Not-so-quick hits: Like wall, pad rotation, Blue Jays

Good night in goal tonight. Been a while since I fell headfirst into the zone and stayed there for a while, but I sure did after letting a few too many in early on.

I wasn't particularly frustrated by the goals or anything. It was some breakaway stuff and a screen and maybe one where I just couldn't get over. Nothing horrible. And then finally, I just got locked in. Man does that feel good.

One guy had a great chance and I stopped it (don't even remember the scenario but I know it was a good save) and he just yells, "BITCH!!" not AT me in an aggressive way, but just sort of to the universe. I was so proud. Why yes, bitch just smacked you down, didn't she?! <3 I feel like I should get another trophy.

(Fun fact: If you Google "bitch trophy," you get a bunch of pictures of show dogs. Not what I was after.)

Another guy who is decent and usually gets one past me at some point if he tries hard enough just couldn't get it done tonight. He's a VERY nice guy, always pegs my net for me, takes blame for defensive failures, just a pleasure to play with. And he was on fire tonight, always getting the puck on his stick.

He must have put 10-15 shots on me all by himself, trying every which way, and I stopped all of them. He was so funny to watch get more and more frustrated and in disbelief. His exclamations got louder with each stop.

And with every stop, I was more and more determined to make sure he got blanked for the night. It turned into a game just between us after a while. He wasn't even passing anymore. He was just on a mission to score a goal. Sorry, sir!

I love my night job. ;)

I missed my women's league game last week, but the other team had to forfeit due to lack of turnout, so my girls won. Tomorrow is another battle royale with Captain Danglemitts' team. I hope I can carry this loose feeling with me.

Lately I've seen frequent mentions that resonate with me regarding worrying about the process rather than the outcome. Women's league defines that concept. Women's league is ALL process. It's nice to win but the fun and the effort and the learning and the bonding and all that good stuff is why we come out each week season after season.

I think the most fun I've had was the last one I played where we lost 5-2. Go figure. Could just be because of how drunk I got after.

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I'm back to having trouble with my right pad not rotating when I butterfly. The new pads rotated perfectly until recently, and I guess now that they're broken in, they're succumbing to whatever caused that with my old pads.

The right pad actually rotates inward on me while I play so I'm always adjusting it back to square on my leg, so I'm sure that's why it's landing under me. Maybe it's my pants?

I dunno. It's really frustrating and newbie-esque for those silly things to keep landing under my leg instead of flipping up. Also doesn't stop pucks as well, which is kinda what I like to be able to do.

My pants are getting quite enormous on me as I continue to shrink, so maybe that's on the agenda as the next replacement purchase.

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Baseball ahead:

Going to my first Blue Jays games for my birthday at the end of April in Dallas. At night on the 27th and a day game on the 28th. Should be a blast. My parents are coming up and my aunt and uncle are going. I missed seeing them at Christmas, so it will be fun to catch up and see my birdies, too.

I'm highly tempted to get a Meats Don't Clash shirt and see if I can get Snidey to sign it or honk a boobie for luck or whatever. Love me some Snidey.

But I'm also cheap, so I probably won't.

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Gear Notes & Save Strategy Question

Lots of stuff to talk about after tonight's fun drop-in, so I'll just dive in.

First up is the heart rate monitor. I finally managed to do it correctly and got readings for the full 1:20 that we were on the ice. The beats per minute data seems solid: 155 average and 179 max. It's wasn't a super strenuous game but I didn't have any long lulls either.

The part that doesn't add up is the calories burned: 1901. Ha! I WISH, but I don't think so.

However, I did find some places online that will calculate calories burned based on that average BPM number, weight, and age, and those come back in the 800-1000 calorie range. It's still higher than I expected, but seems much more reasonable. That pretty much covers my post-game snack of a breakfast sandwich and chocolate milk. :)

I'll wear it for women's league tomorrow, which isn't as long, fast paced, or busy for me, and see what the results are. Fun with science!!

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I overdid it with the Sweet Stick on my right skate and that felt pretty weird. Hopefully I can get them sharpened before my game tomorrow night. They just don't feel right now. But there's no question the sweet stick gives them more bite between sharpenings. Just need to use a lighter touch.

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Skate laces in the glove pocket did nothing for me other than look cool. Every single puck that went in my glove came right back out. If they made a glove called the ROACH MOTEL, I would buy that. Pucks check in, but they don't check out. Mine's more like a trampoline.

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Okay, so now I need the union to put their heads together and help me figure out how to stop this move:

Skater shoots left (er, I mean the puck and stick face are to his left when he takes the shot... I guess that's shooting left? I should probably know this but I've never been curious enough about skater stuff to figure the lingo out.)

He comes in on MY left and then cuts across, usually around or just below the hash marks, so I track him across the top of my crease. My main worry is that he's going to try and put it high short side over my blocker shoulder, so I'm headed that way and my momentum is going to my blocker side.

Instead, he shoots across himself and puts it just inside the post far side, usually up a couple of feet to make sure it misses my pad (because I invariably butterfly). I reach for it, but it's JUST outside the tip of my glove.

This happened to me FOUR times tonight. The exact same approach, same move by me, and same shot, in the exact same spot.

And I just don't know what the fuck to do about it. I feel like I have to honor the threat that they could just pop it over my blocker shoulder, but if I'm over far enough to prevent that, I'm pretty much on the post.

Does that make sense or do I need to draw it? Anybody got any advice for that?

I don't get too hard on myself when I understand my reasoning for my move and simply don't know what else to do. That's just a learning opportunity. But these vultures have figured out this works on me, so I need to shut that shit down. All I can think is to challenge more? I dunno. I just can't figure it out.

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Felt like I had to ask Gun Show tonight if he was okay with me giving him shit sometimes. Told him it's a compliment because I don't do that to guys who aren't a threat. This guy is amazing how fast he's picked up the game.

I remember when he first showed up at novice league, wobbling around on his skates. Now he's fast and strong and has pretty sick hands. He's a dentist though, so I guess good hands are part of the deal. Always think it's smart when dentists and orthopedists play hockey. They can probably just write it off as a business expense, right?

But anyway, minus the French Canadian accent, if I'm feeling good about my game, I run my mouth like Fleury. It takes a special (and confident) bunch of skaters to put up with me. Somehow it's adorable when Flower does it, but I do it, I'm cocky or whatever. Please. Just having fun, kids. I can take as much as I give.

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Anyway, good night of hockey. Had some nice saves and played without thinking much. Man it feels good when the brain gets quiet and you're just playing.

I don't understand this song, but I like it. Hit the right note on the way home tonight.

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Trusty for Brusty, Lusty for Boobies, Gear Tweak

First of all, good lord. I couldn't be happier that Brusty's getting an arena full of adoration from Binghamton fans these days. But this made me laugh (of course, I want one, but it still makes me laugh):

T-shirt being sold by the B-Sens. I kinda don't have words for it. Magic. 

So, today we were at brunch and some boy, I dunno 7 years old or so, walks by our table with his family. And for some reason he stops suddenly and sort of stares at me, but not quite.

His mom shoos him away from our table and my friends go, "What did you DO to that kid to make him stare?" And I'm like, "He wasn't staring at me, was he?" "Yes, he was!" they all say.

But he never looked me in the eye. So I look right around me to see what might have caught his eye. Eventually I look down... at my low cut v-neck t-shirt and cleavage thusly exposed. *ahem*

I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Then I came home and re-laced the pocket of my trapper with skate lace. I'm feeling pretty much like a rock star for pulling that off. It's not hard once you figure out the pattern, but it looks complicated and feels like a real accomplishment.

Plus, it just looks cool, and maybe if it's on my mind, I'll remember I'm wearing a glove and will actually think to catch some stuff. Boom?

