The Zone: I haz it!

Well, I just got done playing my best hour of hockey ever. Not to say I didn't let in a few goals but I stopped a LOT. And moreover, I stopped a lot that I normally would let in. And what's more,  I WON! I know it's just drop in but trust me, when you get blown out pretty much every week you know it, and when you blow the other guy out, you know when you won. And trust me, it counts.

I'm not even going to bother explaining why it was so good. It's doesn't matter. It's enough to say that I've never played better. I was focused and sharp, my angles were magnificent, my legs were energetic, my vision was good (which is really saying something). Have I mentioned how much I love love love my cat eye cage and will never ever ever go back to certified? EVER? EVER.

It was a beautiful thing. Not saying I was perfect. I probably still looked like a total bender, but I stopped a fuckload of shots.

And you know how I mentioned a while back how I can have, what was to me, a shitty game and people are all, "Man, you played great!" Well, tonight, I got one sort of generic "good game" from one person and that was it. The other goalie even corrected my glove placement! I wasn't looking for praise and never am, but I tend to get it anyway even when I feel I don't remotely deserve it. So, I couldn't believe it. How could you all not see how fantastic I was compared to my usual crap? LOL Weird. Just weird. But *I* know and that's all that matters. Maybe they were just pissed cuz they didn't score more. ;)

The good thing is, I'm not feeling super over the moon. It's one piddly drop in, only an hour long. I've got perspective on this thing. But that isn't stopping me from really enjoying having a good one.

Only bad thing is, I don't feel so great after. I didn't think I got hit that hard in the head, but the big guy who dented my head before put a really hard one on me that hit my mask chin and then collarbone. At the time, the pain was all collarbone (and boy did that hurt), but when I got off the ice and sat down, I realized I was a bit dizzy. And still am. I know I'm not dehydrated or low blood sugar or anything. I just feel a bit spacey. I even went the wrong way coming home. Meant to stay on 59 toward downtown and got off on 610 South. WTF? Didn't realize it until I started seeing exits for Bissonette and stuff. Ooops.

Don't feel sick or anything though, so I'm sure it's nothing or not much of anything. Maybe a little bit of shock from the collarbone hit? Man, that just hurts right to the core, like how I would imagine an electric shock feels, makes my whole shoulder and upper arm hurt, though it's getting better. But it didn't throw me off my game at all. Did hurt to cover the puck in front of me at one point. Yeesh.

Anyway, goaltending hurts sometimes and that's just how it is. I'm not complaining. Just keepin' it real, bitches. ;) It's still the funnest way ever to get yourself hurt. Back at it tomorrow night with the Koreans at Memorial City. Hopefully I'm a little fresher for that than I was last week. If I am and they need me, I might stick around and play the second drop-in. I dunno. We'll see. I could use the work.

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Long rambling on the state of my goaltending

I had this at the bottom, but am moving to the top in hopes of getting answers:


It looks like I'll be playing 3 in 3s for a while, and then I have my camp in late July which will be 4 days of pretty intensive ice time.


I'm finding that by day 3, my legs are so tired. My mind is tired, too, but I'm hoping having a little less tired legs will help me mentally, too.


So, I'm looking for suggestions to replenish the energy in my legs with consecutive days of playing. I'm not sore at all, just tired. No jump. I try to get enough rest, even if it comes in nap form, since I have trouble sleeping more than about 5-6 hours a night (I really need 7-8 to feel great), but maybe more carbs are in order? Advice is most welcome.

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Well, my team did manage to beat Scotty's team last night 9-7 in 2 straight hours of play, but certainly not because I helped. I let in some real stinkers, but had a few saves I'm proud of. Kind of a typical night for me, unfortunately.

The worst one... an own goal that I deflected 5-hole on myself (god that hurts to admit)... came because I was focused on what my legs/feet were doing (fixing a problem that caused a goal earlier) and not paying attention to my stick. And if the player had PASSED to the guy on my backdoor like I was loaded up to push to, I would have made that save. :) Ah well. Live and learn.


A couple of good things though:

I really do think I got a lot out of my green ice game a couple of weeks ago where I had no crease. I'm suddenly getting a lot more comfortable challenging breakaways. I'm trusting my instincts and my reasonably good "net sense" to keep my bearings.

I still don't go crazy far out, like to the hash marks like some goalies, but I don't see a ton of value in that. I know some would argue with me on that. Be my guest. But I come out about half way between the top of the crease and the hash marks and I think that's plenty. I figure that's about the point a shooter is having to start to commit to a decision and a direction. Any further out, and they can just dick around with their approach speed and throw you off that way.

Now if I could just translate that to when I'm playing higher level, faster skaters, as I'm still doing a bit of shrinking violet routine with those guys, like my Tuesday drop-in. That's something I want to work on this week at that game.

