2 down, 1 to go

Ahhh, feeling like myself again in nets. Meaning, the more frequently I play, the more I'm on a roller coaster. Monday night, I was happy with my game. It was one of those "drive home with the windows down and music blasting" kinda nights.

Didn't do anything spectacular, but I just felt like I got some saves I wouldn't have normally and my confidence was good and I was seeing the puck well. I haven't felt good about that ice time in a long while.

But tonight at women's league... yuck. We lost again. 3-0. The bright side is that I got to see Kelly get her first ever shutout. I told her it's WAY too early in her career as a goalie to be getting a shutout, but she earned it. She doesn't remotely look like she's only been playing a few months.

Strong skater and good positioning. She's a natural. Which is kinda irksome for me. :) Damn rookie making it look so easy... ;) Seriously though, she's cool, she battled for it, and I'm happy for her.

I didn't feel too bad about the goals against and really, unless I was going to get a shutout, too, we still would have lost. But I do like my team a lot. They work hard and stick up for each other when things get a little unsportsmanlike out there, as it tends to sometimes.

Oooo, speaking of which... Not-Brusty rescued my night by being awesome at just the right moment. Not-Brusty, if you recall, is the goalie who has Brusty's old pads and therefore inspires a little panty-soup-by-proxy. Helps that he's quite good at stopping pucks.

Well, tonight, as I was leaving after a little beer and pizza, I stopped behind his net to watch the B league boys play a bit. So he gets a shot from near the bottom of the circle and bobbles it a little on the ice trying to cover it. The shooter comes up and starts whacking at his glove, trying to free the puck. And I'm thinking, "OOOO BITCH IS ABOUT TO GIT IT."

And indeed, Not-Brusty JUMPS up and starts shoving the guy, all pissed off, and his d-man joins as the ref starts to break it up.

I'm glad he didn't turn around and see the GIANT grin on my face watching that. It was probably a little creepy. But that was hot and he's now been elevated from Not-Brusty to Brusty Jr. :) Didn't know what you were getting when you shelled out for those pads, eh? Haha.

I mean, really, it triggered some kind of primal response, right? Here's a tall guy, good goalie, wearing Brusty's pads, and then defending his crease? Oh my lord. THE BUTTON, YOU HAVE PRESSED IT.

So, that redeemed a disappointing night in goal (though women's league is always fun regardless because I like the gals so much) and I kinda got my hot goalie itch scratched, rec-style.

Tomorrow night, I'm on the ice with the Harpies. Just a little 3 in 3 since Mr.C is out of town. As stupid hot as Memorial City is, I kind of enjoy that they have tables around the end of the ice where random Mall People just hang around and eat their Mall Cookies or whatever and watch us play.

It lights a fire under me because I know they see my ponytail sticking out and I feel like I've gotta sorta represent women's hockey and play well against these big guys with hard shots. :) If I can get one more person to say, "Wow, a girl goalie? That's cool!" than to say, "Oh, that poor girl. She sucks." then I'm calling it:

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Dirty Minds

I really need to find a way to make money writing humorous-but-dirty stuff about hockey players. I feel like it's my calling. Some day I'll write a super-trashy hockey novel and make all my hockey girlfriends read it, but somehow keep Mr. C from reading it. He'd be scarred for life.

My latest picks for the 5-Hole Fantasy League are particularly scandalous and another former B-Sens player, Jason Bailey, falls prey to my affections. I know they won the Calder Cup and all, but really, their GM should be applauded for assembling one of the handsomest teams in the history of the league.

Here's the article and I have to say, Jason was a good sport about it and loved the article. He's a fox and a gentleman (hopefully not TOO much of a gentleman though...)

So currently my team, the Johnson City Sausagemen, looks like this:

Goalies: Barry Brust (C), Alex Stalock, Joey MacDonald
Forwards: Mikko Koivu (A), Cal Clutterbuck, Jason Bailey
D-Men: Michael Del Zotto, Clayton Stoner, Roman Josi
IceMen: Travis Snider, Drew Barrymore, Lyle Overbay

OMG, I love them so much. Once all my picks are done, I'm gonna photoshop a team photo together. That's gonna be epic.



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Women's league starts back up tomorrow. Super excited. I have the same captain as last season, and I adore her and her partner, so that's comforting for me. Haven't played with any of my other teammates before, but a little birdy tells me it's a good group of gals.

The teams are named after space shuttles and we're Discovery. Oooo.....

It'll just be awesome to play a game that matters again for the first time since April when we won the championship.

Since Mr.C is set to be out of town, I'm jumping on the ice with the Harpies Wednesday, too. Enjoy playing with that group quite a lot and don't do it more because a) I prefer to play for free and b) they built a friggin' Cheesecake Factory next to the quiet, mostly-ignored corner of the mall parking lot right by the back door to the rink. So suddenly you're parking a quarter mile away, unless you get lucky, and then dragging your gear from and to your car. Not cool, Memorial City Mall. Not. Cool.

Genius idea for the day is a hockey valet service there. Drop your gear off at the door, they keep an eye on it while you go park in BFE. And the reverse when you leave for the night. Yeah? GENIUS. Or I may be a total candy-ass... or both.

--------------------------------

Go Sausagemen!

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Roaches from heaven...

