Coyote Practice with Goats

This rink was extremely hot. I cannot remember the last time I felt so warm on the ice. I know I was not the only one. As a result, the ice was incredibly soft. Amazes me how big of a difference this rink is compared to the places I typically play at.

I felt uncomfortable from the time I stepped on the ice until the time I got off. Nothing I did could get me feeling good. The warm up drills this coach had us do were different from what I've done in the past. I liked them. He would have us skate 5 full strides, glide, then do a tight turn towards one direction and go back. It really makes you focus on your strides and turns. He then had us do the same, only he would blow the whistle quickly, stop, and go in the opposite direction. There were some really good skaters there for this type of coach. It made me a little nervous because I was afraid that if I did something wrong, I'd get trampled.  I skated so hard during one of these drills that I lost an edge, fell and rolled  quite a bit. Luckily I didn't trip, but man I was tired.

The one coach then took us and we did cycle drills. I messed up a few times, but to me, it ultimately lead to keep possession of the puck, and keep yourself as an option. This is something I've always tried to do. The coach was trying to enforce the idea of going to specific areas where you'll go to score goals.  It was interesting in the idea that if you have the puck, then swing around to the other side, you need to make yourself an option. It is something I could work on.

We went to the other side and focused a lot on one on ones. This is something I was thrilled about. In one of my recent Coyote games, I got burned on the same one on one multiple times. So as much as I wanted to play defense on these one on one situations, I only got one defensive opportunity against the caliber of player that I really needed to work against. I did a good job against him, but he really didn't make a good move.

The scrimmage was short, but I did very well during it. I didn't get too aggressive as I knew the opponents were much better than us. At the same time, I did help correct one of the wingers in his positioning in the break out. Once he was in the correct position, I hit him with a great pass.