3 on 3 - Franklin Park

My one and only goal for the night was to have fun. I didn’t care if I scored a goal, played well, skated well, won, etc. If I had fun, the night would be successful for me. I had a great group that wanted to play, so I was fairly confident it’d work out.

I stepped on to the ice, which was soaked, and made sure that the things I focused on toward the end of the season were being done. Things such as bending my knees, staying low, and keeping my balance are were key to my improvement.

Surprisingly, I felt good when playing. I expected to be gassed, unstable, and slow. In reality, I felt as if I didn’t take any time off. This is strange because I have rust if I don’t play for a week, and not playing for a month I figured it would be exponential.

I think that my passing could have been better, and so could have my timing. Multiple times, I was told that I had more time than I realized. Thinking there’s pressure on you when there isn’t will cause you to make bad decisions. I find myself in those situations often. I believe it is a confidence issue.

Where I did well was putting pressure on others – especially if they had the puck. I was strong along the wall as I usually am, and I made sure no one got anything easy.

Anyway, everyone had a blast at the skate, including me. It was a success. I would like to set up another in the very near future.

Thanksgiving 3 on 3

Three on three sessions are always fun for me. The closer the skill level is to me, the more fun I have. I like playing in the Phantom Pond Hockey Skates, but those guys are so much better than me, that it can be frustrating. The day after  Thanksgiving and nearly every player was in a division that I'm in - I had a good feeling.

At these skates, I really like to play defense. Typically two guys go up, and one stays back. It makes a nice triangle, and I like to give support to the goalies. When you're playing back, you always have a solid angle at the goalie, and both of your players.  Distributing the puck, carrying it in is so much easier from that area of the ice. I did this a ton tonight, but I rarely ever took it in.

I didn't do as well as I would have liked. I later learned that one player had a mission to not let me score whenever he was on the ice. I thought that was rather humorous. I didn't mind, I appreciate the challenge. I did have a lot of good battles with players along the walls. I took one smear along the boards, but got my shot off, and it did go in. Another time, I was able to pin one player's stick against the boards with  mine, and used my foot to kick the puck to my side, then turn and control it. I did very well battling for loose pucks all night. I also made a handful of great passes to my center, who did extremely well. Whenever I play with this specific player, we have amazing chemistry. Despite playing on the same team together, we don't see the ice with each other very often.

Towards the end, I started having problems moving the puck. I'd make a pass or try and shoot, and I'd whiff. Yet I see a huge thing of snow go way up in the air. The Ice was just so cut up that it was difficult for me to put a soft touch on the puck. Others were doing the same thing.

Once everyone was done, I stayed on the ice. One of the guys brought his six year old out, and he skated for a while. He got much better since I last saw him. I passed him the puck a few times, played defense on him a couple of times - just fun stuff. When I was done with this I wanted to focus on my skating. I did laps as hard as I could, forcing me to turn. I did fairly well I felt. The ice at this point was rough. I lost an edge in a corner, fell and was shocked that the ice was so cut up and filled with snow that I didn't slide. It was then I knew I was done.

We rented the ice for 90 minutes, yet we didn't give it up for two hours. Ultimately, I think every player and goalie had a blast on the ice today. That is what is most important to me. All of these guys knew each other, were very relaxed, and had fun with their friends - something we're all supposed to spend to do during the holidays. 

Pond Hockey at Glenview

I wasn't too sure of the rules, the talent level, or anything else with this group. I knew of only one other player from the Piranhas going into this skate.  Studio ice though has a tendency to allow weaker players to contribute, and still be a part of the game.

However, I felt that I was not on the bottom in terms of talent. It felt really balanced except for about 3 guys. And as a result the teams were really balanced. We had 9 guys on studio ice to make 3 teams of 3. If your team gets scored on, you sit out. So if your team keeps scoring, you can e on the ice for a while. At one point the two other teams were on the ice together for a few minutes, while our team rested up. Then our team stayed out there for a while because the other teams were exhausted.

There was one guy who was really talented. He skated extremely well, and handled the puck very well too. I liked playing against him because he would give you a chance. He wouldn't give you the puck, but he would give you opportunities to tie up his stick, or knock the puck away. He did a lot of tight turns for me because he saw I was weak in them. By the end of the night, I felt fairly confident on my skates playing with him. When he wanted to score, he'd just cut through the middle and get his shot.

I worked on my skating a bit tonight, and I also focused on making good passes to team mates. On studio ice, you can't work too much on positioning because it is so drastically different. But passing and stickhandeling are a must for this type of skate.

I had an absolute blast and want to keep skating with this group every chance I get.

Scrimmage 3 on 3 - 2011-07-24

Sunday afternoon 3 on 3. Good fun. I knew a few of the guys playing, but there were 3 that were being evaluated for HNA. As a result, there were times where I'd play very hard against them, and other times where I'd let them show their skills. What amazed me was because of that, I wasn't playing hard the whole time, and I still felt tired.

