Long, boring, as-if-you-cared post

Daylight Savings Time can kiss my round goalie ass.

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

So, what was looking to be a fairly sedate weekend turned super duper busy at 3 p.m. yesterday when I got a frantic email from one of the folks at the Paddy Dillo tournament down at SLICE. One team lost their goalie, who is a doctor specializing in radiation and had to leave for Japan (as good a reason as any to ditch a hockey tournament). So they needed someone to fill in.

Game at 4:30. Yipes! Especially considering I hadn't really eaten much yet.

So I go with really no notion of the level I'm playing or anything. But I figure I'm better than no goalie at all (which has pretty much been my motto since I started playing).

Anyway, the hockey gods shine on me and give me the best puck luck I've ever had. The other team must have hit 10 posts. An inch here or there and I woulda been lit up like a roman candle, but we got the win 3-1.

Knowing that I played okay but mostly survived on luck left me feeling not very satisfied with my game. Not bothered really but not cranking the tunes on the way home either.

So, I guess I passed muster and they asked me back for the 9:15 a.m. Sunday game. They'd lost their first two games so there was no chance of going to the finals. We were basically just acting as spoilers for the rest of the teams. I think they had to beat us by 5 or 6 goals to get into the finals, and they did.

All that puck luck I used on Saturday was long gone for Sunday. I think I got a piece of nearly everything that went in but it would hit my stick and bounce over my head in to the net. Shit like that.

And in these Dillo tourneys, goals by women count as 2 points. It's smart in terms of encouraging passing to the ladies, but shitty for goalies as it can quickly make them look way worse than they were. Fortunately folks don't seem to take things too seriously, which makes it a pretty fun gig for a goalie and makes up for the statistical downer.

Anyway, the second game, in spite of the 7-1 loss, was actually more satisfying to me. Not sure why. I actually didn't feel like I had as bad a game as the score showed. Plus I was done with a rather grinding 18 hours of goaltending responsibilities (3 games, including one for the Willowbrook novice league Saturday night). I think having that off my shoulders was part of the light feeling after that game.

I had fun at novice (and won 3-2) even though I was crazy tired and didn't really want to be there. It was fun to see the guys I was having so much fun playing with the last couple of seasons (in spite of sort of zoning out on the league in general). A couple of them begged me to come back next season but man, I hate playing Saturdays.

And to be honest, it's hard to get up for the practices. It's just skating lightning or some other warm-up thing, and then a million shots that I don't learn much from and just end up with aching knees from all the up and downs. It's great for the skaters but by the end, I was getting more damage than benefit.

But my knee is a lot better lately so we'll see. They're trying to expand to 4 teams, so there is a goalie need for sure and the potential for a ton of ice time. Maybe if I could work into my contract that I don't have to do skating drills. :D

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

Anyway, after all that hockey, and then an incredibly-dull-until-the-third-period-6-goal-avalanche Aeros game, I was a zombie tonight. Went to bed at 9:30, watched OTF, fell asleep for 20 minutes and then Mr.C woke me up to show me the Aeros highlights on the news (solid!). And now I'm a zombie but can't sleep.

And the soreness has set in. I've got bruises everywhere. Ankle, shins, the BACK of my right arm, all up and down the inside of my left arm, my hip (from ramming into a stick holder peg on the wall... broke it clean off. Oops. Sorry SLICE.) My groins are sore, my lower abs are sore, my quads are tired, my stick hand is aching.

And I get to go do it again Monday night at drop-in. And then again Wednesday at Harpies (which I signed up for because I'm missing Tuesday's women's league game and wanted to make sure I got enough ice time... uh... yeah, pretty sure I've met the quota).

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

Vacation was good. 10th anniversary come and gone at our usual spot in Fredericksburg. Hot tub, running around in the river with the dog, hiking the trails in the woods, disconnecting a bit. It was good. Twitter felt pretty overwhelming when I got on Friday afternoon. :)

My old dawg <3

Read more...

BALLSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Goaltending is not easy, but it's not nearly as hard as I've been making it this week.

Teh Suck continued fast and furious tonight at women's league. I'm pretty disgusted with my game. I know it's a team game, but I also know when I lose a game or when my team loses a game, and I lost this game. No two ways about it.

