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*

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As promised.... goalie porn

Though it's not who I thought it would be.

John Grahame, recently signed by Lake Erie because both their goalies are out with injuries, apparently has the whole "goalie making love to the camera" thing down really really well. Color me surprised, and delighted that Chris "Enabler" Jerina caught these battery burners.

Wait for it...

Wait for it...

Wait for it....

Ahhh, money....

Other side...

Dear Baby Jesus,

Thank you for goalies.

Love,
Ms.C

P.S. And cameras. And accommodating photographers. 

All photos by Chris "Accommodating Photographer" Jerina

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Walkabout & Calling All New Adult Goalies

I'm outtie for a couple of days, gang. Sorry I don't have anything awesome for you to read while I'm gone, but I don't have anything awesome for you to read while I'm here, either, so perhaps I've set your expectations appropriately already.

Chris "Tell It Like It Is" Jerina tells me there's goalie porn waiting for me, so that's something for me and all the ladies to look forward to. I promise not to dawdle on that.

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Also, something to think about over the weekend: My goalie peeps, especially those of you who started playing goal as an adult, be thinking about the things you wish you'd known, things that have been pivotal to your development, etc. and sharing those with me, either in the comments or via email.

My summer project is building a site chock full of info for people who want to pick up goaltending as an adult. It's a daunting challenge and yet I run into more and more people who have done it or are doing it on their own. Why not consolidate the wealth of knowledge we've gleaned as pioneers (heh) and share it?

So, I'll be bugging people for help, or you can just hit me with it without me bugging you. Your choice. :) Just planting the seed here. Let me know your thoughts.

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Finally, a song I like:

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Phew. That's better, bitches....

I was so off on Sunday that, while logically I knew I'd right the ship, the illogical part of me (which can dominate at times) was fuh-reeek-ing out.

So, I knew I had to hit the Tuesday drop in and prove to myself that I am not as big a mess as Sunday's game made me look.

Well, it was good. Only 3 goalies, not a ton of skaters, so we did 10 minute shifts in each net, which was just right. I ended up just playing 2 20 minute shifts and then took off. Had kinda proven what I needed to and wanted the locker room to myself.

Also, *SCIENCE!* will be interested to know that I nearly induced asexual reproduction by making myself pregnant with my own very hot glove save. Pretty sure the ice melted a little from how hot that save was.

Anyway, it was a blast and nice to play at full speed and see lots of shots and get a rhythm going. Feels really really good to be back in my groove.

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Mental Tuesday

One little thought: I'm reading a book on mental training for athletes (they let pretend-athletes read it, too... in fact, we probably need it more) and it's making me realize how negative my thoughts were on Sunday. Every rush, every shot, I was thinking, "Don't let this one in."

Talk about the the wrong thing for a goalie to be saying to herself! (Why don't I realize this in the moment?)

Tonight, my goal is to replace any negative thoughts with, "Gimme your best shot."

I know it's seems corny to have to think like this, but when you're an overthinker like me, you have to have a plan for dealing with it. And that phrase will shut down the overthinking, make me want to play at the top of my crease, make me want to challenge and be aggressive.

And with that.... it's nap time!

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No wonder I sucked!

The Earth is literally off its axis due to the Chilean earthquake!

Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth's axis. Gross calculates the quake should have moved Earth's figure axis (the axis about which Earth's mass is balanced) by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters, or 3 inches). Earth’s figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis; they are offset by about 10 meters (about 33 feet).

Crunchy, you have my permission to use this as your excuse for letting in that game winner from Crosby, too.

Combine the Earth being off its axis with PMS and fucked up eyeballs... I was due for a bad game, right? Phew.



Love you Carole, but I think you were the inspiration for this:



Oh and here's a little bonus. This series of photos made me laugh really hard. Individually it's like, whatever, but strung together, the different faces and demeanors and stuff. I dunno, I just had a good giggle going through them.

Whoever 22 is, I want to put him in my pocket and take him home. Adorable.

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Being Wade

F**k it. I'm pissed tonight. I played like shit and don't really understand why. All night long, even in warm ups, my angles were off and I was fighting the puck. I felt like I was playing with my head on crooked all night. The puck might as well have been a grenade for how much I seemed to want to have any contact with it.

My eyes had been bothering me during the day, so maybe that's part of it. Hard time focusing and tracking the puck into me.

And worse, I didn't react well to getting scored on. Very not cool. But given how bad my boobs hurt, I'm calling it PMS and screw all you men who want to argue with me on that.

Speaking of which, we have a new girl at hockey who is delightful and tonight she was getting played a little rough by one of the new guys, so she told us after that she turned to him and said, "I will fuck you up, good lookin'." <3<3<3!

The first goal against was the only one that was particularly acceptable. The next, I got IN my glove and then somehow still dropped it in the net. I have no idea how that happened.

And then to really rub it in, some joker lobs a big, high arching shot at the net. I try to snag it but of course, I've got shit for a glove and I try to catch it over hand when I should have focused on getting my body in front of it and catching it underhand. Or knocking it away. Or doing ANYTHING but let it fall into the net behind me. Stupid. Just embarrassing and stupid. I could cry thinking about it now.

Anyway, whatever. I don't have enough beer to fix this so I'll just have to man up and swallow it until I can do better. I think this probably means that unless I get an emergency request to play Monday, I'll drag my ass to Tuesday drop-in and see if I can avoid ending this week on such a bad note.

I like this song and demand that you enjoy it as well.

Oh, also, congrats to my Canadian lovelies on your undulating gold medals. I event went out to dinner in my Canada Hockey sweatshirt just to see if I could annoy someone. (See? My hatefulness has been going on all day.)

I feel sad for Ryan Miller, but he has to know individually that he was unbelievable. And his silver medal teammates owe him all the steaks his skinny ass can eat.

I also felt bad for Fatso, who seemed very much on the outside of the celebration scrum after the game winner. Awkward being the back-up goalie in such a situation, isn't it? Yeesh. I still love you, Marty. I'll hug you.

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