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Someone suggested to me a long time ago to yell out when I've got an odd man rush. It really does seem to help. It's almost like skaters don't realize what's going on and that wakes 'em up. It also makes me feel a bit better. I don't know why, but I usually play the rush successfully when I do that. It grounds the situation somehow? I don't really know what's going on there.

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Another thing I did better last night, but that I can't seem to "fix" for good, was my 5-hole. I'm telling you, I shoulda gotten VD last Tuesday for how often I got hammered 5-hole. Stuff was going through me before I even realized the shot was off. Horrible.

But last night, while the competition isn't anything like what I face on Tuesdays, I had some big 5-hole stops and the only one I let in was that fucker I put in on myself. Though one of those got through to bare leg (thanks for nothing, thigh boards) and I have a nice lump above my knee. No bruise but it's probably coming. At least it better for how much it hurts.

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So, I have one night off this week, Thursday night, with no hockey to play and no Aeros games to cover. Naturally, the Wild don't play that night. And I don't see a single game I particularly care about on the NHL schedule. FML! ;) (Totally kidding. Best week evar!)

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Quick Hits: Ghost Writer, Playfair, Brahmas, Empire State of Mind

You have to be pretty damn cool to go to bed at 9:30 on a Saturday night and still be as cool as this bitch right here.

Okay. Not cool at all. And now I'm up at 5 a.m. Honestly, I wish I could just keep vampire hours.

The worst part was that I had crazy dreams all night thanks to this movie we saw today called The Ghost Writer. I kept waking up having revelations about the movie, because I know it should have made sense but I just wasn't able to put all the pieces together. But of course, I wake up now and can't remember any of said revelations. FU, Roman Polanski and your confusing movie. At least Ewan McGregor was sort of an unassuming babe. That was pleasant.

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Check out this highlight reel of the game in Abbotsford against Hamilton Saturday night. Several big things to notice:

1. Look at the attendance. IN Canada, on a Saturday night, with a new team that's been on a warm streak. WTF, Abbotsfordians? I think the Calgary farm club is cursed. They keep putting it in these god forsaken places and nobody shows up. I guess they thought god forsaken Canada would do better than god forsaken Illinois. You'd think at least the novelty of a new team would have crowds up for a season or two. 
2. Curtis Sanford, who has been red-motherfuckin-hot for Hamilton goes down HARD on a play. I was looking at the AHL goalie rankings Friday night and noticed that he and Cedrick Desjardins are #1 and #3 in the league. Holy hell, that's a lotta goaltending for one team, right? Desjardins is 26-8-3 and Sanford is 23-11-3. Those numbers are mind-boggling. My money is on a Hamilton-Hershey Calder Cup Finals. Those teams are just completely dominating their conferences, but if Sanford is hurt enough to be "done"... you have to wonder how Desjardins will hold up on his own. Seems like really strong tandems stay strong because the goalies are battling so hard for playing time (see Krahn-Climie). 
3. Jim Playfair loses his everloving mind on Koho. Nothing much more to it other than it's pretty funny to watch Playfair go nuts like that. That team is kind of a mess, but for some reason I'm rooting for them to get it together. Maybe because I feel bad for them being in the AHL hinterlands.

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I'm enjoying following my boy Jaeger and his Brahmas in their playoff run right now. The won their best of 3 mini-series against Corpus in two games, and are now up 2-0 on the mighty Odessa Jackalopes (?) in the semi-final round. And now they head home for games 3 and 4. 

The Brahmas play really well at home and have a great fan base that fills their small barn, so they should be doozies. I'd love to get up for a game, but I hate that drive from Dallas to Houston even more, so that probably isn't gonna happen.

Either way, Scruffy is on a 4 game win streak, stopped 46 of 48 shots last night, and proves himself to be extremely clutch. He's had an up and down season, but he's playing his balls off when it really counts. Something about goalies who can step it up when the pressure is on. Hot.

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I'm getting a little freaked out playing in daylight lately. I'm not sure it suits me, but I get to give it another go tonight as Novice starts at 6. SIX! I'm used to starting at 9 or 10. And Scott TFCG will be the opposing goalie, from what I hear. I'm always extra motivated to beat him but whenever I'm extra motivated in a game, I tend to suuuuuck. So, I gotta just shut that out and stay relaxed and prepare like I know I should.

I finally found one of the other songs that fills my head when I play but couldn't find. I'm not a big rap fan but Keys' chorus that makes the whole song for me (and yet, her version w/o Jay Z is pretty crappy, so good on them for getting together and giving that chorus some meatier context). Anyway, it's perfect head-filler. Super catchy, easy to put on repeat in my head, relaxed but still kinda "big."

So I'll get to listen to this in my head for at least a couple of hours, since we have extra ice tonight. Will probably hate it by tomorrow.