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Public skate, Icy revenge, GoaliesGoaliesGoalies

I hate leaving up such a negative post for so long, but nothing has come along to replace it yet. The lack of novice league on Saturdays is cramping my bloggy style, bitches. But I do love the lack of guilt now that I'm not taking up every Saturday with hockey.

I did get a little ice today though, as Coach Stalin had new skates she wanted to test out before her game tonight. So we hit the public skate and reminded ourselves of why we hate public skate. And amazingly, it's even worse than it used to be now that they've got those awful "walker" things for kids (and some adults) to hold themselves up on the ice with.

I get that skating is scary at first. I was sure I was definitely going to die my first time skating, but IN MY DAY we didn't have those walkers and we learned to skate JUST FINE. :)

The problem is, kids who can't actually skate (read: stop) can actually get up a decent head of steam using these things and then it turns into, like, bumper car day at the retirement home. Walkers crashing into walkers. Total gong show.

I preferred the days when the benders would cling meekly to the boards and people who CAN skate would safely do their twirls and laps in the open space. Not that it ever actually happened like that, as it was actually just as dangerous, but without the SCRAAAAAAPE SCRAAAAAPE SCRAAAAPE of those idiot walkers on the ice.

But one is obligated to romanticize the good ol' days before contraptions ruined everybody's fun.

Anyway, back to today's skate. Of course, Chilly was there hitting on everybody. I pretend I hate it, but I like it. I don't get hit on much, so if you can skate and you want to hit on me, go for it, even with your giant smelly dog outfit on.

Yeah, that's how apathetic about my own phobias in the name of a cuddle I am now. Fake advances from a man in a dog suit. *sigh* FML.

Also, I wore my goalie skates (sans pads), and that is as bad or maybe worse than I remember from the last time I did it. For those who've never worn the gear, goalie skates have a low soft/pliable ankle, so they're pretty unstable. Having your pads strapped to them stabilizes them, but without the pads, it's bender city.

I've seen good skaters who can skate around in goalie skates as well as someone in player skates and frankly, my hat's off to them. I can't figure that out. It's like finding a football player who can do the 40 yard dash in clown shoes as well as someone doing it in regular running shoes.

So, 30 minutes of that was more than enough. I will lovingly strap my pads on Monday night and appreciate my gear for all its wonderful interconnected functionality.

Oh! I also bought a SweetStick. Haven't tried it yet as I plan to get sharpened tomorrow night anyway, but I was happy to find them in stock locally. They're a lot more expensive online for some reason, so I'd been putting it off. Hoping it will help me keep more of a freshly sharpened feeling between games.

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Meanwhile, my OCD brain is still torturing me for Tuesday's game. You can tell me to relax, lighten up, don't take it so seriously, whatever, but it doesn't sink in. I still lay in bed at night and replay Captain Meaniepants's "move" that she keeps beating me on.

I feel like a little kid whose been bullied by the same kid over and over. I'm beyond annoyed or embarrassed. I'm angry. Just blood-boiling angry. Like little Ralphie, who finally snaps and beats the everliving snot out of Scut Farkus.

I have a plan of attack for her move. But I have spies reading so I'll say no more. ;) Gonna practice it Monday night. If I don't shock the hell out of those guys, then I'm doing it wrong.

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Post-Weekend Goalie Update:

Brusty is still fucking awesome, natch. 38 saves (WHERETHEHELLISTHEDEFENSE?) and 4 PIM in his win over Manchester. I asked the AHL about goalie PIM because I was sure he must be leading the league but some how Justin Pogge has 50 PIM. Holy balls! Did he KILL someone on the ice?

Brusty is only halfway there, so I think he's gonna have to partake in a bench clearing brawl and probably carve some poor soul up with his stick blade to catch him. I vote for Sheldon Souray as the carvee!

Jaeger had a shutout the other day that ended in a 15-0 score. What the everliving hell? The other team also got beat 18-something a few weeks ago. I'd spend my free time drunk and on suicide watch if I were their goalie.

At some point, wouldn't it just be better to have your goalie do the splits on the goal line and have all 5 of the rest of them crowd the front of the net like a wall to keep pucks out? That's gotta be more effective than whatever they're doing.

Keumper is the best goalie in the history of the CHL. Okay, maybe not, but he's just having the sickest season  ever. He should change his first name to Can'tsolve because that's what's before his last name in every article I read. "Warriors can't solve Kuemper" etc. Kid is so money. I hope all this success isn't fucking him up.

Hackett's growing on me. Little by little. Anton is doing whatever the opposite of that is. Sorry kid. Time for the ol' change of scenery, I think.

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First run at applying vinyl graphics

Ages ago, we had a post on InGoal Mag about companies starting to experiment with using vinyl applications to "paint" goalie masks. I was pretty excited about that possibility because I've never been sold on shelling out $500 for the paint job of my dreams.

But it wasn't really a mainstream thing. Just a couple of sign-making companies in Quebec dabbling in it. Not the sort of thing you can just click "Buy" and have shipped to your door.

Then a couple of weeks ago, IGM again reported on Head Strong Grafx, who finally has come out with vinyl graphics on a turnkey basis. They have about 20 designs and you can pick your color, or for an upcharge, you can get metallic or other finishes.

But really, I was left with a LOT of questions about what I was going to get from them. In fact, it took me a while to even figure out that the application didn't cover the whole mask. I'm a little slow.

Anyway, I figured for $25, it was worth a shot, so I ordered a set of flames in white to go on my solid black Hackva.

It took them about a week to get here and what I got was 3 smaller flame graphics and 2 large ones cut out from a larger sheet. The graphic is sandwiched between a tacky translucent backing and a stiffer, non-sticky blue backing.

The instructions for application are on their web site, but here's my much more detailed take, with some of my own experiences thrown in. 

What you need:
Bowl of soapy water
Soft cloth to apply soapy water
Sharp Exacto knife
Credit card, driver's license, etc. for squeegeeing the graphic smooth

1. Take your cage off and then clean your mask with Windex or something similar. If you need to touch up paint or anything, I'd do it at this point.
2. Place the graphics on the mask and see where you might want to put them. Keep in mind that it's exponentially easier to put the graphics on a flat surface or where there's only one curve. When the same piece of the graphic has to curve two ways, like on the side of your chin, where it's curving forward and down, it's very difficult to avoid wrinkles. More on that later.
3. Peel BLUE backing layer away so that the graphic is stuck to the translucent layer. (Aside: I've spent 35 years using bandaids, so when I saw a flap where the translucent layer overlaps itself, I assumed that's where I'm supposed to peel. I WAS WRONG. DON'T DO THAT. Ruined one of the big flame graphics doing that.)
4. Wipe a thin layer of the soapy water on the area of the mask you want to apply the first section of graphics. If you apply too much water and the graphic is sliding around too much, just wipe it off and start over with a lighter layer. You want the tackiness of the graphic to come through enough to stay in place while you squeegee the bubbles out.
5. Place the graphic on the mask and smooth it down with your fingers. As mentioned above, if it's not generally staying in place, it's too wet. Press as much down with your fingers as you can before doing to the squeegee.
6. Use the credit card squeegee to press the graphic down. Really rub it on there. Here's my suggestion for wrinkles you can't fix: Just leave them, and after you take the backing off, you can cut the wrinkle with the xacto knife to flatten it and just overlap the excess. You really can't see it. What I recommend against is smooshing the vinyl or trying stretch it. It just doesn't work and will look like crap.
7. Now, their instructions say to let them dry before you pull the backing off. I didn't do that, but you probably should. I was too impatient to see it if would work, but I'm here to tell you it does. So once you've applied all the graphics and let them dry, you can peel the backing off carefully. I found that peeling back sharply (but slowly) rather than pulling UP on the paper works better. The flame design (and several others) have lots of pointy edges, so just be sure as you're pulling the paper off that those stay down.
8. Trim the excess from around vent holes and edges of the mask with the exacto knife.