The other team's captain lit me up exactly like she did last time I played this team, down to the very move she uses on me. I stupidly got angry at her, but I'm really angry at myself. I know what I have to do to stop her. I just have to get up the balls to do it.

After she nailed me twice, I was just straight up rattled. I went into the game tight and overthinking and that just got worse as I got angry with the other team and with myself. My team played their cans off and I let them down. 4 goals for should be PLENTY.

My girls were great and analyzed the game after to figure out where to improve, but I'm sitting in my corner thinking, "get a better goalie." They tried to tell me I had some good saves, and I did, but there's a point where a handful of good saves brings no comfort. Especially in a close game where if I'd followed my rule of making $2000 saves, we would have at least tied.

The game winner... well, I might as well have stepped out of the net and drawn SHOOT HERE arrows on the ice for the shooter. I stayed up and intended to sweep a very slow shot away. But I lifted my stick, it went under, and just slid right in the net. Absolutely no excuse for that. I know better than to underreact in this league. You'll get fucked on that every time. I'm so disappointed in myself.

But you know, this is our team's first loss of the season and maybe it was good for me to have a meltdown type of game now and learn those hard lessons... again. :) Hi, I'm Ms. Hard Headed.

You don't even know the restraint it took to not stop at the Leaf on the way home and just drink. Honestly, if I didn't have my drowned rat sweaty hair going and looking like a slob, I would have. It's not a "beautiful people" kinda bar, but I really would kicked the standards down a few notches.

Instead I had some oatmeal and did my other favorite "feel better" thing besides drinking, which is watching Brusty play. Knew there was a reason I kept that Bingo/Marlies game on the DVR. Sexy beast makes it all better... :)

Anyway, I guess that's it until Monday. We've got something going every single night this week. Hockey M/T. Opera W. Dinner w/ friends T. Aeros F. I think Saturday is gonna be a righteous DO NOTHING day. If the dog gets a bath, I'll consider myself to have overachieved.

Read more...

Let's just pretend today didn't happen

Some days you just can't wait to say goodbye to and today is one of them. I spent all day stressed about crap, fighting with Mr.C, the bitter chemistry of PMS churning in my cold, dark heart and making me want to punch kittens in the face.




And then I was late to hockey. Didn't even have my skates tied when the zamboni started running. Normally my pads are on and I'm chillin' by the time the zam runs. So, I was sweating and frantic and my skates weren't tight enough.

And THEN I get on the ice and do one c-cut and go, "OW!" Sharp pain in my left quad, the one that also hurts when I walk down stairs. I hobble around and try to figure out what else makes it hurt...

C-cuts and being in my stance both send such a sharp pain in my quad, it takes my breath away.

No big deal.

So I skate over to our coach and tell him I'm gonna try and hang in there, but if I feel like it's getting worse, I'm Audi 5000. I also told a few of my key D-men that I'm in a bad way so I'm gonna be stinking, and they need to bring the hurt.

They played hard but I was not to be helped. I let 'em in all night to the tune of 11 goals, in spite of a few "even a blind squirrel finds a nut" good saves. And the other goalie played very well. He plays almost a pure stand up style but he's got a good glove and my team can generally lift the puck so he snags 'em.

Anyway, I was straight up awful, but I had fun and don't feel too badly about it. At some point, I quit being frustrated, just adapted the best I could, and decided I'm having fun regardless. Life's too short for any other attitude.

Now, I AM worried about Monday night. I've been struggling in that game lately and was looking to keep on an upward trajectory after playing fairly well there last week. But even something simple like hugging the post hurts since that's exactly the amount of leg bend that hurts. Higher is fine, lower is fine but that amount of "squat".... FMD, that hurts.

Anyway, my silly novice games don't matter, but I'm sure Brusty was looking for a great game tonight. He got it in the first period where he was heroic in the face of a shelling reminiscent of Florida last season. But it turned into a shit show in the second.

I didn't see any of the game, just followed the beat writer's tweets, but apparently the team cratered defensively, got in the quicksand, and really needed the intermission to get it together. Coach said it wasn't on him, and the captain fell on the sword on behalf of the team, but still.... not much makes that feel better.

