Hang gliding on a Dorito

Man, another crummy day. Been feeling lately like every time I solve a problem, whether it's work or hockey obligations or whatever, the solution just presents another problem bigger than the one before it. I was feeling pretty down today, but I had a game to play and I knew I needed it to shake off the dumps.

Then I get halfway to the rink and realize I left my stick at home. I knew the other goalie always brings two sticks so it would probably be okay, but it was more of that feeling like a colossal fuckup.

I get there and hey, look, it's Scott TFCG working with the prep goalies! I never get to see Scotty any more and he's one of my favorite people, so that was nice to have a little chat and that lifted my mood. He stuck around and played our drop in for a little while. I sucked at the start and let in a cluster of goals. I don't know if this was his intention or not, but he had a clean shot at me and put it right in my belly. I was grateful for the easy save and it calmed me down and I played better after that.

My second half was quite good actually, and I was happy to find that the pain in my leg is not nearly as noticeable tonight. It's still there but didn't distract me once I got confidence that it wasn't going to cripple me if I played fully.

What stunk was the pegs for the nets were missing. That's probably the best I've played with slippery nets, but man is that annoying. Only benefit: No blade dings. :)

Anyway, no dumb goals tonight, so I like that about myself, and I like myself and I have a lot of other great qualities as well.



The hot shot I call Crosby has been trying to score on me 5-hole for a few weeks now. He finally got me tonight when he dished a rebound between my knees as I was trying to move across. He was pretty pleased with himself, and I was pretty pleased that I'd made it hard for him. So to speak. Everybody wins!

As I was driving home, I had that all too rare feeling like all was right with the world. In fact, I really felt that from the time I got to the rink. I talked to my folks on the phone this afternoon and we were having a laugh when I said that I didn't think my body was real fond of the things I do to it lately cuz something's always hurting. Dad said, "Yeah, we really passed on those family athletic genes to you, didn't we?" Ha, yeah, the what now? Not an athletic person in the bunch. Dad plays golf. My uncle was a mascot in high school. That's about it.

Anyway, I stood there waiting for the zam to run and finish dressing and just kinda took in the scene around me. If you'd told me I'd be a hockey goalie even 5 years ago, I would have laughed in your face and told you to seek treatment. I dunno, maybe I make too much of this, but seriously, I was in band and the newspaper editor in high school. At the dog park, I throw the ball and the dog looks at me like, "That's the best you got?" I have really severe vision issues related to tracking a moving object.

I'm a writer, an artist, a nerd, a couch potato. I'm everything a goalie isn't and yet, here I stand with big leg pads on and literally twitching to get on the ice, knowing this is the most meaningful hour of my week. Rarely does a day go by where I don't marvel at the chain of events that led to this. I'm so lucky. Someone's looking out for me, that's for sure.

Nonnie, if it's you, can you work some glove hand magic for me?

Read more...

Ignoring that the 8 y.o. girl keeps beating me blocker side...

One thing I've noticed about kids that freaks me out about them, but also endears me to them, is that they hug people kind of randomly. I've had little kids I barely know (and if they only knew how much I don't like little kids, they'd run the other way) just come up and wrap their skinny little arms around me. It's weird, but it does make my ovaries stand at attention.

Of course, at the first whine or sticky fingers or interrupted adult conversation, the old gal's ovaries go back to their "I Love My IUD" ways.

But tonight after goalie clinic, I felt like one of those little kids, and I just wanted to skate over to Scotty TFCG and give him one of those hugs. Just random and unabashed. Because goalie clinic tonight was that great and fun and helpful. And he works really hard to make it that way and since I'm the goalie-age equivalent of an 8 year old, having an 8 year old reaction seems appropriate.

Being 35, however, I'll just come home and write about it and he'll read it and consider himself hugged. Got that, Scotty?

It was great though, partly because I didn't have PT today to wear my ass out. Seriously, I leave that PT clinic sweating like I've just played a game. That woman works my can off, and I'm seeing the results creep in a little more all the time. It's magical. But to do that AND goalie clinic on Mondays is tough. Last week I was really fatigued, but tonight my legs were strong and steady and did what I wanted them to do, which is a really nice feeling.

I even forgot my knee brace at home and other than my first "get-up" off the ice, there was very little pain. And even when I got home, after sitting in the car for 30 minutes, it wasn't too stiff.

But also, I think the balance of work was good. The warm-up got me moving but didn't wear me out so I had plenty in the tank to devote to working on the drills. And the drills were all beneficial, even fun. The tip-in drill wasn't fun because I sucked at it, but since there was actual carpentry involved, I'm betting we see that one lots more. I hope so because, like I said, I sucked at it. My goalie brain just can't seem to believe the puck is going to change trajectory even though it's quite clear that it's going to. It's a weird little mindfuck.

Then we did a drill with a big tarp hanging off a pipe structure at the hash marks screening us and shooters were shooting either under it or coming around it. I found the most value in the shots coming under it because slow reaction times eat my lunch, and this forced me to not react until I had it in sight, at which point I had to react instantly. Also forced me to keep my stick on the ice.

To tell you how good clinic was, the first time I looked up at the clock, it was 8:55 (we finish at 9)! Normally there's 15 or 20 mins left about the time I start watching the clock and feeling like grim death.

And if a great clinic wasn't good enough, one of the girls I play against on Mondays told me they're having trouble getting goalies for the women's league at another rink and that they'd appreciate the help if I'm interested. Um, heck yeah! Never played with all chicks before, so that should be fun. I've heard it can be catty, but honestly, for free ice time, I'm happy to play the aloof goalie card.

But that was it for my week of hockey until Saturday, and then it's full bore for 2 weeks until the Monday after camp (which I'm super excited about, if only for the "not sitting at my work laptop for a week" factor). I'm way overdue for a week off of work, even if I do have to go alone and have pucks shot at me to get it. Hopefully we'll get our playing schedule this week so I can make plans with my Mini Soda peeps.

------------------------

I'm feeling philosophical now that I have the timely stuff off my chest. This goaltending journey... sometimes I wonder where it's taking me, because I really do feel like it's taking me somewhere. I've had too many forces pushing me along, helping me out, encouraging me, giving me what I need when I need it.

I really believe the universe takes us where we need to go if we'll just shut up and let it. But where is this going? Maybe I'm being silly and it's just a nice way to burn some calories and feel young and mischievous still, but for a completely nonathletic person who only played one day of softball in 6th grade because she hated the balls flying at her... for someone who hates to sweat, has a low pain tolerance, and thinks too much... well, it just seems incredibly weird that being a hockey goalie is what my life is about now.

Nothing changes from this musing... I'll continue to just take the opportunities laid in front of me and listen to the stirrings of my heart and mind, but sometimes I wonder what's really going on here. Will I look back in a few years and understand? I certainly look back on my marathon training like that. The lessons learned and perseverance gained in that year certainly gave me the courage to try hockey.

But this is much MUCH harder than I ever anticipated. And much more rewarding.
--------------------------------------------------

What am I doing if I don't follow this up with some potty mouth gangsta rap? I just love the title. I'm so white.

