Quick Hits: Sleep, radio, novice game, hits, Playing Like a Pro

Watching Rangers/Ducks. They showed some highlights of Gaborik goals recently and man, he sure does make it look easy. I like him better on my fantasy team than I do on the team I actually care about though.

(Wow, helluva save by Valiquette. Talk about a guy who flies under the radar, but has a sweet gig.)

(Took me so long to write this, the game ended with a shutout for Valiquette. 18 saves, but still really sweet.)

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I caught up on much needed sleep this morning and still feel like I could do with some extra winks. Also rewatched/listened to the archives of last night's Aeros game. Ubersad that Brusty is hurt, but he's rocking the radio gig pretty hard. Always good to get a player's insight during the broadcast, but of course, I'd rather hear from a goalie because that's the perspective I can relate to.

They talked about how weird it is when a shot hits the outside of the net and you know they've taken a shot, but it makes no noise and you don't feel it. There's that split second of, "Oh fuck, did that get past me?" Man, that's fun.

My second thought is, "Haha... stupid shooter."

Ego problem? What ego problem?

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Got the final game of our summer season tonight. I haven't had a single butterfly in the tummy yet, which concerns me. I may be feeling a bit too mellow to play well if I don't get a little amped. I'm gonna try and wake myself up a little later by whacking the tennis ball around in the garage, get the hand/eye going. Seems to help my pathetic glove a bit when I do that before a game. The dog should enjoy that, too.

Need to get focused though. My mental state was so good on Tuesday. I'd love to get in that quiet-mind state more consistently. Gonna go back and read the piece that The Goalie Guild happened to post just a few hours before I played Tuesday: Do you Overthink your Performances?

Um yeah. It's #5 on that list that gets me.

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Interesting piece here trying to give some perspective to Clutterbuck's hit record last year. Bottom line is, he's still an epic BAMF no matter how you crunch the numbers.

But he got hurt last night, so the Wild are suddenly a lot less interesting to me for a while. They suck right now and the only reason I bother to still watch them suck is because of Cal. Now they're sucky AND Cal-less. FAIL.

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Next Saturday, I'm playing my first game in goal at the Toyota Center as part of the Aeros' "Play Like the Pros" deal. I did it once as a skater and it kinda stunk, honestly. Our team was bad that day, our goalie got lit up, it just wasn't much fun.

But one of the events that spurred me to want to be a goalie was watching Coach Stalin's first game at the TC. I just remember watching the goalies and thinking, "Damn, I want to be out there doing that." So, it's kind of a big deal to me to see that part of my journey come full circle. I should have no problem mustering up the butterflies on Saturday.

Naturally, it's free to come watch but with OU and UT playing at the same time, I doubt many will be out. I've even told Mr.C not to sweat it, because this game isn't about being seen; it's about playing in the same paint as the guys who inspire me every hockey season. The TC is a lifeless, sterile venue, but that crease is hallowed ground to me. I'm SO excited!

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Swear to God, last night the Aeros announcer introduced Craig Weller as "Brian" Weller. Poor guy. I hope I misheard but I don't think I did.

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Ducks Dispersal?

From IllegalCurve.com:

Some good reasons why the Ducks are looking for a new AHL affiliate. The Ducks are still looking for a new affiliate, and it seems likely the team’s players will disperse through a couple AHL teams for the upcoming season.

Does that mean we could get Foxy Drew Miller in Houston? Uh, TommyNew Aeros GM, if you're taking requests...

I know, he'll probably be with the big club, but a girl can wish.

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Jacking Hammer's Style

Totally ripping this from Schultzie. Sorry girl, but this blog has gotten so boring without Aeros coverage. Also, Mr. C has a bunch of friends over playing video games and I'm looking for ways to basically just avoid that whole scene.

One of them is singing You Oughta Know by Alanis Morrisette (they're playing Rock Band right now). Seriously, I may just have to leave the house.

1) What's (Who's?) your favorite team?
Aeros and Wild

2) What's your least favorite team?
Ducks, Habs, Rockford

3) Who's your favorite player?
Cal Clutterbuck, Barry Brust

4) Who's your least favorite player?
Darcy "Mother" Tucker, Chris Pronger "is a pussy"

5) Favorite American team?
See #1

6) Favorite Canadian team?
Calgary

7) Favorite International team?
Canada

8) Who's your favorite goalie?
Brusty, in the minors. Turco, Thomas, and Brodeur in the NHL.

9) Least favorite goalie?
Kipper, but just because he fucked up my fantasy hockey this season. I really don't have it in me to dislike a goalie.

10) Favorite fighter?
Who else but Mitch Love?

11) Least favorite fighter?
Anybody beating up one of MY boys.

12) Favorite jersey/uniform/outfit/sweater?
Love the Kings new third. Love the Wild red (but hate the uniform all together). Love seeing the Aeros in their darks.

