Monday, January 31, 2011

Quick hits: Porn, All Star, Split-T, Training, Writing, Blingee

If you're still not checking out Going 5-Hole, the best source for goalie pornaholics on the internet, you're missing out. It's swoontastic.

And speaking of swoontastic goalies (you know where this is going, right?)



The best part is when he mentions Cody Bass. ;)

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The AHL needs to get it together on the Skills Competition now that the NHL's competition is so improved (IMO, anyway. I know as many people who don't agree with that assertion as those who do.)

It's also a bitch for goalies where I don't feel like it's quite as bad in the NHL skills competition. The 3-on-0 thing and the Rapid Fire thing are just nasty for the goalies. Though I do think a couple of goalies should throw in on the fastest skater, because that's way funny to watch.

I also demand that AHLers get to skate through a curtain of smoke with their name and (possibly the wrong) team superimposed on it. In fact, I'm gonna have that shit installed at my front door. Ring the doorbell and WOOSH, I appear through MS.CONDUCT, BITCHES! smoke.

Bad. Ass.

Also bad ass is John Curry's mask, which you can see here at IGM. OoooMG, scary angry shiny penguin!!!

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As much as I love having my own team in women's league, I think I need to go back to keeping to myself before games. My focus is so easily rattled by conversation in the room, even the most innocuous, I think it's best if I just get dressed and get outta there and clear my head by myself.

Yep. I'm THAT goalie now.

Got my usual drop-in tonight and then a WL game tomorrow, but not against Captain Hat Trick's team, so I'm planning to just get in The Zone and stop all the pucks. That's easy, right? :)

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During the pre-game crap for the NHL, they had King Henrik talking about his glove and how he's got a split-T style where the back of the netting isn't solid. Apparently that helps him keep the puck in the glove better because, as he said, his glove hand isn't that good. (Fuck me, man, what is MINE if HIS isn't that good?)

So, I've decided I need that. :) Now I just need someone to buy me this $400 glove (solid white, please) that I basically use to block shots and cover pucks with since I can't catch anything. No big deal.

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Finally started phase two of Goalie Training Goddess Maria Mountain's Rapid Response Goalie Training today. The first phase was easy 20-minute segments. Things are ramping up now with copious squats interspersed with upper body stuff, which I love.

Well, I don't love upper body stuff because I'm a total marshmallow up top, but I'm glad she includes it, both because it's a break and because I need it.

Get this: I can't do one single push-up correctly. Oh boy. I told you: marshmallow. But I love that I'm HAVING to do them. I will get better and it will be awesome.

The other thing I decided is that I was being stupid before trying to alternate these workouts around my playing schedule. Neither is so difficult that one should preclude me from doing the other on the same day. Sure, I had jello legs after this morning's session, but I've done goalie clinic and a game right after and that's harder than this.

So, princess is gettin' after it. Looking forward to reviewing the program either here or at IGM at some point.

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It's both tough and easy to be a goalie while writing (sometimes hard messages) about other goalies. But I finally had to take Khudobin to task Saturday for his unfocused play pretty much all season in the AHL.

It's tough because I know how hard it is. And it's probably even harder than I know. But it's also easy because I do understand the position pretty well and the the goalie mindset and what inspires vs. sapping your inspiration. And I understand why he's playing the way he is because I've done it all wrong myself, too.

It's also tough because people are protective of goalies they love, and lots of people love Anton, and rightly so. Heck, he's the only one last season I wasn't sticking voodoo pins in trying to make a spot for Brusty to move up to Houston permanently. He's a guy I'll follow throughout his career.

But that means I have to be honor that love and be as honest and thoughtful and hyperbole-free as I can when I have to write something like that. I have to be able to stand behind it and it took most of the season to build up enough "evidence" to feel comfortable doing that.

Anyway, not really a point there (sorry), just a little hockey writer musing. Much like I'm learning goaltending, I'm learning that craft as well. Unfortunately it's not all Blingee'd up pics of Brusty. That would be fun though...

BBBlingee
Free Photo Editor

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Saturday, January 29, 2011

NHL All Star Skills Chatfest

Having a little chat with the boys over at Hockey Primetime for the NHL All Star Skills Competition. Join in starting at 5:45 CT.

