Another season of hockey begins. I feel very different right now than I did at our team practice. I was all rage and angst and life is unfair. But, when is life ever fair? I started off the day playing with the girls. Except it was about 1/2 girls and 1/2 guys and only 6 per team. Yes, everyone was better than me. And I started feeling very frustrated. But then something interesting happened. I started off trying to play wing. Then somehow drifted back to D. Then the coach made me a center. What? So, something new, again. It helped. Kind of took my mind off of how I was feeling, which was lacking in skills and made me focus on where to be. I had some good plays--so the whole thing ended up ok.
I texted Captain Petah and told him that I was pretty tired. An hour long scrimmage with 6 per side? Who wouldn't be. He never responded, so I knew that I was still up. I'm sharing a season with Brian, so I thought maybe Pete would call him in. I'm on line one, so I started the game. I wasn't nervous. In fact, I think that playing center also helped me to feel more comfortable going back to wing. My line has El Capitan--which for the sake of the blog, will be known as James from here on out and Allegra. Let me just start out by saying that Allegra is awesome! I thought that it might be embarrassing for me to have to play with another girl who is clearly much better than I am. But in reality, it isn't. I have things to work on. She is a star. With all of the focus going towards her, I'm able to do what I can.
One word about playing with James. He is infectious. He has such drive, he is all heart out there. One of the best things is that he isn't picky at all. If you throw the puck anywhere in his general direction, he will get it. He guts it out. It is pretty amazing to watch. So maybe the position change is a blessing in disguise? I had fun tonight. I really had fun.
We played the newest learn to play class, with 3 added in experienced guys. We looked good. I thought we scored 7 goals, but the website says 6. Our new goalie had a shut out. Yes, it is easier to look good playing the newbies, but we had some great teamwork going on. Lots of passing. Nice line changes. And next week, Brian will be holding down the fort, giving me some practice time.
Interesting thing happened. One of the refs called me over during the game. I totally thought that I was in trouble. Really he just wanted to talk to me on break. I thought that meant after the game. When in reality he meant the break between periods. Anyways, he told me that since I'm small and light, I need to lower my center of gravity in order to skate better. I know...it always cracks me up when someone refers to me in that way. In my family, I'm the biggest girl. My dad called me Moose for heaven's sake. I did take a private lesson and we went over this at length. I think that in the excitement of the games, I totally forget.
So no goal tonight, but that's ok. They don't count in a preseason game anyways. Off to skills and drills on Tuesday for more learning. Hope the really angry guy is there again. I'm a fan :)
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