Down with the sickness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Camp Brusty launch and this week's games

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

Here's the link: PFGS Houston

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Hextall-riffic & Feeling Good

My theory of Limited Luck is holding up. All my teams lost tonight and I played really well (until I didn't -- more on that later).

But at least Brusty kept it interesting, making 40 saves and salvaging an OT point for the painfully inconsistent Baby Sens. Not only did he kick ass in goal, he gave the Wolfpack's Tim Kennedy some serious business for running one of the Sens into the boards behind his net.

Check out how delicious this is. When do goalies EVER stick up for teammates like this any more? Luckily only 2 min roughing penalty for it. Guess the refs felt it was a legit response. Good on 'em.



And I'm told the fans chanted his name after. Chanted his freaking name, y'all! FMD, that's awesome, and frankly, as it should be. I may have to shell out my $4 for the archive of this one.

My favorite quote from the night from the coach:

"It's a shame that he had to, that he was the one who had to realize something needed to be done," Kleinendorst said. "But it doesn't surprise me. I think he would have chased the guy down to the far blue line if he had to, but that's a good thing."

First time I watched it, I wondered how long he was going to end up chasing him. Wouldn't you love to be in Kennedy's head when he's spun around and face to face with GIANT ANGRY GOALIE? New breezers, please.

Beauty.

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So, we tied 4-4 tonight and 3 of my 4 goals came in the third period. One of them, I'm okay with. I made the first stop and lost sight of it. Next thing I know, it's in the net. I don't even know what happened but I don't know what I should have done differently. I needed my defense to talk to me there. I thought I had it, for all I knew.

But I had two that went 5-hole on me, which is pretty unusual. But in both cases, they were shooting from 3-4 feet in front of me and I was trying to be patient because they were moving and I didn't want to go down too early and give them deke options (sometimes I forget it's novice league).

So, those were frustratingly soft. I guess I was lifting my stick. I need to put lead weights on my stick so it's too heavy to lift. Ha.

The last one is one I have tended to have problems with lately and I think I've figured it out. When I've got a shooter coming down the ice on my glove side and they carry the puck on their left, I'm not squaring to the puck. I'm drifting to the shooter's body and they're knocking it in just inside the far post every time. Those feel bad because they're easy easy stops if I'm where I should be.

However, I did have some awesome stops and my pads were my best friends tonight.

This doesn't happen to me much but I'm pretty sure the best kind of save is where the shooter is so convinced he scored, he actually starts to skate away. And then turns around and goes "AWW!" when he realizes the puck is still in play.

The coach on the other team (I call him Brent Burns because he looks like him and he makes everything look so easy, being so tall and rangey and handsy) picked up a rebound and thought he had himself an easy tap-in. But I somehow got my leg out in just the nick of time and kicked it out. He's already headed up ice and realizes, "No whistle?" Hahaha.

That was badass. I mean, I know I didn't beat anybody up or need the ref to restrain me (or, um, protect me? Haha... ;) and nobody chanted my name, but I did get some nice kudos from both teams after. Still felt pretty fuckin' good after those lousy outings last week.

Aeros at home tomorrow. Some other joker can stop the pucks for a day. :)

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Fun night but I need a nap

No wonder I'm playing so shitty. I've got this theory that everything can't possibly all go right at the same time and that there's only so much good luck to go around. And last night, the Wild won, the Aeros won, and Brusty got a shutout.

So the only logical explanation for my sieviness lately is that all those jokers are stealing my good luck. :)

It's okay though. Brusty can have all of it he wants and, the Wild and Aeros, I'll throw them the occasional bone just to keep from having to watch losing hockey all season.

I'm still recovering from information overload this morning. Between following two games I wasn't at, watching the Aeros, writing my story for the Chronicle (filled in for Andrew) between periods, praying my (and the Aeros) lead sticks and the Wolves don't come back, and then Yeo lobbing his "that game sucked" bomb at us post-game when I thought it was a pretty awesome game (WTF do I know?), it was a lot to parse.