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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Open Net; Feeling Good

I'm reading Open Net by George Plimpton, about the time he played in net for the Bruins during training camp and then played a bit in an exhibition game.

Not quite halfway through and I find it... not hard to read but not written like I want it to be written. But I'll reserve further judgement until I've finished.

However, I loved this line about when a goal is scored and I had to share it:

The puck sits in the nets like a dog's mess on the carpet. 
I can't really think of a better way to put it. I'm so repulsed by pucks in my net, I won't touch them. Once I see the puck's in the net, I won't even turn around again. I'm done with it.

The ref or my defense have to fish it out, because I've moved on to my "spend 10 seconds figuring out what went wrong and then forget it" routine. Sometimes I forget to move out of the way. Like, that puck might as well be in orbit around Jupiter for how much I want to do with it after it's in.

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Fun game tonight at Memorial City. I played with this group once before, back before Christmas, and wasn't happy with my game, but I feel like I did a good job learning their rhythm and tendencies in that game and it paid off tonight.

One guy kept getting breakaways and trying wrap-arounds, which was nice practice, and probably a good break because he's good and could have put it in on me at will if he wanted. The only one that went in I got, but it slid around the base of my pads and Bonnie banged it home because I had no idea it was just sitting in front of me.

For the life of me, I don't understand why defensemen won't SAY something when I'm sitting there stock still thinking I have it. Tell me I don't have it so I can get the flippers going or something! Oy.

But that's alright. This group is lousy with positivity, such that it tempers my natural ... what shall we call it... bitchiness? :)

It's a real credit to them how they integrate very novice players with very experienced players at this skate. The pace is steady and not annoying for the goalie like some novice level games can be. Speaking of which, my goalie brothers and sisters might enjoy this article from The Goalie Guild on playing casually vs. attentively.

It provided some clarity for me around LOOKING casual vs. BEING casual. I love goalies who have the confidence to be quiet in net and it comes across as being casual. So when I started playing and mimicked that style of "presence" in net, I confused looking casual with being casual. I'm finally learning that I MUST be attentive, but I can be quiet in the process.

Anyway, just read the article. It's good stuff.

And good luck to the Harpies in Vegas!

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I feel good. :) But please send some healing booboo love out to my goalies Maalivahti and Brusty who are both dinged up. I least I hope Brusty is just dinged up. My girl Maalivahti is a little more than dinged up. Send her some love, please, Goalie Union.

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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Hammered at both ends

Do you know how long I've been waiting for a drop-in where I was super busy all night so I could use that title?

First half of drop-in, the white team took it to me. Then Jason and I switched ends and the white team was getting a little tired so the dark team took it to me.

It. Was. Awesome.

I felt like myself again. Which, I guess for most goalies would be like, "OMG WHAT HAPPENED TO MY GAME?" but for me, you know, at some point you just accept where you're at as an "athlete" and keep chugging along, warts and all.

If anything was extra good tonight, I felt like I was seeing the puck really well, unless there was a big butt in my face, which didn't really happen too often. Both teams played quite well defensively, which always makes it more fun for me. And my timing was back, which was nice.

If anything was extra bad, I didn't get to work on my Anti-Captain-Meaniepants strategy because my defense was so good, I never really saw an unabated breakaway of the type she throws at me. I was able to play most shots without having to scramble and they were basically just taking shots and not doing too much fancy pants dekey shit.

I guess that's my issue.... when to abandon the butterfly and say fuck it, just get something in front of it. I cling to the butterfly like I'm gonna get a bullet in the head if I scramble. And by the time I realize I should have scrambled, the puck is in the net.

That decision point RIGHT THERE is where I fall apart. And I just don't know how to fix it. Because it truly is about that decision, isn't it? It's not about the skill. I can throw a pad stack or a poke check (okay, actually I suck at poke checking), but making the decision to do it is where I hit a wall mentally.

My little goalie brain is going, "FORM FORM!!! STAY UP! STAY SQUARE! DON'T GET OUT OF POSITION! DON'T GET VULNERABLE!!!" (I feel I should add that I'm not LITERALLY thinking this... it's just what my instincts tell my body to do.) Short of tackling a la Tim Thomas, which I am not opposed to doing if I didn't think she'd just put it between my skates as I lunge at her, I just don't know how to break that wall down.

