rest and I'm feeling good having a plan. Thank you to Absolute Mental Training for the work you put into articles so that we amateurs can benefit from your knowledge. Some day I'll be a better goalie for it, but I'm already a happier goalie for it.

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The power plug for my XM radio broke today and I had to listen to regular Houston radio. God, what a miserable thing. I literally put at least 20 miles in today with my radio on SCAN because it was better than committing to one of the 30 Tejano stations or 20 country stations or 10 R&B stations.

I finally found a mix station on the way home that played a whole two good songs in a row. I gotta get my XM working pronto. I drive too much lately, and late at night... I need my XM.

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My song for the night has caught my attention because the singer has a "second coming of Dolly Parton" in her voice. Take a listen and try and tell me I'm wrong:



I'm a huge Dolly fan though, so that's a good thing in my book. Love it.