Week 10, game 13 & 14

Oh this was the week. A double header with the first game against the Blue Thunder...the only team that we have a perfect record against and then the Mustangs of death on Sunday.
We were out Jim on Sat, so we brought in Berg. Hey, that is fair...a Silver A for a Silver A. Blue Thunder did not think so, or so we heard the rumors of whining afterwards. The game ended up in a 4-4 tie. Into the shootout we went. Ricky Bobby was first. He did the fake to the backhand shot. Beautiful. Blue Thunder--stopped by Ben. Next up was Bittner. He tried for about the same move, but was shut out. Blue Thunder--stopped by Ben. Last up, Bob. We were shocked to witness no goal. Blue Thunder player skated down, forgot to shoot the puck and then fell. So embarrassing!
The absolute best part was when Jeff, came running over to his minions in the snack bar....I heard you went into a shootout...who won? Um...yeah, it wasn't your precious team. Sorry  :)
Now the Mustangs of death have always been dirty players. Sunday should have been caught on tape. One goal was from a pitch up off the face off. What? One was from when Ben covered the puck and the ref forgot to blow the whistle and so when he let go, a Mustang shot it in. What? Then there was the best part. Capitan was down by the goal. A Mustang player was pushing Ben, so he stepped in between them. The guy threw blows. Really? In Bronze league hockey? This is supposed to be for fun and then beer afterwards guys. Capitan was then directed to the penalty box. When he asked what he did, the ref kicked him out for the rest of the game. The guy who threw blows got 2 minutes. Where is the instant replay?
I somehow ended up with an assist, but Capitan really stole the thunder away from all of that. We ended up losing 2-10, but what an adventure!

Week 9, game 12

in which we play...wait for it, wait for it...the NorCal Crossovers again. I know, 3 weeks in a row. Who makes the schedules? Capitan told us all to go and skate this week. I hate being bossed. Even if I do want to do something, I won't do it if someone tells me that I have to. I skipped sticktime Thursday morning-- opting instead to sleep in. Oh, it was the right decision. Friday am...wasn't gonna happen. Sat am, no. So I ended up at public skate on Sat night with tons of kids and one show off. Man, next time I'm going with someone who doesn't skate better than me. Too competitive. Or maybe I would have skated better if there hadn't been hundreds of people to wade through. I get nervous.
On to the game...We started out on fire. Everything was going our way. The Crossovers looked like a team that we could beat, not a team that usually beats us. We scored first and were feeling invincible. It was awesome! Hopes were high. Then we let in one goal and 2 more really easy shots. It ended up at 1-4. Still, this was progress. We had them for the first period. We were aggressive. Constantly on the offense. I think we lost a little confidence when they scored a goal. When the second goal happened, we were rocked. Yes, I think we lack the ability to hold it together. Rally in times of need and all that. Or we just need better shooters? Take more advantage of the rebound?
I had 2 shots on goal, but no goal. I did have some really brilliant plays this week. I wish I could watch the highlight reel. Still need to get into the penalty box to please ye old Capitan. Hopefully he won't tell me to go to sticktime this week. I miss it.

Week 9, game 12

In which we played the NorCal Crossovers again. I know and we get to play them again next week. I've decided that I need to add some positive thinking towards my goal to get a goal. So I kept telling everyone that this week I was getting a goal. Next week, I think I'll add visualization. I did have one good chance and a shot on goal, but no dice :(  We lost 2-4, but played an awesome game. I had moments of brilliance. One time I kept the puck in the offensive zone and made a beautiful pass to Capitan. Almost an assist as well. It was the almost game. I had another one to New Mike exactly like that. I should probably start calling him Bittner like everyone else, because who is new and who is old at this point? We are all just Hawks.
I felt like I played aggressively and have made progress on the personal space issue. Petey got in the penalty box again. I have to get him to share his secrets. When I try to trip people, I just end up hitting their skate. Jim got a goal and no one saw. It was dead silent. My story is that I was skating towards the bench. Have to switch out sometime, you know? Bob got a goal right at the end, so the Sedin...I mean Lombard brothers were the lucky scorers. Ricky Bobby, Sasha, Bittner and Capitan were all in the hunt, but just like me...almost.
Skipped out of sticktime this week, because Killian wanted to go to public with me. Yes, it was a mob scene as usual. So this Thursday I'll get to try out my newly enhanced pucks. Yes, I wrote on them with red fingernail polish. One side has a K and the other has Hawks. I'll always know which one is mine :)