Here are pics. You can click to embiggen them. 

Getting started: 5 decal segments, clean mask, soapy water

One of the small graphics with the blue backing peeled off, sticky side exposed.

First graphic added

All graphics applied

  

Had a hard time getting the chin portion of the graphic to lay down flat and ended up smooshing and tearing it. So I had to patch it with some extra flame bits. Looks fine from a distance but not real swift up close. This is where a simple slice with the exacto would have been the smart thing to do.

Final look with paint chips touched up, excess trimmed, and cage back on.

I'm pretty happy with the final look. I had to improvise after I screwed up one of the big flame graphics, and went asymmetrical, but I like how it turned out. And I like that when I get tired of it or it gets dinged up, I can peel it off and do something else. I figure I'll change it up a couple times a year just for shits and giggles. 

There's a 15% discount on right now for InGoal Magazine subscribers through Christmas, so I may pick up another one on the cheap for next time. Also, they'll customize letters or numbers for you. I'm thinking I need "LFB" for my back plate, yeah? Haha... ;)

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Quick Hits: Fantasy, Ugly Jerseys, Vinyl Mask Art, Poodlecize

My fantasy team really did have a fantasy day today. I had 7 skaters active (no goalies). 9 goals, 5 assists, +12. Whatever I fed them for breakfast, they're eating every day now. Just sorry Corey Perry had to blow up against MY team, but whatever.

Between my +8.5 and the guy behind me with -6, I've finally got a bit of distance there and made a nice gain on the guy in the #1 spot. I'm coming for you, Kevin, and not in a good way.

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Got Friday's Binghamton game from AHL Live to watch tonight while I did some stitching and repairs on my goalie gear. Fun game and they weren't kidding about some big saves and some loud chanting. Lots of moving the puck behind the net. The team is clearly getting better at responding to that and taking advantage of it. THAT is fun to watch.

The Sens won again today in Rochester, but not quite as stalwart a defensive effort and it took 5 goals + 2 shootout markers to get the win. But hey, a W's a W.

Aeros stunk it up though. Expected a let-down after such a wild game Friday and some tough travel, so NBD.

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Some fuss about the Everblades hideous Christmas jerseys, including getting on the front page of Yahoo! Sports as a Puck Daddy feature.

A non-hockey friend even tweeted it to me, and the fact that she even knew it was off the hook sorta set me off. Ugly jerseys have always been a bit of a burr under my saddle.

I don't understand why teams would want to do that to their players. I know it gets media attention but it just seems disrespectful. To have to roll out and face a team you know is going, "Fuck man, you look like a Florida tourist shop barfed all over you." and have to grind it out. I dunno. Just seems like a bad idea. And just to make my point, the Blades lost.

I'd want my players to look good and feel good, wouldn't you?

Reminds me of when I shaved the dog at the beginning of the summer. He's just a dog but he knew he looked stupid and he was giving us stink eye for days over it. So you really think you're gonna get your best from guys you've dressed up like clowns?

And the SOCKS! My god, the socks....

*sigh*

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I bought this vinyl mask "paint." $25 for a totally new look for my mask. Worth a shot, right? I'll be sure and offer up a full review here, assuming I win the battle and am able to take my cage off. Hopefully it won't be like last time and require a drill and much frustration.

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Um. You can't un-see stuff like this. Especially at 2:45. Oh my.

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Like being in college again

Pulling an all-nighter for work after getting home from hockey at midnight tonight. Made myself a double mocha in the ol' coffee machine (how is it that I pass a 24-hour Shipley's Donuts but not a 24-hour Starbucks on my way home?) and have been grinding away at it for the last 4 hours.

Not fun, but must be done. Sad thing is, it must be done because I'm maxed out on vacation and I need to Wednesday and Thursday off or I'll lose it. Not much of a vacation day if I have to spend it half or completely asleep.

I should get a boost from heading down to SLICE to check out Aeros training camp for a little while. Looking forward to that, though I always get a headache from it squinting to see who the guys are based on their helmet numbers. Maybe I'll just watch the goalies, eh?

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Game was good tonight. Played for the purple team, those hard-battling gals. Love them. Didn't see many shots and stopped all but two. One I actually DIVED for like I'm supposed to, but after about 3 tries, they finally got it in. Disappointing, but I was proud of myself for going after it like a crazed somethingorother.

What was funny is that I somehow missed the GWG going in and thought we were tied when the game ended. Then my team skates over to me for fist bumps and I'm like, "What, no shootout?" And they're like, "We WON!" Haha, oops. In my defense, my back was to the scoreboard. But how do I miss a goal? I'm not very good at numbers.

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I follow a kid on Twitter who has a tryout with Elmira, where Brusty's probably going to spend some time since the Senators are apeshit for wunderkind Robin Lehner. Anyway, Elmira and Bingo camps start today and Bingo finally has a beat writer, so that's good. Gimme newwwwwws. Though I do not understand this business of the B-Sens holding camp in Newfoundland. I think it's because the circus is in town or something in Bingo, but still. There's not a local rink they can use? Weird.

Anyway, in my early morning haven't slept in nearly 24 hours punchiness,  I have that old Oak Ridge Boys song, "My Heart's on Fire for Elvira" in my head, except it's Elmira. I'm pretty sure that's gonna happen a lot this season and it may be the thing that finally drives me over the edge. For what's left of my sanity's sake, here's hoping B-money is in Bingo a lot. Giddy up, oom poppa-omm poppa, mow-mow

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Tomorrow is a spa day for my gear. At least 3 teammates walked in the room tonight and went, "Eww, what stinks?" I figured I should just fess up and claim responsibility because it was all me. My bag is unbearably smelly right now. It honestly smells like something died in my car right now, even with an air freshener going that supposed to unfunk a 400 sq ft room. Gnarly!

I think my gloves are the biggest culprits, but also hardest to de-funk. I've got Oxyclean, a steamer, and time at my disposal so I'll do my best. I know I won't make them WORSE, so I have that going for me.

Okay, time to finish this damn work so I can have some fun, where fun = writing my "OOoooh, it's a new season!" article for PHN.

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You need coolin', baby, I'm not foolin'

Poor blog. So ignored. Now that I'm not so full of angst after I play, I have so little to say. But I feel like writing tonight, so I'll back the mental dump truck up here.

Got my new pads yesterday. Props for UPS delivering two things to me this week a day early. First my Bingo practice sweater (wearing it Monday night!) and then my pads.

They look great and are well made, but I'm struggling a little with the fit, mainly that my knees still hit the back half of the knee stack. But I asked about this on the goalie board and was told that they'd settle enough after they're broken in and eventually I'll end up square on the knee stack.

That was kind of my feeling, but for nearly $900, um, yeah, I'm just being careful. They are super solid though. Gonna sit on them while I watch football tomorrow and try to soften them up a bit.

They also have a set of inner calf wraps that I'm not sold on. If I take them off, the calf wraps will be just like my current pads and I like that looser feeling, so I'll try to play with them in and see how I like it but those are probably going to go.

The thigh boards are definitely coming off. They are completely incompatible with my pants. Might just see if Simmons will let me swap the thigh wraps for the flat boards. If not, I'll just snag 'em off my current pads.

They sure are pretty though. Goalie Angel White. Can't you hear the heavenly chorus singing with every save?

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Speaking of saves, fun game tonight at novice. I <3 my team so much. Had some nice saves, a couple where I was straight up screened but just kinda knew it was coming and butterflied and boom. There it was. Fun times.

Though I thought it was a practice tonight and it turned out to be a game. Thought that might throw me off, but it didn't. Look who's cool and collected these days! Feels good.

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I miss Brusty.

There. I said it.

He's up there in Ottawa stopping pucks and I don't get to watch.  

Boooo. That sucks.