Read more...

Cabbage Patch

I was in such a good mood after goalie clinic last night that I didn't even feel the need to write. It was a good night and Scotty's really become a heck of a goalie coach.

Even better is the group is about half little kids and half adults, so the little kids kinda do the whining for me. As long as somebody's saying it, I don't have to. :) It's cool though, because they're also game for pretty much anything you tell them to do.

Scott sent out an email with our agenda for the clinic and pretty much everything on it was stuff that gives me anxiety (because I'm bad at it), but everybody's so busy doing their own thing, it doesn't matter if you're bad at it.

One of our fun drills was King of the Dot, where one goalie is on the face off dot and the other goalie tries to push them off the dot. I was Queen of the Dot in the first round and nobody got a blocker to the face or their nuts cracked, so I consider that a success. Jason beat me in the "finals" but I held my own for a while. I really like shoving people. Like, a lot.

I even kinda like being shoved, though that's probably something to do with not getting laid in a while. I don't understand why people get so pissed at me when I do it to them when they're screening me. It's a compliment. You're doing your job and pissing me off. You should revel in that!

Anyway, crap I'm sore. In a good, productive way, so I'm pretty happy about that.

Read more...

Self-Indulgent Rambling Because Twitter is Down

I stunk tonight, but kind of expected to. It will take a bit to get back up to speed for that drop-in, as I'd really only just started playing that game well right before I got hurt.

I was sore from Sunday night and from my PT session in the morning, but no biggie. And then I fucking pulled my groin on the first save of the night. Lovely. That nagged all night but didn't really slow me down. Just kind of annoying.

Anyway, I'm kinda writing that one off for now. I'll pick it back up next month. In the meanwhile, the rest of this month I'll go to Scott TFCG's goalie clinic on Mondays since I'm not on the schedule to play. That should be good. It's fun to watch Scotty work with the kids. He's got a way about him. It's really cool and makes me really proud of him for how much he's accomplished with his passion for the position in such a short time. Thank god for Type A people or nothing would get done.

Of course, working with my lazy, bitchy, uncoachable ass, he's still great, but probably has less fun. :)

PT was good today and really, it's quite a bargain as I'm basically getting a personal trainer 2x a week for 6 weeks for $20 a session. She said my core is weak, my hamstrings and IT band are tight, and while my hips are very flexible, I'm likely giving up some strength in exchange for that.

Fixing these issues should help with my knee, balance, etc. So I'm excited to see what kinds of results we get. Oddly enough, my PT said she'd just seen another hockey goalie that morning. What are the odds of that in Houston, TX?? Crazy.

Anyway, I'm glad to have my hockey over with for the week. The itch is scratched and I can relax and sleep normal hours and have the odd Coke Zero without a panic attack. :)

Also, I'm super excited for tomorrow. Apart from taking Mr. C to the airport at 5:15 a.m., I have the house to myself for a couple of days. I used to ALWAYS have the house to myself, so it's been a big adjustment having him around all the time. Good in most ways, but I miss my "me time." So, tomorrow I have big plans for working, then heading for a massage from my friend and big time Aeros fan who is going through her massage school internship. (Boy do I need it! Get those magic fingers ready, girl!)

Then I'm coming home to take a work call, and THEN I'm watching the Jays game on the TV down in the Man Cave. Woooo!  Love when I get to pull it up on the big screen. I hope Brett Cecil is pitching, because he's quite good at that. Unlike the rest of them (okay, Marcum, you're good, too). Suck it, Padres!

So, I'm pretty jacked to do whatever the hell I want for a couple of days. Righteous. Life is good.

Read more...

Great weekend and pracky

Phew. It's been a long, fun weekend. I need Monday off to just get the down time I'm accustomed to! But I wouldn't give any of it back.

Mr. Goalie Porn, Chris Jerina, was here for the Milwaukee games, so it was fun hanging out with him. Awesome guy and I'm not saying that just because he gifted me with a Brusty bobblehead. There aren't many 20-somethings I hang around with who I don't ever find myself saying, "Well, when you get in your 30's, you'll ~insert aged wisdom~" but he's certainly one of them.

Also fun hanging out with Mister Fred Saturday night. Haven't seen him since the summer and we sure do miss him at Aeros games and in general.

More Aeros today. Another loss, but I have finally come to enjoy Dubie. I mean, really, with Brusty not an option and the Aeros having zero chance at the playoffs, I can just enjoy his quirks and pray for good defense. Much like Vesa, he gives me hope for my game. A lot of the stuff he does that drives me bonkers is exactly how I play, unfortunately. But still, he stops pucks. Maybe there's hope for me yet. :)

After the game was practice, which I dragged poor Chris to, so he could be bored in a meat locker rather than bored and comfortable at his hotel. I'm QUITE the hostess.

Scott and Joe were our coaches tonight, so we did lots of new drills that were all great, both for the skaters and the goalies. Lots of real game situation stuff that I enjoy. At the end, we did a fun one that's too complicated to explain but I was so tired by the end, I was just making saves on my knees.

Joe rifled one past my glove at one point and for once (!) I had a chance to ask for a do-over. So he put 5 more at my glove and I snagged 'em all. He even changed the location, high, low, whatever. One was high and I still snagged it and one of the skaters said it was a "sexy save" or something along those lines. Heh. That felt nice. :)

Anyway, my upper back is aching tonight. Hoping the Advil will keep it from getting too bad. Knee isn't too happy either, but knee can suck it.

No invite to play on Monday yet so it looks like my next game will be Wednesday. Can already taste the post-game pizzaaaaa...

I finally found the song I had in my head that had me play such a good game last week! Had the words wrong AND slightly wrong melody going. Dork.

Read more...

Sweet Disposition

Kinda weird night at novice tonight. I didn't see a shot for the first 10 minutes, and then I let the first two in. Once I started to see more rubber, I started to get into it more, but it's always a little bit of a mindfuck playing against Scott TFCG, who was in net for Jessica tonight.

I want to play well and I want him to see that I'm doing well, which means I'm putting unusual importance on the game and that takes me out of my zone a bit.

I knew that mental challenge was going to be there and I'm not sure I got a handle on it like I wanted, but I guess awareness counts for something.

My team ended up winning but I saw so few shots and he saw so many, his GAA would send mine to bed crying and without dinner. It was really lopsided and he played great. Made some sick pad saves on passes in close. "Wow" stuff. Nice job, Scotty.

I had some good saves, too, but one goal really bothered me because it was a straight up mental lapse and that's something I've been working hard at lately with a good bit of success.

It was a 2 on 0 breakaway and I'll just walk you through the mistakes I made:

1. I saw the breakaway form and every green sweater behind them and thought, "Well fuck. Someone skate!" when I should have thought, "Okay, what are the risks here?" and figured out my plan of attack.
   