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Quick Hits: Annie Savoy, Blank Canvas, and Bendy Grahame

So, I'm not sleeping with them or reading Emily Dickinson to them, but the last couple of seasons, I've certainly had pet projects. Two seasons ago, it was the Cal for Calder campaign, which was tongue-in-cheek silliness and lots of fun for the bloggers and fans who got involved. And hey, we got national pub out of the deal!

This year, of course, I was hot to trot to "Free Brusty" and get him back in the AHL where he belonged. I guess you could chalk that up to equal parts frustration/success. He did finally get back, but was likely just about to get sent down again when the ol' foot became uncooperative again. But there was much happiness across the land (and, of course, by "happiness across the land" I mean "tingling in my goalie bits") when he was playing here.

But Brusty will move along and grace some other lucky fan base with his magic (and, of course, by "his magic" I mean "his ability to explode ovaries with his sexy glove saves"). So, my nest is feeling a bit empty and I'm opening my mind to a new, worthy crusade. It has to be organic though. I won't fabricate something. There has to be a genuine hockey reason... a real stirring in the hockey heart... it has to come to me.

But just as a heads up, right now I feel that stirring for Max Noreau, because my level of irritation at Minnesota not calling him up is rising with every day that I don't get a good explanation for why he's being snubbed. No offense to Sifers but Max should have gotten that last call. Don't argue with me on this point. It's just a fact.

But don't panic yet, Max. It's not carved in stone. Just percolating. Still a long summer ahead and surely plenty of changes afoot. (And speaking of feet, heal up quick, Barry! Not actual Brustyfoot ----> Just a stand-in.) Who even knows what the goalie sitch will be here, and you know I'll get 1000x more riled up about goalie stuff than skater stuff, so there's hope, Maxy. You may not be stuck with me yet, but I still think you've more than earned a fair shot at the show.

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Meanwhile, I've got a weekend project that combines my third love, which (after hockey and writing) is art. I haven't dabbled in my artistic side in a long time as it seems my writing obligations have swallowed me whole the last couple of years. And you guys thought I just did stick figures.... ;)

I used to paint, mosaic, make jewelry, and even lost a few brain cells making plant trellises out of copper pipe (copper solder has fumes that I'm pretty sure ate my short term memory, but fuck me if using a propane torch isn't just a helluva lot of fun. Right up there with socket wrenches and wang on my list of "guy things I love to play around with").

But I find myself with a strong urge to play in my basket of paint tubes again. All my paintings before have been abstract, pulled out of my head, and I've always just done them because I was too cheap to buy someone else's art, get it framed, etc. for my own walls. And I like how original art looks versus prints, so I learned to keep it simple and make stuff I really like, even 10 years later.

But now I'm venturing into humans. More specifically, hockey humans. Thanks to all the great photographers I've gotten to know, there's lots of material to work from.

I've never painted people before, but I can see the outcome in my head and I can think through the process of creating it, and usually that means I'll be happy with the result. I wish goaltending came so naturally to me! It also means I can hardly contain myself from starting right now and not stopping until I'm done. Alas, I have a work deadline on Friday. But as soon as that's done, it's me and my brushes and the canvas that's been sitting in our closet for 5 years waiting for inspiration.

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First though, Lake Erie plays here Friday night. Bendy John Grahame is still with the team, so I'll have my eagle eye on him. And since it's "just the Aeros" maybe they'll actually play the back-up. Rawr. Bringin' the binoculars, bitches!

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Where's my effin' pizza?

Frustrating night in nets tonight. Just processing it a bit so I can kiss it goodbye and not let it get to me. I did a lot of things wrong, but this one of those rare nights where I'm gonna play the "didn't get much help" card.

Seemed like 3 out of 4 rushes, my opponents came at me completely unmolested by my team and just had all kinds of time to set up, deke, nancy around in my zone. With my tired legs from playing the third night in a row, I just wasn't up for it physically and I guess I wasn't up for it mentally.

Granted, it was 4 on 4 and I've actually never played behind a 4 in 4 before, so maybe that's something you have to adjust to as a goalie, in terms of how plays tend to unfold? I dunno. But I was getting beat every which way, and even when I got in front of the puck, it hit someplace ouchy. Inner arm, collar bone, shoulder. I don't have enough ice packs tonight. But my knee was gonna win that privilege anyway, as it was hurting from the word Go.

Also? No fucking pizza. Turned out tonight was just a regular rink-run drop-in. So no beer and no pizza. I was so looking forward to that pizza. :( Truth be told, I think not having that carrot dangling at the end of the game was a bit of a let down. Stupid, I know, but you have to manufacture drive sometimes. I was really looking forward to that pizza.

Bahh. Lame night. Weird night. Writing it off right....


wait for it....


wait for ittttt.........



NOW.

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Great weekend and pracky

Phew. It's been a long, fun weekend. I need Monday off to just get the down time I'm accustomed to! But I wouldn't give any of it back.