Here's a list of stuff:

• House buying is a real ass pounding. House buying in a flood plain with plans to build an addition is an ass pounding with your head against a wall. Sorry for the disturbing visual but that pretty much explains my last 3 or 4 days. And it's only just begun.
• I suck at goaltending. But I had fun tonight. Made some big stops. Let in some stinkers. I like when the skaters are tired and impatient. I don't like when skaters put pity shots on me because they're so convinced they'll score if they put a real shot on me. Screw you.
• The ice was AWFUL tonight. I pushed over to make a save and ended up halfway to the boards, the ice was so wet 10 minutes into the game. Goal.
• A roach fell on to the ice from the ceiling while we were playing. Can you imagine if that thing fell down and into your gear? Don't imagine it. I just did and it was a nightmarish and embarrassing scene. But that's hockey in Houston, baby! Skating in puddles and big ol' roaches out on the ice with you.
• Camp Brusty starts SUNDAY! I'm very excited. Not only to see Brusty, though I won't lie, that's most of it. But to see the camp come to fruition after months of working toward it. Looking forward to turning it over to Sean and Brusty and enjoying the sight of all those goalies bouncing around the ice. :)
• Camp is pretty much full. We exceeded my expectations for registrations, so I'm pleased about that. But that means I'm probably not going to get on the ice unless the herd thins a bit. I don't want to take away instruction time from paying students. Maybe I'll hop on later in the week.
• But frankly, I'm not in shape for it. I've played about 4x in the last 6 weeks and that's just an hour drop-in. Goaltending and training just haven't been a high priority between playoffs and house hunting and work. And with women's league not starting until July, there hasn't been much opportunity.
• Did I mention Brusty will be in town? :D Yaaaay! I'm fond of him.
• Channeled him a bit tonight. Big Bird came in on a breakaway but he got a little too close, took a little too long, so I jumped out there and jabbed the puck away from him as he was skating across the slot. His teammate gathered it up and I had to dive back and try to get my stick on it. I'm actually not sure if I did or if he hit the crossbar or what. Sounded like my stick but I was in flight and didn't entirely see where the puck went. But it didn't go in the net, so suck on that, boys!
• My elbow really hurts. I hate to get a doctor involved and I keep hoping massage will work it out, but I dunno. My whole forearm is jacked up. Bet I can still pick up a pint of beer though. #playinghurt
• Vicodin. Yay!
• Guy at the rink tonight appeared to be wearing a set of Brusty's old gear. TPS pads, Vaughn blocker and glove. Green, gold and cream from 2008. Rec goalies don't wear TPS pads, so it caught my eye. And then I stared at him a lot. I so associate TPS pads with Brusty that pretty much any goalie in them, I'm salivating. Though this guy actually was pretty good, and really bailed his crappy team out a lot. Good work, Not-Brusty!

Okay, that is all.

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Finding my Zen and tonight's drop-in

Babies, I am crazy Zenned up for game 7. Totally at peace with how it goes either way, since it dawned on me that Brusty's coming to Houston in a month anyway. And I'll see a helluva lot more of him then. It just would be SUPER fun to have Joy and the rest of the Bingo crew I've gotten to know this season down here in our fair city.

Not to make it sound like I don't care if the Aeros get to the cup finals, but The Dream is Bingo v. Houston. It's a personal thing. The Calder Cup is an Aeros fan thing. We all want that, naturally, but it's not personal. Bingo is personal. And I guess maybe that gets more to the point of why I've been a basketcase about this series.

Anyway, tomorrow is just going to be me soaking it all in, since it could be the last home game and I don't want to look up with 1 minute left and have spent the whole game in Totally Insane Mode and not appreciated and reflected on the season at all.

Or the Aeros could just crush Hamilton's skulls early and I could do all that appreciatin' next round. Your choice, boys.

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Played drop-in tonight. I feel like I've regressed a year and a half in that group. Back when I first started, I would suck at the beginning and then as I got more comfortable, I'd start to stop most everything.

Same thing tonight. About 45 minutes in, I finally started stopping the puck reliably. Until then, I think every other shot went in the net.

Never mind that it was a festival of breakaways up until then, too. Not much fun.

I was going to break down and do clinic before, too, since this is my only night on the ice this week. But I got tied up with stuff at home and couldn't get to Sugar Land in time. So as penance for missing clinic, I made myself work on backside pushes when the game was over.

Thanks to Scott, I finally realized that the part I wasn't doing right was having my skate perpendicular to the direction I'm pushing. It's a very unnatural angle for my foot to be in, so I have to think really hard about that push foot when I do it. It's very slow and I don't go very far, but that little tip made all the difference in doing it at all without just spinning in circles.

I also spin less when I push mostly with the toe of my skate blade, but that's another thing I have to be really deliberate about, so it's going to be a long time before that move is game-ready and natural.

Still working on getting up on my dumb leg quickly. Somewhat sharp pain in my knee when I do it but it's getting easier all the time.

Camp Brusty is just about a month away, so I'm getting excited about that. Can't WAIT to get on the ice with my goalie. I'm soooo temperamental (emphasis on the mental) with anybody coaching me.... it will be funny to see if and how quickly I want to tell him to fuck off. It will take a lot, I suspect. You can't stay mad at this face:

Beauty.

Anyway...

What was I talking about?

Oh yeah, Camp Brusty. Ha. Awesome.

History will be made Tuesday night, gang. How exciting is that?

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Wrapping up my bi-polar week in net

So, I wrote a big long whiny post about Monday night, but decided it was too whiny even for me. It was really tedious, so you're welcome for sparing you.

But it suffices to say that I was absolutely fucking awful at drop-in. FUCKING. AWFUL. I think at some point I let in 10 shots in a row. I was as close to tears on the ice as I've ever been. I was standing there wondering how I was going to get undressed without bursting into tears in front of everybody, or maybe I should just head straight to the bathroom, have my cry, and then change.