2. Mikey had the puck and was bearing down hard and I really really really wanted to stop him because he's so good and I'd love to just slam the door closed. But, I focused so hard on Mikey that Jessica, who was streaking in at center, was a mere speck on the radar. She said after, "You should have seen that coming!" Indeed, I should have, but I lost my focus on the big picture, went exclusively after Mikey, and all he had to do was wait for me to commit and he passed to her. Easiest goal ever.
3. I gave up on the play. I should have flung myself across and at least tried to get my stick or something in front of Jessica's shot.
   
4. I got mad. I whacked the cross bar. I screamed FUCK! Can't tell you the last time I got really mad about a goal. I guess it happens from time to time. I really wanted that one and ended up looking stupid, so I guess that just didn't sit well.
   

It wasn't that I didn't make the stop, because 2 on 0 is a tough proposition even for the best goalies, but the fact that I played it so poorly and didn't give myself a chance really sticks in my craw.

Oh well. Learn and forget about it.

Looks like I won't have Monday hockey again until the 25th, unless something comes up. I think that's good because my knee hurts so bad tonight. Definitely calling the chiropractor tomorrow and getting adjusted as soon as I can. I feel so out of whack and I know that's part of the problem. Not playing 3 in 3 will help.

Cripes. I'm so hungry, I'm contemplating getting dressed and going out to get some food. Don't have much in the house. But that would mean going up and down the stairs on my aching knee. Need to go down and take some Advil anyway.

I try not to be mouthy at Novice because... well, I just try not to... but something about goal shuts off that filter between mouth and brain, which is already getting sievier and sievier as I get older anyway and quit giving a fuck what anyone thinks about me. This song seems appropriate:

Read more...

Some forgotten thank yous and a near goalie fight

Okay, first of all, Come on ref, let 'em go! Hey lookie... it's CHRIS HOLT! Please Hammer, don't hurt him!



Awesome. Thank to Fred for sending that.

---------------------

Second, thanks everyone for the goalie-versary grats and well-wishes. I realized today, I failed to thank folks who have helped me along the way. And lord knows I've gotten a lot of it.

• Mainly Scotty for coaching me and putting up with my stubborn uncoachability and Allen Iverson-esque work ethic in practice.
  
• Coach Stalin for pushing me on to the ice in the first place and teaching me to skate.
• Mr.C for letting me run with this dream and not being intimidated by how important (and expensive) it has become.
• Coach Dan, Kuny, and everyone at Novice for putting up with my unbelievably shitty nights and the steep learning curve and still being so supportive.
• All my goalie friends (I have so many now! What a sexy fraternity!) who give advice, commiseration, support, and reality checks so generously, sincerely, and honestly.
• And you guys who read me day in and day out even though I'm such a neurotic mess I can hardly stand myself sometimes.

Okay, enough of that sappy stuff.

I sucked tonight. I knew I would. I shot my energy wad in all the Brusty-coming-home excitement. Slept through the entire second period of Thrashers/Rangers when I sat down to watch MOOOOOOOSE kick some butt, and woke up about 5 minutes before I needed to leave (with nothing packed).

Then I get in the car about 10 minutes after I would have liked to be in the car and remember... I need gas. Fuck.

So I get half a tank and drive about 75 MPH to Sugar Land. Luckily, I'm in Houston, so going 15 over the speed limit is called "going with the flow of traffic."

Got there with 30 minutes to get ready, which is fine, but not my usual extra time to stretch. Same thing Sunday night, too. Basically paid lip service to stretching both nights and have actually felt fine. Even had a BIG toe save tonight that normally I wouldn't have gotten that leg extended far enough out for. Hurt at the time but feels fine now. Sweet sweet save, that one. Everyone was shocked by it because that's normally one I'd let in... one of those "6'2" in my head" save attempts I mentioned a few posts ago. Ha.

So, I had some good saves, but got beat on rebounds a bunch for some reason, even though I feel like I'm getting better at staying square to the puck when I've got a scrum in front of me. I dunno. It was fun and a good workout. Lasted nearly 1:30 even though we're only supposed to have an hour. I think we could have played for 2 hours but eventually we didn't have enough skaters.

I was okay with that. Pretty tired by the end. Stayed busy all night.

My opponent in goal was the guy I love to watch. Double up Tim Thomas' "attack goalie" style and subtract any butterfly technique and you're approaching this guy's style. OMF is he ever fun to watch. Just a whirling dervish in the crease. Frankly, I'd be a little afraid to get anywhere near him if I were a skater. It's a frenzy!

But man, from the other end, I'm just laughing and my jaw is on the ice at what I'm seeing. I don't play against anybody else who is remotely like that. Lots of fun.

Okay. I've seen On The Fly 3 times while writing this. (Weekes is so good at commenting on highlights, but gets sooo awkward when he has to look into the camera.) I think that's my cue to get my ass to bed.

More goal tomorrow night, assuming my ever-stiffening knee decides to let me. Nards. Sucks being old.

It doesn't really relate, but I've got at thing for songs with a really catchy, upbeat tune, and kinda dark, messed up lyrics. This is one of my favorites right now.

Read more...

Pracky Sunday

Pracky's my new favorite hockey player slang. It's probably just the real hosers who use it, but nobody tell me for a while because I'm enjoying it. It's so much better than praaactice. Ugh. Practice is a drag. But Pracky? Oh! Pracky is fun!

Anyway, lots of positioning work for the skaters and butterfly sliding work for me. Scott TFCG came out and worked with me. I only said, "I'm 34 years old. I'm not doing that." one time, so I figure I was a pretty good student. Heh. We hit a lot of subjects, but it's just nice to have someone to say, "WTF do I do here?" or "I have this problem when I do this" and get an an answer on the spot.

His brother in law is in town, so he skated out and played D for me in the scrimmage. Gotta love when you have a real live Canadian playing in front of you. That's legit.

Nothing really spectacular from the night to report and I'm tired and massively hungry after eating only a granola bar and 2 flour tortillas in the last 12 hours. So, it's off to the kitchen and then bed for me to watch old epis of Trailer Park Boys while I drift off. I haven't met my f-bomb and dope-reference quota for the week, so it's essential that I work a little of that in.

Back to SLICE tomorrow night. Can't tell you how happy I am to be getting this gig on a fairly regular basis. It's a really nice, chick-friendly group and they're a good challenge, on top of the ice being such a pleasure to play on there. Though as cool as it's been, ice all over town should be getting better and better.

It was a little kludgy tonight at Willowbrook but not too bad, other than the HUGE divot in my crease. If we hadn't been close to finishing when I noticed it, I would have gotten someone to put some water in it. It was a good inch deep and 3" wide. You could lose a Ukrainian figure skater in it....
---------------------

Aeros lost again tonight. I still think this team is going to pull it together at some point. I still don't like Dubie. I wish they'd let Jaeger get in a game just to see what he can do. Oh well. When they make me the coach...

OK. Fooood. Nooooow.

Read more...

Trying something different

I'm not talking about my game tonight. I'm tired of talking about my games. I play at the TC on Saturday and I just want to numb out until then.