Mr. Goalie Porn, Chris Jerina, was here for the Milwaukee games, so it was fun hanging out with him. Awesome guy and I'm not saying that just because he gifted me with a Brusty bobblehead. There aren't many 20-somethings I hang around with who I don't ever find myself saying, "Well, when you get in your 30's, you'll ~insert aged wisdom~" but he's certainly one of them.

Also fun hanging out with Mister Fred Saturday night. Haven't seen him since the summer and we sure do miss him at Aeros games and in general.

More Aeros today. Another loss, but I have finally come to enjoy Dubie. I mean, really, with Brusty not an option and the Aeros having zero chance at the playoffs, I can just enjoy his quirks and pray for good defense. Much like Vesa, he gives me hope for my game. A lot of the stuff he does that drives me bonkers is exactly how I play, unfortunately. But still, he stops pucks. Maybe there's hope for me yet. :)

After the game was practice, which I dragged poor Chris to, so he could be bored in a meat locker rather than bored and comfortable at his hotel. I'm QUITE the hostess.

Scott and Joe were our coaches tonight, so we did lots of new drills that were all great, both for the skaters and the goalies. Lots of real game situation stuff that I enjoy. At the end, we did a fun one that's too complicated to explain but I was so tired by the end, I was just making saves on my knees.

Joe rifled one past my glove at one point and for once (!) I had a chance to ask for a do-over. So he put 5 more at my glove and I snagged 'em all. He even changed the location, high, low, whatever. One was high and I still snagged it and one of the skaters said it was a "sexy save" or something along those lines. Heh. That felt nice. :)

Anyway, my upper back is aching tonight. Hoping the Advil will keep it from getting too bad. Knee isn't too happy either, but knee can suck it.

No invite to play on Monday yet so it looks like my next game will be Wednesday. Can already taste the post-game pizzaaaaa...

I finally found the song I had in my head that had me play such a good game last week! Had the words wrong AND slightly wrong melody going. Dork.

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Under your armor: Goalies, whatchu wear down there?

One of my readers emailed me today and asked about what is the "right" thing to wear under your goalie gear.

It's a subject near and dear to my heart, so now that I have a good excuse to bring it up, here's my take: There is no right answer. Whatever is comfortable, lets you move, doesn't make you too hot, etc.

Personally, I wear yoga pants and a wicking shirt. The yoga pants are cotton, which is pretty stupid because they hold sweat, but I can't seem to want to go to anything else. They're tight everywhere except the ankles, so they don't get twisted up no matter how much I flop around. They don't ever get stinky (they don't hold funk like wicking stuff can). And I don't mind wearing them right to the rink if I'm playing in a place where I don't want to change. They don't look so much like "undergear" as just workout pants.

Also, my hard-earned goalie ass looks delicious in them (okay, not THAT delicious ----->). Thighs, on the other hand... not so much, but whatever. Selective vision never hurt anyone.

Should I discuss commando? Nah. ;)

I absolutely do NOT want my scratchy, rough chest protector touching me. So I wear a long sleeve wicking shirt. Unlike my lower half where I can tolerate cotton, I really, REALLY hate feeling a sweaty shirt on me. So while these do get sweaty, they don't feel heavy and soppy. Yuck.

And of course, a sports bra under that to keep the jugs from going every which way. Sometimes I think being small chested would be a bonus as a female goalie, but frankly, tits and hair are all I've got (and living in Houston, even the hair doesn't always cooperate), so you won't catch me complaining.

I think that's everything.

That said, I've seen all kinds. Lots of folks still wear hockey socks and either a garter or compression shorts like skaters wear. Never tried it but the whole hockey sock thing is clumsy IMO. Seems like they would get twisted or bunched up when you're going up and down or be rough on your legs and knees. No thanks. 

I've heard others wear anything from pajama bottoms to sweatpants. To me, the smartest thing is that skin-tight UnderArmor-style wicking stuff. I've seen a couple of pros who go that route (god bless 'em). They won't budge, will stay light even with tons of sweating, often a little slick to make sure your pads rotate nicely, etc.

Up top, some people wear short sleeves or no shirt at all under their chest protector. I'd rather be hot than let my chest protector touch me all game. If you like to spend money, there's even stuff like this, made especially to protect more vulnerable spots.

So, there ya go. It's really just what feels right and comfortable to you. Like I said, it makes absolutely no sense, as much as we sweat, to wear anything cotton, but there's a point where you really just have to find what works and not worry about whether it makes a ton of sense.

It doesn't make a whole helluva lot of sense to willingly put yourself in front of 90 mph missiles, so I'm assuming "Overcoming Logic" is in all our repertoires, right?

I only pretend to know it all, so feel free to throw in the comments what you like and why. Would be good to get a range of ideas for the "newbie goalie" blog.

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