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Last Monday at drop-in, one of my defensemen scraped my crease for me before the game.

The appropriate reaction here would be: Huh?

I don't ever scrape my crease (I probably should, but I think it's well established that I'm pretty lazy), but I guess he's seen me go careening across my crease in a few early-game butterfly pushes and felt that needed correcting.

I let him do it, but I don't know that it helped much or that I liked it. I'm used to being slippery at first and then progressively slower on the push (that's what she said). Don't mess with my groove, man. Don't people know better than to go in a goalie's crease and start making decisions for them? Weirdddddd....

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Saw pics of Nolan Schaefer's new Providence Bruins mask today. Holy shit. What a beautiful mask. I'm annoyed that pucks are gonna hit it. It needs a force field of its own to protect it.

Lookie.

He's in solid black pads, too. So sick. Easily one of the best looking goalies in terms of gear year after year. Always love to see what he's come up with.

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I'm never quite sure how much I buy into chiropractors, but damn if I wasn't walking like an old lady all week after pulling my back last Friday, but then one back cracking yesterday and I feel like a million bucks today. So, I'm convinced. Scoreboard!

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That's all, I guess. Enjoy your Sunday of football (or Wild training camp scrimmage if you're one of those Minny punks who gets to go to that).

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Quick hits: House turmoil, Ellis, 1 ark please, Bingo sweater, game prep grind

Random midnight brain spew:

Been having our house painted this week. I've described it as "halfway to moving" in terms of the disruption. They've been great, but most of the house has been out of commission all week, with me and the dog cooped up wherever I'm working from 8 a.m. to nearly 7 every night. He misses the dog park, I miss eating something other than granola bars and Sun Chips and strawberry Fanta all day long.

But strawberry Fanta really is tasty, man. I'm jonesing for one right now and that would be my third today. Yeesh. I think I'm just really happy to have something decaf to drink besides water and Sprite.

It'll all be worth it though. The colors look amazing and it feels so chic. Our house is officially way cooler than we are.

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Been wanting to write on the Dan Ellis Twitter fiasco from earlier this week, but I've seen gobs of other people blog about it and I haven't had any interest in reading their takes, so I dunno why anybody would want mine.

I enjoyed his tweeting, as I've said before, but he strikes me as a guy who's actually fairly immature but doesn't know it, if you know what I mean. He lacks a certain self-awareness that I think you kinda need to have if you're going to open yourself up like that to fans.

But whatever. I have Joffrey Lupul now. And he's better looking. So there. (Except, WTF is a "Joffrey?)

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I had to bail on my Tuesday women's league game this week a mere 2 hours before puck drop. I felt awful about it, but it was the right decision. Between me and that rink, I know of at least 3 places that flood and who knows what places I DON'T know about. I wouldn't have gotten out until 11 p.m. and the storms were rolling in from the gulf.

Mr.C pretty much said he was going to worry to death if I went, and Coach Stalin, who works at NASA and lives by me, said she left work early to avoid the flooding. So that was enough to convince me to bail.

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My new pads still haven't shipped. Hopefully next week!

However, I did sweet talk my way into a great deal on a Binghamton Sens goalie cut practice jersey, which should be coming next week. They even threw in some other goodies, which was pretty awesome of them. Their PR gal is a little slice of awesome, as is their merch guy.

I'm still a little flummoxed by the lack of twitter or blog attention some AHL teams get. Doesn't anybody love these teams enough to obsess over them on the internet?

(Edit: As soon as I write that, I discover the Ottawa Sens SBNation blog did a preview of the B-Sens goalies. I was nervous to read Brusty's because I knew if it was wrong, I was gonna be all cranky about it. Instead, it made me want to hug whoever wrote it. Double-Ds comin' atcha Alex Calloway/Crooklyn Banks/whateverthefuck your name is!)

Anyway, that jersey is gonna look sweet with my gear. I've been wanting a black sweater for a while. Only thing not black will be my solid white pads and gloves. Ooooo, sweet, right? I bet CHRIS HOLT! wore this one, too (I'm assuming it's an old one, anyway). Winnnn...

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Having a chat on Twitter right now with my goalie buddy, Moosey, on the number of games per week we play. I was commenting that 3x/week every week will burn me out over time. And not because of the games themselves, but because, well, I'm not the most disciplined person, but I do have to be disciplined about my game-day preparation or I stink worse than usual.

And it's that constant state of "I gotta do XYZ because I have a game tomorrow/tonight" that wears me down. I don't like being high-maintenance. I like to roll with the flow. But I know from experience that if I'm not getting enough hydration, my mind gets fuzzy, I get overheated, and I don't play well.

And I know that my energy stays more consistent and high if I eat carby meals on game day. But I don't want too heavy a meal if it's 3-4 hours from game time, and I don't want too light a meal because then I'll get hungry or I'll need a snack, which is a whole other thing to figure out.

Also, playing in the evenings means I screw up "mealtime" for Mr.C, too. So either he fends for himself and I eat later when I get home, or he eats early with me, or whatever. Regardless, I always feel some guilt for my silly little hobby dictating his schedule, too.

And then if I'm tired, do I nap even though that can make me feel too relaxed and lethargic for my game? Or do I just muddle through and try to stay awake? Or do I crash for 15-30 minutes for a power nap (my favorite)?

Then there's the gear. I've actually started leaving my gear (except skates) in my bag in the car. I find I play better with it already a little damp (that's what she said). I feel like I'm wearing drywall when it's dried out. So that's one bit of preparation that makes it easier to play several games a week. Then, how are the skates? Sharp enough? Need a sharpening? When can I spare 2 days without them to get that done?

Then, AFTER the game, adrenaline is surging until 2 a.m. and I'm dog tired the next day.... ugh. Man. That plus all the rest really wears on me. The Dainty Ms.Conduct Flower, she wilts so easily.

Luckily, for the foreseeable future, I've got 2-3 games a week, with women's league being off for me every third week (typically), which is a perfect break.

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The talking d-man & how I wrap a goalie stick

Novice had a fun practice last night. For the drills portion, they set the goals up cross ice and played 3 on 3. You never realize how much you rely on your posts being firmly set in the ice until you have to play with them unpegged. And doing 3 on 3 is even worse, since lots of shots are close in at tight angles, so you do lots of post hugging.

Still, it was good, clean fun.

We scrimmaged after and I fell even more in love with my favorite defenseman. There was a bunch of traffic in front of my net and he was on my glove side with more of a clear view.

He recognized that I probably couldn't see very well what the shooter was doing so he said, "SHOT COMING!" when the shooter was winding up. Since I figured I was covered up high with all the bodies, I just butterflied and got my glove and blocker out to try and prevent any corner picking.

I think the puck ended up hitting someone in front of me and my team took it out of the zone, but as they were skating out, I thanked my dman and told him I LOVE when they talk to me.

He was surprised. He said he thought goalies hated that and were like, "STFU" when the D talked to them.

I explained that yeah, I don't want to hear that I'm playing well or, even worse, goaltending advice, but to give me information to help me do my job in the moment? Fuck yeah. All day long.

Maybe I'm only speaking for myself there, but I can't imagine a goalie NOT wanting their defensemen to be their "eyes" at times. His play and his interaction with me really makes the game exponentially more fun.

And really, just in general, I'm having so much fun playing right now. I'm not playing lights out or anything, but I feel good, I'm not stressed or angsty or beating myself up for this or that. Nor am I thinking I've got anything figured out that I don't. I'm just playing a game and this feels like how I always wanted it to feel. Well, with more goals against than I'd want. :)

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I finally decided to retire my first Khudobin stick after last night. It's still in reasonable shape after playing with it for over a year, but it's time for a fresh one. So I taped up the one I bought at the Aeros gear sale this year and it's so lovely in its clean whiteness.

