Piranhas vs. Mastodons

First game of the season for the Piranhas, and I'm really not nervous about it. The Mastodons though were the worst possible opponent for us. I know they play hard at all times, and they practice regularly. There is no way that this team would not be in shape and prepared for the game.

The Piranhas would have as full of a bench as I'd have ever seen. Warm ups were a huge problem as it was difficult to find space to actually warm up. I tried doing some passing drills with another skater at the red line, but still no space.

My first shift was not a good one. One of the d-men pinched,, and I went to the other side to cover for him. Sure enough the puck comes to that side, and the winger has more speed than I do and I knew I wouldn't catch him. I'd try to put a shoulder into him and stop him, but instead I missed and grabbed him. I took the interference penalty. First shift of the game. We'd take a couple more penalties, and end up being down 4-0 just 12 minutes into the game.

Despite the full bench, I was fairly tired. It has been about two months since I had any sort of real scrimmage on a full sheet of ice, let alone a full game. I still had speed at some points. I did handle the puck well a few times, and looked for some great passes despite not connecting. I had physically beaten a much bigger player in the corner, which caused not only a solid scoring chance, but we maintained possession of the puck and eventually scored a goal. I wasn't aggressive as I would have liked, and as a result, I felt as if I was ineffective. I wasn't covering points, I wasn't helping the defense men out. I was doing a crappy job of taking away passing lanes.

I'm going to focus on being in better shape and having targeted aggression next game.

The Mastodons would beat the Piranhas 6-3.

Friday Night Scrimmage

It has been a long time since I've been to one of the Friday night scrimmages. Friday nights were tough for me last year, and while it is a great way to introduce the weekend, I have been using them to relax at home. It is a shame because Friday night is a perfect time to play. I don't have any business playing with about half of the players here, but they allow me to play anyway. Everyone is really cool and gets along.

The scrimmage lasts for about 90 minutes, and there is only about 12-14 skaters per side, allowing me to work on my endurance. Typically endurance isn't an issue for me. However, ever since I started to bend my knees more when I skate, I need the work on endurance. I think in the past when I did not bend my knees as much, I never had a chance to use all of my energy, hence I could last a lot longer. Tonight though, I definitely felt it after the third shift.

There was a lot of time contained in one zone. Either the forwards would be attacking the whole time, or we'd be playing defense the whole time.  There was one shift where we continued to try and get it out on my side, but I was too tired, and not skilled enough to get it past the d-man.  The shifts were 90 seconds - 2 minutes, which is too long for me, but that is how you build endurance. The problem is when you're at the end of that shift and you can't get it out, everyone else gets exhausted.

I had a couple of decent break outs, but I should have had more for how long I played.  I would recieve the puck in the neutral zone, skate it up, and look for options. If I found another forward and made the pass, something would go wrong. Either it would get picked off, it would bounce over their stick, or it'd go right past them. I don't think I connected on one neutral zone pass all night.

I had a couple of good scoring chances. The first was about 4 feet away from the crease. The winger blasted a shot and the goalie gave up a rebound. It came out right to me on edge. The goalie was on all fours, and still on the way down. I knew I could just lift it over him and in. Unfortunately, with it being on end, it went wide, and I was about a foot to the outside of the post. The second was more upsetting. While standing in front of the net, trying to screen the goalie, the d-man wound up for a slap shot. I knew I had to get out of the way, so I went to the far side. The shot hit the back of the boards, behind the net, and back out to the goal line. I was standing right there. All I had to do was retrieve it, pull it in, and back hand it in. The goalie was still recovering from committing to the initial shot. Unfortunately, I went wide again.

I felt good about the skate, and it was about what I remembered it to be. A lot of talented, and fast players. I like playing against them but it helps my endurance more than anything.

Goaldiggers vs. X-Men 2011-10-03

The Goaldiggers had one more player than we did last week, which makes a big difference. Still, we had players playing out of position because of it. We were playing against a beatable team, but for some reason, we just don't beat.

In the first period, the team played very well. The passing was good, and everyone was in the right areas. We generated a lot of chances just as we entered the zone. At one point we had a 3 on 2, with me down the center, and the puck on the left. The puck came back to me, and I flipped it towards the goalie, through the defense men. The right winger was able to pick up the juicy rebound and pound it home.

From then on, I don't feel I played as well as I could have. Every time on the face off, I was out muscled to get to loose pucks. When I did gain possession, I didn't really generate anything.

I feel I did well on board battles though. There were a few times where I was able to pin the player along the boards and allow a team mate to come in and pick up the puck.

I didn't skate as hard as I should have. I just didn't have the energy to do so. I hadn't been on ice since our last game, so I definitely wasn't in shape, But I feel I should have still been able to skate harder. I just felt slow all night.

A bigger issue was I was no where to be found on the breakout pass. I believe this is partially because I was tired, but more so because I need to have better recognition of where I should be.