Week 8, game 10 and 11

In which we played vs the NorCal Crossovers. This game was at 10:15pm on the Sat after Thanksgiving. My sister, her husband, 5 of their 8 kids, Killian and my mom all came to watch me play. Too bad I was so nervous having an audience, I didn't do anything miraculous. It was pretty fun having a cheering section. One time I just threw the puck up to the other end...totally iced it, just to get it out of there. Whooo hooo! is what I heard. I felt cool and a little embarrassed at the same time. Cool because I was getting acknowledgement, embarrassed because, I just iced the puck. This is nothing great. But hey, I gave the D a little rest and it actually didn't warrant a whistle for icing, so it was a win/win.
The team as a whole played rather well and the score really doesn't do justice to our play. We ended up losing 3-6...I wrote it right this time. After the game we hung out drinking beer until 1am, talking about how great we did and how we had a great chance at winning our next game, tomorrow.
The Sunday night game, we played vs the Foothill Flyers. After our impressive bout with the Crossovers, how could we go wrong? Oh, it was ugly. Downright ugly. New Mike was all over the place, Alan could hardly move due to pulling something....I'll leave it at that. Bob was mostly standing around with a moment or two of brilliance. Shrunken head was lying down behind the goal when we were on D? What? Capitan kept getting the puck slashed away from him. Petey was timid. Kenny was trying. I made a killer blue line save to keep the puck in the offensive zone. I know, someone should have scored a goal off of that. I had another pretty good move, but all in all, skated like crap. My legs felt heavy and the Flyers seemed to be everywhere at once. Just swarming for the kill. We ended up only losing 2-6, but it felt worse than that. Old Mike is proud to say that he had a perfect game. No goals were scored while he was on his shift at D.
I texted Capitan the next game and vented my woes. We played like ass. Truly. We let the Flyers win. We handed them that game. And in other news...Blue Thunder lost to the Mutiny 1-5. We lose to the Mutiny by like 11 points or more. WTH? Ben is calling for sticktime tomorrow. I'm on the fence. Killian wants to skate this weekend. Might just wait until then.

Week 9, game 11

The entire team was really excited the week leading up to this game. We have been playing the top tier of the league for so long, and the losses were starting to get to us. Oh, believe me, we still all stayed for beer afterwards. Tried to find positive things to compliment each other on to take the sting off. This week was the minions of Jeff and we were ready. Just to refresh, Jeff was our 4th coach for Learn to Play class. When he got us, the class was almost over. There were definite holes in our learning due to being shuffled from coach to coach. He was easily annoyed at our level of skill and knowledge. I'm sure in his mind, he did us a huge favor trying to get us in some type of shape before the class was over. His regular class had weeded out their "dream team" and became the Blue Thunder.
When I walked into the locker room, I was so excited to see Alex! He had been out for weeks. If anyone is the heart of the team, it is our Sasha. We have missed him. What a great night to pick as a return. I knew then that we would win. Ricky Bobby questioned his placement at R wing. He has been playing D. I told him, no...we need shooters up front. Turns out that I  was psychic again.
Blue Thunder scored first in the 1st period, but the 2nd period was all ours. Sasha, Capitan, Ricky Bobby and Bob all getting goals. We were wild with excitement! We were winning. The Blue Thunder managed one more goal and it ended 4-2.
I did not get close to a goal. But I did get into the penalty box. Officially it is listed as tripping. I did trip the bearded asshole on the B.T. but did not get called for it. We had a small scuffle at sticktime during the week. He had a bevy of pucks in front of him at the end and I skated over and grabbed one. He said, Hey...these are mine, I collected them. I said, I brought one, so I'm leaving with one. He found his missing one in the net. I couldn't help it as I skated off I said, Told you I brought one. I think it was poetic justice that my stick got caught up in the top part of his skate and he splatted all over the ice :)
I was really in the penalty box for too many men on the ice. Stupid shrunken head skates so damn slow. Takes her forever to get from one side of the ice to the other. Not one end of the ice...side. Someone was videotaping the game, but I can't find it on youtube. I'm hoping that it gets posted later. I don't remember doing much beside hooking someone, the trip and generally trying to harass the BT players. I need to balance my aggressive moves with some real playing next time. I understand the concept of losing my personal space, but how to do that and play effectively at the same time? I seem only to be able to concentrate on one thing at a time.
Meanwhile, Alex was doing a Sidney Crosby imitation. I told him that he must have been moonlighting in Russia with the Kontinental League. His skating was beautiful for being gone for so long. If I took that much time off, I wouldn't even look as good as shrunken head and that is saying alot.