I AM getting a massage tomorrow, though I'm in 70% better shape than I was last time I played a 3 in 3. It helped that tonight I only played maybe 45 minutes due to there being FOUR goalies. And I never really got in a position where I had to do any big splits or anything, so my hips and groins are happy about that.

Normally having an excess of goalies would bug me, but given my crease time lately, I was okay with that, especially since I shared a crease with Scotty, who I haven't seen in ages. Fun to team up with him again and fun to just watch some hockey.

But I'm posting anyway because I've got an update on the weird locker room situation I posted about last week. One of the good guys (as in, guys who are just ridiculously cool and fun to play with) mentions how a guy last week seemed like he was drunk or high or something.

I was thinking, "Who?" and then it dawned on me: THE GIGGLER!! And it WAS him.

So there ya go. It wasn't a weird locker room situation because of ME, it was weird because the dude's a freaking stoner and was having a giggly fit! It all made sense when I thought about it. It would be even more ironic if it were the guy who looked like Clayton Stoner, but he's not.

Maybe I'll keep some Doritos in my bag and become his best friend. Though apparently he hooked one of the white team defensemen around the neck last week. THAT must have been what the other goalie was having a shit fit about. Good for him. Ahhh, everything falls into place!

So, that's kind of a weight off my mind. I actually dreamed about that whole situation last night, so obviously it was weighing on me more than I was admitting to myself.

I'll be getting out to buy black nail polish tomorrow, too. Took a couple of shots off the mask tonight and I guess one off my dangler, so now I'm missing a bunch of paint off the bottom of my chin. :( Boo.

Heard this Weezer song on the way home. Love this: "If you don't like it, you can shove it. But you don't like it, you love it." I'll admit, however, that the bad grammar is really irritating. The greatest man WHO ever lived, boys... WHO.

Read more...

Hope you like bullet points

Cause I'm too MFing tired to write paragraphs.

• New glove and blocker are getting more comfy. Yay.
• Scotty tried to kill me or make me barf but skater drills requiring a goalie started up and I was saved by the whistle. Thank god. I was huffin' and puffin'. Good stuff. Thought I was gonna hurl early in that first drill though.
  
• Amazing how dumb I get when I'm exerting myself. Like, simple questions I'm all, "I'm sorry, I don't understand the question." Just. Can't. Process. Use drawings and monosyllabic words.
• Let in 3 goals but I think I only saw about 6 shots. Okay, maybe a few more, but my team was definitely NOT on the "let the goalie see shots" plan. It was more like, "For the love of fuck, don't let them get in our zone." I wasn't playing well, but I will be sharper tomorrow night at the SLICE drop-in.
• Did not muster my swagger tonight. Not even close. But Scott drilled into me to challenge challenge challenge and it helped. Tomorrow night, I'll challenge challenge challenge, bitches.
• Knee pads worked! They're a little uncomfortable but it's hella better than my knee hitting the ice over and over and I didn't have to remove any of the current knee stack. Win!
  
• I have an episode of Trailer Park Boys playing as I write this because the house is quiet, and Ricky's "drawing a line" on the grass with duct tape. Haha... Love it.
• Hung out after and drank beer alternated with water, because this time I needed to be able to drive home. Smart girl. But then we got hungry and I needed to pee so I made a Whataburger run and got taquitos for everyone. The Whataburger folks were a little thrown off my my request for 20 taquitos, but they got 'er done while I went to a gas station to use the bathroom (their dining room was closed already).
  
• I do not pee in bushes, TYVM. Princess demands a flush toilet.
• Had fun getting to know Doug a little better. His kid's heading up to ON to play on a Junior A team, which is pretty neat for a Texas kid.
  
• It was just good in general to have some beers, not even care what time it was, and hang out with my teammates. Maybe I needed a little of that brand of bonding after a really tough month in goal. Sometimes it can be pretty lonely back there, especially when the guys head off to their own locker rooms and all the "chatter" about whatever I've done only gets back to me filtered through Scott. Leaves me with a lot of self-doubt with regard to my teammates. And self-doubt is one of those things I tried to give up in my 30s, so I'm not enjoying it's return to my life.
  
• Man, I stink. In the "go take a shower, stinky!" sense of it. But at least I had the energy to put the trash and recycling out so I don't have to get up early and deal with it. Woot.
• After tomorrow night at SLICE, I don't play again until the Sunday after Labor Day weekend. Frankly, I've been wallowing in so much angst, I'm looking forward to a week of freedom from that flavor of anxiety. I always play better when I miss the game a bit. Lately, it has dominated my thoughts and I'm a little tired of it, frankly.
  
• Case in point, I don't even feel like writing about the actual time on the ice. It wasn't fun and I wasn't happy with my play. Why elaborate?

Okay. Bed time. I'm gonna hate my life tomorrow.

Here's my new favorite song. It's gets me in a FU mood, but in a good way. Kinda fits a theme of fighting to get my confidence back, stop being intimidated, etc. Rock on, kids. Have a great Monday.

Read more...

A slow decline, or maybe it was rapid and I was too tired to notice

Tonight we had extra ice, so we had 45 minutes or so of practice and then we scrimmaged for 4 periods.

I started about here with a really good, focused, productive practice:



Started with a nice 3 on 2 drill that got the defense some good work and some good practice staying square to the puck with a bunch of passing for the goalies. Scott had me and Bang rotating out, which was great because we didn't wear out as fast and we could talk about what we just did with some immediacy. I LOVE instant feedback. It really helps me analyze things better in the moment.

Then they moved to a backchecking drill that we do quite often, and I think it really helps the skaters. Plus it's fun for me. I love shootout-like situations. Mano a mano, baby. That's my favorite. Plus, my timing was really good tonight and I was really stopping folks. I credit a few good rounds of Wii Tennis earlier in the day where I was really focused on improving my timing. I guess that "patience under pressure" training carried over to hockey pretty well!

Also, on the way out to the rink tonight, I knew I needed to do some attitude adjusting with regard to Hot Shot. Same thing I had to do back when Jessica used to keep me up at night. Basically have to tell myself, when he's barreling down the ice at me, to think, "Yay, I get a chance to try and learn to stop him." rather than, "Fuck. THAT guy again." It helped. I stopped him several times tonight. Though I took one right in the boob. Damn, that hurts. But I stopped it. Pain goes away. :)

Green was a little thin on bodies, so Scott played D for me. Maybe it's candyass of me but it's comforting when he's on my side. I think WAY too much when he's shooting on me, so it's a relief to not have to worry about that.

Anyway, I had some good saves. First period was really good, and green lit Bang up pretty good so it was pretty lopsided. But I fell apart in the second. And fell and fell and fell.

I was trying hard to stay focused, but 4 periods on top of a practice was pretty rough and I was getting dehydrated. And I rationed my Gatorade with the impression we were doing 3 periods, not 4. So the 4th rolls around and I'm dry, but so fuzzy headed and tired by now that it takes me half of our 2 minute break to figure out that I should probably go put some water in my bottle.

By then, everyone's getting back on the ice and I figure I won't have time to drink it anyway, so whatever. But in the 4th, my calves and hamstrings started cramping. Ohhhh, sweet mercy, that hurt. Luckily, my team always cleared the puck when it was happening, so I had time to recover.