Except beer. Which I'mma go have right now while I give the ol' middle finger to this poorly behaved Saturday. You're supposed to be fun, Saturday. Do better next time.

Read more...

So, put the stick where, d-man?

Remember how I bragged on my awesome d-man talking to me in a way that's useful? Well, tonight I had the opposite happen. I was so focused on my new pads feeling weird (more on that later) that I didn't really think about it until I was driving home, but the more I think about it, the more absurd it is.

So, hot shot in the Crosby jersey is charging into the slot. He does a little deke to my glove side as he sets up to shoot and I have to slide over a touch as I'm dropping into my butterfly.

Well, he beat me to the punch and the puck went just under my left pad, bing bang boom. Meh, whatever, I'm still getting used to these pads and I'm distracted by them and my timing is off. It's drop-in. No big deal.

But then my defenseman comes to me, unsolicited, and says...

"If you keep your stick on the ice, that won't go through."

*ahem*

I said (imagine me using the Marcel the Shell voice), "I think it went under my pad actually."

"Oh, I dunno, I didn't see it."

You what now? You have advice for me on a goal you didn't see?

Awesome.

No, I'd never heard of this stick on the ice thing. Why didn't one of you bitches tell me about this before? I've been lifting it up on purpose because I'm a complete and utter fucking idiot.

I have nothing more to say about that. But I'll certainly endeavor to try incorporating this "stick on the ice" newfangledry into my game.

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

New pads were... awkward.

On the upside: My knees are SOOO HAPPPYYYYYYY!!!! I was pegging my net and that was my first butterfly on the ice. It was like landing in a big pile of cotton balls. Glorious! Babies could sleep blissfully in my knee padding. It's magic.

On the downside: Have you ever tried to slide laterally on a big pile of cotton balls? My first attempt at butterfly sliding turned into a butterfly block that went absolutely nowhere, until I got up and fished the puck out of the net.

Also, there's like 3x as much padding between my knees and the very most annoying thing about the pads was being unable to stand like I always do when the play is away from me. I know that sounds weird, but it was really goddamn annoying. I had no idea I stood in such a specific way, but I do. I put most of my weight on my left leg and kinda jut my left hip out.

I think I do it because I'm set to move from there. If my weight is balanced between my feet, then I have to load to one side and then make a move. But because the knee stacks are so thick, I can't comfortably stand shifted any more.

It's something I know I'll get used to but it was surprisingly distracting all game long. And I played like dog shit. Literally. A pile of dog shit woulda stopped more pucks.

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

I had more but now I have hiccups and they're giving me a headache. So I'll leave it with this song, which kicked me out of my funk on the way to the rink tonight. Sending this out to my friend who isn't enjoying his job right now ;)...

Read more...

*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.

Read more...

Everybody Huuuuuurts... sometimes

Damn. So, I didn't want to write about this but I have to to purge it. I dunno how other goalies do it. I can't let go of the bad without writing about it. Even a beer didn't fix it (but did help me get to sleep at a reasonable hour last night).

So, everything that was great about Sunday was horrible about Monday. My timing was off, my skates hurt, my blades felt like they were sharpened at like 1/4 or something. Felt like skating on thumbtacks rather than blades.My shins and calves and ankles were burning in warm-up. My pads felt enormous and awkward and in the way.

And then I started playing and some things got better (the burning) and some got worse (the other burning). I was so bad in the first half, I nearly had a panic attack without even having any caffeine! I was just playing so bad that it was better to think maybe I have a brain tumor or something rather than accept that I simply suck this bad.

Didn't help that I'd been up since 4 with no nap, and that blessing to all women, PMS, was starting to pump evil through my veins. It only lasts for about 24 hours but when I'm PMSing, I feel like someone else. Like I'm out of my head with inexplicable rage. I didn't hit peak rage until I was driving this morning and nearly got t-boned twice in the span of about 1/4 mile. *kaboom* But it was definitely making me squirrely last night.