Week 8, game 10

In this week, we played Auburn Alehouse for the first time. The are not bottom dwellers, or top of the league, so we hoped for the best. Well, we got 10-0. Or should I say 0-10? Everyone and their dog was getting in the penalty box. I decided that this week would not be an optimal time for me to try and do so. I was definitely more aggressive, however. I'm trying really hard to lose that personal space gap that I've set up for myself. I was back on rotation with Kenny and shrunken head and that went well. I think Kenny does much better at D, but unfortunately, I never get to make the line up. He ends up playing D at L wing anyways, so he might as well play D. Shrunken head just skates in slow motion and sometimes gets tangled up with other players. I wish that I could say that I did something brilliant, but I did battle for the puck a lot more. Plus, I was trying really hard to watch where the pass was going and to cover the open man in my zone.
Went to sticktime this am. New Mike, Ben, Eric and Pete were there. I had the most fun. I didn't want to leave. Plus at the end, I skated backwards from one end of the rink to the other. What an amazing feeling. Oh, and I scored 3 goals on Ben. I've really been trying hard to get the wrist shot going. My floor is black from my stick tape rubbing. I caused a little bit of irritation at the end of sticktime by grabbing up a puck from 2 other guys who had a pile of pucks in front of them. Hey, I brought one, I should leave with one. They found their last one in the net, so all's well that end's well.
I'm off to Tahoe this weekend and getting back sometime during the day on Sunday. The game against the MOJ, minions of Jeff isn't until 8:15, so hopefully I'll have time to get in a nap. Pretty excited to play a team that is more at our skill level. Go Hawks!

Week 7, game 9

I know. I missed a week. I might go back and fill in and I might not. Probably not. It was an off game for me. This game we versed the Suicide Kings of death...again. Oh, something to keep in mind. Capitan decided last week that switching all of the fast players to D was a great idea. It was, but then we had no offense. This week, he kept Ricky Bobby back at D. Moved Old Mike back to D, moved Kenny to D, Alan and Pete to L wing with me. It was interesting to say the least. I was rotating with 2 new peeps. At first it went well. We were only losing 3-1 at the end of the first. 6-1 at the end of the second. The curly haired ref even came over to tell us that we looked better.
Then the evil third came and we ended up 12-1. We die in the third. Part of the reason is fatigue. Now on our team, when you get tired, you forget to rotate. I started the third and didn't get back in until the fourth minute. WTH? Seriously. That is taking way too long. The whistle blew 3 times to stop play and still Alan stayed out. Pete was cool and let me take his last shift because I got so jipped.
I still feel like we are not finding the right combinations, but are starting to look more like a team :)
Kenny had  a monster game and I was totally proud of him. Ben looked great, but 53 shots on goal? We need to keep it out of his zone better. Joe from the Mutiny said that we need more players. We were down Tammy, so the SK's had 5 more players than us. No wonder they had a great third. They weren't even tired at all. Getting Capitan to let more players on the team has proved difficult. He wants us lean and mean. Or he just doesn't want to give up his 1:1 rotation.
At beer he bet me $20 that I couldn't get in the penalty box next game....what do I have to do to get in there?
Is there a book for me? Getting into the penalty box for dummies.
Stay tuned...