How humiliating.

But my girl Cyndi showed me some love, got me to laugh, and told me to take off if I needed to. She knew I was tired from goalie clinic (which I was feeling awful after), but for some reason, I wouldn't or couldn't recognize how tired I was and just got more and more and more discouraged.

I screamed at a guy just for having his stick in my crease (haha). Just horrible melt-down.

And they were so nice about it. I owe them for that, especially as I haven't played that drop-in as well as I'd like in a few weeks. That probably was in the back of my mind fueling the melt-down.

Anyway, I was rejecting Cyndi's offers to call it quits. I was angry and I needed to prove to myself that I could stop some pucks. I needed to shake off the crisis of confidence.

So I stayed out and I stopped pretty much everything after that.

I finally snagged a really pretty one in my glove (god bless them, they've all learned to act real impressed when I make a glove save) and said, "Okay, with that... I'm DONE. See you next week!"



We had some laughs afterward and that took the edge off but I was still feeling pretty glum when I got home.

I wasn't sure how it was going to carry over tonight at Women's league. In fact, I was so rattled, my legs didn't quit shaking and my heart didn't stop pounding until the second period tonight.

But I saw a handful of shots in the first and eventually settled down, and then saw maybe 3 more shots the whole game and got another shutout (5-0 final). Can't even get excited about this one. It's nice, but doesn't mean a whole lot when you see so few shots.

So, this means we're in the championship week after next, likely with Captain Danglemitt's team, so that will be an epic battle. But this is one where I literally have to just think of it as enjoying one last game with these girls as my teammates and savor every minute. Fully intend to drink my face off after that one, too. It's gonna be a blast, regardless of who wins.

Enjoying the process.

Couple of funny things from the night:

It was CRAZY humid at Space City. The glass was sweating, the ice had a layer of fog hovering over it.... and it was raining. Not even kidding. As I stood there, bored out of my mind, I could just hear it -- drip, drip, drip -- all around my crease and up the center of the ice. On my helmet, on my back, on my net. Drip, drip, drip.

Also, because I was so nervous in the first, I was fighting the puck, so while I made the saves, they weren't pretty. So I was trying to settle myself down and what came to mind?

HONEY BADGER.

Cuz honey badger don't give a shit. I'mma be like honey badger! Can't get enough honey badger.



And with that, tomorrow morning I'm off to Dallas to spend time with my family and see the Blue Jays. I hope those bats keep going the next two days! They're kicking ass in Dallas!

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Losing Weight

Ahhhhhh, what a night!

Monday nights with goalie clinic AND drop-in are so hard. I mean, it's over 2 hours on the ice, with an hour in the middle to sit there in my sweaty clothes and get cold and tired. It suuuuucks.

Clinic tonight was great, though I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm just starting. One of the drills, I just couldn't do. A simple stick save drill and I just couldn't do it for shit. I can't even explain it.

But we did a lot of movement work, butterfly slides and backside pushes and whatnot. The young lady (12?) helping Jason and me told us it took her about a year and a half of work to get that down pat. And she's got crazy quick legs. Very good goalie, very smooth. I'm jealous, but I know she's worked really hard to get that good. She's a bad ass and really inspiring.

Jason and I both bailed a little bit early because of drop-in. And I still ended up being pretty gassed in the last 20 minutes or so of our game.

Didn't help that all but 1 of the really fast guys who plays this drop-in (even some who aren't usually there) were on the ice. It's definitely more fun that way but I honestly think my mind was fading worse than my body. In fact, I was pretty happy with my legs not being ALL that tired, especially after the work in clinic.

But my brain was toast. Like, I'd just zone out, and look up, and there's an opponent in front of me with the puck on his stick. SHIT!

Still, had some nice saves, and more importantly, I burned off the lake of vodka I drank this weekend in Austin. Never mind all that I ate. Jesus. H. Austin.

So, I survived my marathon evening at SLICE. I brought my lappy to get some stuff done in the break between ice times and check in on the Aeros game. I was dismayed to see them down 2-1, then 3-1, then 3-2, then 3-3 as I got back on the ice.

The other weight off my shoulders was finding out, when I got in the car, that they won 5-3.

That's a big confidence building game. They had to find a way to reset themselves within the game and boy did they. Would love to see them finish the Rivs off tomorrow and avoid that ugly 3 in 3. I would also love to see ALL us prognosticators be WRONG. Not a single person picked Aeros in 4.

Well, I picked Aeros in 3, but that was a joke. :) Though that would have me coming closest without going over, so if we're playing by Price is Right rules, I win.

No more hockey this week and I'm glad. I hurt absolutely everywhere. From my toes to my knees, to my elbow (looking up "tennis elbow" after I press send on this post) to my back and neck. Wuss.

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Either side of 4 a.m. pretty much sucks

Well fuck. I got home at 11:20 and decided against a Benedryl to help me fall asleep sooner because I didn't want the hangover.

Whaddaya know, here I am at 4 a.m. wide awake. Like THAT'S not gonna leave me with a hangover... Dumbass.

Might as well write, right?

Thought tonight was going to be pretty tough. Scott TFCG's goalie clinics are starting back up for the summer. The great thing is that it's on Mondays when I'm already playing drop-in, so I can knock out one evening at the rink and get coaching AND a game.

The bad thing is that there's over an hour between the end of clinic and our drop-in and sitting around sweaty and cold and getting sleepy isn't much fun.

