No drama, lots of shots

Decidedly less drama tonight at women's league, which I was grateful for, to be honest. Though I do think the incident last week finally kind of gelled the team, and gave us a solid "us against them" mentality that's scrappy and fun to be around.

It took me a while, but I adore this team. A great mix of personalities, but overall, everyone is lively and funny and fierce. It's all about tone at the top though, and our captain sets it well. I love playing for and with her, and I love being in her locker room.

It's so nice to be in love with the game again. And I look back over the year and look at where I went off the tracks and the only thing I can really pin down is when goalie clinics started up at the beginning of the summer, through Camp Brusty.


My uncoachability is well documented, but to me, this just cements it. Coaching suffocates my game. Not because it's poor quality coaching but because it buries my instincts, which are decent but they're a bit fragile, for lack of a better word. It doesn't take much to undermine my confidence in a way that takes me a long time to get it back.


When I'm going through periods where I'm being coached or critiqued, whoooooooosh, it all goes out the window. All I hear are voices in my head. All I see are goalies who are light years better than me. All I feel is my confidence, however undeserved, draining out the vent holes in my skates.


So, no more thinking. No more coaching. Stop the next puck.


That said, we lost again tonight, 4-2. But I got hammered. 34 shots in a 39 minute game. I did math (okay, I'm lying, I found a web site that did the math for me) and it would have been roughly 52 shots in a regular 60 minute game.


Letting in 4 on 34 doesn't feel too awful to me. Two were screens, one I literally have no idea how it went in, and the other was a terrible goal. Soft shot, didn't have my stick on the ice, and just wasn't set for the shot. Went right through me. Awful.


But it's a game I can't feel badly about at all. I worked hard and so did my girls, so we deemed it a moral victory. :)


That's it for me this week, hockey-wise. After working hard at the new house all the long weekend, things are very light on that front until next week when a bunch of shit happens bang bang bang. New windows installed Tuesday (YAY!), phone/internet going in on Wednesday, and DTV on Thursday. Phew! Very excited and it's really starting to feel like ours.

Now if someone would please just buy our current house, that would be super terrific.

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STOP THE NEXT PUCK

So, I'm not gonna lie. I've been in the dumps about my game lately. Like, as way down in the dumps as I've ever been. I've dreaded coming to the rink. I've had to lie to myself that hockey is fun. I was to the point of wondering what's next for me and how much could I get for selling my pads.

Of course, every time I think about that, I eventually get to, "Well, you still have to get exercise, so you'll have to ... Zumba or some shit. And that will make you want to throw yourself in front of a bus. So you might as well man up and keep playing hockey even though you suck."

But occasionally the hockey gods throw a girl a bone and let my body do what I want it to do on the ice. And that results in a good game. Tonight, the good game, combined with good games all around by my teammates, who are rock stars, resulted in my second ever shutout.

I love that word: shutout. Shutout. Shutoutshutoutshutoutshutoutttttttttttt..... 

You don't even know (unless you've struggled in net for months on end like I have lately) how much I needed that. I'll stop well short of saying I got my mojo back, but at the very least, it gives me a little hope that maybe I'm okay out there. Maybe I'm not a complete joke like I've been feeling I am. Occasionally, I can git 'er done, even with my meager capabilities.

Also, a "I don't really mean it, but yeah, I kinda do" middle finger at the score keeper for being extremely stingy with the shot count at both ends, but perhaps he was too busy tallying penalty minutes to see all the pucks I kept out of the net?

Because, yeah buddy, did the minutes ever rack up tonight, culminating in some nastiness that's going to leave a bad taste in a lot of mouths for a long time.

I should explain, for the boys, that women's league isn't like your league. You know how your wife brings up "that thing" you fucked up 10 years ago, when you've LONG since moved on? Yeah, that happens in women's league, too.

Bitches Hold Grudges.

Yeah, I know I'm painting in wide brush strokes here but I see it again and again. Something that happened  between two women players 7 years ago still affects how players deal with each other today. That's just how it is.

Hell, I do it, too. I've been harassing one guy I played with all of twice for over-celebrating after scoring on me nearly a year and a half ago. I'll never forget it.

That said, generally women's league is chummy and full of laughter and opposing teammates hugging it out after mild indiscretions.

But tonight, things got a little beyond mild indiscretion. It was far and away the most drama I've ever seen in this league, so I'm guaranteeing that it will linger in the history of the league way longer than it should.

So, we have this gal, M, who is VERY good. Teenager, but tall, strong, and did I mention, VERY good.

She pisses off the other teams with her skill, and even though she tones it way down for women's league, occasionally she takes off, dances through the entire opposing team, and puts one on the net and nobody in this league really has an answer for her. So, more often than not, it goes in. Some people find that to be unsporting in this league.

But I've been shown up enough to know that EVERY team is okay with it if the girl is on THEIR team. So I call bullshit on that. There's a 3 goal limit per person for a reason. Bring it on.

