*vapor lock*

The Ms.Conduct threat level tonight after drop-in is at "Hey, this is the wrong time of month to be this angry!"

Let me regale you with what a f**ked up ice time this was.

• 3 goalies (one good, two of us... um, "learning"). We agree to swap out every 10 minutes.
• White team, it's clear early on, is a lot better than the dark team
• As things wear on, it's obvious the balance of the teams is akin to an ECHL team playing a C league team.
• White team asks good goalie to play in the net they're shooting on the whole game, and for me and the other goalie to switch out at the other end.
• Good goalie comes down to me and tells me this. He says, "I hate it." But he's a nice guy and agrees to it anyway. I understand the request, but think it's pretty fucking douchy. 
• The entire ice time is like that swarm-the-goalie drill at the other end of the ice. Occasionally one of the better guys on the dark team manages to break into our zone, but pretty much every time the white team picked their pockets and went the other way.
• I played for 30 minutes and saw 6 shots. So, do the math. 1 shot per 5 minutes. And it wasn't like they were battling around the net on defense and I was having to move around and track the puck. They literally were only got down into the circles or deeper 6 or 7 times.
• The white team, instead of letting up, was knocking guys down, tripping, checking. That's when I really got pissed.
• Finally, the other goalie was coming on the ice and I just said, "You're in for the night. I'm going home." 

For one thing, I've never been in a drop-in where one side was so selfish. Usually guys will switch sides and try to level it up. I've certainly never seen them ask for one goalie to play the busy end the whole time. He shouldn't have agreed to that, and I'm not allowing it again. Either they can even out the teams or they can have less fun scoring a goal per minute. They can choose.

But let me tell you something, assholes, I may not be a very good goalie, but my time and energy is just as valuable as yours and I'm not going to waste it standing around on a half empty sheet of ice while another goalie gets worked to death at the other end. It's stupid and incredibly douchy.

MS.CONDUCT ANGRY!!!! MS.CONDUCT SMASH!!!!!



To his credit, one of the few guys I really enjoy playing with at this drop in did change sweaters just a few minutes into the game. He's a stand-up guy and tries to make sure people are having fun and doesn't take it too seriously. And he ended up leaving the ice not long after me, sick of the douchbaggery himself. Agreed it was one of the worst drop-ins he's ever seen but wasn't quite as "fuck all y'all and the stick you rode down the ice on."

What was really incredible was when the dark team did get in the zone and score, my "defensemen" were like, "Who celebrates a goal in drop-in?" Like THEY were the ones being douchenozzles! Of course they're happy to get a goal! They were happy just to get in the zone and get a shot on goal! And of course, I was so cold by the time I got a shot, my timing was off and let 3 in. I should have just gotten one of the white team guys to come shoot on me between visits from the dark team. WTF else was there to do?

Anyway, damn. That was just a complete waste of time and I leave that rink a little angrier every time I go. I'll play for the Koreans when they buy the ice time, but I'm not going to the rink-run drop-in anymore. When the rink employees are both on the dominant team and basically just shrugging at the whole situation, come on. Shove your $15 up your ass. Half the people on the ice didn't have any fun and none of the goalies did.

Okay, but for something good: One of my new twitter buddies, who is basically the Jeff Crawford of the Manitoba Moose, gave me some advice on lengthening the tie from the front of my blade to the toe bridge of my pads. That's one adjustment I'd never tried and I do think it made a difference. The idea was for it to help with lateral pushes, and it did somewhat (though that is still mostly a strength issue), but the bigger deal is that it seems to have improved my butterfly. Pads seemed to flip up more naturally.

But the real test of that is when I'm actually having to play goal in real time, which I did maybe once tonight. So we'll see on Sunday how that goes.

*deep breath*

Anyway, yay Nashville for their win tonight. Blah blah. I'm hungry. Wish I'd gotten something on the way home but I was too pissed to be hungry then.