What's even more amazing to me is that the goalies I love are all masters of that whole Butterfly Abandonment Decision. Why haven't I picked some of that up from them, even just through sheer mimicry? I must have issues. ;)

Oh well. Might do a skate Wednesday evening since I don't have women's league tomorrow. We'll see if they need a tendy. Meanwhile, I'm glad I don't skate tomorrow. I got my tushie worked off tonight and had some pretty good lead-legs on a couple of shots I took after the game. Gonna be sore tomorrow. I've missed that.

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Monday, January 24, 2011

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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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

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.

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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Black Hole Drop-in

Ooo baby, did I ever stink last night. Kinda figured I might, after missing 2 weeks and then being sick. Seemed like I was half a second behind on every shot. Everything leaking through me and under me. Total blood bath apart from a few good saves.

Luckily, one was so good, it kinda counteracts a lot of the bad. Just a nasty glove save that was as sexy as they come. Babies for everyone! Stretched all the way out glove side. Didn't even have to look in my glove to see that I had it. Saves like that remind me why I love this (because not much else was reminding me last night). Everybody cheered.

That's one thing about having a shitty glove. People start to figure it out and then get pretty happy for you when you do nab one. Haha.

Apparently there was some intrigue last week when I was gone, as one of the goalies was hit with a puck while she wasn't looking during warm-ups. Big no-no. She got pissed and bailed on the drop-in completely. Oops.

Now, I've had this happen to me at that asshole infested Tuesday drop-in I used to do (thank GOD that's out of my life) and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the d-bags were doing it on purpose. But I've been playing with this group for a while now and they're nice guys, or at least not any worse assholes than I am. Probably less, really. :)

So if I get pegged in warmies at this drop-in (and I have been), they get a "HEY!" and they apologize and we all just move on. In other words, the base assumption is that they're not trying to hurt me until I see evidence to the contrary.

Oh well. You need the odd goalie to go bananas on the skaters occasionally just to keep them in line and remind them how lucky they are to have such cute goalies. ;) It probably won't ever be me, so I appreciate when someone else does the job.

Evidence that goalies may be weird:

Mr. Brain Denter, the one who picks my fucking glove corner 5 times a night, finally got stopped last night. He's coming in on that side and looking for his spot and I was like, "Bitch ain't picking that corner tonight" and leaned over half a foot to cover that hole with my head. BAM. Right in the forehead.

He apologizes as he skates by, looking sheepish. I go, "THAT WAS SO WORTH IT!" Haha...

I get hit in the head with a puck and feel like *I* won the battle?

Yeah. Goalies are weird.

Whatever. We're also awesome.

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Sunday, January 16, 2011

Goalie infidelity & other stuff

"I'm telling Brusty you're cheating on him."

I got that from both Drew and John Saturday night in the midst of my breathless adoration of Josh Tordjman in goal for the Aeros. You can read about that here at T3I.

But no weepy confessions of goalie infidelity here. On my personal goalie roster, there's only one starter.

And speaking of Brusty, he stirred the shit again tonight, retaliating for some joker slashing his glove after the whistle or something. Coach didn't like it but the fans did and it didn't hurt anything, so coach can suck it.

More name chanting, more #1 star, and his jersey made a shit ton of money for a police benefit auction thingy. $2,200! Good on whoever. I approve your taste in overpriced jerseys. Might treat myself to the archive of that game. Love me some Brusty violence and badassery.

And to wrap up the goalie awesome, Khudobin got a shutout for the Wild tonight, his first in the NHL. Awesome picture. Good for him after a lousy game Friday. Have I mentioned I don't miss him? At all?

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So I've pretty much just been laying in bed and coughing since I got back from New England. Today I'm not having a coughing fit when I go up our stairs, so I'm calling that progress. I should be relatively OK when it comes time to play hockey tomorrow night. Hopefully I'm more than okay for women's league. I miss my team!

Hate being so inactive for so long though. I feel like my muscles may have forgotten how to work! Or when I get back out there, they're gonna be all, "Nah. You're not a goalie any more. Sorry. You're a lazy couch potato again." Dammit!

It'll be fine though. *shallow, wheezing breath*

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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The rest of the trip: Snow and an avalanche of boos

Most of my trip was spent in Brattleboro, VT where my best friend from college lives. Our lives have gotten busy and we don't keep up like we did when we were younger, but we don't really miss a beat when we get back together.

