Grim Reapers and Aces scrimmage

The Reapers and Aces invited me out to a scrimmage to help evaluate a newly formed team. I was asked to play defense, which is something I haven’t done much of in almost two years. New skates, and just a new mindset would make it very different for me. But I did it, not knowing about the team I was playing against. I recognized a few players but not all of them.

I started out a little shaky. I broke the chin strap on my helmet, which threw me off my first shift. But as the night went on, I felt much more comfortable attacking as a defensemen. I had this speed and trust from my forwards that I could take it in, get the puck to the net, and then come back to the blue line before the opponents could regain possession.  I think it is because all night the forwards kept giving up the blue line and coming back when I’m used to a more aggressive fore check.

My positioning needed work. I need to remind myself as I play on the blue line that I need to stay within the dots, and that there isn’t a third guy in the middle to help cover it. I need to push players to the outside, and not give so much space towards the middle of the ice. I did better with that as the night went on.

I am happy with how I played. I had a little rust but it came off quick.

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. 

Phantoms Studio Ice 2012-06-26

It was time for the Phantom 3 Studio Ice. I missed last week, but was excited about this week. My back was really sore going into the night, so I was concerned about it. It has been bothering me on and off for a while.

The rink was like a pond when I the zamboni got off. Luckily the group was smart and waited for it to freeze. As a result, the ice was great. I made a change to my stick. Typically, I do a spiral tape grip down to about half way down the stick. That is where I would grip with my bottom hand. Unfortunately, that isn't what you're supposed to do (from what I'm told. I grip the stick way too low, and as a result I don't have a lot of ability to stick handle. I gripped the stick a lot higher, and then taped down to that part.

I felt it really helped me. It definitely made my shot a lot harder, but less accurate. I felt that I was able to stick handle faster, but it'd take a some time to get used to.  It also enabled me to bend my knees a lot more, which helped my skating so much, which is again something I'm trying to do more.  I felt that I was able to skate a lot faster, stop easier, and make tighter turns.

When I play defense against an individual player I take away their options. I keep my top hand on my stick to take away their passing lane. If I can, I try to knock the puck off their stick. I need to use two hands more so that I can lift the stick, and then take control of the puck rather than just whacking it away. I do a great job of keeping up though because I do deflect a lot of passes with my stick, and skates.

For highlights, I had one great play where I picked up the puck off the boards, went around a stronger skater than me, cut to the middle and had a good scoring chance. I was very happy that I got around him as he knocked the puck off my stick all night. It looked like I knew what I was doing!

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.

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.

Chris Imes Practice - Skating Review - 2011-10-17

It is no secret that I've not been thrilled the past six weeks with my performance with the Goaldiggers. I suspect that it is because I haven't been on the ice more than once a week lately.

As a result, I decided to head to Center Ice, and attend a class with a few other Coyote players. The class was run by Chris Imes. I've heard about his classes, but don't know much about them or him.

I loved that he had a mic on, and I could actually hear him. Usually I can't hear anything but loud noises, making it hard to do the drill. His drills were great as well. They were unique, and enforced what he wanted us to work on.

The session I attended was working on skating, something I could always use help on. I was exhausted after a few minutes, but that's expected. I still have a long way to go to get used to stopping and turning.

Tight turns was something I'm not strong with, and one area we worked on. I sometimes just don't feel comfortable putting weight all on one skate, but this is practice.

At the end, they had us scrimmage. I played defense for most of it because I wanted to get used to the blue line. I made one pass where I got lucky. I threw it across the ice to the opposite board way up high. As I was releasing, I saw the forechecker jump up and try to intercept. It is one of those things where you know it is a disaster about to happen but can't do anything about it. Luckily he missed the interception.

I got hammered from behind, and I was not a happy camper about it. It was the definition of from behind. Luckily I was away from the boards, and I didn't get hurt.

The entire time, neither side scored. The buzzer rang, and he gave everyone one more shift. I didn't skate hard on the blue line so I decided to skate as a forward. We took the puck out, and I darted over to the left wing as the puck went behind me. The winger gained the zone, fired low and I was able to hammer the rebound home from the crease. It was just positioning on my part. The winger deserved the goal.

I felt I did well. I got some good experience on the blue line, got burned a couple of times, and know better now.

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 - 2011-06-05

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.

Practice and Drills 2011-06-02

I hadn't played in over a week because of the holiday weekend and I was under the weather. It was really unfortunate as I was playing really well. Playing multiple times a week seems to be a good way for me to keep playing well. When I was invited to a beginner team practice, I took it.

These practices usually feature a lot of drills, and those help me out a lot. I look at them as a way to focus on the basics and improve on specific aspects of my game that may only get used once or twice per game, making it difficult to get better. The first drill was a crossover and stopping drill. I felt crossovers I was fairly strong at, but stopping needs work. These crossovers are the ones though with just your feet, and I'm not any good at those. I really struggled with getting my foot over the other foot. It is strange because I feel my crossovers are fairly strong when I skate. This drill tore up the ice, so by the end of it, it was really difficult. We focused on tight turns, and using the boards to make practices. I'm not sure if I was just tired or something else, but I feel I didn't perform up to par on this task either. The puck would get away from me when I'd turn, my passes along the boards were soft, and my breakaway attempts were average.

The scrimmage I played ok in. I didn't go full out always as some skaters were still struggling, and I want their practice to help them get better. There was one skater who was smaller than me on nearly every aspect who did bounce off me, but he was arguably one of their best players.

It was a good practice for me after a week long layoff. Served as a reminder to keep playing

Franklin Park Scrimmage 2011-05-20

It has been a long time since I've been to one of these scrimmages. It usually is a really good pace. There's players just above my skill level and usually one or two that are just outstanding.

The last couple of times I've been there though, including tonight, the skill was probably too much for me. There were quite a few good guys out there who could really move the puck. I unfortunately didn't play so well. I missed a lot of passes and got out of position quickly. I've been doing that a lot. I want to get down low more and help the defense out but I go to low, and leave the point wide open. It is becoming something I need to watch.

I had one or two ok shots at the goalie, but most of the time, our side had a hard time penetrating the zone, so our offense wasn't happening. I did play center a few shifts and I felt I did really well. It seemed that there was one big guy that I was able to throw off his game just a tiny bit. Considering how talented he was, I felt that was a solid accomplishment.