Glovey Glove

I was all set for a good drop-in last night. Got the skates sharpened (though it's clearly time to go sharper... still felt like banana peels out there) and actually did pretty well at first.

Then that fucking heart racing thing started that usually only happens when I've had caffeine. Man, that just drains me of all my energy seemingly in an instant. It isn't dangerous but it's just the worst feeling. Feels like you're moving through water, everything is so much harder.

That started about 15 minutes in and didn't stop until I got off the ice. I managed to let in some pretty awful goals before I started feeling better, but then made two really sexy glove saves that helped redeem the night.

On one of them, the shooter was coming in at an angle on my glove side and had help on my weak side. So he tried to saucer it over to them as he got to the top of my crease, but I challenged him big time at the last second and his shot went a little high and I just plucked it out of the air on the way across. Robbery!

The other one was very late in the game and I was feeling so bad, I actually don't even remember the situation. I remember a crowd around me and I know the shot came from somewhere in the lower half of the circle on my blocker side. It was a hard shot, too, because I recall being amazed it didn't just bounce right out of my glove like they usually do.

I'm so deficient glove side that even one snag in a game can pretty much make my night, but to have two? Aw hell yeah. That was nice.

I still look in my glove to see if it's there. And I still get that feeling... If you're of a certain religious bent, you remember when you would look in your Easter basket on Easter Sunday? It's like, you can sorta see what's there but your heart stops a little when you finally get a close look. Oooooo, so much CANDY! That's how I feel when I look in my glove and find a puck there.

"I DID THAT!" is sorta what I think when it happens. It's just so tangible, the glove save. Like catching a fly in mid-air, without the ick of fly guts on your hands. 

I was so drained afterward that in spite of being really hungry, I just took a shower and went right to sleep when I got home. In my nearly 2 years in goal, I have never done that. It's always the adrenaline buzz until 1 or 2 or 3 a.m. Wish I could crash like that every night.