Week 6, game 8

In which we play the Suicide Kings. Well, they just so happen to be in first place. Plus they played last year's league champs and won last week, so you can guess how well we fared. When new Mike got our one goal...I felt like we had won the game. They out skated us, out passed us, out positioned us. The only time they ever looked bad is when they collided with each other. Happened a couple of times and we took joy from it. Hey, got to look for the bright spots.
On Sunday I was feeling miserable! I was dizzy and had quite the headache. Migraine I suppose. I didn't think I would be able to play, but after a nap and dinner, all was pretty well. I didn't help anyone out with my playing however. I think I was just intimidated as hell. They are definitely playing at a much higher level than us. That we only allowed 12 points was amazing. We had only 3 shots on goal, so you can tell we had no offense going at all. I felt for our goalie and our defense. They were constantly under attack.
I was at L wing again and hating life. Plus if I ever even got my stick on the puck, it was stolen mere seconds later. They were just that good. The night was topped by my crashing into the glass going for the puck and jamming my left hand ring finger. It is still stiff and sore today. Not much bending going on.
We are now 2-5 with the Blue Thunder, the other Learn to play team, holding at 2-5 as well. So here it is, neither team sucks because there are 2 teams below us. What sucks is that the Bronze league has such a wide range of skill level. Suicide Kings and Mutiny should be playing Silver B, there is no question. Each week we beat ourselves up for nothing, I think, because we are playing against teams who have greater skills.
I couldn't stay for beer, little man to put to bed and all that. I heard that the there was some grumbling.
I would like to say kudos to Ben, our goalie, for really stepping up. He had some magnificent saves and he is the only one who should be pointing a finger and it should go right to the offense...where were you?

Week 5, game 7

In which we play the Foothill Flyers. The team had great excitement leading up to this game as the Flyers did not have a great record and were seen to be a weaker team. I had petitioned Capitan at sticktime with my whining about L wing and found myself switched to R wing :)  Bob in accounting had given me some great advice for practicing at home and old Mike and I had taken Stanley to the park and knocked the practice puck around. I was ready. I was nervous, but I was ready.
We ended up scoring first. We were feeling great. Ben looked good. We were keeping the puck in the offense more, all looked good. Then things tied up. It was that way for so long that I worried aloud about going into OT. That was all it took. Suddenly the Flyers were up 2-1. Yikes! It only got worse in the third period when they scored 2 more goals and we ended things 4-1.
All in all, the guys were feeling positive. Ben looked better. We didn't get blown out. I felt like I did a big fat nothing on R wing, so I was kind of disappointed. I'm noticing that I'm not getting close enough to an opponent when I go for the puck. I think part of this has to do with the fact that during a game, I forget how to stop. Really. I have to think about it and then I worry about spacing and that leads me to not come in close enough to really be a threat. Also, my skates were in dire need of a sharpening. I blame them for the fiasco entirely. Now it is up to me to practice before the next game, so I can get used to the new feel of things.
Last night I was shooting the puck against the wall, practicing my wrist shot. My son pointed out that I had made dents in the front door...I thought the sock was good enough protection. Guess not. So I switched to the wall. I was having marginal success, when he said, "Can I try?" I hate boys. One his first swipe, it went halfway up the wall. Mine averages about 12 inches. About good enough to hit the goalie in his leg pads. I sent him directly to bed. No, just kidding! I watched to see if I could do it like him or if it was just beginner luck. Then I sent him to bed.
I texted Capitan to see if I did good enough to stay on R wing. He said, "If you wanted to stay, you should have made the shot". So I guess I'm back to L wing or maybe D.  But I think he was just kidding about that. We already have shrunken head on D. No need to have two girls...right? Guess I better practice my backwards skating just in case. Go Hawks!