I noticed that Anton switched from a Sherwood 530 to a 9950 last year. The pattern doesn't seem real different but I do see that the edges of the paddle are thinner than on the 530. Since that's the first place the 530 started falling apart, I'm much more wary of this stick not being as durable.

Though I think my taping style will help, as I think that's what made my old one last for so long. I actually stole it off of Brusty's picture in the Aeros calendar last year as he worked on a truck motor in full gear with his goalie stick. Cuz that's how he rolls. Mr. April is handsome, handy, and educational!

I tape the knob as usual, then I run a strip down both edges of the paddle to protect those edges a bit. On the back edge of the paddle, I run the strip all the way to the toe of the blade to give the heel and bottom of the blade some reinforcement.

Then I wrap a double-thick strip around where I grip the paddle. This helps me hang on to the stick better and secures the ends of the strips running along the edges of the paddle.

And then start the blade wrapping at the bottom of the paddle, do 2 wraps to tack down the paddle edge tape, and then leave a gap at the heel and wrap the blade like normal, including covering the toe and cutting the excess off. Oh, and then Blade Butter where it touches the ice. MUST have Blade Butter.

Like this, but with white tape instead of red. :)

Might seem like a lot of tape and might make the stick too heavy but if my weak little girl arms can manage it, I'm pretty sure anyone can. Well worth it to lengthen the life of your stick. I call it the Viagra taping job. :)

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Okay, enough of that. Time to enjoy some really beautiful weather and absolutely nothing on the agenda today that HAS to be done. Thinking dog park, maybe a snow cone. But tomorrow the work begins. We're having the total interior of the house painted and I have to get all the window coverings and art off the walls and knick-knacks out of the way for them to work.

It's gonna be bitchin' though. Burnt orange on the walls of the man cave, lime green in my office... ahh, color!

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Quick Hits: Camp Brusty, Gear Update

Oof, the blog looks so lonely without a post in so long. I'd apologize for the lack of updates but that seems pretentious. And also, I'm not that sorry, because I've been working on something pretty cool.

I'm partnering with Vancouver-based goalie coach Sean Murray and our very own Brusty to host a goalie camp here in Houston next summer, so I've been busy building a web site for it. Don't worry... only Sean and Brusty will be coaching, and I'm doing most everything else around organizing it.

Though I may be a student, which already has a fire lit under me. I'd been playing about 6 months when I went to watch this camp last summer and I remember thinking how I would have been the most hopeless person on the ice, including the littlest kid. Hopefully it wouldn't be that bad now, and particularly 10 months from now. I recall even the warm-ups looking exhausting. Haha. I'm screwed.

Anyway, I think it's going to be fun working with those guys, but also great for local goalies to either supplement the help we get from local coaches like Scott or, possibly for some goalies, it's all they get all year. Houston isn't exactly littered with people who understand goal well enough to coach it, so it's a fabulous opportunity to learn from guys who make their living with goaltending.

Plus they're both super foxy. So that's practically like a discount for the ladies.

I'll be pimping the web site and the camp for the next 10 months, so be ready to get sick of hearing about that.

Anyway...

Gear Update!

My chest protector finally got some work Saturday night at novice practice. Took a couple of good shots right in the boobs and felt nothing but a thump. Beauty! But my mask chin is still battling with the neck guard on the chesty. I'd cut it off of my old one, but it was old so I didn't really care. Now I'm not so sure. I have my Maltese, so it's not the craziest idea ever.

My skates, OTOH, get better and better and better all the time. I feel like my skating is more confident now, and I don't dread skating anymore. I even did some of the skating drills at practice Saturday night, which I used to do pretty much anything to avoid. Maybe I can finally start to play the puck with some confidence? That would be exceptional.

Plus, I don't have to go to the bench and take "foot breaks" during warm ups while my feet acclimate to the pain. And I don't have to hop from foot to foot while play is at the other end to try and alleviate the pain. How the fuck did I go so long in those skates?? If I hadn't sold them in Minnesota, I'd take 'em out back and burn 'em.

I'm hoping my new pads are a similar revelation. They can't get here soon enough. But it's only been a week since I ordered them, so it's at least another 2 before I get them, possibly 3 or 4 weeks depending on shipping. Hurry, Don Simmons!

Back at SLICE for drop-in for the first time in a month tonight. I've been playing pretty slow players in that time, so I'm going to have to rev up. Hopefully my team will give me a good warm up so I'm not quite so cold to the speed.

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Crash Kings are audible Stetson. I can't explain it. I just know I can't get enough of them lately.

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Scrambling Yelps

Woof. Boy did I sieve it up tonight at novice league. Lots and lots of soft goals. On the best days, I find it difficult to get into "intense goalie mode" but it's especially bad on Saturday when I'm all chilled out and weekendy. Ah well. We still won, but certainly not because I did anything useful.

However, maybe my attention to trying to work some desperation saves into my game is helping. There were a couple of instances where I had to scramble down on the ice and I did so with less hesitation than usual, and we were able to keep the puck out. So hopefully that positive outcome will reinforce the behavior.

Anyway, no biggie.

Ordered my new pads today. All white Simmons 995s, which they compare to Revoke Pro pads. Gonna be a few weeks before they come, so I can build up a solid hate for my current pads while I wait. Non-rotating, knee-wrecking sons of bitches. I hope the new ones fit. They take several measurements to tell you which size to get. On stuff like this, I really appreciate the level of customer service Simmons provides.

Wooo! New pads!

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Quick hits: Jays blog and new pads!

So, I don't want to blog about the Jays here, but as you have seen, things come up and I'm so warped that I fear if I don't write about something that's on my mind, I may cease to exist. Or my head will explode. Or you guys won't know what I'm thinking! Oh the humanity.

And since I don't really have much to say about baseball that's very long winded, I went the Tumblr route. I'm actually not a big Tumblr fan. Either have a blog or have Twitter, but Tumblr is sort of in between and more media rich, so pics, video, etc.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes. You can follow it on Google Reader just like a real blog. It just won't be pages of entertaining angst about knees and goaltending and Brusty lust (sorry, man, but hey, at least it's your Jays!)

What pushed me over the edge, because I'd been thinking about this for a while, was the whole Meats Don't Clash thing. When it hit me like a bolt of lightening that that would be an awesome blog name, I knew that was my cue to go Tumbl the Jays. Now if I could figure out how to Tumbl JUST my Jays tweets over there... that would be cool.

Oh, you can go to there by clicking here: http://meatsdontclash.tumblr.com/

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I wasn't expecting this so soon but it looks like I've gotten funding for new pads. I'm pretty jacked about that, but now my head is spinning with information.

I knew absolutely nothing about anything when I bought my first set (RBK 6ks with no break). And they were mis-measured because, as I found out in MN, my skates were too big and skate size is part of the measurement. DOH!

So now that I have skates that fit, I remeasure and get 32", which is exactly what I thought I needed (have 34s now and my knee rests between the knee stack and the calf pad... and when I say rests, I mean, my knee slams into the ice in that spot every time I butterfly).

It occurs to me that having my knee actually rest on the pad stack like it's supposed to might even help with my knee woes. Less torque on the knee and whatnot. We'll see.

I'd love to go custom but I don't think it's necessary. And I do like the feel of my 6ks, but I have a fairly narrow fly, so I need more flex at the top to close up my 5-hole (according to the sales guy in MN).

As such, I'm looking at the Revoke 9000s and the Bauer Supreme One80s. I'm looking at the Vaughns, but I've gotten used to a looser fit on the leg and I'm afraid Vaughns will sit around my leg more than I'll like.

My concern about the Bauers is that they'll be too hard. They have a thinner profile and in order to have a thinner profile and still protect, they have to be harder, right? But they do come in a 32+1 and solid white (yum---lookie at all the pucks I stopped!)

