Improve my ice hockey skills

Sunday, December 14, 2008

I was playing on Rebels 3 finally (mostly-kinda-sorta) recovered from my second injury back in September, which was a result of skating too much and too soon after the August injury. We were playing a team that has several players that are also on Rebels 2, including the goalie.

I was not feeling too confident with my skating, and even on my best days, I tend to hang back defensively more than a forward should. One of our defensemen had been nicely encouraging me to charge the net more often, so the next shift out I did just that. My linemates were creating a lot of chaos in front of the net, to the left of the goalie. The puck squirted out in front, RIGHT TO ME. Since the goalie had been drawn left, I had an open net right in front of me.

The first thing I thought of was “DON’T CHOKE!” (This was right after the Sharks game in which Mike Grier missed a shot on an open net.) But I calmed down and easily tapped the puck in for a goal!

The best part of this was that afterwards, while I was being congratulated on the bench, Dave from the OPPOSING team (and an R2 teammate) skated over, congratulated me, and gave me the puck I had just scored with! I thanked him, and he said, “It was Chris’ (another R2 teammate) idea.”

Have I mentioned lately that my Rebels teammates are the GREATEST?

On Tuesday I was playing hockey and got injured. Only the second time in almost 25 years that I’ve gotten more than a bump or bruise, and the first injury I got playing (the other time I was reffing).

What happened was that I was attempting to foul a player by checking him, and another player got in the way. I ended up at the bottom of a pileup with two much larger men on top if me. Somehow my leg got slammed, and I couldn’t get up after that.

Well, I’ve been unable to walk or sit properly since then, and I think I pulled a hamstring. I called Kaiser and got a 3-day pass, but the 3 days are up and I’m going in Monday for an official exam.

I’ve talked to everyone I know who’s has a sports injury since it happened, and looked on the Internet, and I think it may be at least another week or two until I’ll be back to “normal,” whatever that is. The bummer is, I hurt my left (clutch) leg, and even if I could sit up, I can’t clutch to drive.

So I’ve been stuck at home since Wednesday. The only times I’ve been outside are to get the mail and throw out trash.

Anyway, I had to cancel playoff games I was supposed to play in, and playoff games I was supposed to ref in (lost income). I have lots of sick leave with school, so that’s not an issue, but I have some unfinished projects that need to be finished by the end of the month, and that could negatively affect some students.

Our goalie Paul “The Lobster” battled leukemia for 7 years, during which time he had two extended remissions.

In his honor, several of us on all three Rebels teams have been wearing “Lobster” patches on our uniforms for the last year.

This past winter, Paul announced he had a relapse, and wouldn’t be able to play for “a while.”

On March 30, we had a “Lobsters Against Leukemia” game after the Sharks played at HP Pavilion. We raised over $1500 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Paul was not able to play, but he was the bench coach for the Teal team. (He’s the one in the tie in the photo, and I’m next to his right, in white.)

On May 20, Paul lost his battle. He was 25 years old. People who knew him better than I spoke at his memorial service of his penchant for getting into predicaments and his fondness for practical jokes and wicked sense of humor.

I knew him not only for his wicked sense of humor, but for his love of the game and his competitiveness. Unlike many rec players, Paul never got angry at any of his teammates, or himself, when we got down or lost. I can’t begin to tell you how important that is for team morale!

In fact, the only time I remember hearing him complain about a loss was a game in which I officiated. He believed that my insistence that he wear the proper color uniform caused them to lose. He mentioned it frequently, but I think the only time he really cared about it was right after the game, and the rest of the time he was only giving me a hard time.

Last night, in league play, Rebels 2 met Rebels 3 for the first time since we heard about Paul’s passing. (The other time we played each other was the day after, and we hadn’t heard yet.)

At the beginning of the game, we had a moment of silence “for the Lobster.” The first shift of the game we played without goalies, to honor our missing teammate. Fittingly, the game ended in a 4-4 tie.

Lobster, I’m so glad to have known you, and wish I’d known you better.

It’s been so long since I posted that I forgot to mention I’m on two teams now, kinda sorta. Huh? Well, the Rebels have three teams, and mine (R2) and another (R3) have ended up in the same division this season.

The first game this season that R2 played R3, there were hardly any players for R3. So I asked the captain if they needed more players. Thinking that it would be an occasional thing, I volunteered to sub in. But as it turns out, I’ve been asked to sub for every game. There are actually 5 people that play/sub on both R2 & R3, and a couple others who I’ve previously played with, so it’s an easy fit. (R1 is in a division several levels higher.)

Unfortunately, most of the time, both teams play on the same day, and with my officiating, 4 and 5 game days have been pretty common.