Never mind that I'm pretty tired for the game. I was lousy tonight. I'm actually feeling like I'm getting worse in goal, but I hope that feeling is actually my realizing the things I'm doing wrong rather than just being oblivious to them. But I dunno. I just haven't felt right lately.

I think clinic must throw off my timing a bit, too. Maybe it was just being tired and a little unfocused. Maybe overthinking? Lots of pucks went right under me tonight at drop-in and that's unusual for me.

Anyway, clinic was good. At least the part I actually made it to. A wreck on 59 had us crawling at about 2 mph up to Beechnut, so I missed warm-ups and 3 stations. Though honestly, "I wouldn't say I'm missing it, Bob." I dread warm-up drills, which is maybe kinda weird. Let's just skate around a bit, do a couple of up and downs, and get to work. That's pretty much what I did tonight since I had to jump in mid-stream.

Banged up my knee pretty good though, somehow, during clinic. Not really sure but there's a big knot on my knee and it hurts pretty good to butterfly on it. My pad rotation issue is worse than ever, too. Between banging my knee up and looking like a fool with my pad under my leg, I'm getting pretty frustrated with that, but don't have a clue how to fix it other than being in a VERY low stance before I fly.

------------------------

Why is it all the cool shit happens when I have Real Job meetings? Aeros are having their playoff media day right smack in the middle of a meeting that I've already missed 2 weeks in a row. Moreover, it's a media-skate-with-the-coaches thingy, which should be hilariously awesome since nobody here knows how to skate. :) And frankly, I'm pretty damn wobbly in just my goalie skates without pads, and too chicken to wear my player skates that have been collecting dust for 2 years.

Still, I'd totally do it and I may still, because I'd like to talk to Sydor a bit. Plus I want to see the local media enjoy a little ice time if they are brave enough and realize what good TV it is to see people busting their ass on the ice while trying to conduct interviews.

Honestly, if I were a TV sports person, I'd throw the goalie gear on and give it a go. Nothing makes you appreciate what "real" goalies do until you try it yourself. And again, great TV.

It's funny because people think the hard part of goaltending is getting hit with the puck, but that's far and away the easiest part. The hard part is, well, everything else.

--------------------------

Recruiting/party at Women's League tonight. I'm dragging a couple of gals out to get a feel for it and hopefully get them on the ice with us before too long. Food and fun and drink specials up in the bar. May have to score a jello shot before the game so these lushes don't slurp 'em all down before our game is over. I'll probably play better, to be honest.

If anybody out there is reading and interested in playing women's league, come on out to Space City Ice. Shenanigans start at 7, game starts at 8:20. It's my team versus Team Orange, so no Captain Danglemitts, but still should be good competition. Bar closes at 1. :)

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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.

--------------------

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.

-----------------------------

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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I has a trophy

Ahhh.... blissful 4 days without the pads on. I love playing and I'm so so SO grateful that I get to do it, but like a lot of awesome things, I was teetering on the edge of too much.

Especially since I was running for several days on too little sleep. I ended up taking a sick day today and sleeping for probably 6 hours on and off through the day. Needed the rest badly to head off yet another cold that was threatening. Vitamin C is a miracle drug.

But I had a very good drop-in tonight and heard lots of "AW COME ON!" and "DAMMIT!" as I shut those shooters down. So it's a positive way to go into a little break.

Another positive thing is that Bonnie brought me the TROPHY I WON at the tournament this weekend. It's the Unsung Hero Award (Female) for showing up on short notice and getting a solid win.

DILLO, it says. 

As I told the girls tonight, my entire goaltending career relies essentially on being reliable and showing up when I say I will and not having kids or a difficult/travel-heavy job so that I'm generally available even on short notice. I may not be all that good, but by god, I'll be there and I'll try hard.

Anyway, I don't think I've gotten a trophy for playing a sport since I was about 8 or 9 playing soccer. I was a fullback and mostly stood around and trash talked girls when they got close to the net. So my defensive mentality and mouthiness comes naturally.

But since they didn't give trash talk awards to 8 year old girls, the trophies we got were basically participation awards that everyone got at season's end.

In fact, I think I've won a trophy for writing more recently than those soccer trophies. First place in some writing contest about going to see the Peter and the Wolf symphony concert with my class. Dorky.

I know it's silly, but this little gal may finally be the thing to get me to buy a shelf for my hockey nicknacks to go in my office, which I'm secretly trying to turn into a Den of Hockey. Don't tell Mr.C. I'm trying to find a Hextall Fathead to put on my wall and then I'll be in business. :)

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On a boat... in a bad way

I wrote this whole big post yesterday after finishing up Open Net by George Plimpton looking back at how far I've come since I first strapped on the pads (as opposed to usually just being in shock and awe at how far I still have to go).

I talked about how I don't really get sore after I play like I used to and a whole list of other indignities that quietly mock a new goalie.

And I wrapped up that section of the post (I intended to just tack last night's drop-in notes to the end so I never posted it) talking about how the ONLY thing that has come naturally to me as a goalie is my orientation to the net. And that shooters have even commented on it. I always seem to know where my posts are and never get lost in space out in front of my crease.

So naturally, I'm sore, seemingly all over, today. And my angles and net awareness were absolutely GOD AWFUL last night.

Thanks, Hockey Gods. You're super funny... 

I had a bad start to the night, first of all forgetting to fill up my water bottle until everybody's already on the ice. I got to my net and thought, "Something's missing that I usually do right here...." Oh yeah, put my water bottle on top of the cage. Ha.