The Revokes only come in a 33+1 (or intermediate 31+1, which is too small). The 33 would probably be okay, so it's not a huge deciding factor, but when combined with the fact that I also can't get the color I want... Hmm...

Then there are ones like Smiths that are just a few hundred more and completely custom pads. The problem is, what if I don't like them? Pretty sure they can't go back.

And then I go back to the Vaughns, which have better knee protection and are softer from the start (and come in 32+1) but also don't come in a color I want. But the idea of not getting dinged in the calf sounds kinda nice, too. Plus they have this wider pad on the bottom so you have better stability, which seems like a fine idea.

Bahhhh! So, I dunno. Advice is welcome, as long as you're okay with me not taking it. :)

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Naptastic and Cecilicious!

Just when my knee is starting to feel like I don't have aliens living in it, I get to go wreck it again tonight. First with a novice game at 7 and then with a 3 on 3 tournament from 11 p.m.- 8 a.m.

I've never met a goalie who enjoys a 3 on 3 tournament, but I'll do my best. At least I'm only playing against myself, so if I suck for one team, so does the other goalie. :) Never done a tournament of any kind before, and certainly not one like this where I don't have a a single team relying on me. I really don't know what to expect, but I'm sure it will be more fun than I'm expecting.

Also getting started with the women's league out at Space City on Tuesday, but at least I have Mondays off for a couple of weeks. I SHOULD go to Scotty's goalie clinic Monday, but not this week. As much as I get out of those, I need to rest as much as possible to get my knee recovered from camp. I still can't sit cross-legged and it hurts like hell to kneel on it, so getting dressed is going to be fun.

Honestly, I'm a little burned out but I don't see a break coming for ... ever. I just need to be careful and cry "uncle" for a week if I get too fried.

One thing that was awesome about camp was that my whole life, for one week, was about being a goalie. I don't know any goalie (amateur, anyway) who doesn't wish they could just focus on that. No work, no family obligations, nothing but stopping pucks. Heaven.

And even when the stopping pucks was less successful than I'd want, there was always another chance to redeem myself right behind it. I think that helps you not obsess so much on one ice session. A clean slate is just hours away. I guess that's the trade-off for the grind that pro goalies experience?

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When I play Tuesday, I should have my new chest protector on, assuming I like the Vaughn Epic 8606 as much as the 8800 I tried on in person. I sure hope so. My old Brian's is hanging together by a thread.

Speaking of which, apparently the glue in my mask doesn't like going on airplane rides because a couple of major pieces fell out. Fortunately I was able to kind of wedge them in place and get by last week, but I finally glued them back in yesterday. And a piece inside my glove has come unstitched, too. Less sure what to do about that since it's in a not very sewing friendly spot, but it makes my glove so loose, I keep losing it. More super glue? :)

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But never mind all that. Right now, the Jays are on and Brett Cecil is pitching. And this new kid Escobar has flair to spare, so you know I like that, even in my baseball boys. Go Birdies! And I apologize if I sleep through half the game. Got a long night tonight.

(Have I told you I have all these KC Royals shirts from when Mr.C went to "free shirt night" there and ended up bringing me 3? So when I wear them, I pretend they're Blue Jays shirts. I'm not sure if that's more sad or brilliant.)

And because I know I have readers who love this song:

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Minnesota Day 3

This is the day that was awesome, and then it sucked, and then it got awesome again. So much better than the reverse, isn't it?

Started my day by sleeping until 10. Booyah. That was nice. Yay for black out drapes at hotels. But then I had to hustle because I had to return the chest protector to Hockey Giant and buy some skates, or at least try to.

So I go to Panera for brekky. A cinnamon roll AND a power breakfast sandwich because you can eat like that when you play hockey all day.

Then I jetted down to Bloomington to return the c/a. No problem. Looked at their goalie skate selection, nobody offered to help me, so I said, "Fuck it." and headed to Blaine back to Hockey Central where the guy'd been so helpful before.

The guy being Jason. At Hockey Central. Love that guy. I felt bad because he was SO helpful the other day but I just wasn't seeing anything that was just right. But I knew exactly what I needed for skates: Under $300, widest skate you got.

He measured me and determined I needed a 6.5. WHAT? I'm currently in an 8 and I wear a 10 or 9.5 in street shoes. So I thought, NO WAY are these gonna fit. He brings out some RBK something or others. Bottom of the line, basically, but whatever. I'm no diva.

Well, they fit perfectly. He said one of the reasons my skates were killing me is because of the size difference. Everything was hitting my feet in the wrong places.

The wide 6.5s were still a little crunchy across the forefoot so he stretched them and that was better. And then we heat molded them and that was even better.

I was nervous about jumping them into such intensive action, but it turned out absolutely great. They're very comfortable. Only a bit of lace bite on one foot, but I think I can fix that with a different lacing technique. Nothing to worry about and LOADS better than my old ones. I can't even tell you. There was a bit of adjustment to the shorter blade in terms of my balance but half an hour in, I was fine. They also seem to weigh about half as much, which was kinda weird, too, but I certainly don't mind.

So anyway, I got all that done and hauled back to Parade for my ice times, which were a 75 minute and 60 minute session back to back. I thought that was going to be it for the day, but the goalie wrangler asked me to come back for the open ice at 8 because the campers wanted to scrimmage.

Well, I sucked pretty bad in both my sessions. My net was filled with pucks on the drills they were doing. I was being kind of hard on myself about that and feeling a little low and just wanted to come home and lick my wounds.

But the hockey gods smiled on me in return for coming back and putting on a wet sports bra (worst piece of wet gear ever) and blessed me with a really good game that lifted my mood again.

So much so that I'm completely exhausted physically but still buzzing. It'll wear off soon enough, but it definitely gives me the mental energy to face tomorrow and not be worried about everyone thinking I'm a huge sieve all the time. Just most of the time. :) Gimme some defense and real game action and mayyyybe I can turn it on a little bit. I did tonight anyway.

Tomorrow is another very busy day from top to bottom. Have to be on the ice at 11:45 but I also need to find a Play it Again and sell my old skates. Figure they'll go for a bit more up here than in Texas. I think I'll just eat lunch at the rink and stay there until my later session, unless I'm feeling energetic, in which case, I'll drag my soggy ass to the Hockey Lodge at the X and get a new Wild t-shirt to replace my stupid Gaborik one. Pfft.

Then tomorrow night, after the coach's scrimmage, which is supposed to be a lot of fun, I'm heading out to the Blue Fox in Arden Hills (wherever that is) to see the Russoville house band and hang with the Russovillians. That is my reward for surviving the day on the ice. :)

And somewhere in all that, I need to find a damn drugstore to get some bandaids. I ripped a big hole in my finger from lacing up my new skates so many times today. There's something about the slimy interior of a goalie glove that makes you not want to expose your open skin wound to it, you know?

Okay, nearly midnight. Time to give the old bones some rest. Thanks for reading. I know it's all been rather self-indulgent lately, but it's summer and I'm incredibly self-absorbed and that's how it goes. I still want to do posts on the Wild goalies and on Brusty signing with Binghamton. I think Baby Sens and Jackals fans should know how lucky they are and I'm pretty sure I'm equipped to tell them. :)

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Minnesota Day 1

Okay, I know I said my next post would be on the Wild's baby goalies, but I'll get to it. For now, I figure I should write a bit about my little visit here to Minnesota.

Yesterday, I got into town and discovered that the 25 cents for the sissy luggage cart is money well spent when you're carrying 50 lbs of goalie gear, a rolly bag, and a computer bag from the gate to the car rental place here in MSP.

There was a train, 3 escalators, and a LONG walk to get there. I actually lost my rolly bag and laptop at the top of one of the escalators, but some guy was nice and carried it down for me. Thank you, guy.

