Make them good goals go bad

Gosh darn. I guess my hot streak had to run out sometime, huh? Played an unreal game tonight at women's league, but still lost because I let in one stinker of a goal with just a couple of minutes left. Didn't plan to blog tonight but this is one I just need to write about to stop dwelling on it.

Started out with a 35 minute shut out, and NOT because I wasn't seeing shots. Their good players weren't holding back (like ours were... grrr) and I got shelled all night by their best girls. My best save was a quick pass from my blocker side to a girl right at the top of my crease glove side. I read the pass and pushed off the post to get a pad in front of it just in the nick of time. Normally I get beat on backdoor plays like that, so I felt super awesome on that save.

The first goal was a breakaway, where she came up on my glove side. It's a situation I often have trouble deciding what to do, but with this group, I should have known to challenge more. Instead I got back on my post and butterflied and she put it in the gap just over my pad and outside my glove. Good shot, but I shouldn't have given her that much space.

The second was a breakaway from their best girl and my captain was backchecking but something happened and she went down and didn't get up, but ref didn't blow the whistle, so I've got an injured teammate on my door step and am sort of in shock that there's no whistle, plus I'm sort of keeping my distance so I don't run into her, which meant I was too deep for the shot and she put it in far side just inside the post. Poop.

The girls were kinda pissy afterward that she took the shot when clearly there was someone hurt, but I told them I very much expected her to play to the whistle and if anyone should get a little stink eye, it's the ref who didn't blow the whistle when she wasn't getting up.

The third, though... fuck. Awful goal and I broke my one overriding rule about this league: $2000 saves. Get EVERYTHING in front of the puck if it's coming anywhere near the goal. It was a faceoff and the center (again, their really good girl) got a shot off but my d-man tipped it and it kinda turned wobbly. I would have put $100 on it going just wide so I was just letting it go, but it wobbled right into my net. Goddamnit. A ridiculously great night in goal and I fuck it up with that shit going in.

That put it 3-2 and we couldn't get another one in. Someone iced it with 30-something seconds so even pulling me for the extra woman wasn't very feasible. Ah well. 

Trying to focus on the really good stuff I did, and there was a lot of it, but I wanted that win so badly. (And yeah, I know it would have been tied, but I think I could have won the shootout.) But hey, it's a good reminder of the golden rule and I'll carry this loss with me for a while so I don't forget. No losing, just learning. Haha.

Honestly, now that I'm comfortable with this league, I'm going into each game with the mindset that if I play a smart, energetic game, a shutout is very much within reach. I've never been able to set that as a goal before, but that's my goal every week in this league. Absolutely no reason I can't reach it.

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I'm officially loving my pads now. They're broken in and I can stand comfortably when play is away from me. I slide like a pro in them. It's grand. I thought I'd end up ditching the inner calf wraps, but I love them. They help keep the pads centered on my leg and help with rotation. My butterfly is pretty nice now. No gaping V in the middle any more like with my old pads.

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Got a massage lined up for Thursday, though I'm feeling a lot better already. I figure a little precautionary work on my glutes wouldn't hurt, just to run that pain off for good. My knee is stiff again, but I'm going to get back to doing my PT and hopefully that will help.

And then I'm off until next Monday since the Aeros home opener is Saturday night, so I'll miss novice practice. I'm pretty jacked to see these guys play given the success they've had so far (in a whopping 2 games). And Hackett appears to be so good so early, I want to see it for myself... I can't wait to see where he goes and how his presence will push Anton.

I think Anton has had "the climb" pushing him thus far, either to get out of the Coast, or to stay in the AHL, or to be the Wild's call-up. But he's always been the baby of the organization, never having a higher-drafted, younger guy nipping at his heels the way Hackett will, and I think it will be interesting to see how he responds. He's so confident/cocky and happy go lucky, I don't doubt he'll thrive, and Anton thriving + Hackett thriving = some seriously good goaltending.

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