Anyway, we're early in the third period and M and some opposing girl got a little tangled up (why anybody would tangle with M is pretty amazing to me... credit to the girl for her stones).

I guess opposing girl didn't like what went down and (this is the point where I notice the two of them to the right of my net) mouthed off in M's face, somewhat aggressively.

And M cross-checked her right in the grill. 

DOH!

Did I mention M is a strong motherfucker? Yeah. Pushed the chin of her cage into her throat, which of course, had people thinking M cross checked her in the throat. She didn't. She clearly hit cage from my perspective.

She went down in a heap and the ref (who, if I'm understanding this correctly, is the girl's husband) threw M out of the game and gave us a 5 min major.

I gotta admit a few things:

1. I suck at injury stuff. Medical trauma makes me light headed and sick. And to see somebody quite injured right next to my net? Yeah, I had to go for a skate at center ice. The other goalie and I had a chat while they attended to the girl, and considered throwing down the gloves just for fun, since we were already at center ice together and now our teams had a "beef."
2. I was rattled when the puck was ready to drop again. The longer I went in the game with no goals against, the more I kept having to shut out the "shutout" mental talk and just say, "STOP THE NEXT PUCK" over and over. Well, that kicked into overdrive when play resumed because I was still feeling out of sorts both due to the ill will that had just instantly bloomed during our friendly game. Also, because I felt like this team was PISSED and would throw sportsmanship out the window and just come at me like angry honeybadgers. 

But my girls, who had really gelled so nicely all game, seemed even more fierce and just played their ladyballs off, kept chances to the outside (I can't begin to express how important this is), and helped me keep the shutout until the buzzer. (I was extra proud of Caren for playing D very nicely, and probably for the first time, during the penalty kill!)

And there it was: BZZZZZZ. One of my defensemen turned around and darted over to me and hugged me and I'm all "YEAH! WOOO!" because, like, that's how I felt. :) YEAH!!! WOOOO!!!!

I fucking love being the winning goalie. It's been way too long since I had a piece of that pie. It is still delicious.

So, I guess I won't take up knitting or skydiving or whatever just yet.

Meanwhile, M is suspended next week, which sucks, but I actually think it's the right thing. As much as M isn't a dirty player, you just can't be cross checking other girls in the face. (Though she explained that it was more of a response to feeling threatened by the girl, who she felt was coming at her.)

In the end, I'm reminded of why I'm glad I'm the goalie. There's a certain distance as the tendy. You exist on the fringes of whatever shit happens between skaters most of the time, so I tend to watch this stuff and whatever shitstorm of fallout comes with it, with detached amusement.

All I know is I need to try and stop the next puck.

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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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Hot and Cold

Oh, hey there!

You know what sucks? Not having my Monday night drop-in.

You know why? Because I stink up the first period at Women's League on Tuesday after not seeing a shot for a week.

A least it was only 3 goals last night instead of 4 like the week before. Maybe next week we can hold 'em back and get a win and get that ugly 0 out of the win column. :\

But yeah, first period, I stunk. Wasn't seeing the puck well, wasn't moving well (even for me), was antsy and unsure of myself. I was terrible in warmups and usually that lights a fire under me and my game ends up okay.

Not last night! Things started to finally pick up about midway through the second, and in the third, I played MUCH better and stopped lots of shots.

My captain actually helped me a ton by pointing out one of their better players and how she almost NEVER passes the puck. They had a lot of good players so this gal wasn't really sticking out for me, but she had several good chances in the third period and I was ready for her. She passed once the whole period and telegraphed it so hard, I was ready.

So there's a tip for you skaters, at least if you're playing against me: If you're dressed sort of non-distinctively, like no loud colors or unusual socks or bright green laces or red breezers or whatever, I'm not going to necessarily pin down your tendencies as well as someone who stands out visually.

It's funny though, my captain was trying to tell me who she was and she was telling me about her helmet. And I'm like, "Yeah, I don't see heads. I see socks and down." She finally had to point her out to me during play. "Oh! Buffalo Socks!" And lo and behold... shot, shot, shot from that girl. Yeah, bring that on, honey.

Save of the night was against one of my favorite girls from my team last season (which I'm still not over that I have to play AGAINST my teammates. I'm hardwired toward loyalty, especially since I really loved that team, so I don't adjust quickly to that change.)

She's a VERY good French-Canadian player and honestly, as good as she is, I've never seen her embarrass a goalie. She could easily dance around our D and deke us into next Sunday, but she dials it back and plays within the context of the league while still playing hard. I don't know how she finds that balance, but she really does.

Anyway, that said, she came in on a short breakaway on my blocker side looking for a hole short side. I don't give her one, so she comes across the top of the crease and tries to poke it 5-hole as I'm pushing across.

DENIED. Ooooo, baby, that's how it's supposed to work! Got a big "AWWW!" from her and then a pat on the shoulder for a good save. Told her, "I honestly thought you had me." But nope. Snagged it just inside my knee stacks. Phew! Save of the game!