Week 4, game 6

Late starting game...9:45. We played against the Mustangs. Spirits were good in the locker room. The Mustangs were sitting in the bottom part of the standings, so we thought that we had a fair chance. Capitan took my advice and put Ricky Bobby at center. Sasha was gone, but we had new Mike for D. I'd like to say that it went well, but things unraveled fast. The offense seemed off. The goalie let past some soft goals. We were a mess. Jim had no patience for Ricky Bobby at center, so he got moved to R wing during the 2nd period. At the end, the score was 12-2. Not good. I had to leave right afterwards to put my little man to bed, so I missed the beer and after talk.
I tried to rally the troops on Tuesday with a call for sticktime. No one replied until Ben, our goalie, suggested Wednesday. The usual characters showed up...me, Capitan, new Mike, and old Mike. I tried to practice passing on my left side, but ended up complaining for part of the time. Now, I hate to whine, because the other girl on the team...hence to be known as shrunken head, because her helmet doesn't fit, complains all the time. She doesn't get enough ice time, other people are out of position, she doesn't like what position she is playing. On and on it goes the entire length of the game. Yeah, it is annoying. The other L wing and I try to ignore it, but after awhile it is like fingernails on the chalkboard. So with that said, I wasn't feeling too hot that I complained about left side. It just feels like I'm trying to throw a football with my left hand the entire time.
I also noticed at sticktime that my wrist shot was looking like hell. Worse than before when it was just bad. I mentioned it to my Bob in accounting and he advised to start with a sock and practice at home. So I did tonight. Then I put a golf ball in the sock. Then a puck in the sock. The sock alone...perfect. Golf ball in sock...pretty damn good. Puck in the sock...needs work. Now I'm feeling really dumb. I could have been doing this since learn to play class. If any hockey player out there are reading and has a great hint about what to do, I would greatly appreciate it. I watch youtube videos. I take advice from team members. Nothing seems to be clicking yet. I don't think that they will let us play the game with a golf ball inside a sock :)
I also have a hard time getting right into the game when it starts. It seems to take me 2 periods to get in the swing of things and the next day, I'm really ready. I think that I've come up with a solution to this problem. At sticktime, sometimes, Capitan will just come up and try to get the puck away from me. I think if I ask him to do this before the game starts, it will help get me in an aggressive mode a little quicker than usual.

Gearing up for the next game...

We have had a long week to think about our 2 losses. Different line strategies have been running through my head. How about Ricky Bobby at center and Sasha at wing? Who pairs well with Capitan? and how in the hell do I get over to right wing? Or, how do I learn to compensate and play well at left wing?
I feel like playing left wing is in part my nemesis. I feel like I'm always backwards. If I'm skating forward to attack the goal, and have to pass...backhand. Someone passing to me and I'm catching it...you guessed it...backhand. Yikes! My backhand sucks.
I went to sticktime on Friday am. New Mike and old Mike were there. I worked on...you guessed it, backhand. Throwing the puck to the boards and then recovering the bounce. I also worked on my wrist shot which no matter what I try or how many youtube videos I watch, still looks exactly the same. It gets a height of about 6 inches. Great. All the better to run into the goalie's leg pads with. I tried skating with the puck without looking at it. Practiced recovering a pass along the boards. Left feeling very fair about sticktime. Not great, just fair.
That night Capitan had the great idea for us to go to public skate. He came with his son, I brought mine and old Mike also showed up. It was actually really fun. When I get in a game situation. I forget how to skate. Probably because I still have to think about it. Like when you are learning a language and still translating in your head back and forth. That is my skating. I can go forward fabulously. However, when playing a game, I consistently forget how to stop or that I know how to skate backwards. Forget about switching front and back...not gonna happen.
Right now when I play in a game, I feel like I'm playing chess and only know how to defend. It seems like the other players instinctively know where to go and I'm constantly reacting...slowly I might add...to their positioning. I've been watching a bunch of hockey. NHL is no good, because who plays like that? I mean really? My eyes just glaze over and all I notice is skating back and forth until the horn goes off. But at the rink there are plenty of leagues to watch. I've been watching Silver A & B this week. Between sticktime, public skate and the research, I'm hoping to put it all together into a more confident game tomorrow.

