Monday, November 12, 2012

Piranhas (2-1) vs. Blast


I expected the Blast  to have a short bench based on their roster on the website and their record but they had a full bench. What was amazing is they had two guys that were giants. Their reach was outstanding. On a face off I lined up next to one of them, and I just felt like I didn't belong on the same rink as them based on size. It reminds me of being 12 years old playing basketball against guys who already hit puberty.

I had a hard time getting anything going. The Blast are in a higher division, but that shouldn't be an excuse. I just had no jump in my step.  They were also a lot faster, so when I was skating as fast as I could, I had a hard time even staying within a reasonable distance of their skaters on the back check.

Early on, I had a low quality shot from the wall. It is something I'm trying to do more because I feel I'm just giving up possession. I also had a good shot in the slot. The net was half open, but I didn't take my time and I shot a foot wide. Very frustrating.

There were a ton of penalties this game. Hooking, roughing, and so on. I had two penalties myself. My first penalty was iffy. I was back checking and I got my stick around his hands. It was a bad idea to do this, but where I caught the penalty was that I stopped skating. If I kept  moving my feet, it wouldn't have been a penalty. The second was during a penalty kill. One defense man went in, and I was racing back to cover the puck carrier. I hooked him fairly well, and got called for it. I wasn't too happy.

What I did do well is change. I didn't have one shift where my shift length was too long, or too short. Multiple times, I would pass off to the center, and then just go for the change - especially in the second period. It was important because when I was out there I was skating hard.

Sometime in the third, I got some time in the power play. I picked the puck up somewhere on the half wall, and got it down deep to the other winger who was in the corner. He had plenty of time, and I turned and went to the net hard. As he was about to get pressure though, he fed me the puck, I skated right across and just tapped it in.

Despite having a power play goal I felt my performance was average. I've been playing extremely well for the Piranhas, so I was due for an off game, but it is frustrating to me. I want to continue to play well. What is a big problem for me is I want to move into the Blast's division as an individual. Tonight, I had a tough time. I'm going to need to get a little better to get into that division and be an effective player.

The Fish would lose this one 4-9.

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