Rat Hockey at Seven Bridges - 2011-08-21

After my disgusting play with the Piranhas on Wednesday, which I suspected it to be from lack of playing regularly, I knew I needed to get a good skate in. For the first time in a while, I decided to lace up my skates at Seven Bridges.

The rink has holes in the roof. This makes the ice the best in the winter, and awful in the summer. Today was no exception to the rule. There were a lot of players from the college a few miles away, and they're always really good players, and recognize the struggling players and work with them. It is nice that they don't go their hardest at players like me.

At one point, one of the more talented players was coming down against me. he made some ridiculous move that when I tried to lift his stick, I just fell over and embarrassed myself while he went and scored. I rarely ever play D, so I'm learning what to watch with the player and looking at his stick to determine where the puck will be.

I had a few chances that were from long passes and speed, which helped me, but they gave me those opportunities.

Most of the time we did 4 on 4 with no subs, so it was a good skate and it wore me out. I used to be able to do that without stopping. Now that I haven't been playing as much, I can't. Either way, it surely will help my endurance.

Goaldiggers Game - 2011-07-31

I took a nap after my afternoon skate, and woke up a couple of hours before puck drop to eat and get ready for the game. I went to verify what time the game started, and realized that I was looking at the end time. The game started in less than an hour. I quickly took the dog out, threw my stuff in my bag and got to the rink. The team was just taking the ice as I got there, and we were really short with me being the 7th guy there. I got ready, went to put on my helmet and... it wasn't there. As I was scurrying around, another player came, and I had to run to my car to get my wallet, and buy a new helmet.

My first shift was the start of the 2nd period, and we were down by 4. I knew the team would need a boost as they had to be exhausted, and already down by so many is tough. I set out to just disrupt chances on my first shift. I did fairly well too, directly to contributing to a scoring chance, and a goal. I felt like we were able to start a comeback with two fresh players.

Then I started to slow down. I just didn't have the energy to go full out against their two top players that were obviously ringers. I knew if I did go full out, they'd just go around me without problems, and I'd be extremely tired later in the game.

Other than that, There honestly wasn't a lot worth mentioning.

This was a good experiment for me though. I've often considered doing morning stick and puck sessions on game days when I'm not working. I know if I were to do those, I'd skate hard and work up a good sweat. This was a perfect example of a morning skate, then game. I think that I felt warmed up, but without a full bench, I didn't have the rest I needed while playing.

The being unprepared for games is becoming a problem though. I need to be more focused and prepared for games. No more showing up to games so that I don't get the full warm up experience. I need a few minutes before taking the ice to mentally prepare.

Goaldiggers game 2011-06-07

I didn't write about this game right away because I wanted to just get it out of my mind for a bit. Apparently, I was visually upset during the game, despite me not even remembering it less than a few minutes after it was well over.

We had two solid lines and two sets of defensemen. To me that means that I have plenty of subs. I felt going into the game it was a beatable team and I felt very good. I came out flying. For the first 10 minutes of the game, my line did an outstanding job of keeping the puck out of our own zone, and fore checking. Multiple scoring chances were generated by our line as a result of solid anticipation by our skaters and rushing the puck carrier. We still have a tendency to not read each other very well as we're still new but it will come.

At the end of the first we lost our best forward because of an equipment problem. There was a problem for the first 3 shifts of constantly questioning who is going where and when. I didn't skate full out afterward as we now had a short bench. I still felt like I was moving quick though. But our defensemen just got tired. We couldn't get the puck out of our own zone, and we couldn't gain control of it long enough to the zone after it was cleared. We didn't generate too many shots. I had one that went off the post and wide, and another where the goalie stopped it and didn't give up a rebound.

I look back and try and figure out why I was frustrated. I am honestly unsure. I felt I played well for me, and I'm starting to question if the team's talent is where I thought it was. Typically we play poorly after a long layoff like we just had, and without one of our best players, I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting. I'd say 75% of our goals come from two or three guys, so when we lose one of those guys, we don't generate any offense, any goals, scoring chances or anything.

Ironman Tournament

Last year, a friend asked if I wanted to play in an all night tournament at one of the rinks we played at. I said yes without hesitation. I wanted to put together a team by myself, but I knew I couldn't get a group of players to give up a Saturday night, and then play the entire night.

The team was a common group of guys who mostly played together somewhat frequently. A great group, but we were nowhere nearly as talented as any of the other teams. In our handful of games, we were outscored somewhere around 55-1. After it was clear we wouldn't win any games, some of the team didn't try as hard. I'm sure exhaustion was part of the reason. Still, it was an experience, and I enjoyed it greatly.

That tournament is again Saturday night. The group is more experienced, and some of the weaker players were swapped with stronger players. I'm not familiar with all of them, but I've played with most, and the core group is still there. I hope my conditioning is ready!