13) Least favorite jersey/uniform/outfit/sweater?

Florida, Atlanta's and Sen's thirds

14) Do you like home, away, or "third" jerseys best?
Tend to like the thirds just because they're different. Though only in the NHL. Alternate sweaters in the AHL are usually pretty fug.

15) Who do you want to win the Cup?
Anybody but the Ducks

17) Which player would you most like to sit and have coffee with?
Any goalie.

18) What about a beer?
Chris Holt!

19) How about just watch the game with?
I've enjoyed JBourne's bloggeration of the playoffs... I suspect he'd be pretty fun to watch a few frames with.

20) Have an in-depth hockey conversation with?
Again, any goalie. Or really, any bum off the street. I just love to talk hockey, but if I can learn something, the more the better.

21) Do you collect hockey cards, memorabilia, etc?
No. More to dust. Just my Legace stick and a few Aeros bobbles.

22) If so, what's your favorite card?
N/a

23) Which is worth the most, and what's it worth?
How much will you give me for the Curtis Murphy bobble I've got? It's a big one! But it's very dusty.

24) Do you live by any hockey players?
Not as far as I know, unless you count Coach Stalin. Now, if I lived in Sugarland...

26) Do you play hockey?
Absofuckinlutely.

27) What do you wear to hockey games?
Gotta go biz-caz for my writing gig, so it's slacks, a nice t-shirt, and my light jacket with lots of pockets for my writerly things.

28) Do you have any "watching hockey rituals" or anything anyone might consider weird?
Not really, no.

29) What's your favorite hockey memory (as a fan?)
The Cal for Calder thing was pretty fun.

30) What's your favorite hockey commercial?


31) Who's the nicest player you've met?
Haven't actually met too many. Hard to say.

32) Rudest/meanest/most annoying, etc?
Same answer. Of course, there are guys I don't like but they're probably pretty nice off the ice.

33) Who's the best looking (AKA 'off ice favourite')
Mikko Koivu. Dane Crowley. Both make me catch my breath a little. Okay, a lot.

34) Other off-handed/off-ice comments?
None that I'm okay with putting here.

35) Why do you really like hockey?
The grace and skill contrasted/combined with the speed and violence. There's just nothing else like it. That these guys who are so easy going off the ice are such warriors on it. It never gets old for me. My happy place is sitting up at the top of 108 watching the boys do their thing. I'd rather be there more than any other place.

But on the flip side, I'm equally amazed that *I* can play this game, in my own assbackward way, a couple of times a week and am ALMOST as happy as when I'm covering a game. I dunno. Hockey has been completely transformative for me. I owe it a lot.

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My First Duck Post

This was going to be a Quick Hits post but then I realized both items are about the Ducks, so now it's a Duck post.

Y'all know I hate the filthy Ducks, right? Well, I'm so convinced that the Wild are going to lose in Dallas tonight, I declared on the Wild message board that if the Wild win, I'll buy this shirt:

I didn't say I'd wear it, but it's bad enough having to buy it. But I know Coach Dan is a Ducks fan and, particularly, a Pronger fan, so I'll get it in his size give it to him if it comes to that. Nothing wrong with a goalie bribing her best defenseman to keep up the good work, is there?

Also, a fellow Russovillian went to the Wild game in Anaheim last week and spotted this woman in her MS CON'DUCK'T jersey and busted out the cell phone camera. She's a Duck fan, which automatically makes her taste pretty damn suspect, but I gotta say, I like it.

Ms. Conducts of the World, Unite!

Okay, enough of this Duck post. Time for a shower to wash the ick off.

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This, that, the other

Got my new stick ordered from Ice Warehouse. Returned the other stick to the pro shop. Though that was a bit of an ordeal because the only person working was a kid who didn't know how to process a credit card return. Poor guy was calling everyone, looking through the procedure manual, etc. He was frazzled but persistent and finally found someone who answered their phone AND knew how to talk him through it.

Of course, it's a hike to get out there, so I wasn't leaving until he'd literally tried everything. But he got it done and gave it a little fist pump to celebrate (all the young guys working there are hockey players). Good kid. :)

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There's a great show on the NHL Network each day called Hockey Academy. Goes through little lessons on skating, puck handling, stuff like that. It's geared toward kids, but in skating years, I guess I'm about 5 years old, so it's all good. In fact, most of it is way too advanced for me. But it's good to watch. I've set up a season pass for it now that I'll be skating out. They don't do much goalie stuff so I didn't watch it regularly before.

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Game 1 of the Dallas/Anaheim series is on NHL Network tonight. I didn't get to see much of that series, so I'm catching up and also trying to watch the play

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If you've ever wondered how to tell the difference between a Fangirl and a Puckbunny, this should help. It's an old post but I just found it today and enjoyed the discussion. My favorite quote is by SportSquee's Margee. She perfectly sums up my perspective with her usual aplomb.