Week 3, game 5...we face the best

Where to start? When we were still in learn to play, our last 2 classes, Jeff brought in some extra players so that we could scrimmage as a team. Most of these players were from the league championship team the Chupracabras. Allan, from our team works with a handful of guys who are on this team and really wanted to play with them, but we convinced him to stay with us. We also had a young player who wasn't old enough to play with us and his dad is on that team as well. So, we kind of already had ties with these guys. After winning the championship, they staged a mutiny and took the best of their team and merged it with the best of the Alehouse team and became...the Mutiny. So you have a bunch of short and shrimpy guys/girls...hey, did I mention that they have 3 players that are at least 6'5"? I'm not one of the shortest on my team and I'm 5' 7" 1/2. So you have the short and shrimpy team, with the help of Silver league...Jim and Silent Bob against the best of the Bronze league. We also had new Mike's friend for one more game. He didn't let us down...scored 2 goals. We held them tight for 2 periods. In fact at the end of the first it was 1-0 Mutiny. End of the 2nd was 4-1. Then we fell apart in the third period. I'd like to say that I had a bright moment, but really I was just trying to do anything I could and not get killed.
Afterwards there was a lot of drinking and talking and an idea to scrimmage together down in Stockton. One thing we heard over and over again from their players was the respect that they had for us. They thought it would be much easier than it was. For 2 periods they had a worthy opponent and from a team that just came out of learn to play class, well, that was something. After a tough weekend, we left with our heads held high.

Week 3, game 4...time to celebrate!!!

Sat at 5pm and we are all really excited, because this will be a good test for the team. We are all in high spirits going into the game. We are missing Jim, but new Mike has a friend, Berg, who plays Silver A and came in to help us out. Our goalie is back, having just flown back from Japan on Friday. Silent Bob is sick, but Capitan somehow convinced him to show up. We are playing the NorCal Crossover B- this team played in the league finals and lost to the Chupracabras 1-0, so they are not scrubs. Blue Thunder played them and won, 1-0 so we are feeling pretty confident about our chances. I was excited, because in the warm up, I shot a goal on our goalie, so I knew something good was going to happen. And it did, for me...not quite so much for the team.
Sometime during the first period, we noticed that things were awry. First, we were losing. Second, we hardly had any shots on goal. We were constantly defending. We ended the first period behind 4-0. They seemed very fast to me. When I noticed where the puck was, someone from their team was already there. They also seemed to know right where to be, position wise. We were struggling, to say the least.
After the first period, new Mike switched positions with Berg, putting him on offense. This leads to the exciting part. I got the puck up by the blue line, swung it right around and across the ice to Berg, who then shot a goal. Assist for Kristin!!! I screamed, because I'm a girl...this is what we do.
I'd like to say that things went better for the rest of the game, but they didn't. The final score was 11-2. Berg got one more goal all by himself, so really, I held up the team as far as scoring went. I realize that I should be more upset about the loss, but I'm not. I have stats now. I feel like a real hockey player.