So I'm lumbering around getting that filled up while everybody else is either warming up on the other goalie (I saw zero warm-up shots) or on a half-hearted mission to find the pegs for my net. *grr* The other net had pegs but not mine. The rink guy can't find them, players are looking on the benches and in the scorekeeper box. They are nowhere to be found.

And of course, I'd set the net in place a little behind the line like I always do when I'm about to peg it, so by the time I got back to it and moved it up to the goal line, the ice was set and the net was sliding all over the place.

I really just couldn't use my posts at all for anything or the net was sliding a foot out of line in one direction or another.

So that rattled me and whatever natural inner net compass I have went spinning like a top. I just didn't have my bearings or any faith in where my net was. Felt like I was playing on a boat.



Not in a cool way though, mother fucker.

I know the kids have to play with the nets unpegged and man, that sucks. I feel sorry for the little bastards.

So, yeah, that was a pretty shitty night in goal. But it didn't feel like the kind of shitty that's going to leak into tonight's game. Just a weird "thrown off from the start" kinda night. I'll get a good warm-up tonight and be just fine against Captain Hat Trick and her crew of ringers. ;)

Gun Show (the hot boy who plays our drop-in) was amazed by one save I made that was pure dumb luck. They were trying to jam the puck in over my right pad next to the post and I stopped a couple of the bounces from going in. He was impressed but I wasn't even moving so it wasn't anything I did other than be in the right place. They just couldn't lift it over the pad.

But after all that suck, it was nice that someone was focused more on that one silly lucky stop than the rest of the garbage. Gun Show, to his credit, doesn't act like he's hot. He's a pretty nice guy. And also very VERY hot. And changes out in the stands with us so we get to see his big, tan muscles. Lordy. Yay for Gun Show!

Anyway, on to bigger and better things tonight. And what better way to start a fresh new day than with some JaegerPorn. O hai!

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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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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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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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Ozzie and Drop-in Tilt-a-Whirl

Chris Osgood isn't one of my favorite goalies, but 400 wins in the NHL is a tremendous accomplishment. My friend Justin, who has taught me SO much about watching goalies but still has more goalie knowledge in his pinkie finger than I ever will, has a great post on Osgood today.

Even though I'll admit to being lumped into the masses of underappreciators when it comes to Ozzie, I obviously relate to having that one goalie who embodies the position and was the catalyst for what is sure to be a lifelong passion. Ozzie is Justin's Brusty (minus the lusty part), so I enjoyed his tribute to him on multiple levels and thought it was worth passing along.

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Drop-in was a circus last night. First half behind the white team was a nightmare. I think I made 3 stops the whole 30 minutes. It was breakaways and odd man rushes from the outset, which undermined my mental toughness a bit. Not to mention, one of the dark players really got under my skin in warm-ups by beating me on every shot he took. And he was the one doing most of the cherry picking. Grr.

The goalie switch couldn't come fast enough for me. And it turns out I was justified in my irritation because it was like an entirely different game at the other end. I had great defense and, in turn, I played really well. The white team, as hapless as they were defensively, sure knew how to hold the zone, so I stayed pretty busy and played better for it (though my knee is paying today, dammit!)

Had some sick saves in the second half. My best was on a breakaway, the kid tried to cut across from my blocker side to my glove side. He got the shot off right over my pad, but I had my glove there and trapped the puck in my glove and then pinned it against the side of my outstretched leg pad. Snazzy.

And one of my defensemen told me I need to put Stickum in my glove after I bobbled the puck like 3 times on a save. Doh! It was classic and stick figure worthy, but I'm too lazy. Finally pinned the damn thing against my chest and we had a laugh. I'm so hopeless glove-side, it's non-stop comedy.

Anyway, women's league tonight. I'm a little bit walking wounded today, but it's mostly just turning my head sharply and walking up stairs that hurts. Maybe that will save me from getting drunk after the game tonight if we win. Then again, there's an elevator up to the bar....

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Kassian dream, Subbing, Shaft saves, Mall hockey, S&M

There needs to be a word for those little dreams you have between snoozes on your alarm clock. You know what I'm talking about? I guess you remember them more because you wake up so quickly after them. They need a name.

I had a funny one this morning. In fact, I woke up laughing, which is the second best way to wake up, IMO.

I dreamed that I was in goal and Matt Kassian was shooting on me and I was stopping EVERYTHING he put on me. He just could. not. score.

So he started getting frustrated, not in a mean way, but really determined. Trying to pick the corners, fake me, freeze me, anything. Shot after shot.

Finally, I just stopped him by my net after a glove save and gave him a big hug and we laughed about it.

How nice is that dream? I'm an awesome goalie, I'm hugging a big foxy hockey player, and I'm laughing. I'm not sure it gets any better.

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Had a fun surprise last night of subbing for a group at Memorial City. Finally an ice time that doesn't have me up until 2 a.m.! Just a quick hour of hockey, but it was mid-afternoon before I knew about it so I wasn't as prepared as I'd normally be.

Like, I wouldn't have stayed out drinking until 1 the night before. I would have been hydrating during the day. I would have eaten more. On and on. So I actually got really light-headed with about 10 minutes left. So much that I went down on my knees just to make sure that if I did pull a Pavelec, I wouldn't have far to fall.

God, that would have been embarrassing. In a mall filled with holiday shoppers, with a new bunch of skaters, etc. Lordy.

Fortunately, I felt better after about 5 minutes of just praying they kept the puck away from me so I could gather myself (and they did, thankfully).

