Sad bunny finds a smile

Watching the Gold Medal game. Would have made it home without knowing the result and that would have been fun, but some jerkoff wanders up to where everyone is standing around watching the high school team before us practice, and says, "USA beat Canada in the World Juniors."

There was a collective, "AUGH, I had that DVR'd! Thanks a lot!"

Really wasn't sure how this drop-in was going to go tonight. My third game in three nights, it really wasn't feeling very important to me, and I'd spent most of the evening before hockey fighting back sad bunny tears.


Last time I played a Tuesday drop-in in the midst of a pity party for myself, I was AWFUL. I was awful and I lost my cool and I drove home... not just crying... but WAILING. It was uuuuugly.

So I was wary. I knew I needed to just get absorbed in the game and honor the experience. It helped that one of my defensemen and I were talking before the game about what a blessing it is to get to play hockey. I nearly let loose the waterworks right then and there but just agreed with him and got back to stretching.

Also probably helped that stupid skaters crashed into me not once but TWICE during warm-ups. What the hell. Raise your head occasionally, dumbass. That got the adrenaline going though.

Started the game with the much more skilled Dark team shooting on me. I stopped the first shot and it was a good one, so I felt good. And from there, I was into it big time and the good play lasted the full 15 minute shift in that net, where I stayed very busy, and resumed when I got in net at the other end against the white team.

TWO rushes in a row, the white team dinged me HARD right in the mask with their shots. One of them kinda stung but I've had worse. Didn't bother me. But on the next rush (odd man, naturally) I start screaming, "AIM FOR THE HEAD! AIM FOR THE HEAD!"

They're all like, "WTF?"

And I'm thinking, "Oh shit, girl, you act like that, you better stop this thing."

I stopped it. :)

It was awesome.

I also pulled a Brusty and poke checked the REALLY good guy on the white team so thoroughly, I kept his stick in my crease and sent him flying into the boards. He was fine and had a big grin for me when he got up. I had a big grin for him, too.

In fact, my favorite thing tonight was just making those saves, and looking right at the shooter and smiling real big at 'em.

By the time I got down to the other end for my final 15 minute shift, the white team was getting a little tired and it was a lot of odd-man rushes. I held 'em off pretty well for a while, but the last 10 minutes they figured out to shoot high glove. Goal, goal, goal, goal. Rough, but that's okay.

It's still by far the best I've played this drop-in. And it was fast fast fast. The faster it was, the better I was. When it got slower near the end and the Dark guys had time to pick their spots rather than just having to get a shot off, that's when I got roasted.

Anyway, it was a blast and really nice to string two confident nights together without cratering under the weight of my own cockiness. The goal, of course, is to be cocky all the time and be able to stand behind it. Because it's waaaaaay the fuck more fun to be a cocky goalie. Sorry. That's just me being genuine. ;)




Oh! And big ol' PS here! I figured out why my freaking right pad is always jacked up. The hard padding in the front of the right leg of my pants is maladjusted somehow so there's a big lump on the front that pushes the pad inward on my leg. I dunno why it took me this long to figure out, but I finally did while I was standing around tonight.

So I'm gonna have to do some investigation and possibly surgery on my pants the front of my right leg flat like it is on the left leg. Isn't that weird? But I'm thinking it may fix my stupid pad flip problem! That would be awesome.