Nice to finish the game on a good note.

Even better is that the hottie league plays after us on Tuesday nights. It's like B level guys and they're all young and foxy and move nicely on the ice. My Brusty-pads goalie plays that league, too, so double-bonus for me! If you're looking for some foxy hockey action to scratch your Aeros itch, get down to SLICE on Tuesday nights. Rawr!

That's it for me and hockey for the week. Apart from that, mostly my life revolves around vacuuming and dusting my house almost constantly (thanks, dog) and getting paperwork/vendors/utilities/etc. ready for the new house to close in a little less than 3 weeks.

I'll be really glad when we're moved into the new house and I'm not constantly on Dog Fur Watch here in the house we're trying to sell. Gotten lots of positive feedback on the place though, so I feel good that we'll find someone who loves it as much as we have sooner than later.

Here's to the government not fucking the whole thing up with their shenanigans. Idiots.

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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.

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Go Sausagemen!

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Peaks and Valleys

The Hockey Gods are a funny bunch.

Monday night, I spent half of goalie clinic fighting back tears of frustration about my game. After clinic, I couldn't even talk to Scott TFCG or I'd cry in front of everyone. I had to go right to the bathroom, which thankfully was empty, and sob for a few minutes.

I managed to gather myself long enough to put my gear together and get to the car, but once there, the waterworks started again and didn't stop until well after I was home 30 minutes later.

Needless to say, I was not enjoying the process. I was feeling like a huge disappointment who couldn't stop a beach ball. The feeling had been simmering for a few weeks and something snapped Monday night on the "broken arrow" drill (a tough one that I'm really bad at) and I was just broken.

Afterwards, as I'm crying to Mr. C, he said, "So doesn't this usually mean you'll be great in your next game?"

Oh, my clairvoyant husband....

Okay, maybe I wasn't great in the women's league championship last night. My team sure was and kept me from getting shelled. But I had some stops I'm proud of and that reinforced that I may not do a lot of things right or well as a goalie, but I can stop some pucks when I need to.

The game ended up 3-2. My two goals, one was a shot from the right circle that I bobbled right into my own net. You'd think it was a hot potato the way I just couldn't get it to settle in my glove. Mexican Jumping Puck. I swear I need StickUm in my glove. Nobody has ever had more pop outs than me.

The second was a completely unabated breakaway by their best player and I bit on her fake. Should have poke checked her, but I was indecisive about it and once you're indecisive, it's all over.

However!

There was another breakaway later in the 3rd when we were up by 1 and for me it was just about trying to hold the fort. I trusted my team enough that I knew I could take some risks and they'd be there to clean up the mess.

And I was right. I pulled a big time Brusty on this breakaway and shocked the hell out of the skater as the puck hit my pad and went flying into the end boards.

It rebounded out from the end boards back up above the goal line and I thought, "Aw fuck, that bit me in the ass." But while the skater was trying to get her bearings and gather the puck, I manged to dive back in the nick of time and get my stick in front of her shot into the empty net.

I literally could not believe I just made that series of saves. Without question my best desperation save ever. After that, it was a blur of skates and tangled gear and screaming at my team to "GIT IT!!!!" because I'd lost sight of it finally.

And git it they did. My last memory of that rush was my defenseman getting control and skating it toward the blue line. It was a vision of loveliness that I'll never forget. I so didn't want that puck in the net after all that work.

Then we got a penalty with just a minute or so left. But my girls busted their asses to keep the puck in the other team's zone so they couldn't pull the goalie for an extra man.

I refused to look behind me at the clock because I didn't want to feel like I could let up. But once my team started cheering, I knew it was just seconds away. What a sweet sound that buzzer was.

And what a sweet turnaround from an awful night Monday. I could even feel some of the work we've done in clinic coming to bear in my game.

So there ya go. I'll try to post a pic of me, a sheet or two to the wind, molesting our trophy. I think I was the only one who cared a whole lot about it, but it meant a lot to me.

It meant a lot to have a team that believed in me and liked me being in net for them. That goes an awful long way toward me being able to work up the competitive juices that don't come all that naturally to me.

I'm very sad the season is over. For my first "real team" experience, I think I was spoiled rotten by these gals. But I've made some friends here and really feel like I've gotten more to the heart of women's hockey. And it's a very good place. I'm lucky to feel so welcome and at home there.

Oh yeah, and the Aeros fucking won game 7, bitches!!!! Git 'er done for ONE MORE ROUND, and maybe Bingo comes to Texas for the Calder Cup! #myheadexplodes

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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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You know it's a bad night in goal when you're the other team's MVP

Let's start with this: I love my team. There's not even a "but" coming. I just love them.

We were missing some of our best players tonight against Captain Danglemitts' team (who was not there, fortunately), but they had all their best players except her. So it was a shooting gallery in my end. I saw 28 shots in 42 minutes of play and stayed really busy, especially in the first and second.