"fangirls love everything about the game and puck bunnies just like one thing. Fangirls aren't just wooed by a pretty face. Fangirls are invested in a way that men can't understand. The personality of the player, the style of game, the leadership, it all plays into who one is a fangirl for. Fangirls love the game first, and tend to love the player who loves it in the way that she does. Fangirls pick and choose who they adore. A puckbunny will take anyone in a sweater. To the fangirl, a cute dude is just another variable that enhances being a fan, like loving the jersey of a particular team. It's just icing on the cake."

Bringing this up is apropos of nothing really. Just hockey talk.

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I think that's it. Turco is awesome.

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Hockey Any Time

Great post on the NYT hockey blog this morning.

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/poetry-corner/

I love when sport inspires art or poetry, which I guess goes back to my attraction to deep contrasts. Which reminds me... the Ducks are doing a "win Giggy's loft" thing and they showed all around the inside of his condo. And he's got this HUGE, fabulous painting of a goalie on one wall. I want that! :) Oh, look! How did we live before YouTube?

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More on today's workout

First, yoga today and boy do I feel better for it. Knees aren't clicking anymore, hips don't hurt, very nice. Unfortunately the Wild lost and I didn't even get a good ab workout out of it because it was only 1-0. So much for Smitty sucking. He sure as hell put the lid on us. At least Voros won his fight and didn't have to hump anyone to do it.

Second, somehow there were THREE fights in the Rangers/Ducks game and nobody managed to punch Brad May in the face. I want for very little in this life, but one thing I want is for Brad May to be punched in the face as often as possible. And yet, I rarely get it. I'll have to go back to old footage to get my fix.


ETA: One more thing... I ordered my first goalie gear today! Got some ITECH goalie knee pads (that I can wear under my leg pads when I get to that point, but will hopefully protect me when I'm playing drive-way goalie in the mean time), and a stick and stick tape, plus a few extra foam pucks. Won't be here until late Feb but I'm still just over the moon about having a stick of my very own.

Beauty, eh?

Now we just need a net. There's a 6x4 soccer goal at Academy that I might pick up (it's less than $25) even though the holes in the netting will let the puck right through... no biggie. But I'm going to check Sports Authority to see if maybe they have something more specific to roller/street hockey. This being Houston, I'm not holding my breath, but I have to try.

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Can't sleep

The Wild game was fantastic. Nobody punched Brad May like I'd hoped they would, but I didn't even notice amid the hail of goals and Giggy's temper tantrum.

Oh wait, there's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUxqzrzM8Ng

What a beauty. As Jacques would say, "Poor goalie!"

Anyway, both the later games were mostly blowouts (well, the Sharks did have a little uprising against Calgary but too little, too late... cue "Ring of Fire"), so I headed up to bed early and did my easier/bedtime yoga video. Felt good to do that one, since it's been a while. It is truly a rest day video because, while there is one move I cannot do at all, the rest of it is pretty easy, but still beneficial.

Fell asleep about 11 and woke up at 1:30, desperately thirsty from the too-salty pizza I had for dinner and, like every night when I wake up, immediately started thinking (about hockey, of course... really need to learn to switch that off). All sleeping bets were off at that point. Now it's 4 a.m. and I have to be up at 7 to shower and shave (so poor Cheryl doesn't have to massage thru fur). Is it worth trying to get 3 hours of sleep even though I don't feel very sleepy right now?

Shaver posted a new Aeros Audio today with the defense/special teams coach talking about the guys he's working with right now. He doesn't sound very happy with Scotty or with Belle. Sounds like they're having a tough time changing their approach to suit the style of play the coaches are after from them. At least Scotty's a stud on the PK, blocking all those shots with his big body. How bruised up must he be after a game?

As someone who has spent some time lately pondering the prospect of having pucks shot at me, and even with all the goalie padding, it scares me, I really respect these defensemen who get in there and take those shots with just normal skater pads. Schultz does it for the Wild and nearly had me swooning in a game a while back where he really sacrificed himself during a 3 on 5 situation. It was downright heroic.

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"Lord Stanley's Summer"

Watched a show about what the Ducks did with the Stanley Cup this summer. Pronger gets a bad rap but he seems like a pretty decent guy. They all did, except for Brad May, who appears to be just as big a prick as I figured he was. Dustin Penner, who is now with Edmonton, seems like a guy who'd be fun to have a beer with.

Aeros game tonight. Hockey weather outside (or as close as it gets in a hockey hotbed like Houston). Not feeling too pumped up due to the bad taste I still have in my mouth from Sunday's train wreck of a game. Hopefully the guys don't have the same (or any) hangover since they are at least in a position to make it right.

Is it too early for a beer?

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