First time I've ever gotten that dehydrated playing hockey, so that was an unpleasant experience. Puts a little hair on your chest though, so that's okay. Part of goaltending is playing through whatever you've got going on. No bench to go sit on when you're tired or hurting. Shake it off and keep going.

I let in at least 2 that I would have stopped if my right pad had rotated correctly. Geez, that's fuckin' frustrating me. And 2 more bounced in off my pads. Just laziness on my part there. Seemed like there were more pucks getting tipped or coming off skates or whatever tonight. But hey, gotta stop those, too.

But in the 4th period, I was definitely feeling like this:



I wondered a couple of times if I was even going to get back to the room, but I did. Just very very slowly. Guzzled 3 bottles of water after the game and still have absolutely no urge to pee. I haven't been this dehydrated since our 26 hour Hurricane Rita evacuation. 2 bottles of Gatorade weren't enough.

Other stuff: Not much really. One of the screws fell apart on my right pad toe tie flappy thing. I was leaving parts all over the ice. Still missing one but I think I can buy a replacement at the hardware store.

Also noticed a little rust on my cage. That annoys me because I'm so fanatical about airing it out. It also occurs to me that I should wring out my sweatband between periods. I was getting a river of cold sweat down my face when I put my mask back on to start the period. Nasty and annoying to get sweat dumped right in my eye.

I ordered my new glove and blocker yesterday, so hopefully that will come this week and I can start breaking in the glove and USING the blocker. OH to not be able to poke my fingers through the holes in the blocker glove! And no ass funk smell on my hands after! Heaven! I can't wait. Probably won't use the trapper on Sundays until after Labor Day when I've had time for Mr. C to play a bunch of catch with me and break it in a bit.

Oh, I don't think I mentioned the score. Frankly, I don't remember what it was because my back was to the scoreboard when the game ended and I just wanted to get the hell off the ice and sit down, but I know we lost. If I'd just been a little more focused on some of those sloppy goals we might have squeaked past them, so I feel badly about that. But not so badly that I'm not going to get a sno-cone tomorrow to treat myself. ;)

Read more...

At first I feel bad for a while, but then I just smile

Lily Allen seems appropriate for my post-hockey run down:



Kind of a weird night (apologies in advance for being rambly and stream-of-consciousness here Update: And apparently assholey. Me and my big mouth.).

With Coach Dan out for a few weeks with wrist surgery and several of the usual ringers out for the night, I knew I had my work cut out for me. Mitch and Michelle both played center really well though, broke up a lot of plays. And man, it's fun watching Mitch and Jessica battle. Their styles are really similar, both good defensively and work their asses off in the neutral zone, and they're just a blast to watch duel for the puck.

I was getting really pissed in the first period. A lot of tight passing right in front of me and I just couldn't get over. And then Scott TFCG... Scott lobs one from above the blue line way high and I stick my glove up to try and make sure it defects over the net, but I'm thinking, "That's going over the net either way."

WRONG. Fucker just drops like a sack of shitrocks (my best Mr. Lahey impression) behind me right in the net. It was totally one of those ball-busting shots, especially since it came from Scott and I knew immediately it's gonna take ages to live down.

But I realized on the way home, it was a blessing. Because it made me laugh and just settle down and quit being pissed that I was getting lit up. It was just like, "Okay. It's just a game. You're doing your best. It's not your night." I should have known when my leg pads fell in a huge puddle when I was unloading the car that it wasn't going to be my night, right?

And indeed, it was not. Ultimately 11 goals went past me, but I probably saw twice as many shots as usual. And I had quite a few nice saves.

Two stick saves on Scott. One that I just kinda batted away. Hot. And then one that dinged off the shaft.

The very first shot, which I don't think many folks realized I even got a stick on, was a really fast shot and I tipped it into the corner. Would have been a nasty way to start the game if that had gone in. I was proud of that one.

Made another save on one of Jess's shots with my head. Mask saves are a funny thing... you kinda want them to be hard because it sorta makes your eyeballs rattle around in your head for a second regardless of how hard it is, so if it's a harder shot, at least you know it will deflect further away from danger. I still prefer them to a hit anywhere in the shoulder or upper arm area. This is why I bought a good, heavy mask and didn't skimp. I LOVE my mask. Never had a shot that I couldn't shake off pretty quickly.

Anyway, I heard lots of, "great save" tonight, but lots of "tweet" with Luther's arm pointing at my net, so *shrug* I dunno. Just a really up and down night.

Had two brainfart goals. One that I HAD but didn't know I had it and when I lifted up a little, it popped out and it was a ridiculously easy goal for Jessica. Wish my D would communicate with me when I'm trying to freeze the puck. I'm wearing a lot of shit and I can't always feel the puck. Is that wrong to wish for? Now I'm second-guessing myself.

And one right near the end where, honest to god, I just zoned out. They were battling behind the net and I saw something shiny or thought about bacon or blow jobs or something and the next thing I know, Hot Shot's banged in a wrap-around.

Hot Shot, BTW, is this new guy on the red team who is GOOD and I don't think I've ever stopped him. He and Jessica were dangerous tonight. I think together, they had half the goals. Hot Shot must have had 5 or 6 points at least. I hate him.

Okay, I don't. But it's frustrating.

On the flip side, I actually felt like I worked my ass off tonight. I stayed consistently busy as the red team finally had the manpower to win battles and get it down in my zone and hold the zone. Lots of pressure and lots of shots. I normally feel a little like a spoiled, pampered goalie. Between the green team usually being pretty well stacked and the red team's better players taking pity on me, it often felt a little ... unrealistic.

Well, I got plenty of reality tonight and it's a helluva lot more fun, even if losing and getting lit up sucks. It was a blast.

I've mentioned before that I approach each game with a key to work on and tonight it was, if I'm getting lit up, to not hole up in my crease and play too deep. Stay high and confident regardless, and I felt like I did a good job of that. I had some positioning issues, but I don't know that any of them were because I was too deep. I didn't get sucked into the mental quicksand, so I'm proud of that.

Looong practice next week. And I get to pay extra for the privilege. Yay.

Read more...

She died doing what she loved

Honestly, I thought that's what they were gonna be saying at my funeral on Thursday. I've never felt so shitty and had to play hockey. And it's not like playing out where you can just dial back and it doesn't matter a whole lot. It's pretty apparent when the goalie is wheezing her last breaths there in the paint.

I woke up from my nap around 6 and felt fuzzy headed and feverish. Got some food in me and then just felt worse and worse on my drive to the rink. Kept having to take breaks while I got dressed, I was so worn down.

It's a practice, so poor Scott's trying to get me to do some lateral movement work and my head is spinning like a top every time I stand up. One bonus of goalie gear is that it's pretty comfortable to just bend over and rest on your gear, so I spent most of the practice tonight like that, just praying for the Good Lord to come and take me already, or make me feel better (the preferred option).