I couldn't tell if Yeo was annoyed or amused at my dismay that he was screwing up my story. I'm just standing there with my recorder in his face with my mouth hanging open. "You just ruined all my questions by not liking that game!" Haha. Whatever though, it was a fun night and I didn't get to sleep until 3 a.m. Fuckin' exhausted at that.

Also, not that you need minute by minute updates on Operation Boob Lift, but the consult went well. Only it's costing more than I expected. Like, by a lot. Like, you could buy a decent used car. You could buy a decent NEW car for all the stuff we talked about doing (tummy tuck with lipo, etc).

I'd love to do it all, but man, even just the lift part of it seems like a selfish use of money. I dunno. Add that to my information overload yesterday, too. #msconductproblems

I actually have the night off tonight. Four of the last 5 nights, I've gotten home after 11:30. I love it all but I'm definitely due for some "kickin' around the house" time.

Gonna try and do my full hour of physical therapy today, too. Been trying to build back up to it a bit since my knee is bothering me so much. Hopefully I can get the knee happier and then I can start doing the awesome Rapid Response Goalie Training program I picked up the other day. Want to be doing it by January.

But that means getting off my ass. When what I really want is lunch and a nap.

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Darn. Still a Sieve.

Lost 4-1 tonight. I could blame a very short-handed bench, but they actually were amazing and kept the puck away from me more than I had any right to expect.

I can't even blame the Bingo jersey, as it was safely tucked away in the dryer after being washed today.

I can only blame me. I don't FEEL unfocused but I clearly am. I'm not seeing the puck well and you don't let this many pucks in over 2 days if you're focused. I should be pressing for a shutout every game at women's league, so 4 goals is very disappointing. None were kitten-soft goals, but none were crazy good shots or anything. I should have had all of them.

My focus has been really good the last few weeks. Battling hard, doing things the right way. Maybe I'm a little burned out. It's hard for me to muster the necessary intensity for extended periods, as it's just not my nature. But those periods get longer and longer, so that's good.

Seems like stepping away from the game a bit recharges my batteries and gets me going again. With the holidays coming up, I'll get some breaks but not much really.

Though perhaps some "elective surgery" would provide the needed break. I'm getting a boob lift consultation tomorrow. Raise the titties! We'll see though. I think it may be too expensive to justify, but I'm interested to hear what she has to say at least. The fun bags are always fun, but frankly, I'm a boob girl and unless I switch teams, mine are all I have to entertain me. Gravity can go suck it for what it's done to them. *poor darlings*

Wonder if this doc has ever had to tell anybody how soon after surgery they can get slammed in the boobs with pucks.... :)

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Drop-in Kills Bingo Sweater

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Friday night letter to the Wild boys

Dear Wild,

I don't get to see you as much as I used to. I've been busy keeping tabs on your little brother, playing my own games, and mentally fondling goalies all around North America. These things keep me busy.

Also, you haven't been very good for a while. Like, more than a year. So, you haven't exactly given me cause to miss you.

But occasionally I find a night like tonight where the Aeros aren't playing, I don't have a game, I don't have any other plans, I have sole control of the TV, and you're playing.

What's more, one of the kids is making his NHL debut and for me, those games are like watching a mother bird push its baby out of the nest for the first time. Fly, Scando, fly!

So tonight, it's you, me, a team with fucking PALM TREES on their sleeves, and maybe some pizza. And we're gonna do this thing. We're gonna get the W because you just can't give me another season like you gave me last year. You're better than that and you know it.

Cam Barker, I'd share my pizza with you because, god willing, you'll be in a suit for this game. But I don't like you, so you can make your own damn pizza.

Let's do this thing. Here's my side of the deal: I will draw an awesome picture of boobies for you if you will get me the win tonight. Really nice ones, too.

Deal? Deal.

Love (kinda),

Ms.C

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