I didn't play a bad game overall, BUT... I put TWO of the goals IN the net with MY OWN GLOVE.

Stand on top of a mountain and scream FUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKK and let it echo off the surrounding mountains and that's pretty much the sound in my head after each one.

They were both shots that, one way or another got past me and were sitting on the goal line. All I had to do was sweep them into my body and we're done. No goal. (Though we still would have lost as the final was 4-1.)

But because I'm a glove retard, I pushed them INTO the goal while trying to snag them. /insert mountain  echo fuck again/

So, even though I stopped probably 5 breakaways and plenty of good shots, you goalies know that even one fuck-up like that can take it all away. Two makes you want to beat yourself to death with your own goalie stick.

I get in the room after and I'm NOT HAPPY. I'm trying to be cool, trying to keep perspective, but then the girls compliment my game and I can't hold it in. "Yeah, good game except for those TWO GOALS I put in with my OWN GLOVE."

So one of the girls says, "Okay, good game, except for those TWO AWFUL GOALS! What were you DOING?" She's kidding of course, but I actually felt a little better hearing that.

So I said, 'Thank you! Exactly!"

And the other girls caught on and I egged them on to just give me shit for my "awful" game. I don't think any of them understood it. I'm not sure I did either, but honest to god, it made me feel better.

I told them I should call one of those phone sex lines (I was thinking of @TeleEroticist's Submissive Line) and pay someone to berate me for my bad game so I feel better.

It's like, when I'm mad at myself for a game, I'm mad at myself as much on my behalf as on theirs. So it's a big burden to carry, their anger and mine. But by them, even jokingly, giving me hell for it, I could give their anger back to them and not have to carry it myself.

Or something like that.

Whatever the case, I had a smile on my face after that and I was able to (mostly) just learn my lesson (don't COVER the puck, put the glove behind the puck and pull it towards me) and move on.

Anyway, I love my team for doing that and for lots of other reasons. This was our last regular season game of the season, which makes me sad. The deck will get shuffled next season and I'll likely have to face the girls I've grown to adore.

If we're still in 1st place, we don't play for 2 weeks -- one bye week and one "play-in" game for the playoffs, which I don't understand --  but hopefully this knocked us into second place and we can play again 2 weeks from now. (Don't try to figure it out.) I just show up when they tell me to and try to get in front of pucks.



Playoffs start tomorrow. Kuemper's team is one loss away from getting swept by Medicine Hat (and best hockey name since Clutter, goalie Tyler Bunz), so maybe he joins the crew soon, too.

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Shutout. For Realsies.

I remember back when I had that shutout that I lost ultimately in the shootout. I was moaning about it to Scott and he said something that stuck with me: Everybody wants that first shutout, but you'll find that it wasn't your best game and there are games you let goals in that you're a lot more proud of.

And he's right. We got a shutout tonight 100% because my girls played like rock stars and kept the puck away from me, not because of any grand effort on my part. I saw maybe 10-15 shots tonight in 42 minutes of play. I was bored, honestly, and I played just fine and handled the shots I saw, but nothing heroic.

I tell ya though, I had the clock behind me in the third and I knew time was running down, but there was no way I was looking back at the clock to see how much was left. I was DYING to know. But I knew the buzzer would be that much more satisfying if it came as a surprise.

I normally don't react to wins. Just go out and shake hands and smile a little more. But I allowed myself a little fist pump after the final buzzer. I feel like I've come so close so many times, I at least earned that. A shutout is a special thing for a goalie, even when it's not exactly earned the hard way.

So, that was nice and now I can scratch that off my bucket list. Only took 2 years and 4 months in net to nail that one down.

It was also cool that it came when I had friends watching the game. Usually when I have someone I know there to watch, I choke. So, I've got witnesses if nothing else. :)

It was a fun night. Some tasty food and drinks and jello shots after the game and a good time with the girls. I love this bunch a whole lot.

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So I went back to wearing my pads loose and they seemed to be rotating better. Also, I found that my suspenders had lengthened on the right side, so I hiked those up to where they're supposed to be. I guess I'm going to have to glue or stitch them in place. That could be part of the problem. The pads felt a lot better tonight.

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I haven't written about Brusty in a while because I think I've said it all at this point. But these quotes from him today (er, yesterday) are particularly delectable. Props to my *ahem* second favorite AHL beat writer, Joy Lindsay, for getting these.

The stuff about his appreciation for where he is now vs. the last couple of years, both health-wise and organizational respect-wise, as well as the bonding in post-season stuff gave me goosebumps. The guy is just a straight up great quote. Beat writer gold.

And honestly, it takes some effort to give thoughtful answers. Not too many guys will be so earnest and honest.

Rooting hard for Bingo to lock up their playoff spot tomorrow!

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Just because we did a little post-game bootie shaking to this one in the bar tonight....



