Center Ice Rat Hockey Session

The World Hockey Invite was going on in Chicago. That means for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, nearly every rink is taken. When this happens, kids who play during those days end up looking for ice. This was the only rat hockey session I could find in the area this weekend. There were many under 18 year old kids there who were all very good. For me, it had been a while since I had stepped onto Rat ice with a group of this skill level. Some of these guys would be better than anyone on the Goaldiggers to give you an idea of where I fit in.

Considering my lack of skill compared to the others, I did very well. On my second shift, I made an amazing rink wide pass to the other forward, who got a great scoring chance. When I have time, I've noticed that I'm able to thread the needle a lot more than I used to, and make a good pass.

I had one battle for a good 8-10 seconds along the wall in the corner against a much better skater than me. While he was able to turn, and just keep the puck away from me, I wasn't playing the puck. It kept him on the wall. Eventually he'd flub a pass to behind the net. I really like that I was able to do this. These battles are intense, and force you to play positionally, while rewarding the better skater.

Perhaps the best part of my night was the ability to handle a much more skilled player on a one on one. I was the only defenseman staying back. I read the play and saw what would be happening in two seconds, so I started going backwards. While we were in the center of the ice, I forced him to one side. I kept him on that side, and then made a good transition from backwards to going forwards. While he was much faster than me, I was able to use positioning and my stick to slow him down. I kept my stick out and close to the puck, taking away his shot. by the time he was able to get past me, he was at the goal line, and had to just go around the net.

I played defense most of the night, and it drove me nuts that no one passed or played position hockey, but what can you expect in a rat hockey session? I was pleased with how I performed. I also got a few shifts where I could skate hard the full length of the ice, so that's always nice for conditioning.

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.

Open Hockey 2010-09-09

I’ve been really out of it the past month or so. I haven't skated, I haven't moved, I have only really slept and gone to work. Even my dog gets pissed at me that I'm just laying around. I don't know what it has been, but it isn't a good thing. Despite this, I have been feeling better the last two weeks. Lat night, I went and played rat hockey at cheap rink, nice and close to home.

I had only been on skates once in the last four weeks or so. I was somewhat nervous because the guys were really good, and my last outing wasn't very flattering. I felt well rested and such. My back was slightly sore, but that is normal for me. On warm ups, my shot had nothing. Considering I lost 8 pounds in the last little bit, I sort of expected this.

The ice was good and my skates were almost too sharp. I wasn't sliding as much as I normally would like but I have to live with it. Fore checking was almost useless for me because these guys could make such decent passes. I played D most of the night as well, and that was a wasted cause, simply because the skaters were so fast that I couldn't do much. The sad thing was, I wasn't the worst one there.

Overall, it felt nice to have skates on and play a little with better players. I need to do it more, but first I have to get all of my energy and strength back.