Then I went shopping for goalie gear. Amazing to get to touch things in person, but shopping for pads is just as mysterious in person as online. And honestly, the more I play and think about what I really need, pads are dropping down the list. I think mine have finally started to shrink down to the right size and I'm actually landing on the knee stack more than I'm not. They're still not perfect but they get the job done.

I actually ended up buying a c/a, which is one of those things you just have to try on. And I tried on a BUNCH and most of them, I wanted to rip off and set on fire, they were so uncomfortable. I found that I REALLY liked the Vaughn Epic 8800, but it's over $400 and that's just not happening. So if I could find a 8600, I'd jump on it, but most places are out of them.

So, I settled on a Bauer Performance, but overpaid for it at Hockey Giant. It kinda pisses me off that they don't honor their online prices at the store. I mean, I didn't ask them to, but those should sync up, right? Annoying. But that's getting returned today.

And instead, I'm on the hunt for skates. I don't know what it is but lately my skates are absolutely killing me within 15 minutes of putting them on. Just crushing my forefoot. From what I'm reading, Nike Bauers are the most narrow, even in wide widths, so I'm hoping between changing brands and getting a pair that's heat moldable, I can find some that will get me a couple of hours of comfortable skating.

Annnnyway, enough about that stuff.

My first day in Minnesota ended with me locking my rental car keys in the trunk and having to call my insurance's roadside assistance to help me. Better yet was that I locked them in the trunk while I was getting ready to go pick up my dinner I'd ordered. So I had to call them and say, "Um, I'll be there in, like, an hour and half." Ugh. But big props to Olive Garden, they remade my pasta for me when I got there so I had fresh noodles to eat.

That was a long day, but things started looking up on Day 2.

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Poorly Equiped

I don't have a lot to compare it to, since I've only been to one other Aeros equipment sale, but dude... where the hell was all the stuff? Seemed like there was maybe 1/4 the amount of stuff as there was last year.

Good in a way, because I didn't have to hem and haw about wanting something I didn't really need, like another practice sweater. Glad I got a couple last year so I'm set for a long time. They're nearly indestructible.

My main goal was to get a new stick, and I had all three goalie's sticks to choose from and no other smelly goalies picking thru them with me, so I had plenty of time to get what I wanted. Okay, to get what I needed. I WANTED a Brusty stick, but I'm not spending $75 on a stick I can't use and his is a bit too tall for me.

And since I can't play the puck to save my life, I wasn't sure how much I'd like the rollercoaster-esque curve he uses. I almost got one just to play around with it. And also so I could make lots of "I'm gonna go play with Brusty's stick"-type jokes. Because I'm a 12 year old boy like that.

But again, I'm too cheap.

I thought Dubie's sticks might be a contender because he's a midget like me. But his sticks are even bigger than Brusty's! I just shook my head at that. I mean, these suckers are like 8' long. Not really but damn. What's a 5'8" guy doing with a goal stick as big as a guy who's 6'2"?

 I know style has a lot to do with it, but he doesn't have any of that either, so...

Anyway.

I ended up getting another Anton stick and it's exactly like the one I had from last year. Light, not much curve, good paddle height. Bang. I'm happy. And there were a bunch of his old Sherwood ones, since he switched to an RBK stick during the season (guess he took those with him). I really should have gotten two. Hmm. Guess I could always just make an offer on another one now that the sale is over.

Once that was settled, I poked around in the goalie gear a bit. Dubie's chest protector was there. Super heavy, and he had some sheets of gel padding adhered to the bicep pads. Wonder if it helps. Could use some of that.

There was also a really nice, brand new Brian's c/a. I didn't see a name stitched in it but I think they wanted $500 for it. Um. No. But it was nice. Very light, nice construction.

Two sets of Brusty's pads, plus a couple of brand new blockers and some gloves were available, too. As much as I love to wallow in all things Brusty, I know how rank and filthy goalie gloves get, so I only tried on the new ones. Love a new blocker. They're so cushy and clean. Nearly asked Crazy Jim to throw a roll of tape at me so I could blocker it into the corner, but decided that would be weird to a non-goalie. :) But you goalies get me, right? Of course you do.

They did have a pair of Dubie's pads that probably would come close to fitting me but well... no thanks.

Anyway, I got myself a stick, I didn't have to wait in line or fight crowds, so I'm calling it a success, even if the selection of stuff was rather weak.

What sucked, my friends, was having to watch people play on the ice. :( That nearly brought me to tears when I was leaving. One of the guys I play with on Mondays was playing in that particular game (there's a tournament there this weekend). He's good and I miss playing with him. I miss all of it. *sigh*

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Long-winded goaltending brain dump

So, I was 2 or 3 minutes away from a shutout in 40 minutes of scrimmage (so, not a REAL shut out, but still, would have been nice) and Joe is cherry picking at my blue line. Outlet pass, my team is still deep in the blue team's zone and tired, Joe comes in on me and roofs it backhand. It was such a blur, I had to ask Scott TFCG how he scored on me.

I nearly cried. I was so excited to be so close and boom. One stupid breakaway. Oh well. Disappointment is motivation, right? And I only allowed 1 goal. And it was still a fun practice. Had a little time to just goof around and worked on butterfly slides and puzzled over the hybrid post position and how to 1) find and 2) seal the holes around my feet in that position. Grr. I hate that position, even though I know how useful it would be if I could get a grip on it.

Went out on the 5/8ths sharpening for the first time. Definitely easier than the initial sharpening and I don't see any problem getting to 1/2 by early July and being comfortable on that for camp. It's amazing to me what a difference it makes in all areas of my game.

• Quick (a relative term for me) recovery to my feet is massively easier. I feel like I can just pop up when they're sharp. Even if my balance isn't 100%, I've got so much bite, it's easy to adjust.
• I feel so agile. Like my movements are more crisp and more "sure."
• I have less pain. My knee finally feels fine post-game for the first time in months and I think part of it is reducing strain from my muscles having to accommodate for work my skates should have been doing for me. 
• I worked on butterfly slides while the skaters did some drills, which is one of those things that real goalies make look easy and natural when it totally isn't. It's very tiring on your legs and very hard to get your balance and momentum such that you actually move side to side and don't just spin in a circle. Still can't do it much at all but the sharper my skates, the closer I can get. It's more a strength issue now.
• Shuffling still sucks, especially to my weak side, but as before, everything else is so infinitely better, I don't care. 

Lowell Devils goalie Mike McKenna and I had a brief twitter exchange about sharpening a while back and he equated even 3/4 as being like skating on banana peels for him. I totally get that now. I could tell my skates were getting dull because I was starting to feel uncoordinated and "slippery" again like before the sharpening. I vow to keep the sharpenings up before that happens this time.

Not sure what that means for how long I can go between sharpenings though. Last time it was about 7 weeks, so I'm thinking 4 weeks would be more ideal. If I play all 3 ice times in a week, that's about 4 hours on the ice. 2.5-3 if I only do Sun/Mon or Sun/Tues. So that's 10-16 hours of ice time in a month, probably averaging 13 hours. Sounds about right. Though with softer summer ice coming... I dunno. Urgh.

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I've had trouble with my skates loosening up on me while I play, so that precipitated the switch to waxed laces last night. It seemed to help, but sweet honey mustard, those bitches are hard on the fingers. Gonna have some nice callouses from dealing with those.

And I had to do them both twice tonight. On the right side because they were just too loose. And on the left side because once I got them on, I could tell this (quarter-sized) blister on my heel (from walking the dog in sneakers without socks) was going to be extremely painful. Luckily Michelle had some moleskin, so that skate had to come off and back on. The moleskin helped a ton through the practice portion, but once the scrimmage started, I felt that fucking blister with every single move of my left foot. Every little shift of my heel. Ouch, the burning!

It was a long limp back to the dressing room when we were done. Was never so happy to get my skates off and flip-flops on!