I was dizzy and my heart rate was WAY too high and I couldn't settle it down which made me short of breath, too. My head was throbbing (and still is). Then when I finally do get some breaks where nobody's shooting on me, I'm breaking into cold sweats. Ugh. Just awful.

Finally with about 16:00 left in the scrimmage, I settled down and finally started to feel like I might make it off the ice alive. I made a few good saves... enough to almost-but-not-quite salvage the night... and then Scott scores on me. I'm gonna have his big ol' bobblehead mug, standing over me and grinning ear to ear when I close my eyes for a goddamn week.

What's worse is that I stopped the initial shot AND the first rebound but then Scott banged it in under my pad, which he says wasn't rotated. I don't remember it that way, but whatever. I'll loosen my pads next time and see if that helps them rotate, though I think mostly it was my total inability to focus.

First goal, I was just being lazy. No question. Stupid goal. The second was a bouncy little mother fucker. I don't remember it all that well. Kuny took the blame and I pretty much let him. I don't normally let my D get away with "sorry, that was on me" because I should get them, but tonight, fuck it. Yeah, take the blame. I don't want it.

I can't remember the others, other than Scott's. Were there more? Meh, 3 is plenty for 20 minutes, I'd say. We'll stop there.

Had some decent saves though. One on Jessica, that if she'd just given me a jab in the toe would have been a goal. I thought I had it, but didn't really know where. Somewhere on top of my pad or something. But they called no goal and she was pissed about it, which made me happy. :)

I'm not getting much ice time lately, so I hate to have basically wasted it tonight, but I was thisclose to just telling Dan to put the cone in and just turning around and coming home, so I guess if anything, it was good I muddled through it.

And the work I'm doing on getting my legs stronger is helping. I was up and down a bit and certainly feeling pretty weak all over, but I think my knee only hurt once when I was getting up. Felt good about seeing a little progress there, though I doubt it was perceptible to anyone else.

Hung out for a while after but am still feeling really crappy and run down. Tired but not sleepy. Or something like that. Typical Sunday night bullshit.

Heard a song on the way out there tonight that I wanted to post here but I can't for the life of me remember it. I need one of you peeps with an iPhone to just hang out with me all the time and capture songs for me with that app that recognizes songs for you. Screw putting man on the moon... that's some amazing shit.

Instead, I'll leave you with a link to all the new promos for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which is the skankiest, funniest shit ever and is resuming its 5th season in September. Can't recommend it highly enough, assuming you aren't very easily offended.

Read more...

But other girls ain't havin' any fun

So, Oklahoma! happens to be one of my favorite musicals. In fact, I really don't like musicals much so it's one of the only ones I like. This song especially just warms my heart. It's got nothing to do with hockey tonight... I'm just being self-indulgent. I cain't say no.



Anyway, practice tonight was good. Cheated my way through the warm-up skating drills, which I feel is my right since I wear twice as heavy gear as anyone else.

Then Scott TFCG took me and the other goalie through some hybrid drill stuff like I mentioned a few posts ago about watching Barry teach at goalie camp. It's still awkward as hell but there's hope. I'll work on that Saturday morning when I need a break from the brats darling children.

Then we did some other drills. We discovered that I forget about my glove hand completely at times. I'm so busy with my legs and stick and blocker, there's no brain left for the glove. It's sad, but we'll work on it.

Drills from the skaters weren't too endless or boring, so that was good. Scrimmage was only 20 minutes and I only let one goal in that in went over my shoulder blocker side. Some new guy. He's pretty good. Gonna have to make sure he works a little harder for his goals going forward.

Fortunately Scotty and Jessica didn't score on me, even though I could see them scheming out there and Scotty was trying to set her up. Ha. I felt a "take that, bitches!" welling up in me on one of those stops but kept it in. Such discipline!

Anyway, it was fun, especially for a practice. And Scotty says the boys in the room are commenting on my improvement, which is awfully nice to hear. Coach Dan even said as much to me before the scrimmage, so that was appreciated. Just gotta keep working, baby. Ya still pretty much suck!

First night of the new season tonight and lots of new faces, including a new girl. It's fun watching new people coming out like I did only 1 year ago (but it seems like another lifetime in which I played out... have I mentioned how much I prefer playing goal?)

Okay. This headache is eating my brain. Sleep.

Read more...

3 a.m., then 7 a.m.

Woke up before my alarm this morning, so I've got some time to kill before I head to the 4:45 a.m. stick and puck and FINALLY put skate to ice for the first time in almost two weeks. Not sure who will be there since Scott TFCG (as a refresher, that's The Fucking Canadian Goalie) and his family are up in Alberta rolling with their Canadian homies. I'm jealous. Bet it's not 104 outside there, eh?

But I mainly want to work on stuff by myself, maybe see a few shots. I don't feel a huge obligation to be a target for anyone at this particular stick and puck because I'm not paying less than anyone else, so I should get to do whatever I need to do. I'm selfish and I like it, bitches.

The bum knee is feeling better in tiny measures. It's not waking me up when I turn over in bed anymore, so that's a nice thing. I bought a Cho-pat strap to wear and see if it helps. Kinda doubt it but it's worth a shot.

Anyway, thought I'd give a little round up of cool shit:

Justin Bourne, aka Big Tunafish, has new digs at his blog and even offered up some video in honor of the occasion. You know how someone will remind you of someone else but you can't figure out who? I'm having that problem after seeing that video. It will come to me at some really inappropriate time today.
~~~~~

One of my very favorite times of the off-season is Wild Development Camp week. All the adorable behbehs roll into St. Paul and get run ragged by Constantine, get coaching on stuff like nutrition, strength training, power skating, and dealing with the media, and generally just run around being adorable.

There's always lots of video and "blogging" and whatnot and the boys are so much sillier and funnier when they're younger. I guess guys get bored and jaded by cameras in their faces after a while and they learn all the cliches and how willing the media are to accept them. Anyway, it's just sweet and you want to pinch their cheeks and give them $10 to buy some candy.

And it's even more the case this year with Colton Gillies as sort of the elder statesman and spokesmodel of the bunch. Kid is straight up goofy and completely unaffected. I adore him, and while the shredded wheat side of me very much wants him to stay in the NHL and not experience the disappointment of getting cut from training camp after already having spent a year with the big club... the frosted side of me really wants him in Houston so I can have him for myself. (Update: I'm mean, seriously! Read this!)

Here's Colt and the boys learning to cook. Apparently freshly drafted goalie Darcy Keumper tried to burn the building down. Can't take goalies anyplace nice.


~~~~~

My girl over at Getting Pucks Deep did her own hot goalie countdown. She even managed to make Flower look hot. I guess flash enough muscles at me and the giant chicklets aren't such an issue.

You can watch it at her site or watch it here and also see the effervescent Wrap Around Curl's disagreement with the ranking. These are important things we debate, people. Screw the economy and world issues. Hot goalie rankings are the new McLaughlin Group.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, back from stick and puck. There were 6 kids there and several adults. I stopped almost all of the adult shots and almost none of the kid shots. I fucking hate these little kids.

