Purple victory and sportsmanship

Man, I love me some victory beer after women's league but, damn, I had too much last night. That's what happens when a good looking Canadian goalie is pouring. I can't say no to any part of that.

Needless to say, my purple gals got the win. I let in 2 goals, one of which I was completely screened on and if I can't see the puck leave the stick, because of my vision issues, it's pretty much just luck if I get a piece of it. The other was a breakaway and I played it wrong, so that was a little annoying. I really need to get more patient in 1-0 situations.

Regardless, I was happy to win. Didn't have to work too hard in the first two periods but finally saw a flurry in the third but made some good saves to avoid the tie. Got my glove ripped off trying to cover the puck at one point. This ref is usually pretty snappy with the whistle because he's a goalie himself, and gave me a total freebie last week, so I don't mind that he didn't blow when I thought he should have. But I'm happy to have all my fingers today.

Of course, then I find out the team wouldn't have exactly minded losing because now they're stuck playing Thanksgiving week in the playoffs. :) Ah well, I was playing for pride and beer and got both.

Nothing too spectacular from the game. Best part is after a win, when I can relax and shoot the shit with the cult of hockey. I'm one of those "keeps to self" goalies before games. I'll pipe in a little but I need to keep it low key. All bets are off after though. Especially when my beer glass stays full.

Feeling a little rough today though. Sunglasses, greasy food, that sorta thing. Feels good. ;)

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I was expounding on the virtues, complete with hand gestures, of hockey player ass to my friend at lunch today. You can talk about babies or sunsets or mountains or whatever all you want but pretty much a hockey player's ass is probably the most perfect thing in the world.

I'm not saying they're all the same, but they're all great and the one you can see in front of you is the best one at any given moment.

She's charged me with making a post of hockey butt pictures so she can fully appreciate what I'm talking about. That's a project I can sink my teeth into.

Here's a preview (click to see full size). Wow.



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Loved this interview with Tim Thomas. On top of having to learn pretty much everything about playing hockey and goal from scratch, one of the most surprising challenges was learning sportsmanship.

You take for granted that, hey, I'm an adult. Surely I can behave in a way that others deem appropriate. Well, not the case for me. Between the difficulties of the position, the pressure to learn and perform (and my lack of talent, athleticism, and skill), plus just being an emotional player on top of everything else, I earned a little bit of a reputation as a bitch.

I'm not proud of it but I accept that learning to be a good sport was (and still is) just part of the overall learning curve for me. And people can either see the growth and "get it" or they don't. Whatever.

I'm so much more relaxed in goal now and if someone puts a good one past me, I tell them. And if the other goalie makes a great save, I give them stick taps. It's all good. I still give some lip when I stone guys who beat me fairly regularly. I know they can take it. And I still get excited about sexy glove saves. You don't have to play with me for very long to understand why. They're rare as unicorns. I deserve to be excited about them.

I still get rattled from time to time, but I play a MUCH less emotional game now and it feels a lot better.

Anyway, back to Timmy, it was just nice to read that even a guy whose been playing as long as he has, he's had to modify his behavior and reactions a little bit.