"My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns, hun." - Best Lyric Ever

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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.

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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.

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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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Surprise Ice

Phew. 3 games(and wins) in three days for the Aeros... Stressful ones, too. And then straight to Austin for me after Sunday's game to take care of some work stuff.

As I mentioned last week, I thought I was not going to be playing at all this week but one of the women's league goalies was sick. So I got the call on the way home from Austin, right around Brenham, to come out.

No problem. Tired as shit, but hey, it's ice time and otherwise, I'd just be sitting around the house trying to stay awake until 9 or 10 anyway.

And then it turned out they wanted a goalie to shoot on for the women's clinic before league. So the hour I thought I had to relax when I got home turned into 30 minutes and a rush to get dressed and on the ice.

I forgot how much work it is to just take practice shots. Up and down, up and down. My knee sure felt it. I bailed when they started just taking regular shots on me from the hash marks. Doesn't do much for me and I wanted to save energy for the game.

Game went okay. There were a couple that I didn't feel like I had a lot of chance on. We took the lead late in the game and they pulled the goalie with 10 seconds left, but my team couldn't clear it and somehow it got right to a gaggle of gals on my back door and they got it in with like 2 seconds on the clock.

Honestly, I was so tired, I couldn't get all that worked up about it. Shootout. No big deal. I'd been stopping Captain Danglemitts all night, which I was very proud of and that had my confidence up. I let two in, neither of which were particularly embarrassing, stopped a good shot glove side. We could only get one in their net though, so we lost 5-4.

One weird thing though and I honestly felt bad for our ref, who really didn't seem to know how to handle the call and I'm still not sure what the right answer was:

The play was around my net and I'm scrambling and I guess I slid into my right post at one point and knocked it off the goal line a few inches behind it but didn't realize it. One of my D noticed it and starts yelling, "Net's off! Net's off!" looking for the whistle.

Well, for one, that was pretty distracting to me and while I know I should play to the whistle, I definitely let up. And Captain Danglemitts, who occasionally plays past the whistle a few beats because she's badass like that, converted on a wrap-around chance at the left post (which was in place).

So, my D is like, "Dude! No goal! Look, the net's off!" Ref looks, sees it's off, waves the goal off, and puts the net back in place.

Of course, the other team, primarily Capt. Danglemitts, goes apeshitbananas and gets up in his grill arguing her side.

Goal.

He fucking changed his mind, y'all.

You could see him struggling with it before he waved it off. He wasn't sold on his initial decision, so I wasn't surprised by the change. And honestly, the net being off didn't affect my ability to save or the validity (in spirit) of the goal. My D screaming about it while the play was going on and my letting up as a result was a 95% of the reason the puck went in.

Anyway, I don't know what the rule is, but if there's room for interpretation in the rules, then I'd say he got it right (ultimately). If the rule is black and white "if the net is unintentionally off its moorings, any goals scored don't count regardless of whether the ref knew the net was off during play" then, of course, he was wrong. I really don't know.

Of course, the whole thing pissed my team off so much, that they went down and rang up two goals in quick succession. Haha.

That deal on top of my team getting 8 or 10 minutes of PIM, plus at least one 5 on 3 (maybe two?)... it was kind of a clusterfuck. But they kill penalties like a boss, so the goonery didn't hurt us much other than having a short bench that was getting pretty tired by the end.

I came right home, threw back some Advil for my aches and Benedryl to short circuit the adrenaline and finally get some solid sleep. Thank god. I almost feel human today.

Tomorrow's another long one though. Busy busy day and then an Aeros game, after which I need to interview Hackett, so send the kid good goalie vibes because I hate interviewing goalies after bad games, but I really have no choice if I want to do the story.

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Don't Fear The Reaper

I've been trying to write about last night's women's league game, but it's been hard to organize my thoughts into something cohesive. Lemme try though...

We lost 5-2. It was Captain Cornerpicker's team and she was actually there for the first time since the horrible spiraling nightmare game a while back. I think only one of their good players was out (didn't miss her, either). We were without some of our better players, so it was clear from the get go that we were the underdogs.

My d-man came over before the game and reminded me to "smile pretty!" basically saying just have fun because you're about to get hammered.

Aaaand she was right. To the tune of 32 shots per our score keeper (11 at the other end). Keep in mind, we only play a total of 39 minutes. In a 60 minute game, that would have been a 49 shot pace. I had to do math to figure that out. You're welcome.

The first period was the hardest. We just couldn't clear the zone and when we did, it was literally JUST cleared, they got onside, and came right back in. Add in a brutal PK (luckily only 1 minute penalties due to the short periods) and I was dizzy with exhaustion by the time I got to the other net for the second period.

I was proud of myself for shaking it off and digging deep and not giving up. And thank god I doubled up on the pasta during the day! I needed every bit of that energy.

