Three Months Later...

It has been three months since the last post. So where have I been?

I've only been on the ice a handful of times, and as a result, very rusty. Not only was I rusty tonight, I was out of shape and I played exactly how I expected. I totally expected to be out of breath in warm ups, after 30 seconds. Doing all of the little things that you have to do to be successful comes natural to most players who have been playing for +5 years. For me, I guess I don't have that just yet. I had to think about how to breath. I had to think about how to hold the blue line on the rush. And because of that I missed a lot of basic things. I totally messed up a pass, was bad on line changes, and so on. But the good part of this was I skated as hard as I could. I want to get back to that. I want to be a player who isn't afraid of contact, and will make it on the forecheck if necessary.

So where am I going with this? I need to focus on getting back into shape. I cannot do all of the things that good players do if I'm constantly exhausted. I want to get back to the time where I could skate for +80% of the game, and not be so out of breath that I can't speak.

I am going to try my best to focus on conditioning over the next handful of weeks, and get to where I know I can be. I'm too young to be as exhausted as I was tonight.

Coyotes vs. Chaos 2011-12-11

I haven't been too excited over the past month about hockey. The fact is, I've been playing a lot, and I've felt a little bit exhausted. When you play 4 times in 5 nights, you just kind of burn out and when you don't play as well either, I guess you get discouraged. Compare that to sitting at home, getting some reading done, playing with the dog and you can probably see why.

Still, I was moderately excited to play with the Coyotes this Sunday. I hadn't been on the ice in over a week, and as a result, I felt rusty. Playing the blue line again, I wasn't sure of a lot of things. Early on, my defensive partner took a roughing penalty after he and an opponent were pushing each other all the way down the ice. The whole time this was going on, our team had the puck, going down in their end. I would have loved to been more aggressive then, but I wasn't sure what would happen there. He did play well though, a lot better than I did. If I would pinch, he'd come back a bit just in case so I wouldn't get burned. He would make good passes across the ice if he had pressure on him in the defensive zone. When I dropped a puck along the boards, he was there to pick up a scrambled pass.

Once or twice, I flat out dropped the puck along the boards with no pressure. I was just going too fast, and didn't have my stick flat on the ice. The puck would roll off, or just stay there. I did take one penalty, as the dman was coming across the blue line, I took a slashing penalty, trying to get him to drop the puck. He did, but the whistle blew as I picked it up. It was a good call.

I had a good rush up the ice from my own end, where I did not pass. Once I got low in their zone, I did make a pass, and as soon as it left my stick, I bolted back to the blue line. This went against my mentality of being a stay at home d-man, but if I have the speed to go down, and around players, I should use it once in a while.

I think I was on ice for one goal against in the 8-2 loss, and I don't think I played well or felt comfortable until 10:00 left in the third. Let this be testimony that I need to play regularly.

Coyotes vs. Immortals - 2011-11-03

I had been looking forward to the is game for a few reasons. The first being it was my first game with the Coyotes. I will be subbing for them this year, and I think I can bring some experience and speed to the team. It is my first game on the blue line where I will be playing mostly for the Coyotes. Additionally, the Coyotes were playing the Immortals, my old team.

I knew it was going to be a long game, but it went better than I had expected. I think a huge advantage for me was I was able to analyze threats better because I knew the players' skills better than I would most teams.

I had a really strong first period. I had no goals against while I was on the ice. At one point, early on, I had picked up a puck in the slot, and basically created a break away by going end to end. I was shocked no one picked me up. But I suspect that this forced the defense to respect my speed, even when I'm in my own zone with out the puck.

Part of me was a little bit shocked to see what it was like playing on the blue line. You really can control the entire game. You're responsible for making the long stretch pass, or you're responsible for just dumping the puck in the neutral zone. You can skate the puck way up with a bit of speed pushing everyone back, and so on.

I did force myself to carry the puck a little bit more than I usually do. The rest of the team wouldn't carry the puck at all. But by carrying it, I was helping myself, and the team by showing them the benefits of carrying it and how much time they had.

I had an issue with being a weaker guy on the ice. I couldn't move players from in front of the net, and I couldn't hook players down. Not having the strength made me play much differently, but I still have a lot to learn back there. But it was still a good effort, and I will keep working back there and using my strengths.

We lost 10-1. They're just a stronger team, but the Coyotes can be a solid team.

One game down, many more to go.

Goaldiggers vs. Chicago Blue 2011-10-30

Not to thrilled about playing, I headed to the rink. Maybe it was my long weekend, crappy weather or sore back. I just wasn't excited. The team was better than last week because we had 10 skaters opposed to last week's 9. Additionally, we knew this was a team that we had the potential to beat, and have beat in the past.

I think I had my best first period ever. I had energy, took my time and was solid on the fore check. Defensively I felt I did a good job too. Most of the night, I had this big d-man near me. He wasn't heavy, but he had to have been about 6'6". It made it difficult to get pucks past him because he had such a long reach. I remember anything I'd throw even remotely near him, he had the potential to knock it down, or did knock it down. I put pressure on him whenever he had the puck and learned he wasn't an agile player, and couldn't handle the puck very well. I would disrupt him, and cause him to rush his pass, and it created good opportunities for our team. They had another defense-men who was smaller, and had similar issues but was a better puck mover. The best chance of the game for me came from a hard fore check behind the net. The d-man threw it up the boards and it just caused a little havoc. It caused some scrambling in the neutral zone, and a d-man jumped up in to the play. I called for the puck in the slot, knowing I was wide open as both d-men were on him on the wall. He put it toward the net, and I had two or three good knocks at it. I was standing in the paint, and the d-man lifted my stick so hard that it spun me around. It was a great chance but no luck. It amazes me how big the crease is when you're standing in front of it, but how small it is when you're moving even remotely quickly.