I got to meet her twins, who are a year and a half old. I got them saying, "Hockey!" so I consider that a significant advancement in their development as youngsters living in a cold climate. They are SOOOO getting a toy hockey set for their birthday.

I'm pretty notorious for not being very fond of children, but these two are super cute and pretty easy to play with. They don't do that "suddenly bursting into tears for no apparent reason" thing that freaks me out about kids this age.

The boychild and I got along particularly well (I think that's just because he gets along with everybody but I'll take success where I can get it). I miss his smile. But I am happy to be back in my quiet house with a dog who demands much less attention and is far less impressed by Elmo. :)

We had a really nice snow on Friday and Saturday and took advantage of it by going sledding Saturday morning. I've never been sledding before, so that was pretty neat.


It's weird how bright it was out there but how dark pictures of it turned out. But anyway, there's the snowy hill we sledded on. It was fun though mostly I just wanted to sit in the snow and play with it. There was probably 5" of fluff out there and it was just beautiful and dry. I couldn't get enough of it.

What isn't cool is driving in it, scraping my windshield, worrying about ice on the road, etc. Also it prevented me from seeing Brusty play. Boo snow.

And speaking of booing.... On to my adventures in Wearing a Wild Jersey to a Bruins Game.

I figured I'd be okay wearing my Clutterbuck sweater to the Bruins game Thursday night. I mean, it's Minnesota. To most people in the league, we're as forgotten as the Thrashers but with the upside of actually deserving to have a team (that's not MY take, that's just what I figure the consensus is among most people). I didn't figure there was much cause for hate.

And all in all they were pretty decent to me and had a sense of humor. We had unbelievable seats 4 rows behind the Wild bench and it was, according to Russo, the best game of the season.

Our view
It was a pretty fun game and the boys played well. Clutter got a big game winning goal and assisted on the empty netter, so he made me proud. Here are pictures of the game from my friend Scott Slingsby, who shoots for InGoal Mag. And here's a shot of the save that might have made me a little bit of a Rask fan. It was a crazy save.

Anyway, as the night wore on, I thought I was gonna get off easy without getting harassed too badly.

And then they did the Fan of the Game bit on the Jumbotron. It consisted of showing 3 fans -- 2 Bruins fans, 1 Wild fan -- and the crowd cheering for the winner. Well, yours truly was the Wild fan. They caught me in a moment of sneering at something, so it was particularly unflattering. Thanks, Bruins. :)

So, since this was going on at a break, I'm busy Tweeting on my phone and whatnot. Not paying attention. And then Justin, who is Scott's cousin and sat with me (poor guy), says, "Hey, um, you know you're getting booed right?" I look up at myself on the Jumbotron. "Great."

I was so far behind in catching on to what was going on, that I basically just kept doing stuff on my phone because it was a recorded bit on the screen so it didn't matter what I was actually doing (presumably so I wasn't flipping the whole arena off or whatever I might have been inclined to do).

So yeah, the whole arena obviously booed me and some Bruins fan won fan of the game. But when we were on the concourse or walking around after, people kept coming up and recognizing me from the jumbotron. A bunch of them said they voted for me. I finally starting going, "Why? You shouldn't have! You're a Bruins fan!" Weirdos.

Then, when I figure that's done with, we walk into some pizza joint that's packed with Bruins fans. Oh boy. The boos just rained down. The place erupted. So I give 'em a big Rocky fist raise and yell, "SCOREBOARD!" Lucky I didn't get my ass kicked for that, but hey, the truth shall set you free, Boston.

Luckily Justin had a Bruins jersey on, so at least that "vouched" for me a little bit. But the razzing kept coming. They all assumed I was FROM Minnesota, so they're talking shit about the state and I'm thinking, "Yeah, so?"

One guy by our table was being exceedingly loud about it so I finally said something about being from Texas and that stopped him in his tracks and got him to quiet down and focus on something else. He couldn't understand how I could be from Texas and follow Minnesota, or how I could follow a farm team. Why am I not a Dallas Stars fan?

I explained that allegiances come from the heart and not necessarily geography, and he finally gave me a pass for that.

