Rollercoaster

It's been kind of a tough week in future-goalie land. When you're training for a marathon, there are plenty of people saying, "You're nuts." but an equal number of people eagerly saying, "You can do it! It's hard but it's worth it!" It's pretty easy, if you have a little bit of stubborn in you, to trudge through it. Plus, information on HOW to do it abounds.

Well, when you get the notion to be a goalie, particularly as an adult with no skating experience, you get a few people saying you're crazy, but mostly it's this sort of neutral, yet skeptical, "Oh really? Okay." And this is from hockey people. Goalies even. There is absolutely nobody saying, "That's great! We need more goalies!" And there sure as hell isn't much information out there about the specific issues with being "old" when you start this stuff.

Maybe at some point in this journey, I'll understand this reaction. Right now, I absolutely do not.

But Coach Stalin and I went out to SLICE yesterday and had a good therapy session about it on the drive down, because she faced a lot of the same skepticism when she started learning to play hockey. I felt a lot better after the talk. Not sure what I'd do without Coach. :)

We had a very good skate. I'm so stuck on stopping and getting frustrated with that, so she had the idea of learning something new, which was just what the doctor ordered. We did a little warm up of swizzles, which I'm even getting pretty good at with my dumb leg, and then worked on backwards swizzles!

Since I'd already gone through the slow, painful lesson of figuring out edges while learning forward swizzles, I picked them up pretty quickly. Still need to build the muscles up to help smooth the motion out and figure out the balance a little better, but I feel good about making some progress.

I also need to get back to skating at least once more each week, preferably twice. I think I need to just put it as an appointment on my calendar and do it regardless of what's going on with work.

Also threw on the goalie skates for about 30 minutes, which is about all I can stand in new skates. They definitely felt weird, but I got used to them pretty quickly. I can certainly see how the need to have VERY strong legs is imperative. That's a LOT of blade on the ice, so it's always that much more ice to move through. Lots to learn but I'm glad to at least have a sense of the difference now. I'm acutely aware now of how much I I don't know. That's always a good starting point. Gap analysis, eh. :)

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My Aeros have lost their friggin' minds. Been watching too much Slap Shot or something but look at these rap sheets from the last two games:
Friday Night vs. Rivermen
Saturday Night vs. Wolves

At least Scotty beat the snot out of that punkass Deveaux. Man, I hate that guy. Can't accuse the boys of not playing with passion anymore.

But the Wild are kickin' it and Calgary lost last night. It's been playoff hockey for a month now, it seems, but now it's really down to the wire. Both of my teams play today at 5. I hate when they're simultaneous. Hard to pay attention to the audio of one and video of the other. But at least the Wild/Avs game is in HD. I absolutely can't complain. :)

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New Favorite Blog

Watch out Russo...

http://sportsquee.blogspot.com/

Funny, irreverent, hockey-filled. I'm lovin' it!

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Skates!

My goalie skates came yesterday! I stood and sat around in them during the whole (miserable) Wild/Oilers game last night and they seem to fit just fine. I do have to lace them up tighter than my player skates though. Maybe it's just a new skate thing. The only thing weird about them is that one lace is WAYYY longer than the other. It really messes with my need for things to be symmetrical, so I will probably buy new laces when I get them sharpened.

The skate shop opens at 11 so I might run them up during lunch.

Aeros game tonight.

Haven't worked out in a couple of days but my bruised butt is feeling better enough today that I will do my leg strengthening workout at least. I can flex my glutes without wimpering in pain. That's a good thing! And I was able to spend some time in my crouch last night while trying on my skates. Man, I can't wait to get those babies on the ice. :)

I think I'll try them on one more time before I get them sharpened just to be extra sure they fit. There is a bit more room in the toe than in my player skates of the same size and brand, but my feet don't move around in them at all. I also want to put some more comfortable insoles in them, so that should make them fit more snug with less lace-tightening effort.

Okay, I just took the insole out and put my foot on it. They're fine. Any shorter and my big toe would be hitting the front side of the boot.

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How things change

Last post, I alluded to the Aeros not doing so well. They really weren't. But apparently they were on the cusp of something because Thursday and Friday nights they beat the second best team in the AHL (best in the West). Thursday's game was the "monkey off the back" game and Friday's game was as exciting as any championship game I've ever been to. Best hockey game I've seen in person, that's for sure. I'm still in disbelief.