the "grudge match" vs the Blue Thunder- week 1, regular season

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D7Todzvm10&feature=related

I kept the whole "grudge match" thing mostly to myself. Well, I did tell old Mike and we had quite a few laughs thinking about Jeff getting his minions all pumped up for the game. Telling them that they were sure to win this one. And there he was at the game, rooting on his Sunday best. That is until the score got too sad for him to hold his head up anymore. Yep, we won 5-2. It was AWESOME!!! I'd like to say that I did something impressive. I did tie someone's stick up at the face off and Silent Bob slid past us and took that opportunity to score a goal. Again a big thanks to the Blue Thunder for making a video and putting it on youtube.
This was our first game in our official jerseys. The first game we had our class jerseys with black stick tape numbers on the back. Very classy! We decided against frills for cost sake, so we have plain colors with no names or logos. Just numbers. I picked 7 because that is the day of my birthday. I know not much about the NHL or any hockey players or really much about hockey at all. This I do know, it is one hell of a workout. I write this blog in hopes that more women will get involved. Yes, we all picture ourselves as some type of Dorothy Hamill, Kristy Yamaguchi skater, gliding beautifully across the ice. And when I go to public skate, sure, I think about that as I glide past all of the figure skaters. But I have seen some equally beautiful skating from hockey players. There is a girl who plays Silver B...old Mike and I call her the D-girl. Ok, I call her that and Mike goes along with it. She is just fantastic to watch. Such a smooth skater. Afterwards I dreamed that I skated like her. Who knows? Maybe some day.

the preseason game against the Blue Thunder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOLq9hJn6nU

Yes, the Blue Thunder captured the entire thing on video and put it on youtube. It has been a couple of weeks, but I remember being nervous as hell! At one point we were ahead and I just wanted the game to end. I don't remember doing anything noteworthy. The Blue Thunder seemed a little frustrated that they weren't beating us easily. My theory is Jeff had them all pumped up, telling them that they were far superior to us. The game ended in a 4-4 tie. No tie breaking during preseason and I was totally ok with that.
Sometime during the 3rd period, I was in the middle of taking a slap shot on goal and a player on the other team smashed full on into me. I was in a pretty defenseless position, with my stick in full swing. I went down hard and bounced on the ice. He got roughing and put in the penalty box. In shock, I left the ice. I recovered enough to go back in, but the hit stayed in my mind. The guy apologized afterwards for being so rough, but I was pretty shocked that someone would do that. I'm not the best player and my shot on goal most likely would not have gone in. He probably could have stopped it by just standing in front of me, instead of ramming into me.
That night after I got home, my chest hurt from the impact, but the next day there were no lingering physical effects. It was just the remembrance. That took longer to go away. In fact, I won't watch the video of this game. I know how it felt, I don't want to relive it.
On Friday of that week, I went to sticktime and guess who I ran into...Jeff. He is such a loud talker. He was asking me about my team and what they were named. Then he said, "You are playing the Blue Thunder" I said, "Yes, we played them on Sunday" Jeff replied, "But you are playing them this Sunday, it is your grudge match" I just looked at him and walked away.

In the beginning, there was the Sunday class

Yes, originally I wanted the Sunday class, because that is all there was. In the meantime, management decided that there were so many sign ups, a Tuesday class would catch all of the overflow. In fact, when I paid my money, I was told that I had to go to Tuesday and I protested, as any good mom with half custody would. What child wants to hang out watching their mom take a hockey class every Tuesday night? I figured that Sunday he would only have to go every other week.
Then I attended the first class and Sunday was a mob scene. Way too many people. The day after, I emailed and switched to Tuesday. I wasn't alone. Kenicake also switched. But we didn't know each other back then. So as the class progressed, we skated and Galen dislocated his shoulder and Jordan got an undisclosed injury and people dropped out and our coach moved to Atlanta and our new coach was unreliable and the third coach wasn't really given permission to coach our class, which left us with very uneven training. In fact, to this day, we don't know much about hockey. I know where to stand in a face off and what icing and off sides is. I have no idea what a penalty would be. Although I found out soon enough at the preseason game.
About 4 weeks before the end, Jeff, the Sunday coach took charge. He ran us through his drills and did not end up with a high opinion of us. His Sunday class had already formed a team of their top players and had signed up for the league. Jeff approached Tammy and I and told us that we had no business playing leagues and needed to repeat the class. Jeff is a loud talker, so I think the entire building heard. The guys were drinking beer at the time and noticed something was up. They told us to ignore him; that if we wanted to play, we were sticking together. In Jeff's Sunday class, only one girl is playing league. All the rest are repeating the class. Coincidence? I think not.
So, the one good thing that Jeff did do for us was to arrange for some random players, mostly from the championship Bronze team, to come and scrimmage with us the last 2 weeks of class. That is the best you are going to get out of me concerning him. It was fun actually getting to scrimmage together for the first time. Usually we only had each other and with our dwindling numbers, that meant barely enough to make 2 teams.
When we finished the class, there was supposed to be 2 Bronze leagues, but without a fourth team, we got absorbed into the Bronze league. Lo and behold, who was our first game against? None other than the Blue Thunder, the best and brightest of the Sunday class...