During the second, Captain Breakaway finally got her first unimpeded shot at me. She does this crazy shit where she comes in and basically glides to a stop a couple of feet outside the crease and wants to just wait the goalie out. Make a move, tendy, and then I'll put it around or over you. She really can put the puck anywhere she wants.

And she keeps her head up so it's difficult to surprise her. So I've gotta find a way to take advantage of the fact that she is looking at me. I think there are lots of ways to do that, so I'll just have fun with trying to solve her, rather than beating myself up when I can't. She's an A-league level player and her beating me isn't an indictment on me. But if I didn't try to learn from it, it would be. (Fuck me, is that some level-headed shit or what?)

That said, I DID stop her first breakaway attempt. I stayed up, waited her out and batted it away with my blocker. The second one, not so much. I just couldn't get a read on the trajectory off her stick for whatever reason as she roofed it glove side.

I was pissed but still proud that I'd stopped her earlier and that I wasn't taking the bait in her game.

I guess the bottom line is that I don't feel as much like her victim anymore, which is what I tend to feel when someone just has my number and doesn't seem to have qualms about making me look foolish. I went through this with another player back in novice, but once I started to realize some vulnerabilities in her game, I could just let the tension go and play her without all the alarm bells going off in my head.

The second period was pretty tough, too, but Teal started to slow down a SMIDGE and by the third, my exertion was back to a more sustainable level. But up until then, it was like bad sex... if I had a dollar for every time I yelled, "GET IT OUT!" I could have bought dinner for the team.

And I would have, because in spite of the lopsided appearance, they played really hard and did some great things in front of me. It could have been much worse if they hadn't been sharp. Their attitude was great, too. They were having fun, not worried about the score, and that filtered back to me. It just felt like we were really on the same page.

I was very grateful for and embarrassed by all the kudos I got from pretty much everybody, from the ref to the other team to my own teammates, who opened their wallets at the bar and made sure I wasn't feeling any pain. :) So, I guess you just never know what your best game looks like.

I just know I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for everything I got out of last night. An unreal game, some precious bonding with teammates, and some demons sent packing.

And since one of our fans busted out the cowbell during our game, I have to play this song because I kept thinking about it every time I heard the song.

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Badgers win it

I almost don't even want to write about tonight's women's league game, because every time I write about good things, I suck for a while.

But we won, I think the final was 5-2. Our captain gave me the MVP prize, which I thought was very nice, but it was such a team win and she acknowledged that she wished she had a whole barrel of MVP prizes. The girls showed up, played their hearts out, won puck battles left and right, and just generally gave me a ton a confidence and played spectacular defense in front of me.

First goal, the stupid VHS would have stopped it, but meh. Second goal was me drifting to the shooter and she beat me inside the far post. Dangit.

But otherwise, I stopped quite a few breakaways from a few girls and some tough close-in shots, too, including the new one on that team, who is very good (and was so frustrated by me stopping her repeatedly, late in the game after a save, she comes up to me and says, "Man, you're pretty good!" Uh. Yeah, you keep thinking that. Haha. Nice to hear from a youngster like that though. I'll take compliments where I can get them.)

Anyway, I was just seeing the puck pretty well and managed to keep the crazy bounces out of the net, but huge credit to my team for clearing out my endless rebounds. I love love love my defensemen.

I always wondered when I'd have to cover the puck wayyyy out of my crease and I finally did that tonight. I didn't know what else to do about this puck that was coming down to my end with moderate speed, but had a gal coming in on it pretty much alone also with moderate speed. I didn't feel like I had time (or skill, frankly) to play the puck, so I just belly flopped and slapped my glove over it. Must have been above the hash marks, at least. Pretty far out there for freezing a puck...

Probably looked stupid but it got the job done and it was better than a breakaway shot.

One of the gals in the league was there and filmed the game for us, so we watched it back while we drank a little beer after. I can't even comprehend how slow it looks from the sidelines vs. how fast it feels when you're playing. It's like, "Really? THAT'S the game we just played?" Doesn't make sense to me. Feels very hopeless when I contemplate playing against faster players because I'm sure my "faster" drop-in on Mondays would still look very slow on video.

Ah well. No thinking. Just puck stopping. Amazing stuff. I love this game.

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Thank you, Hockey Gods

I played an attentive, focused game tonight, and the girls in front of me were awesome, and it all resulted in a nice little 2-1 win.

While I'm very happy for the win, I definitely feel like on my part at least, there was a lot of luck. Like the hockey gods were throwing me a bone. You know those saves where it really could have gone either way? If you'd not gotten your toe over that extra inch, if you hadn't gotten your pad on top of that one that bounced into your 5-hole, etc.

I guess what I'm saying is the bounces were in my favor tonight and even though I stopped every thing I saw (the one goal against, I described as a "a sea of butts"--I never saw it leave the stick--just went down and hoped for a low shot), I know it wasn't because I was playing lights out or anything.

Seems important to recognize when you got the good bounces so those nights you get the bad bounces don't seem so heinous and unfair.