It's funny how different groups that play together a lot develop a style of play. At my Monday drop-in, there's quite a bit of work behind the nets and passing low in the slot, back door attempts, etc.

At this one (which has a very drop-in vibe, even though there's a ref) pretty much everybody just shoots the puck. Most of the passing seems to be done above the hash marks. So I got burned a few times cheating on the pass. I ALWAYS made the save when I just took the shooter and challenged them.

Not sure if it's always like that but that'll be my approach next time. I wasn't real happy with my game, but I never am when I play with a new group for the first time. Takes me a game or two to figure out the tendencies of the group.

I had a good time though, in spite of not feeling super duper. Nice group of folks.
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I've noticed that one save that seems to really frustrate shooters is with the shaft of my stick. It's such a small, narrow thing, it must really irk them when I flash the wood. ;)

Honestly, I'm not sure whether to attribute those saves (and I make them fairly regularly... more than glove saves, sadly) to dumb luck or some fantastical 6th sense. I'm telling my ego it's just a gift I have. But I'm pretty sure it's just dumb luck. Whatever. I'll take it.

Only problem is it nearly knocks the stick out of my hand sometimes, if it's a hard shot. The tape around the top of my paddle where I hold it has really helped with that though.

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It's always funny playing at Memorial City Mall during the holidays because at one end of the rink is the main entrance to the mall, with some activities, like a rock climbing wall, and some other stuff. Hell, I think Santa might even be back there.

They have tables and chairs set up right by the glass for people to have a seat and snack, so you get some glass bangers along with just amused onlookers.

 Last night someone was taking pictures. I kept seeing the flash behind me, and all I could think was that if this slow ass rec league is interesting enough for you to take pictures of it, you REALLY need to get to an Aeros game. The Aeros need to be advertising the shit out of that place.

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Stopped a hard shot with my bicep last night. Like, just stopped it cold. We're all looking around for the puck and it's just laying on my arm. O hai!

Anyway, not much of a bruise yet, but damn if those bicep shots don't hurt for days after. So much padding... so many bruises... It's amazing.

Pucks are just 6 oz. of pure sadism. And I like it.

In fact, is goaltending just one big sado-masochistic act? I mean, don't you feel like you've "really played" when you've collected a few ouchie spots? And isn't that a great feeling? Maybe you don't quite get off on it, but ... maybe you do a little? ;)

Maybe I just need to get laid. That's probably it.

Happy Thursday!

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Drop-in,baseball, travel, etc.

Oh man... I wish I could always feel like I do after a great time in goal. Or after one strong drink. Or BOTH.

Nah. That's just being greedy.

Anyway, drop-in was a blast tonight. Had some nice stops and some crap goals but honestly, you see enough breakaways and 3 on 1 or 4 on 1 and it's like, whatever, I'm gonna do something goofy here and see what happens (goal, pretty much every time).

Had to yell at the white team a bit WHILE I was playing for the dark team. I would look up the ice and see 2 white players waiting to cherry pick while their goalie was just getting HAMMERED and struggling. Pissed me off.

So I got after 'em a couple of times to stop cherry picking and help their goalie. I know it's drop in but the ones cherry picking are ones who are still learning to play and aren't above learning the defensive end of things.

That was before the goalie switch and they played better for me, lucky for them because I was hell bent when I took over their net. I love this drop-in though. Everybody battles hard (at one end or the other) but still has fun and keeps a sense of humor.

Had one surprise shot that I went straight down on my knees for and it sent a jolt all the way up my back. I'm Adviling and heating padding tonight in hopes that it won't get worse, but it's definitely tender in my lower back.

Luckily, I don't play again for a full week since there's no women's league tomorrow or novice Saturday.

Since it's a light week, I stayed after and played some 3 on 3 with the boys once the other goalie left the ice. I'll be raring to go by next Monday. Meanwhile, I have to do ... real workouts. :( BOOOO. I hate working out. But I'm excited to start my new training program. Should be a good workout.

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I wrote some stuff about baseball. I feel vulnerable. I need a hug.

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Doing some trip planning today. Flying up to Boston in early January, going to the Bruins/Wild game, then heading to Vermont to visit one of my oldest and dearest friends and meet her beautiful twin babies.

I'm anti-kid but hers are just sublimely cute and I'm excited to spend a few days in her new world.

Then in February, I'm making a quick trip to Minnesota to basically spend all of a Saturday at the Xcel watching the Aeros and then the Wild. FINALLY after all this time, a game (2!) at the X. Seems long overdue, no?

Looking forward to both, but it's gonna be colder than a witch's tit and I'm NOT looking forward to that. Burr. Speaking of which, it was so cold at SLICE tonight, I had to take my blocker off about 10 minutes into the game and put the tip of my middle finger in my mouth to warm it up enough to get feeling back. It was crazy cold in there. I'll take it over super hot though. Definitely play better when I'm not having heat stroke.

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Just saw the preview of 24/7, the HBO series about the Pens and Caps and the Winter Classic. I'm not sure what HBO costs, but we're getting it.

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Down with the sickness

I spent most of the day lolling around in bed as the beginning of some unfortunate illness has begun to sweep over me. Fever, sore throat, tired as hell.

It really ramped up in the afternoon and I was not feeling like strapping 40 lbs of gear on and getting peppered for an hour+ at 9:15 tonight. But I'm glad I did. It was a fun game and I played well most of the time.

Something about not feeling good, you just relax and play a simple game without any pressure. Almost always ends up in a good game. I was counting on that phenomenon for sure.