One drunk guy even stumbled over with a beer for me and loudly explained how he wanted to welcome me to Boston and whatnot. Ha. Right. Even if the foam on top didn't look suspicious, I wouldn't have put my mouth on that. But it DID look suspicious. Dunno if he spat in it or peed in it or what. I hope it wasn't pee because I spilled a little on me when I was putting it in the trash. Yuck.

Anyway, Scott and Justin took good care of me and were fantastic company for an unforgettable night of hockey and fandom. I owe the Wild a big debt of gratitude for winning so nicely and making it a lot easier to stomach the haterade. And I have to hand it to Bruins fans, they gave me just the right amount of shit to take them seriously. They're a good bunch of fans and I hope the team gets to playing like they deserve.

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Vacation Report: Brusty Day

I'm baaaackkkkk....

Back from the land of quaint houses and 2-story-tall piles of parking lot snow. It was a good trip, but I ended up coming home a day early because I was flying stand-by and there's a blizzard coming to the East Coast today and Wednesday. I wanted to make sure I could get outta dodge before the planes started filling up.

Worked out well because I also managed to get myself sick. Woke up Sunday feeling some lungular distress, but it was Brusty Day, so I had adrenaline and lustiness and get me through it. But by the time we got home from Providence, I was done for. So, I'm spending my last vacation day in bed, writing. And coughing. No big deal.

And since it makes a nice segue, I'll go backwards and start with Brusty Day on Sunday.

Binghamton @ Providence

So, Brusty played (and won) Friday in Bingo, he backed up Brodeur in a win Saturday night in Bingo, and then was supposed to play Sunday. But the Ottawa Senators are a bunch of selfish bastards and sent Lehner down at the last minute to get him some playing time. They are forever on my shit list for that.

Since Binghamton is 4+ hours from where I was staying and Providence was 2.5 hours, plus Sunday was the only day with clear weather, I decided that was going to be the way to go. And since it didn't require an overnighter, I was able to bring my friend with me and have some company.

So anyway, I went to bed Saturday thinking I was going to see Brusty play Sunday. That's a really nice way to go to bed in my little world. Grin on my face. Brusty Brusty Brusty... :D

Then I wake up in the morning and read tweets from Joy that Lehner's back and he's playing. #heartsink #sad

But dammit, I'm going anyway. At least I'll get to SEE Brusty. And that's just going to have to be enough.

So we get there and I buy tickets with no idea about the layout of the arena, but they're on the blue line at the end where the P-Bruins shoot twice. Okay, if Lehner gets the hook or gets hurt and Brusty comes in, I'll have a great view.

Neither of those things happened, but as it turned out, the seats were on the second row and DIRECTLY across from the visitors tunnel where... the backup goalie sits. :) O HAI BRUSTY!

So, while I didn't get to watch him play... I got to watch him watch his team play. Yay? Okay, I watched the game, too, and in all honesty, was rooting HARD for the Bruins in the first half of the game. I was really hoping for some LehnerFail. Alas, he's a pretty good goalie and the Sens were playing pretty well.

What was sucktastic was that Schaefer was backing up for the Bruins and sitting in the same spot as Brusty, just on the other blue line. So here I am looking at the two goalies who basically inspired ME to be a goalie... sitting on their asses in the locker room tunnel. Maybe the hockey gods were saving me from the stroke I would have had watching them compete against each other, but I have to think they would have enjoyed that. Stupid Ottawa.

At least I did get to see Schaef play, as Dalton got run after 4 goals. His defense was absolutely horrific but I also didn't feel like he was seeing the puck very well. He looks like a goalie whose been playing behind a bad defensive team for too long. There's just something about that that wears a goalie down.

Anyway, final was 5-3. We got back and my friend's husband asked me if my team won. I wasn't sure how to answer that. I guess so? I don't really consider them "my team" unless B's in goal, right? They're just some Eastern team I don't really give a crap about otherwise. But it was nice to see Brusty smiling and happy for the win and relaxed and, naturally, as foxy as ever. Even my friend, who really doesn't care one way or another for hockey or players, approved of my taste in hockey boyfriends.

We also both very VERY much approved of Cody Bass. Very approved. #pantysoup

"If you've had a physical reaction to my handsomeness, you're welcome."
Apart from all that was just the fun of seeing a game in a different AHL barn. The Dunk is a nice building. Holds about 11k and it was pretty full Sunday, but it seemed like an inordinate number of kids. When they did that noisemeter thing on the jumbotron, it was ear-splitting.