Anyway, the only thing good that happened was successfully using a tool I picked up watching Brusty's camp last summer. There were a couple of attempts to shoot the puck from the side of the net to the slot and I learned watching that camp to put my stick out in the shooting lane and cut them off.

Normally, they either just shoot elsewhere or they're shooting a bit wide of how far I can reach but last night, TWICE, they shot it right into my stick. This is why I use white tape. :) Both times, it was picked up by my D and carried out.

But that's it. Everything else was miserable. One of those nights where after the game, nobody really talks to the goalie because there's no "good game" to say. We all know it was craptastic. Let's just talk about baseball. (Speaking of which, woo! Go Jays! Except for the home opener which they lost. Sorry Canada.)

I'm done for the week though. Opera tonight and then back to some regular workouts the rest of the week.

This is probably what I get for finding it hysterically funny when the Aeros played "Everybody Hurts" when the Aeros got scored on late in the season. LOL Okay, it's still funny.

Read more...

Leggo my Ego

Wow, so I've written this post 3 times now (this is the 4th) and the first two I deleted because I was whining.

And the third, my battery died and reverted to my last whiny version. Crap.

So, here I go again, being even more succinct that last night SUCKED ASS in goal and I hope I never see its like again.

I sucked. One of the skaters was a complete douchebag to me (but I knocked him over on a save, so snack on that Douchy McDoucherson). The rink was fucking HOT. I continued to suck.

There's this black, human-sized "thing" just outside the boards by the Aeros locker room end of the rink, and I must have looked over at that thing 30 times thinking it was someone standing there watching me. Jesus H. Move that thing, SLICE!

Got a couple of nice bruises for my trouble though. Or at least one. The one of my foot hasn't bruised up yet but it's tender. The one on the inside of my upper arm (glove side) is puck-sized and going from pink to purple as the day wears on. Beauty.

Oh well. There's always next time. I think I'm just frustrated because I feel like I'm plateauing... and not in a comfortable place. Right around the first of the year, I was playing so well and now ... bleh. It's up and down but mostly down. Last night, I really felt like, "What am I doing?" That's an awful feeling to have about something you love.

But hey, slumps hit everyone and I stand by my theory that, for me, a slump buster should be a really hot guy. :) Fill me with your "confidence," hottie. I'm taking volunteers.

Alright alright. I'll behave.

Unless you don't want me to.

Ahem. Anyway... where was I?

Oh yeah, I suck. I'm in a slump. SLICE rink A is weird and hot.

Thought I'd feel worse watching On the Fly last night, but Steve Mason's game saved my evening. Those goals he let in? That was like me on nearly every shot last night. Got a piece of everything but rarely enough to stop them. That's how it was last Sunday, too.

Ohhhh, fragile goalie. Toughen up, will you? *sigh*

Read more...

Heart on Sleeve

I'm moping around today like I've had a tiff with my boyfriend. Normally I don't let Aeros losses get to me. I keep my reporter hat nice and snug, try to look at things with relative fairness (I won't bother calling it objectivity... we all know better).

But this one, for whatever reason, is going down like a sand margarita.

I went to pick up breakfast this morning and every song on the radio reminded me of my team. Shake It Out, The Underdog, Back Against the Wall.

You know how it is when you're "in love" and wearing your heart on your sleeve and feeling embarrassingly vulnerable about it? That's me today. I hate it.

And I don't feel like I love this team particularly. Brusty, sure. And maybe that's why I'm so pissed. He's keeping them in it and gets nothing to show for it.

But I dunno. It feels like more. I'm just so disappointed.

I failed to give props where they were due though last night. Brandon Buck is playing like he doesn't wanna go back to Florida. And JM Daoust is playing his ass off like always. He reminds me of Clutterbuck in that way... no matter how crummy the team around him is, he just plays his game, plays his balls off. Love that guy.

I find myself missing certain guys lately. Marco Rosa is one. I see his name constantly in Manitoba news. Such a fierce protector of the puck. I loved him for that.

Okay, enough of this. Time to get my Saturday on.

When cleaning up dog shit in the yard seems favorable to thinking about your hockey team, you know the season isn't going well. Eeeesh. This feels bad.

