Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Goaldiggers Game - 2010-01-26

Lately I've been working hard on my skating. I noticed that I tend to move my feet really fast and that doesn't necessarily translate into speed. I've been taking less strides but better quality ones and it has really increased my speed and balance (or so it feels).

Tonight was the first night in a league game since the new focus. League games to me are a time to just go all out. I don't mind receiving contact, and I don't mind giving a little when necessary. The problem is yes, I'm faster, but my skating still sucks. I have a hard time stopping and I have a hard time with my turns. I can do them at low speeds, but when I am going fast, I have hard time stopping or turning. It really came to be a problem tonight as I felt I was a bit too physical. I continuously made contact with one D-man on the fore check and trying to get the puck out of the zone. He became extremely frustrated with me, and I can't say I blame him. It is a no contact league.

Overall, I think it wasn't a bad game for me, but it wasn't a good one. For me, it was nice that I got a chance or two. I had one backhander from down low that hit the post, got the rebound, went around and tried to give it to another forward, but it didn't get there. My defense was ok too. I think my d-man only got off one shot because I was down too low.

One issue I have is in our league, d-men like to jump into the play, and act as a fourth forward. When it is my d-man, I often expect I should jump in and cover him, but quickly another forward jumps back out for me to cover. It is a judgment call. Tonight, the d-man came down low and I did follow him. He got the puck in the slot but I was right behind him to tie up his stick.

I think we lost like 7-2 or something.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

How I Started

Christmas 2000 – My brother in law got me one of the best Christmas gifts I ever recieved. He got me my first hockey stick and goal. It wasn’t anything special, just one of those PVC pipes and a cheap stick with a few pucks. It was great. I remember bringing it to his house, which was on a channel. At that time, it was frozen over, so we were able to go out there and play. We shoveled the ice and made tiny boards with the snow shovel. We put the net out there and just played in our shoes, since neither of us had skates and it was so small. It was a blast.

More people wanted to come and play, so we made the rink bigger. We got a second goal, and set them at opposite ends of the shoveled surface, just like a real rink. It was quite fun. We also put a thin layer of water on the rough ice every night so it’d be smooth. Wow did I fall a lot! I found a relative’s old pair of skates that I tried out when no one was around or wanted to play. It Skating wasn’t too difficult for me considering I inline skated a lot. It only took me a couple of minutes to learn to move and turn.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Thanks for Stopping By

My name is Larry and for quite a while, I’ve been playing hockey. I started playing around 2000, and I’ve been playing against others since about 2006. I look at myself and see the ups and downs of my career, and think that I really wish I had documented it a little bit better. That’s why I started this blog. I’ve thought about starting a blog for a while for that very reason. So from now on, I’ll try and write a review of each time I play. What my thoughts are on equipment, and pretty much anything related to my experiences playing.

Now remember that I don’t consider myself talented by any means. I’ll make note of that over and over. I appreciate any constructive criticism, advice or questions. That is another objective of me starting this. Do I keep talking about how I have a hard time getting my shot off? Well maybe you’ve got some advice. Perhaps I have discovered something that you haven’t. Ask away, read away.

So for the beginning of this, there will be all kinds of posts like my history, and the type of equipment I’m using.