Week 2 regular season...I know, not the way to start anything!

Apologies readers! I'm starting off in an awkward spot, but don't worry...I'll Tarantino it back to the beginning for you. For now, welcome to my quest! This all came about today in little pieces. You see, the Capitan...I prefer to think of him in this way, makes me smile...texted me today with an apology. You see, towards the end of the game, I had the puck on the left side of the goal-if you are me-the right if you are the goalie and I was trying desperately to shoot it in. Funny thing was, someone's stick kept hitting mine and preventing me from doing so. Since I was intently focused on the net, puck and goalie, it wasn't until I got in back of the goal that I realized it was my own center. He said, "my bad". Well, that led to him texting to see if I was still mad at him today. No, it wasn't something to be mad about. Even though I did enjoy punching him in the arm afterwards. The resulting discussion led to me saying..help me get a goal. Then while driving today I thought...I should write about my journey, this quest to get a goal. So here we are.
My team is the Hawks. Game 3 was against the Rush. Now the Hawks are made up of the Tuesday class that took adult learn to play together. We lost a few who weren't old enough to play adult leagues. One is in the class again. One is playing high school leagues. One is just going to sticktime every week. One decided that he was too good to play with us and our first goalie is drifting around somewhere. We also gathered in a few new people. One from the Sunday learn to play...more on the "grudge match" later. Brothers from the upper league and one from street hockey. We are a close knit little group, even with the new guys. And as you can tell, we are not all guys. There is also one other girl. I tell the team, having girls is good luck. So far, we have been.
The Rush have been around for a year and landed in last place in league play last season. They were supposed to drop down a league, but there weren't enough teams for a Bronze A and a Bronze B, so they stayed put. This also meant that the first place team didn't have to jump up to Silver B. Yes, we get to play them too.
Before game time, Sasha was saying that he was too sick to play. I took this as a bad omen. Sasha really kicks ass on defense. I think we must have peer pressured him into it, because he did play and beautifully. Our goalie was in Japan, so we had a sub. He was amazing...as you can tell from the shut out. New Mike had a goal and Capitan had one. We had 3 penalties, nothing too serious. All in all, we played well, but a little slow. Need to be quicker and attack more on offense. There was a fabulously embarrassing moment when I was all alone, headed toward the goal, went to take a slap shot and missed. I felt a little better after it happened to Ricky Bobby only a couple of minutes later. I had a couple of great passes to Capitan, but neither of them led to a goal. Same with a between the legs of a defender pass to New Mike. The Rush has a pretty awesome girl defender on their team. Lots of holding going on with that one. But when she isn't holding, aggressive and efficient, with a nice shot. The Rush had a few more penalties than us. Pulled their goalie at the end. Too bad we couldn't have capitalized on that.
So what do I want, besides a goal? To stop being so nervous and to end a game happy. At one point, I noticed that I was shaking while out skating. Kind of hard to pass or shoot while you are that nervous. After each game, all I can think about is what I did wrong. I'm kind of quiet and moody at beer time. People are starting to wonder if I'm ok. So stick with me and see if I can overcome my obstacles and get the goal!