My time in net for them didn't last long. I let them all put a puck in on me 5-hole and then I retreated to the dark end of the ice to work on my own shit.

Can't say I worked hard particularly, but I did make some progress in terms of sort of thinking through why certain things aren't working for me. Like, even just recovering from the butterfly. Nobody ever told me that if I lean forward when I'm getting up and just recover to my stance, it's a lot easier. Maybe I shouldn't have needed to be told that, but being a naturally less athletic person, yes, some things do need to be spelled out in crayon for me.

I tried to slide in the butterfly. I can't do it any better than the first day I got out on the ice after I got my leg pads. I might as well be in sand. What's silly is that I can actually get a pretty good slide in just a knee-shuffle kinda move because my weight is distributed evenly. Somehow I can't seem to get my weight even (this was something I learned watching Brusty's camp) and push off and actually get somewhere.

And I worked on the hybrid/tight to the post save. Even though the rink people were too lazy to put the other net out so I was tight to the air next to the dark spot on the ice where the post sits... but still, I have a better feel for it, so that's good.

I also worked on moving the puck some more. Still suck at that. And I worked on backwards skating quite a lot, which I'm getting MUCH better at.

Most of all, I reassured myself that I can still skate after 2 weeks off the ice. And that it's still fun. As long as those kids aren't shooting on me.

Oh, but I had a Ms.Conduct Moment of OHSHIT Panic. One of the parents out there... I'm standing in the net taking a few shots and I look up at his face and I swear on my Nonnie's grave, it was Benoit Pouliot.

If my skull and mask were see-thru, you'd have seen my gears go into overdrive at that moment. Like, "Oh fuck, he's here to take my head off for all the mean things I've said about him. But, that's stupid. He's in Canada or St. Paul but certainly isn't in Houston paying for stick and puck at the mall rink at 5 a.m. on a Saturday with a little kid. But shit, that sure looks like him. And he's got some crazy European looking sweater on (and it looks appropriate, so I know I'm on target with my notion he should be playing in Europe), but so does the kid he's with, so, no, this can't be him."

And then he shot the puck. Right into my blocker. And again, blocker. And again, blocker. At which point, I decided it wasn't him because Ben would be shooting it right into my belly. :)

Goddamn, I love my blocker side. Even got my glove on a couple, so I think the catch I've been playing with Mr.C is helping. But I love my blocker side. I should take it out for ice cream later.

Anyway, enough of this. I've been promised french toast with fresh strawberries at my favorite breakfast place, Buffalo Grill. Go ahead and be jealous. It's the tastiest breakfast EVER.

Next up: Game tomorrow night. And hopefully redemption for the big bag of suck I left out there two weeks prior.

Read more...

Augh, f**k.

So, I knew when I was getting out of my car and my teammate, who was also getting out of his car, asked me how I was doing and I heard myself say, "GREAT!" and mean it... that I was gonna play like shit.

It wasn't an entirely conscious realization, but I look back and know that somewhere in my mind, that thought fluttered through: You're SO in the wrong frame of mind.

On the spectrum of moods or states of mind, which runs pretty wide for me, the band in which I play goal best is VERY narrow. It's intense and calm and angry, which is kind of a tough place to get to... or to even WANT to be for a laid back gal like me. It's definitely not the great mood, head in the clouds state of mind that I was in tonight.

But the great mood soured rapidly as I let in a shit ton of soft goals in the first period. But the distracted mind, as much as I talked to myself and tried to drag myself into the game, wouldn't shake off. I just couldn't get there. I look back and feel like I sleep-walked through the whole game. Like, did that even just happen? Sadly, yes.

All told, I let in 9, but that was only with a really great second period. I'm not even going to bother going over the goals. I honestly can't say I even stopped as many as I let in. Now that's brutal. All of them were just fucking stupid goals, and that's with the other team's best player, who must have gotten 5 breakaways, putting pity shots on me. Even one of those got through. Fuck.

And of course Scott TFCG was in goal at the other end playing like... a real goalie. I'm playing like someone they strapped the pads on at the last minute and said, "Eh, it's not that hard. Go get 'em, kiddo!"

Since I got to the rink way early, I stopped and bought a 12 pack of Dos Equis. Little did I know when I did that that it would be Apology Beer, but it sure was. And for the first time, I was so pissed about a game, I was just like, "Fuck it" and drank until everything was so funny, my knees buckled when I laughed.

Lemme just say: God Bless Beer League. I dunno how these little kids go through years of hockey without the sweet nectar of brew waiting for them at the end. The joys of being an adult.

Anyway, 4 beers in, I was drunk. Too drunk to drive anyway, so I went to the bar to sober up (seriously, just had a nibble of food and water). And demanded to hear dick jokes, because... well... dick jokes are funny. So, thanks to Amanda, Dave, and Mitch for making me forget the steaming pile of shit I left in my net tonight, at least for a little while. God Bless Beer League.

Didn't roll into the house until 3 a.m. Tried to go to bed, but knew I had to vent here a bit before the brain was going to comply with my orders to shut the fuck up and sleep. 4 a.m. now. Tomorrow is gonna suuuuck.

Read more...

Another Saturday morning, another skunking by the 7-year-old sniper

The 4:45 a.m. stick and puck was lightly attended this morning. Scott TFCG's crew slept in, so it was just me, my 7-year-old nemesis, her little sister, their dad, and some other little kid who must be on that team of little kids.

My knee still feels like it's got a screwdriver jammed under the kneecap when I get up off the ice, so I only spent about half my time working with that crew (and took it pretty easy with them) and spent a good bit of time on my own at the other end working on moving the puck.

I must be missing something with this because I just can't seem to find a hand/glove position that gives me decent leverage. But this is also something that I almost never get to work on because someone's always wanting to shoot pucks at me, which I like, so I'd usually rather do that, too. But it's a skill that gets ignored, so I'm glad I took some time out with it, even though I don't know that I accomplished much.

Oh, but you know what feels awesome? Taking the mask off for a 15-20 minutes and the sweatband gets really cold... Ohhh, man that felt so good to put back on.

Nemesis hurt her foot or something and left the ice crying at the end. I think it was really because I started shutting her down in the end. :) At least I didn't call her any bad names this time.

Can you believe I've been doing this for 6 months and today is the first time I took a hard shot off the shoulder? That SOB hurt. Not as bad as shots to my upper arms, but it hit my shoulder and then tagged my head, too. Bitch. Don't do that. But I stopped it. :)

That shot was from the coach/dad. I dunno what it is. I can stop him but these little kids... I think because they're down more at puck level, they see the holes better and they move slower so I kinda get bored waiting on them and also don't really take them as seriously, so boom. Goals galore.

Anyway, everybody gets to eat because everybody scored, so I've done my weekly duty to encourage and feed Houston's hockey youth. I should get a key to the city or something, eh?

Tomorrow night at novice league, it's coach vs. coachee again as Scotty comes out to backstop the red team. I'll be jacked about that, no doubt, though right now, the thought of getting up for it is making me want a nap. Perhaps because I just need a nap.