I tried to stay back and let the guys on my team play offense for the most part. Even sitting back, I could contribute offensively because we were on studio ice. The puck would get thrown out, I'd chase it down, couldn't see any good passes, but I could see the goalie, so I practiced my slap shot a few times. It has improved greatly just from a little practice in the past few weeks.

The goalies said that I was taking the puck in front of my own net a lot, which is uncharacteristic of me when I do play defense. I'm almost always throwing it off the boards and out. But on a small rink, that option may not always be there. Three feet to the left may be fine on a standard rink, but with studio ice, you've got no room. Maybe I was trying to work on my stick handling in traffic? I know there were a couple of times that I made uncharacteristic moves to practice.

I was tired when done, and I think I helped the evaluation of a few players. There was times I'd go at them really hard, and others where I let them go to show skill. I worked on my shot, and I just had some fun.

3 on 3 Scrimmage - 2011-06-24

Another 3 on 3 scrimmage. I was foolish and stayed up really late after playing the night before. I didn't drink a lot of water, but I did eat well. I showed up, ready to go, and just felt tired and fatigued. Not having a regular sub really made me feel it.

I often forget how quickly players improve, and I've played with all of them before. Sure enough, they all seemed better than I last remembered them. Three other Piranhas were there, but two of them were playing goalie. Still, it is better than nothing. I'm getting concerned about their conditioning because as a team, we haven't played since March. I know many only play on one team.

While I jumped from side to side to keep everyone fresh, it was interesting to see how players work together. Two players were from the Mastodon, and worked incredibly well together. Well spaced out, good passes, patient. The other Piranha and I moved with each other well, but still struggled to make each other better. One player who I played with at this year's ironman tournament seemed to work well with me more than anyone else. I wonder if it is because were both inline hockey players before ice. Even though this was our second time playing together, we cycled well, we knew where to go for the pass, and in general read each other very well.

At the end of the night, I was tired. I still felt that I needed to get in better shape, so I skated around the rink hard for a few minutes. I focused on my crossovers and just bringing my legs back under my body so I could make longer strides.

3 on 3 Scrimmage - 2011-06-05

A friend had rented some ice at an undesirable time for most skaters, but for me, I was looking forward to it. 11:45 in the morning is a strange time to play, but ice time is ice time, and I needed the work. I got there early, and the ice was empty. I hit the ice before anyone else and focused a lot on my crossovers from the previous practice. I skated around the circles, and I was surprised at how quickly I was going. I'd fall occasionally from leaning in too much, but if you don't push yourself to the line and over, you don't know where the line really is.

I worked on my shot a little bit. Getting it off fast is a real problem for me and getting any elevation on it has become an issue as well. One out of five times I would get it moving well, but most times it felt like just a lob if I ever tried and lifted it. Something to work on.

We didn't have many skaters so we played 3 on 3 most of the time. We played with the nets in the middle for a while, which really forces you to start, stop, start again frequently. There isn't a lot of time for rest, and that's great for conditioning (especially because we had no subs). At the end, I was definitely feeling tired and you could tell everyone was the same way.

I felt I played well. My passes weren't as crisp as they have been in the past, but I did make some really nice ones. I felt I didn't have a whole lot of speed in that it took me a while to really get moving compared to normal. I'm not sure if I was tired, or the ice was just slow. It was nice to have the ice early to myself pretty much because I could take a lot of room to do whatever I wanted. I wasn't worried about getting hit with pucks, running into someone, or falling. We could have used more skaters, but what is done, is done. I should be good to go for the Goaldiggers game on Tuesday.

3 on 3 Studio Ice session - 2011-05-21

I really love doing 3 on 3 or 4 on 4. That is how I learned how to play inline hockey, so it just seems a lot more simple to me. I don't get a chance to do it often, so when a friend asked me if I wanted to do this, I didn't even hesitate. I should have though because it means I would be playing three nights in a row.

I'm not going to beat around the bush, I was awesome. I played better than I thought I could. It seemed that I was able to just dictate the pace of the game. I know it is studio ice, but if I can go from one goal line to the other, it is going to make me feel really good. I played again with a player from the Ironman tournament who I really like playing with. It seems if I can hit him with a pass, he always gets a decent scoring chance off.

I had one play where I picked up the puck in the slot, and skated around a defensemen who poked it lose, but I was able to kick it back up into my skates and keep going, through the other defense's legs and then I scored. I didn't realize I did it until someone told me that I did it. I never try that sort of thing because it just never works for me.

So why so different? I can think of a variety of reasons. I got my skates sharpened and for the first time in a year, they feel like they were sharpened the way I like them. Despite going to the same place that always used to do them, they've felt different every time. I switched the pattern on my stick from the Sakic to the Igilna. I did it for a few reasons. I knew I'd be playing defense and the square blade is better for board work, and I haven't been happy with how I've been handling the puck lately. Of course the biggest difference is the studio ice. It doesn't take very long for me to get up to speed, so a few strides and I'm at the other side of the ice. Very different, but it requires a lot of stopping and starting. It was good for endurance, and I felt outstanding after the skate.