My big goal was scored for R3.

Well, it’s been a long, long drought, but after almost 5 years, I got a goal!

I was serving a penalty, and as it expired, I left the box only to discover the puck right in front of me. I pushed it forward towards the opposing goalie. No one else was in the zone, and I rushed ahead to catch up with the puck.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an opponent coming towards me from my right, so I thought I had better shoot. But I’m a right shooter who was on the left side, so the shot had to be a back hand. I took the shot, but realized immediately that there wasn’t much on it. I almost groaned out loud at how slow the puck was moving.

But then I realized the goalie had moved to the near post, and my so-slow-you-could-clock-it-with-a-calendar shot had unexpectedly dribbled in the far side.

She shoots, she scores!

A win! Rebels beat Ice Monkeys 10 – 5!

Buuuuuut….

The Ice Monkeys had no goalie. Or, more accurately, they had a regular skater playing as a goalie.

We should have blown them away, but instead it was actually pretty close for most of the game. The goals we did get were cheap ones, considering the person didn’t know how to play goaltender.

Oh, well, since we’re the bottom dwellers, we’ll just take the win when we can get it!

(I did get one assist!)

Well, this time we didn’t have the excuse that we didn’t have enough players. With 13 skaters, we had more than enough to get through it.

Very quickly on, though, it was obvious that there were a couple of players on the other team that were controlling play, and we spent most of the game unsuccessfully chasing these two players.

Final result: we lost 2 – 7.

Things didn’t start out too well for us. To begin with, we weren’t sure if we would even have a goalie for this game. Big John decided to bring his son’s goalie gear “just in case,” and it turned out he would be using them himself. John has played goalie, but only a few times.

Also, when I arrived at the locker room, 15 minutes before game time, there were only three other people getting ready. Since it takes 6 players to start the game, we wondered if we would even get to play.

Eventually, a few more people showed up, but we only had 8 total- 7 skaters plus Big John in goal. This meant we didn’t even have enough players for a full line change.

We played and substituted as well as we could, given the circumstances, but at times we all ended up playing positions different than our usual ones. During the first period, I got a bit confused and actually played the puck outside of the attacking zone, rather than shooting towards the goal- the defenseman thanked me for making his job easier.

The result of the game was, not surprisingly, pretty sad. We gave up 40 shots on goal, and lost 0-8.

The unfortunate thing about playing Acme is that several of our players also play for them. The players that switched over this time were Dave, Chris, and our back-up goalie.

Since our regular goalie is out with a serious medical condition, we were forced to find another goalie to help us out. Eventually, one was found, but no one on our team knew who it was. By game time, though, no goalie had arrived.

Just as we were taking the ice for the game, a woman goalie showed up. She was not able to take a warm-up, but was ready in time for the start of the game.

Initially we were able to hold our own, and were only lagging by one goal after the first period, and at second intermission we were behind 0-3. However, everything fell apart in the third, and the final score was 0-9. While the goalie had some issues, our appalling lack of defense and even less offense was the real culprit.

We told Dave in warm-up that there was a “bounty” (a la “Slapshot”) on him, and two of our defense did end up fouling him. Big John said that he even warned Dave to keep his head up before he checked him! In the ensuing penalty kill (the score was already 0-7) I even tried to foul Dave, by holding his stick. But they scored anyway.

Oh, well, it’s just a game….

I missed Game 14 (in which we tied Out-to-Lunch, 3 all) because I was seeing Blue Man Group.

Prior to the game, one of the guys said that the playoff tree was just posted. Surprisingly, even though we are in last place, we actually have a shot at making the playoffs! There are 10 teams in our division, and 8 teams will make the playoffs. Currently, the bottom 5 teams are within 4 points of each other, with 5 games left in the season. But we have been playing better of late- with a record of 2-2-4, we have earned 8 points out of a possible 16.

We played pretty hard the first period, and at the first intermission, the score was tied 1-1. I felt like I was playing well enough, and got the puck on my stick every shift- intercepting a couple of passes, but mostly working hard on the forecheck.

On our second goal, early in the second period, I got an assist, but I didn’t even realize it until after the game, when one of the officials told me “Nice pass on that goal.” I only remember that I was on the ice for it.

We played even harder in the second and third periods, determined not to give up the lead. We ended up taking a few penalties, and had to play shorthanded by 2 players for 1 1/2 minutes. However, our defense prevailed, and we did not give up any goals.

At the end of the game the Mug Shots pulled their goalie, hoping to score another goal and get back in the game. But it backfired on them, and we scored an empty-netter.

Final score, Rebels 3, Mug Shots 1!