Tough game last night for the Wild. Lots of fights, but our gooneration didn't help us. Pouliot got his first two NHL goals. I was honestly surprised it happened that fast, but everyone else was talking like he'd been waiting forever. Whatever the case, I'm pleased for him and sorry that Iginla's amazing night overshadowed it. But maybe that's a good thing.

Went skating at SLICE yesterday, assuming it would be a mad house. I think there were maybe 15 people on the whole rink! It was wonderful. All sorts of space to do what we needed to do. Coach Stalin worked me pretty hard until we were working on stopping and I completely wiped out. Landed on my left assbone and left hand. Had to skate easy for about 10 minutes before I could even push off on my left foot. Yowza. Came home and sat on my ice pack until it was warm. Still hurts pretty good today. My wrist is also a bit sore, which I expected, even though it was fine yesterday.

My skates were SOOOO dull. Yuck. They had no bite and I'm sure that's why I fell and why I had to work really hard at everything yesterday. Felt really unstable at speed and they were making a terrible noise on the ice. I was glad to be done. They'll be getting sharpened along with my new goalie skates.

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Little bits of progress

Sadly, not a post about the Aeros game last night. Unless you count not wearing those godawful St. Patrick's day jerseys progress. And I do. The boys are not dress up dolls. At least not with Pouls here. Kidding! Nothing but love, Pouly.

But no, the progress is that I think my hand/eye coordination is improving! I picked up a couple of the juggling bean bags and was actually a LOT better than when I sat them down in frustration a month and a half ago. Still don't see how I'll ever juggle 3 of them but even the littlest improvements in this are heartening.

Okay, I have a plea. Aeros gameday folks: Please work some Tragically Hip into the warm-up and/or time out music. I'd suggest "The Darkest One" or "Fireworks" (though you'll have to edit out the "fuck") as great upbeat choices.

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Goalies

Several thoughts on goalies lately:

First, poor Tosky getting that bad bounce from the other side of the rink last night. I just hurt for the guy, but I also know how easily that can happen.

Second, what the hell is Brian Rolston doing taking slapshots during practice at Josh Harding's head at this point in the season. Slapper exploded Josh's mask (which I never liked, so that's okay... and Josh is fine though I bet his ears are ringing still) and Rolston just says, "Don't be a goalie." How about don't be a prick, Roli.

Third, at the Aeros game Monday, there was a time out. And the puck is on the ice for a faceoff by the Flames' net. Goalie is in net and I'm looking at him (because I'm always watching the goalies), and the dude is just staring at the puck. Staring at it like it's gonna grow legs and try to get in his net if he doesn't watch it. He must have done this for a full minute. Just staring at that puck and it's just him and the ref and the puck waiting for play to resume. It was pretty funny (and yet I could totally see myself doing that). Suppose he was talking to that puck? Willing it to stay out of his net? Whatever. I love it. Goalies are nutty and fabulous.

Finally, I was looking at this Sports Illustrated site with lots of close up pictures of NHL goalie masks and noticed that SO many goalies have blue eyes. I'm hoping that's a sign that us blue eyed folks have better puck vision or something. :)

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Ended up not doing yoga last night, but did do some hand/eye work with a tennis ball. Nearly broke some art on the wall in the process but no harm was done. Then I did a bunch of squats and some plyos and then a bunch of stretching and some abs while the Kings and Sharks played. God bless hockey in HD.

Oh and those one leg squats I was thinking were such a good idea yesterday? My knees said, "You're f'king crazy, bitch, if you think we're doing that!"

My skates are coming from the "remote warehouse" so add 4 days to my delivery. Grrr! UPDATE: They'll be here Tuesday!! Scratch that! Now it's MONDAY! YAY!

Going to the Aeros game tonight with Coach Stalin and a woman who sometimes plays goal for the novice and other teams up at Willowbrook. Need to ask her who sharpens her goalie skates.

More Update: Did yoga. I'm all zen. Actually, I'm not, but I'm glad I did it. My hamstrings were so tight and they're mucho better now. But my knees hurt. Vitamin I to the rescue. Also, Major has started growling at me when I get in my goalie stance facing him. LOL I must look very threatening. :)

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Happy

This video fills me full of happy: Ron Hextall.

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