I got some laughs from a few of the girls when a puck was sort of threatening my crease while one of my D was trying to settle it down, and I let out a SHRIEK. I do that less than I used to, but hey, sometimes it happens. "That was so... girly!" Ro says. Hey, I have boobs and a vagina! I do girly things sometimes!

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I was concerned how it was going to go tonight because I've been moving at groaning, moaning geriatric speeds today thanks to my hamstrings and quads being in absolute agony after Monday's workout and game. The squats and stuff really did me in.

Fortunately, our friend adrenaline has a way to making those aches just fuck right off while you're playing. I didn't even notice or feel tired legs. Felt really good actually (I'm liking the Sweetstick so far). And am sore still, but no worse for the wear, now that I'm home.

Tomorrow is a workout day off though. Thursday is back at it and maybe start the yoga classes on Friday? We'll see.

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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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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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Goalie Porn and when a win keeps you up at night...

First of all, I want to point you guys to a new blog that started yesterday (but in the making for a LONG time) that is 100% pictures of goalies doing sexy things, like being incredibly bendy or doing that water bottle thing or smiling or making glove saves or whatever.

It's all goalie porn, all the time and it's been a long time coming. Check it out at http://GoingFive-Hole.blogspot.com. They also have a Twitter you can follow.

Fuck me, I'm pretty jazzed about that. Gonna need some fresh batteries...

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Women's league was kinda weird last night. The game was moved up an hour but the other goalie didn't get the message (I didn't either, actually, I just happened to see it on the League's Facebook page), so we played the first period with a shooter tutor in the other net and got up 5-1 early.

She was in net by the second period (thank god, or I was gonna have to play for their team for a period and I wasn't entirely comfortable with that).

Anyway, we won 9-4 (though I think of it as more like 4-3). I made a lot of stops and it seems like all but one goal against was on a breakaway or in an odd-man situation where the shooter basically had time and space to have their way with me.

The fourth was a case of the teams being in such similar jersey colors (Teal vs. Green) that in my peripheral vision, I thought the person by my net was on my team (green), so I didn't load for a big push when a teal player passed the puck across my crease and whaddaya know, she was teal. Fuck. Of course, in retrospect, I should have loaded to push across regardless.

Anyway, what was weird about this game was that my team was really happy with my play. My captain even gave me one of the two little "goodies" she gives to the players of the game, one defensive and one offensive.

And yet, I spent all night tossing and turning, literally dreaming of the goals against and trying to stop them in my sleep and jerking myself awake (not as fun as it sounds).

I think the color confusion goal bugs me quite a bit. And then their captain scored on me on clean breakaways twice in EXACTLY the same way. Fuck. This gal may be the reason I finally learn to throw a two pad stack because I'm determined to shut that shit down.

I feel like a damn fool when I let a goal in ON the ice on a relatively slow (but very dekey, patient) play... TWICE. I need to channel my inner Brusty and just go balls out on her now that she thinks she knows what I'll do.

Gah, I'm all tense just thinking about it again.

I just need to...

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Badger Attack! and Brusty article (updated w/ PDF)

Awww, I love women's league. The gals are awesome and, while I'd love to say that my team is the awesomest, I think any of the teams would be a blast to play on.

But my team probably is the awesomest. At least at the bar after a win.

That free pitcher of beer was a drop in the bucket compared to the parade of pitchers and car bombs that came after it last night. God bless 'em. What fun.

The car bomb appears to be the "shot" of choice in this crew. I'm not sure why, other than it's supposed to taste like chocolate. If you haven't had one, it's half a bottle of Guinness, and a shot glass with Bailey's and Jameson's. You can drop the shot in or just pour (our method, so you don't break a tooth on the shot glass).

Mostly just tasted like funky Baileys to me, but this was after a few Shiners, so I really didn't care what it tasted like.

Of course, you indulge in this nonsense and then have to sit around for a while to get your land legs back. No big deal. Lots of laughs.

As for the game, as usual, you just never know what to expect. Turns out my team is REALLY good at holding the zone, so I maybe stopped 10 pucks all night. MAYBE. I let two in. One was a backdoor feed that I shoulda dived for but, as usual, didn't react fast enough.

The other was a breakaway and I guess I bit on a fake shot low and she popped it over my blocker shoulder. Dammit. Even when I know what she's going to do, she beats me at it.

But we won 3-2. I literally did not see a single shot the entire second period. My hair had dry spots still, which NEVER happens. It was a very easy night for me. I definitely did not earn all that booze.

The orange team (Harvard Crimson -- don't try to make sense of the jersey colors) didn't have a couple of their best girls but they're gonna be scary from a breakaway perspective this season. I'll get good practice at that.

Ahhh, so much fun. I fucking love hockey.

And speaking of which, don't miss this fantastic feature piece on Brusty that ran in the Bingo paper today. (They're sending me a PDF of the actual layout in the paper later today, because I guess they did something special around it. E-mail me if you want me to forward it to you.) Being the awesome people they are there at the Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin, they gave me permission to post the PDF here so everyone can see it! Thanks guys!