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

Oh hey, but The Scruffy One won again last night. He and the Brahmas are on a crazy 7 game win streak right now and he's becoming incorrigible. :) But if I were the league-leading goalie, I'd be incorrigible, too. Hell, I'm incorrigible now and I suck.

Read more...

Well that sucked

Used to be that my Tuesday drop-in was a time slot bought by one guy and everyone paid him to play. But I guess a while back it turned into a regular, rink-driven drop-in.

And before, the goalies were somewhat controlled by the guy who paid for the ice, though there were sometimes still too many or not enough. But it was during this time that he asked me to basically be his reliable goalie and always be there and I'd be guaranteed my own net if I wanted it.

Well, if there are 3 goalies. I wasn't going to be an ass and make the other two share a net. I did do it once because I was missing part of an Aeros game to be there.

Anyway, now nobody's regulating the goalies and the rink guys don't even have a goalie limit. It really should be at 3 or 4. 4 is pushing it for an hour and a half ice time unless it's an All Star Game.

Tonight we had FIVE. Luckily one of the guys l.eft after his second 10 minute shift, but I drew the bad straw timing wise and also only got 20 minutes total in net. And I think I let just about every shot in. The only good save I had was in minute 19, which was a mere 15 minutes before the ice time was over. Talk about playing ice cold the whole game, I had 20 minute breaks between my 10 minute shifts. BOOOO.

But that was only half the issue.

My head just wasn't in it. I drank a bunch of Dr. Pepper to get through a work project that I basically spent all night last night on. I knew I shouldn't but it was DUBLIN Dr. Pepper and I was tired and not being rational.

Well, caffeine in medium to large doses causes panic attacks for me. And sure enough, here one came when I was heading to the rink. This one came to me in the form of a horrible sense of impending doom. I just had a terrible feeling that I should not go to the drop-in.

But I knew somewhere inside that I needed to press ahead. So I headed to the rink and on the way there, I realized, "OHHHH, this is a panic attack!"

I even laughed out loud at myself for not realizing it sooner. But at least I realized it at all, and instantly settled down as a result.

But at some point in there, I turned off and shut down for the night. And yet I still had to play. So my head was not in it at all. My eyes are super tired, too, so I wasn't focusing well and my exotropic eyes were challenged to track the puck even on simple shots.

Bad night all around. Worst part of all is that I turned down an invite to go get my beer on for it. Of all the things I did wrong tonight, I won't make that mistake again.

Read more...

Waterproof Mascara

Man, I'm really going through the tear-stained hankies with Brusty this season. Which is to say, he's back with Florida again. Au revoir, gardien beau. *le sigh*

The wonkiest part is that he actually has a better record (6-3-0-2 combined between Florida and Houston) than the other two goalies in Houston, and this is with most of his games behind an Everblades defense that is truly a hot mess at times.

And I don't mean like how the Aeros are a hot mess. "REALLY???" is what you're thinking watching them 50% of the time. It was blowing my mind to watch Brusty see 22 shots in a single PERIOD, while the Houston goalies were seeing that many or fewer in a whole game. It's a really tough proposition for a guy trying to earn his way back to the next level.

But he's healthy and in great shape (and not just in the "my, what strong thighs you must have" way) and playing well, but so is everyone above him, for the most part. Anton's in a slump, but I imagine they're gonna let him work it out, and Dubie is playing well/lucky. Hard to justify a change, regardless of your opinions on style, when it's the result that matters.

Anyway, Brusty is heading up to Reading, PA to meet the Blades on their current monster road trip. I was reading today that he holds the single-season win record for the Royals, winning 27 games in the 2004-05 season, his rookie year.

He also had 27 PIM in 45 games that season. Who's got two thumbs and loves a high-PIM goalie? This girl. Some good stories there, no doubt.

Awww, shit. Gonna miss you, B.

Read more...

Happy New Year!

Boy did I wake up on the wrong side of 2010 this morning.

Not only did both my teams lose their games in rather crappy fashion last night, but I fell asleep before midnight. My god, someone just stick me in a nursing home.

New Years Day always leaves me with a sense of uneasiness. Everybody's so gung ho to change this or that, set goals, meet goals, rah-rah-motherfuckin-rah. It's just not my bag. Chill out, bitches. It's just a date on the calendar.