Also, I'm not sure whether I approve or not, but they do all their patriotic choir kids at the beginning of the game. America the Beautiful, God Bless America, AND the National Anthem in one swoop before puck drop. And then you're free to enjoy the rest of the game without all that cringe-inducing warbling.

Anyway, that's enough on Brusty Day. Possibly more than enough. I'll hit the rest of the trip over the next couple of days.

Oh, and a quick shout out to Sarah Connors, who writes/shoots for Something's Bruin for coming down at intermission and saying Hi! Great to meet you Sarah!

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Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Cross-promotion and Drop-In

First up is a little piece I wrote for T3I that was out of the usual game report nonsense I usually do there. I kinda liked it. Maybe you will, too. Goalies in particular...

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I sucked balls at hockey tonight. Not literally, of course. Don't know why I feel I need to clarify that but... anyway...

Kinda wanted to have a good one since I don't play for 2 more weeks, but I'm apparently too stupid or lazy to figure out that I can't go 9 hours without eating before I play. I mean really, Ms.C. You know better. But yeah, had a nice big lunch and just got busy and didn't eat again. Faded quicker than I would have hoped. I stayed out and let guys shoot on me until they kicked us off the ice, though, so it was a good workout at least.

But maybe it's good to have a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth as I go on a break. I noticed tonight how weak my push with my... um... WEAK leg is. I was working with one of the guys after the game and he was doing a bunch of dekey shit on me and I was trying to stay up, stay patient, stay with him. But when he cut to my blocker side, my push wasn't enough to get over.

I mean, I KNOW that leg is weak but I'd never noticed that was the reason I'm not getting over to that side. I'd been blaming it on going down too early, but I think it's more not getting enough power in my push as I'm going down. That probably doesn't make sense to anyone but me (or maybe seems obvious, but it wasn't somehow...).

Whatever.

Time to load my GPS up with all the places I'm going this weekend. :) Is it time to go yet?

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Sunday, January 2, 2011

Happy New Year!

I'm a little late welcoming in the new year, at least bloggy style. I try to just look at it like another day, except with maybe a day off from work attached to it (didn't even get that this year), but usually on NYE, I get that creeping feeling of time, and thereby, life ticking past me too quickly. Yuck.

In my 20s, I was always very proud to say I didn't have any regrets in life, but I kinda do now. I guess with all the blessings and happiness hockey has bestowed upon me, it's changed me, too, and if I could go back and get a do-over knowing what I know... boy would I take that in a heartbeat.

But when I'm not being a brat (which frankly, isn't often), I know I'm real fuckin' lucky in this life. To sit around and think, "Dammit, I should be luckier!" is just ludicrous. So that's kinda why I hate NYE, because I have crazy thoughts like that.

I just don't drink enough. I regret that, too.

Things got better on New Year's Day though. Productive day and super fun Aeros game. Also got all my hotels booked for this weekend in New England and my trip to Minnesota next month. Both trips are going to be a lot of fun with some dear friends and good hockey. I'd pack tonight and sit at the airport until Thursday if I didn't have so much to do before then.

Also, I changed my Brusty Pilgrimage plans this weekend. I didn't realize they were playing in Providence on Sunday afternoon and that Providence is only 2.5 hours from Brattleboro (instead of 4+ to Bingo). So I'm going there, possibly even if B isn't starting (which is totally up in the air with both Brodeur and Lehner supposed to be back this week).

I don't have to stay overnight and miss a bunch of time with my friend, and I can maybe see Schaefer play, too, and watch hockey in a building named after donuts and pass through WOONSOCKET, which has been a dream of mine ever since I saw it on Google Maps this afternoon.

(Also, occurs to me that I'd be seeing Bruins and Baby Bruins in the same trip. That's kinda cool.)

So, there's that. I'm jacked. Weather and hockey gods willing, it will all work out. Yes, this is me asking for yet more great fortune. Does it negate some of my greediness if I acknowledge it and bat my eyelashes?

Anyway, I don't know how much I'll be blogging but I'll be Twittering probably TOO much, so follow me there if you want. I even have a new phone with a camera in it so I can take a picture of me in front of the "Welcome to Woonsocket" sign. BOOM!

 The Dunk

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