Didn't get but 3 or so hours of sleep, and that was on the couch since poor Mr. C has the flu and I didn't want to bother him this morning with my alarm going off. And I had to use my cell phone alarm, and I don't really trust my cell to do anything right, much less wake me up, so I kept waking up to check the time. It's fun being neurotic. Really.

Okay, 2 hours to the resumption of the draft. Get me a goalie, Fletch. I'm so nervous about the goaltending depth for the Wild. We're a broken foot and a groin strain from having to put ME in... and I get beat by 7-year-olds.

Read more...

Clutterbuck article; Saturday morning pre-dawn stick and puck

Got this article from Google Alerts today on what Clutterbutter's been up to in Welland. The line that made me laugh was, "And according to the NHL, Clutterbuck led the league in hits, too."

Like that information would ever be according to anybody else. Or like it's an opinion or something. I dunno. That kinda made me chuckle. But maybe I'm just in a mood to pick on someone after getting my ass kicked by a 7-year-old girl this morning.

Went to a 4:45 a.m. stick and puck with Scott TFCG and a couple of his kids. The kids' coach and his daughter were there, too. Well, the daughter, Ava, is a freaking mercenary. She's a damn good little skater and would run circles around a bunch of people in novice league. Very agile. Also a quick shot, and she can put it pretty much anywhere.

What I'm saying, of course, is that the little [darling] lit me up and lit me up GOOD this morning. Of course, I was taking it easy and really trying to avoid going down too much to try and not anger my knee too badly. Just wanted to get on the ice, get a sweat up, test the knee out a bit, so it's alright. I wasn't going full bore and didn't want to. But she still woulda lit me up. No doubt about it.

Just doing my part to boost the confidence of Houston's hockey youth. And BTW, it's no secret that kids aren't really my bag, but I love Scotty's kids. They're cool. And they whine at him just like I do. Now I see how he puts up with me. I feel like I have siblings now. Maybe you can get a tax deduction for me, too, Scooter!

Owen thanked me for letting him score, so his dad will let him eat. LOL Awesome. I love it.

Anyway, in spite of the humbling, and the aching knee, and the ungodly hour, I had fun. And I figured out what's tweaking the shit out of my knee. It's when I get up, obviously I'm putting most of my weight on the vertical leg, but leveraging the "down" leg a bit to push up. And that's straining the medial ligaments in my knee.

So, it's good that I've figured out what's causing the problem. Part of the solution is to work on getting up with my non-dominant leg more often, so the effort is spread across both legs. And obviously get lighter and stronger. *sigh* What a process. Couldn't I have had a dream of being... I dunno, something lazier? But noooooo, gotta be a goalie. Pfft. Sorry, knees.

Got some yard-type crap to do this morning and then taking it easy the rest of the day. There will be a nap. Then taking Coach Stalin to her C league game tonight. Will be fun to just relax and watch some hockey. I don't get to do that too often anymore.

Read more...

Lazy? I'll show you lazy, mister.

Well, it was a practice tonight, and I knew as soon as I hit the ice, my head, heart, and body just weren't in it like they needed to be.

My energy was lower than usual due to the hard workout yesterday with Coach Stalin (and if you haven't figured out, my energy baselines pretty low anyway because I'm a lazy schmuck), my head was not in the right place, I hadn't eaten right/enough during the day because I was more nervous than usual for some reason. My focus and mental sharpness just weren't there. I felt myself getting confused easily, losing sight of the puck, and having nothing extra to give. Just shit like that that makes for a frustrating outing.

Did 30 minutes of scrimmage after the practice and I let in two goals (but didn't see many shots at all). The first one, I was screened and down and the puck was ping-ponging around and I lost sight of it and it skipped past me glove side.

The second was a shot from the top of the slot and I was smack in the middle of the paint, way too deep for a shot like that. I went down but because I wasn't cutting off the angle enough, it went in just inside the post. If I'd been out at the top of my crease, that wouldn't have gone in.

I was playing too deep all night, which I think was indicative of my lack of mental "glue"... like Scott's talking at me and I know what I need to do, but nothing is sticking. I'm just falling back and falling back. Very frustrating.

Anyway, I'll do better next week. Gotta!

My XM radio was being cruel to me on the way home and not playing anything I wanted to crank up and jam to, as is my usual post-hockey habit. But then my Brusty song came on, so that made up for the overabundance of Kanye West and other crap. Enjoy:



Oh, and Kiss Me Through the Phone has been blown out of the water as the dumbest fucking song ever. The new king of the shitmountain: Birthday Sex.

I mean, seriously. Was that inspired by Dick in a Box? Go to GoalieMonkey.com and order me a new chest protector with decent bicep protection. That's what I want for my birthday. Then we can talk about shooting 5-hole.

Read more...

The Showdown: Coach vs. Coachee

Well, I really wanted the win tonight against Scott TFCG, as he was filling in for the regular guy, but it wasn't in the cards. He played a very good game and my guys on green just couldn't solve him apart from a couple of goals. Score was 4-2. Must have been nice for the red team to win though. That doesn't happen often. The green team is stacked AND they work harder.

I played alright. Didn't see a lot of shots but they had some good chances. The first goal was in close and I got a piece of it but it slipped either over or under my arm to go in. I think I kinda lost visual contact with the puck when I dropped to make the stop. Probably should have gotten a glove on it. Damn.

The next two were dekes by Mikey. Got me the exact same way twice in a row. Fuck. That's the shit that pisses me off... when I don't learn from my mistakes. Committed too early on a breakaway and left the net wide open behind me.

Blondie has a message for Mikey:


But Scott said his deke is a tough one, so I guess it will just take me a bit longer to find a way to stop him. I don't feel too bad about those. Almost got a stick across the bottom of the net on one of them, but didn't recognize how far away from the net I was in time to react.

The fourth goal was a just a piece of shit goal that kinda ruined an otherwise solid night of goaltending. Boo. Suck.

In the aggregate, nothing to really hang my head about tonight, so that's good. Had one really sick pad save that I just kicked my leg out and sent to the corner. I'd totally have babies with that save. It was beautiful and against a good shooter, so all the more enjoyable to stop him.

Anyway, most of all, it was good clean fun. I had a great time. Nice to have Amanda and Kyla (wife of Scott TFCG) out. Michelle got a pretty one-timer past Scotty and now he owes her lunch at Fogo de Chao, which is just fuckin' awesome. Watch him try to flee to Canada now... July 1, I predict.

What else? Oh, I wore my green Aeros practice sweater for the first time. Love it, even more than the red. Thank you, A! Now if I just had a matching glove and blocker, I'd have a pretty sweet get-up. Not that it matters when I'm out there, but ... well, I'm allowed to be a little vain right? Part of the fun of being a goalie is the gear.

Not sure I'll make it to a stick and puck this week. I missed almost a full week of work last week with computer problems (the joys of telecommuting), so I've got some making up to do. But who knows... the times are later now and the itch may strike on Wednesday.

Ah, the tired is finally setting in. Yay. Bed.

Read more...