I quit making resolutions years ago. If something is important enough to me, I don't need a new year to start it, and if it's not important enough to me, I'll bail on it anyway. Life is tough enough, why start a new year disappointed in myself?

But then I kinda feel like an asshole saying, "I have no goals for 2010" because all these Type A types want you to think you're wasting your life if you don't have goals and aren't striving for them.

But my goals never change. My goal is to have a life I can look back on and go, "Yeah, that was pretty fun. I did alright there." Currently, I'm on track. So back off with your day planners and self-help books, overachievers! I've got this thing covered.

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

I'm super crabby at the Aeros. I don't normally take it personally when they suck. In fact, it's usually a little better for me because it gives me more to write about.

But I feel like taking it personally today. And I feel like completely unloading on them, but I won't because I'm not sure it's fair. In fact, I know what I want to say is quite UNfair and petty, so this is me.... showing restraint.

Was it the officiating last night? I mean, they scored a bunch. And Anton had some unreal saves, but .... I dunno. I feel like calling 'em all a bunch of hacks. HACKS! Straighten up!

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

I'm not gonna bother recapping the year. It was all about being a goalie, and I covered that on my goalieversary a few weeks ago.

Well, being a goalie and ... other *ahem* adventures that are best left right where they lie, like the proverbial sleeping dog. Yeah, even my falling-asleep-before-midnight ass can find its way onto Santa's naughty list. Not so much as a lump of coal in my stocking this year, but it was worth it. Yada yada yada....

Ahhhh, what a fun, weird year of hockey adventures (and nearly 100% neglect of everything else). Don't think I'll see another one quite like it.

Cheers, 2009, you won't be easily forgotten and I'm okay with that.

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

Wait, I take it back. I DO have a goal this year. To rock the poke check. Bitches.

Read more...

What goes up....

So I get in my car tonight to head to hockey, after spending most of the day debating whether to go due to my grumpy knee and finally deciding I'm a wuss if I don't go, and the damn car won't start. Well, it will start but if I don't have my foot on the gas, it dies.

That suuuuucks. I'm stranded. But at least I'm stranded at home and not in the parking lot of Memorial City Mall at midnight with a bunch of guys I don't know.

I felt bad missing the drop-in, particularly since all I could do to let them know was call the rink and tell one of the guys who works there to pass the message along. Fortunately, they're familiar with me since I'm there every week and I'm the only girl. Hopefully they had enough goalies to muddle through.

That said, my knee is delighted to not get pounded and torqued for 2 hours, and I got to watch a heck of an Aeros game, the first of four this week. And a nice interview with Brusty in the second intermission.

Are you ready for how obnoxious my T3I in-game tweeting is going to be when he plays? OMG, it's gonna be so off the chain. Just unfollow and re-follow later because you're gonna freaking hate me. I'm gonna hate myself. It's going to be AWESOME.

------------------------
Speaking of awesome, I'm not even a Leafs fan, but I want this shirt like nobody's business. I love truculence, I love Burkie, I even love all those self-loathing Leafs fans.

Because misery + time = comedy, they are far and away the funniest collective of fans on planet Earth. God forbid if they ever get some success. Will they get obnoxious like Habs fans or smug like Red Sox fans? I hope they'll just spend most of the time waiting for the other shoe to drop and stay funny and desperate. And I mean that in the nicest way possible, which I realize is a pretty low ceiling.

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

My Pretty Jaeger up with the Brahmas (who is right now a flu bug or pulled groin away from being your back-up goalie in Houston) earned CHL Goalie of the Week honors this week. He's been en fuego.

Great to see him back at the top of his game. And it seems the Brahmas in general have stabilized their roster and are playing well in front of him finally.

I don't get to watch Brett play unless there's a free night of CHL TV, but there are a few photogs in the CHL ranks who really knock it out of the park. Here are some great shots from Les Stockton, who shoots the Tulsa Oilers, of a save where Jaegs is battling hard to clear the puck out and does so successfully. Les captures the action really well.

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

I sometimes have bad taste in music. Goodniiiiight, my lovelies.

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...

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...