I even played the puck twice. One actually worked out really well. The other, no goal, but only because the shooter missed the completely vacated net.

Got a whopper of a bruise-lump on my inner thigh. I just don't know how the puck finds a way through all that padding to leave a mark like this. But I stopped it so it was all good.

One of the really good guys wasn't there, so that spared me some of my usual goals against by that guy just being a beast. I was getting tired the last 10 minutes or so though, and let a couple of dumb ones in. NBD. I was happy with my game overall.

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I was pretty disappointed to get in my car and see the 0-3 score in the Minnesota v Calgary game though. I'm watching the game now and honestly, it's not such a bad showing. Just a few bad minutes but still lots of quality chances for the Wild. If this game weren't on top of all the other bad games, I wouldn't think much of it. Kipper was absolutely phenomenal, too. Also nice to see Havlat looking more like a hockey player than like a Pouliot.

That said, I'm so impressed with how quietly effective Jose Theodore has been. It's a relief to just say, "Okay, we can give any game to our back-up and he'll do as well as (or lately, better than) our starter." Wild are luckier than they deserve in that respect. Or maybe Theo is unluckier than he deserves. Ha.

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Tomorrow night is the women's league championship. Looking forward to the game. Kinda hoping I still feel a little bit crummy, but not awful. I'm playing for the green team. They can usually put the points up pretty well, so if I can just keep the puck out of the net, I feel good about our chances.

Either way, I have no complaints about my first season of women's league. It's been unique, fun, and an interesting new challenge. I was worried when I started that it was going to make me worse with the slower and lower level of play, but I actually think this league has improved my ability to stay focused (or re-focus quickly) because the play is so erratic and unpredictable.

Anyway, just gonna keep doing what I've been doing there. In spite of being the championship, nothing really changes. $2000 saves, puck focus, stick on the ice, battle hard, free beer if we're lucky. ;)

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Camp Brusty launch and this week's games

Before I get to my games, I'm excited to finally announce the kick-off of Camp Brusty! I've mentioned it before but I'm doing the local organizing/promotion end of things for THE goalie camp here next summer coached by Sean Murray of Pro Formance Goalie School in Vancouver and Brusty (who also coaches for them in the summer).

Here's the link: PFGS Houston

There aren't many things I'd take on the task of promoting, but there's a genuine need for goalie coaching here in Houston. Lots of goalies, very few people who are both willing, able, and qualified to work with them. I've been incredibly lucky to have Scott as much as I have. I'm not sure how others do it. So this is a great chance for goalies to get an intensive week of high-quality work without having to leave town for it.

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Hockey is done for the week. On to another great "key" -- turkey. :) Got my parents in town and enough food to feed an army. Plus 2 extra dogs, which is making things sort of a circus and why I'm up at 5 a.m. throwing Major out so I don't have to listen to him whine.

Drop-in was so-so on Monday. Waves of good saves, waves of letting everything in. Almost every fast regular was there except Crosby, so I saw a ton of shots. There's this one dude I call Big Bird because he's super tall and has really cute shaggy hair, and I dunno how he's not bored out there. If he's playing at more than 30%, I'd be shocked.

I feel kinda bad because he made me look stupid twice, scoring on breakaways and the third time, he was about to do it again and I was so fed up, I just hooked him by the shins as he glided past me after faking me into going down (EVERY FUCKING TIME... I hate myself for biting on that). He didn't go down and I hope I mostly got shin pad, but I still feel badly for it.

At least the puck didn't go in that time. Doesn't exactly deincentivize my bad behavior. :\

Then women's league last night was ... OK. My parents were here watching me play for the first time (they'd been to a practice last year, but I was still REALLY raw then), and that was actually okay. Not the distraction I was worried it would be.

I allowed two goals but didn't see many shots and went long stretches without seeing any and then would get a flurry. First one was through a screen and deflected, but I got a solid piece of it. Somehow that makes it so much more annoying to me that it went in.

Second was an odd man rush I played about 2 feet too deep and beat me glove side (naturally). They've got this Canadian gal and she's really good. Accurate shot, if not crazy fast. It was a tricky one because of the 2 on 1 but she beat me clean and if I had any kind of glove, I would have gotten it. If I'd  been out of the blue paint, I wouldn't have needed the glove at all.

I'm just bummed because I really like that team and wanted to see them advance. But then, I like both teams, so I guess it doesn't matter. The championship next week should be interesting. Not sure who I'll play for but it should be spirited.

All that said, I did have some stops I'm pretty proud of. Hard to focus on those sometimes in a loss, but I'm okay with the way I played. I just hate losing.

Only two ice times next week. Monday and Tuesday, since novice is off for Thanksgiving. Happy for the break. Should be pretty hungry for the ice by Monday.

Happy (American) Thanksgiving, everybody! Enjoy your turkey and pecan pie coma... I know I will. :)

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Drop-in Kills Bingo Sweater

I never really quite understood what it meant for a goalie to be "fighting the puck" until tonight. Now I get it. I fought the puck. And the puck won.

Nights like this, it's like I've handed out a "Free Goal with Every Shot!" coupon to everybody at the drop-in and they all cashed in. Hey, I made them happy, right? Never mind that I like 'em better when they're miserable.

I dunno what it was. I just couldn't find my angles, I couldn't track the puck into me, I couldn't do anything but get lit up. One after the other they just went in the net. I guarantee I let in twice as many as I stopped. Can you have a negative save percentage? I suck at math but I think I might have had one tonight.