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Anyway, back to SLICE tonight for my beloved Monday drop-in. I'm trying to mentally gear up for the faster shots and faster play tonight. I played well at novice but often that means a bad SLICE game because I get comfortable with Novice speed and this bunch is a couple notches faster. It's the quicker releases that burn me when I'm still on "novice timing." It just requires more focus and patience to beat these fast releases. It's a great challenge though, so I'm stoked.

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Wondering when the Aeros equipment sale is going to be.

Priority #1 is to pick up a stick or two. I like Khudobin's that I'm using now, but he's switched to an RBK stick from Sherwood, so I'll be interested to see how that compares. It's funny how many people I see using Brusty's sticks from last year, though they're easy to notice since you don't get that coloring any other way. But I suspect his stick would overwhelm me. *ahem* You know, because he's tall. And it's probably bigger than... wait, what?

I suppose Dubie's sticks would be in the right size range for me, too. I'll have to compare his and Anton's and see which is best. I wear out the heel of my stick faster, which I read means it might be too tall for me. If Dubie's is a hair shorter, I might go that route. We'll see what's available.

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GOALIES:

I'm making another batch of sweat bands. This time I'm using real ShamWOW material because I couldn't find the cheap knock-off kind. So, any goalies out there wanting to try one, shoot me an email and I'll make sure you get one. I think I got enough velcro to make 12 and only 4-5 are spoken for, so don't be shy.

I've been using mine for a while and the only thing I don't like about them is that they do take a couple of days to get dry to the bone either after washing or playing in it. And you can't put them in the dryer (though you can machine wash them). I find machine drying them makes them somewhat less effective.

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Talked tonight about possibly playing goal for one of the two Willowbrook Houston Hockey Series teams next season. Or it was more like Dan asked me if I wanted to and I said, "You'd want me?" and he said, "Well, we need a goalie." Hahaha... Not "yes" exactly. Ahhh, some day I'll be wanted rather than merely "available." I laughed though because I understand. Those guys have lived through my growing pains, which have been pretty awful at times, and probably appear even more awful to them not having been in the clown skates themselves.

But part of me says it would be good for me to have to play games that really matter. I'm not very good under pressure and it would give me at least 12 games of practice at getting better at that and just trusting myself and not getting all tight and scatterbrained. I've avoided tournaments for that reason... I'd hate for people to spend a bunch of money and me just blow up in goal and ruin it for them, so I get a little tweaked about it. Perhaps knowing I have multiple chances, I'll be more calm.

Haven't decided though. Seems like to drop $500+ bucks on something, I should be excited to do it and I'm pretty ambivalent. Might rather spend that money on better fitting gear, to be honest.

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I heard this on the way home last night. Windows down, crank it up, bitches. I know I've posted it before, but I love this song.

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Standard Sharpening

Okay, on my list of shit that sucks: Drop-ins with too few players that last an hour too long. And worse when the teams are drastically out of balance. You're bored to death at one end and getting shelled at the other.

I could bitch for another 3 paragraphs about how not fun drop in was tonight, but then you'll just find out what a bitter hag I can be, so I'll spare you.

There were some good things:

• The 5-hole was solid tonight. I did let one in under my pad when I was going down while moving across the crease, but that's not 5-hole. :)
• My legs felt good! My feet hurt, but my legs did what I wanted them to, rather than feeling all stumbly like they did last week. I've changed my game day Feeding Schedule a bit to having a regular midday meal (sandwich and chips kinda thing) and then adding a bowl of good granola-ish cereal about 3 hours before I play. That seems to keep my energy up a lot better. Kinda figured there was a nutrition component.
• I had some good saves. One funny moment where a guy had the puck between the corner and the back of my net and he's looking for an option for putting it on net. We both realize at the same time that there's a gap between my back and the net and I scooch back and go, "No you are NOT putting that in the net off my back!" He laughed. We had a moment. Nice guy with some BLISTERING wheels. Holy cow. Don't usually see that kind of speed among amateurs. 

Oh well.  I better stop before I start bitching like I said I wasn't going to do.

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Aeros tomorrow and I'm pretty jacked about it because we appear to be headed for fresh goalie meat with Khudobin up. And you know how excited I get about fresh goalie meat. :)

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Left my skates to get sharpened after drop-in. Going 1/8th sharper this time to 5/8ths. Working my way down. Oh and get this, I was filling out the form and was trying to do the math for what was one step sharper than 3/4s (yeah, numbers aren't my strong suit) and the guy goes, "Just put 'standard'."

I'm like, "What?"

"Just put 'standard' for standard goalie sharpening."

"Uh, no." *look at him like he's outta his mind* "What's one down from 3/4s?"

"I dunno. I use metric."

"Well, here's hoping the guy who sharpens them doesn't."

Are you kidding me? This is the advice goalies are getting in Houston, my friends. Dear god. Standard sharpening? I'm still kinda speechless. What does that even mean? I don't think he even knew! It's a scary, scary sharpening world here in the hockey hinterlands.

Dear Aeros Equipment Dude, Can we work a deal? :)

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Under your armor: Goalies, whatchu wear down there?

One of my readers emailed me today and asked about what is the "right" thing to wear under your goalie gear.

It's a subject near and dear to my heart, so now that I have a good excuse to bring it up, here's my take: There is no right answer. Whatever is comfortable, lets you move, doesn't make you too hot, etc.

Personally, I wear yoga pants and a wicking shirt. The yoga pants are cotton, which is pretty stupid because they hold sweat, but I can't seem to want to go to anything else. They're tight everywhere except the ankles, so they don't get twisted up no matter how much I flop around. They don't ever get stinky (they don't hold funk like wicking stuff can). And I don't mind wearing them right to the rink if I'm playing in a place where I don't want to change. They don't look so much like "undergear" as just workout pants.

Also, my hard-earned goalie ass looks delicious in them (okay, not THAT delicious ----->). Thighs, on the other hand... not so much, but whatever. Selective vision never hurt anyone.

Should I discuss commando? Nah. ;)

I absolutely do NOT want my scratchy, rough chest protector touching me. So I wear a long sleeve wicking shirt. Unlike my lower half where I can tolerate cotton, I really, REALLY hate feeling a sweaty shirt on me. So while these do get sweaty, they don't feel heavy and soppy. Yuck.

And of course, a sports bra under that to keep the jugs from going every which way. Sometimes I think being small chested would be a bonus as a female goalie, but frankly, tits and hair are all I've got (and living in Houston, even the hair doesn't always cooperate), so you won't catch me complaining.

I think that's everything.

That said, I've seen all kinds. Lots of folks still wear hockey socks and either a garter or compression shorts like skaters wear. Never tried it but the whole hockey sock thing is clumsy IMO. Seems like they would get twisted or bunched up when you're going up and down or be rough on your legs and knees. No thanks. 

I've heard others wear anything from pajama bottoms to sweatpants. To me, the smartest thing is that skin-tight UnderArmor-style wicking stuff. I've seen a couple of pros who go that route (god bless 'em). They won't budge, will stay light even with tons of sweating, often a little slick to make sure your pads rotate nicely, etc.

Up top, some people wear short sleeves or no shirt at all under their chest protector. I'd rather be hot than let my chest protector touch me all game. If you like to spend money, there's even stuff like this, made especially to protect more vulnerable spots.

So, there ya go. It's really just what feels right and comfortable to you. Like I said, it makes absolutely no sense, as much as we sweat, to wear anything cotton, but there's a point where you really just have to find what works and not worry about whether it makes a ton of sense.

It doesn't make a whole helluva lot of sense to willingly put yourself in front of 90 mph missiles, so I'm assuming "Overcoming Logic" is in all our repertoires, right?

I only pretend to know it all, so feel free to throw in the comments what you like and why. Would be good to get a range of ideas for the "newbie goalie" blog.

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