I don't really know what else to say about my goalie that I haven't said a million times already. So, I made up a new word: BAMFtastic. Brusty is BAMFtastic.

I considered GILFtastic but decided that might be awkward and inappropriate. So let's all pretend I didn't say that and I can avoid embarrassing myself. *ahem* I may still be a little drunk.


Oh, and speaking of potential drunken embarrassments, I've got my ticket to Boston for early January! Have fucking amazing seats for the Boston - Minnesota game on the 6th. Like, I 100% guarantee I'll end up on the Wild broadcast, these seats are so good.

I'm going with some guy I don't know, though, so I hope to god that Kiss Cam doesn't find us.

Then it's a short drive over to Vermont for a few days, and hopefully the stars will align and Brusty will have a start that weekend in Bingo, and I'll trek over to see him play if the roads allow it. Regardless, I'm killing so many birds with this stone, it's not even funny.

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I has a team

I corrected my post yesterday after a flurry of emails came out from the Women's League folks that filled me in on what's actually going on with the league. The bad news is, there's only 3 teams again. The good news is, there's 3 full-time goalies, so we each got our very own team!

Now, I know I've had a team in Novice League all this time but players switch sides if needed and it's more of a collaborative, keep it even, kinda thing. But in Women's League, your team is your team and things are more structured.

So, this is really my first time being the goalie for a team like that and I'm really excited about it. I don't mind playing for a different team every week, but I was always envious of the skaters having that team bond and stability. As such, I'm super proud to say that I'm a Badger. :)

Or maybe I should dredge up this classic. I think the snake is a breakaway, right?



Ahhh, good times.

To celebrate having my very own team AND my 2 year goalieversary tomorrow, I'm bringing cookies for the girls tonight.

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My girl Hammer posted this gem today of some of her Amerks doing a calendar or something in all their young beefcakery. God, I feel dirty, but look at 'em... all muscles and hockey gear...

Anyway, I know I've ranted about this before but I don't understand why teams don't make it standard issue to do a beefcake calendar every year for charity.

Not only will every straight woman in the building buy one (plus some for friends), people who were fans of guys because they used to be on their team will want them, too. Like, if Bingo did one? Yeah, I'd be shoving bitches out of the way to be first in line.

I'm not saying they need to be full on, greased up soft-core porn (though I wouldn't say no to that). Even what the Aeros did last season, with funny photos of the guys in their gear doing stuff you'd never do in your gear, like washing dishes or auto maintenance with a goalie stick, was fantastic. (It's still April 2010, right?)

Shit, just put 'em in suits walking down the hall with post-game shower-wet hair...

Um..

What was I... oh yeah...

And don't give me any objectification objections. They know they look good and they worked hard to get that way. Even the milkbag lookin' guys are bound to have nice legs. Make it work. Plus, if a team is willing the dress them in those ridiculous, clownish jerseys in the name of "charity," I don't see where this is any worse.

When I win the lotto and buy myself a hockey team, we're doing this. Consider yourselves notified.

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Speaking of hot boys, though Carey doesn't do much for me personally, Drew just sent me this and it's just epic.

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Red takes the victory

And green, gosh darn, we lost. And it was a weird-ass game, too. The other team only had 6 players, while my team had all but one (so almost a full bench).

You'd look at that + the offensive prowess of the green team and go, "Okay, easy win."

And I probably did do that a little.

But the other team had all their best players, so it was like playing the top line (both front and back) all night. Break away after break away and really strong defensive play even when our top girls turned it on. I let in 3 in the first period and we just never recovered.

Normally I'd go through the goals but honestly, it's not worth re-living. The good thing is, I think I'm walking away from it with a decent perspective (aka not shouldering all the blame like I usually do). There are things I could have done better, there are things my team could have done better, and that's okay.

I did have one slick save where their best player exited the penalty box right as the puck was drifting past the door. So she's suddenly on a breakaway and I just stayed with her, slid across, and got the tip of my glove on her shot to send it to the corner. It would have been a good goal, and that makes it an even better save.

The championship game is fun though. Music at the stops (though speakers seem to be an afterthought at this rink), player introductions, photos and trophy presentation, MVP award, etc. And while usually just the winning team sticks around for beer after, both teams did tonight, and it was fun to just shoot the shit and, for me, have a couple of chilled glasses of liquid perspective. :)

Monday night drop-in is still my favorite ice time, but I <3 this league. It's just a completely different animal from playing with guys. You really can't even compare it, but it's good. It's a breath of fresh estrogen air.

Anyway, as usual, I'm looking forward to letting the Aeros play the real hockey on Thursday and Friday while I sit in my ivory tower and judge them smugly.

Friday is "Hug the Goalie Day" on Facebook. Don't forget to hug your favorite goalie. 

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