I'd feel worse about it but I played so well last week, I kinda feel like there's a little leeway there.

But you goalies know how it is after a bad game, right? All the skaters, and even the other goalie, are kinda looking at you sideways, like, "Eww, you poor thing." It's some mix of pity and disdain.

Whatever. These things don't get to me quite like they used to. I'm both glad I have tomorrow's game to redeem myself (to myself) but worried about it, too. The team I'm facing, I see a lot of breakaways and I played breakaways tonight like I was blindfolded.

May just need to get some music in my head to try and shut off the chatter and doubt and just react. I can feel the overthinking already starting as I run through my mental list of all the things I have to do right. Challenge. Be patient. $2000 saves. Puck focus. Battle hard. Stick on the ice. Hands out in front. Move your feet. Bahhhhh. Shut up, brain!

But that's all the way to tomorrow, so I'll worry about it then. :)

This was the swan song for the Bingo sweater though. I told myself when I packed my bag, the Bingo sweater gets one last chance. I still have yet to play a decent game in it. I stink EVERY time I wear it. Getting pretty tired of that, even though it's a great conversation piece.

Random Skater: "Binghamton Senators? You from up there?"
Me: "No, but my favorite goalie plays for them this year."
RS: "Who's that?"
Me: "Barry Brust"
Drop-in organizer, who gets to hear this conversation every time it happens because we change next to each other: "SHE LUUUUUUVS BARRY BRUST...."
Me: *blushing* :) "It's true."
RS: *eye roll*

Maybe THAT'S the problem with the Bingo sweater... They get my brain off in Brustyland and I kinda don't really give a shit what the puck is doing. Lalalala....

Either way, it's back to the Aeros sweaters this winter (these AHL pracky sweaters are too hot and heavy to wear in the summer). Bingo will be reserved for recreational purposes, like curling up inside it when I'm cold or actually going a game in Bingo in January, where I'll likely also be cold. :)

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Drop-in success and Girlfight

Drop-in was just straight up rad last night. I had a few little flurries of suckage, but I saw a LOT of rubber and breakaways and odd-man rushes, so I don't feel bad about those.

They're worth looking at though. Early in the game, I wasn't being patient enough and I wasn't moving my feet enough and, the one that most annoyed me (but also got me going) was one where, if I'd just battled and flopped instead of hoping I could reach a toe out on a back door shot, I woulda had it.

I went down a beat or two before the shot on one. It was a guy who I've never seen snipe before, but he sniped me good. I gave him props for that. I gave him the daylight but it was also a great shot, especially for someone barely out of novice.

But then I found my rhythm and got in a groove the rest of the game. The only other bad spot was a couple of shots where they were coming down the wall glove side shooting the puck just inside the far post. My angle was just plain off, but I corrected it after those two goals. Weird how that happens though. I need to remember my power point that Scotty made me about where to be when the puck is above/outside or below/inside the faceoff dot. I think that was the key there.

I honestly don't remember more than bits and pieces about the game. I was just in there, doing it and feeling good. It was a blast and even the really good players were like, "Damn you're on fire tonight!" Had one glove save that was super sexy... one of those where you drop into the fly and then have to reach way down the length of your pad to snag it. Oooooo foxyyyyy.

And another where Crosby was on a breakaway and I challenged him big time and slid into a b-fly as he was moving across to try and put it around me, but some how I got a piece of it with the tip of my glove and he was long gone.

I'm proud of the way I've been challenging lately. It feels great and ballsy. But eventually they're going to wise up. Right now they're used to me shrinking back into my crease, so now when they look up and I'm way above my crease, they kinda don't know what to do about it and just shoot and there I am. Unless they beat me 5-hole or something, they've got nothing. But they'll figure me out eventually, which is why I need to work on being smarter about it.

Big Nick put one in my melon again last night. I guess I was due for it. Luckily it hit pretty high on my mask and just deflected up. It's still startling though, so I kinda yelped and everyone was asking if I was okay. Told 'em I was just trying to make Nick feel bad. Haha. He apologized a couple of times and I told him the same thing. But really, the way you see pros dropping like flies from concussions lately, I'm feeling paranoid about my noggin.

He also hit me in the arm, just above the bend in my elbow. Now THAT hurt. I was stinging for 5 minutes after and it's a big purple lump today. Not complaining though. It was a laser and I stopped it and that's all that matters to me.
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I've been back doing my PT since last week. I'm doing at least some part of it every day, even if it's just the "at home" part and not the full hour-long sequence that I would do if I were going to the PT office. And some days, all I fit in is the hamstring stretch and that alone makes a huge difference in the way my legs and hips feel when I play.

And now I'm reading that Maria Mountain, hockey trainer/goddess, is coming out with a goaltender workout that's 2 days a week only (or 3/4 if you want), that I can do to supplement my PT work. Very excited about that. She has another one that's much more intensive and pretty much a daily commitment. Sorry. Just not how I roll. But 2x a week? Heck yeah. I can do that.
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Women's league comes to a head tonight. The top two teams are basically tied and play against each other tonight to see who goes into the playoffs with the #1 spot. I'm playing for purple and I'm looking for a shutout. A real one. I want these girls to finish the regular season on top. I'm even having my lucky burrito for linner and saved my favorite undershirt to wear while I play. My serious gray shirt. Not my frivolous pink shirt. BOOM. $2000 saves and battle hard. 

Why am I only just now learning of this song? Crap. This is awesome.


Brooke Valentine - Girlfight
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