One part of my game I think I struggle with, and so do some of the other Goaldiggers is moving in our own zone once we have the puck. Typically I stay on the wall and look for a pass standing still. I've been trying to move towards the net and get a better angle for a pass. I'm trying to pick the right times to do this so we can generate more chances on the rush by getting behind the -man. At the same time, I have to watch to make sure I get back if there is a turnover. It worked a couple of times tonight, so that is something to be very positive about.

At one point we had a bad change where players were changing with the puck in our end. I saw the pressure on the d-man, on the left side, and even though I was right, I raced as hard as I could to the left to help out. He got it about 4 feet from the blue line and then I tried to get it out from there. I was able to use my speed to knock it out of the zone, and create a rush. I didn't take my time though. As soon as I could, I shot it thinking I was about to lose possession. I got back to the bench, and the center said I had a good extra second or two more.

I loved my game tonight. I had energy, I disrupted their breakout passes, and helped our team get the puck out of our zone. I think the breakout part is big as I feel useless most nights in this area. For me, I think that will help the team out a lot in the future. Even though we lost 5-3 or something, there were still lots of positives to take out of it.

Goaldiggers vs. North Stars 2011-10-25

I got to the rink a little later than normal, and was the third one. I was concerned that we'd have to forfeit. We ended up having 9 skaters - a trend lately for the Goaldiggers.

Well, it wasn't pretty. Our team was just flat all night. Forwards weren't back checking, players were bunching up and playing on top of each other. It was just bad all around. I felt like I wasn't skating well. It felt like I had to skate twice as hard to go at my normal pace.

It felt like any time I'd have a puck come by me I was off balance, or I just couldn't reach it. An example was I was in a turn, and I was leaning on my stick to make the turn faster, but then the puck came by me, I couldn't do anything because if I moved my stick, I'd fall.

Once it was 5-0, I felt I needed to skate as hard as I could. Fore checking spread out their team a bit, but we just didn't have the energy to take advantage of it more than once or twice. I had one shot off the rush where I took a hard shot (slow for normal players), hoping for a rebound, but there wasn't anyone there. I tried to gain more confidence with the puck, and try different things at that point. I think total we had less than 10 shots on the other goalie, so we really had no chance the way we were skating.

It was a long game.

I wonder if I eat enough food during the week to play? I remember when I was playing well a month or two ago, I was eating fast food a lot more frequently, and the past little while, I've made some changes in my diet. Maybe I'll eat more bacon during the week.

Piranhas Game - 2011-10-23

First game of the season for the Piranhas. I'm excited, and I've got a great attitude about it. Not only do I expect myself to play well, I'm thinking the team will have a good season. A few new players, and a few returning players should mean that we have a full bench every night, which has been a huge problem since I joined the team.

My defensive game last night was very strong, and probably the strongest I've played. With the exception of my first shift, I couldn't have played defense any better. Our team took a lot of penalties, so I didn't get a ton of time out there, but my one shift on the PK, I did very well. I was able to throw a hit, I deflected a shot out of play, and I didn't get too excited, skating all over. I probably had two other hits as well that were solid at different times of the game.

At one point off of a face off, the guy I was lining up against was determined to not let me in closer than him. Eventually I noticed he was leaning on his stick right on the face off. I lined mine up behind his knowing he wouldn't let me in front, and right as the puck dropped, I hooked his stick away so he'd fall on his face if he wasn't ready. He fell, and he cried about it to the ref.

The defense men would sneak into the slot all game. I was very careful to cover them. As a result, they never really got good scoring chances while my line was on the ice. I also don't think we had a goal against, but I could be wrong. I had a couple of good exits from the zone and made great passes to the center and wingers that generated good scoring chances. But other than that, there wasn't a lot of chemistry between me and the rest of the line.

The previous day, I had been practicing my stick handling with the dog in my living room. I'd use my body to protect the ball, and play keep away from him. I'd spin, throw it through his legs, etc. It was also what I worked on in practice a week ago. It paid off. Twice I used my body to protect the puck. At one point, I did a small spin move, and got a good shot on goal, but the goalie saw it the whole way.

Not too much else stands out. We lost 4-1, and didn't get a lot of shots on net. There was no traffic in front of the goalie, and we just couldn't keep the puck in their zone.

Goaldiggers vs. Raiders - 2011-10-18

I felt I got better and more effective as the game went on. Our opponents were much bigger, and more talented than us. They had a few guys who were just amazing skaters and stick handlers.

My entire first period, I felt I wasn't going to be effective. Twice I was just outworked on the boards, either because I was pinned against the boards with ease, or they were just more talented. We went down 2-0 really early, and team morale just kind of dropped. I was fortunate enough afterward, to draw a tripping penalty when racing for a loose puck along the boards, but I think on that power play, they scored a shorthanded goal.

In the second period, they started to let up a little, as they were up 4-0. It was clear they were going to beat us, and they just let us take possession off the face off. I tried to just play my best and keep going hard, despite the score. I focused on playing defense, and covering the point better. A few times I had came back faster than the other forwards so I was in the slot. I had a decent break up in the slot. I was able to make a good saucer pass across the ice on the break out to the opposing winger that surprised myself. Another surprising area was when I was covering on the blue line and able to break up the play. The practices with the Coyotes apparently payed off.

In the third, I had my best period in a while. I was able to skate around a player a couple of times. I was still a little cautious around the boards and in the corners. I think maybe next practice I have, I'll practice racing to the board, picking up a loose puck, turning and looking for options. At one point in the third, I had a breakaway from the blue line in. I was trying to read the play and saw the play so I was able to get behind the defensemen, and receive the pass. Unfortunately, he caught me, and I didn't get a shot off. I had a good scoring chance when I was able to intercept the pass from the goalie behind the net. I knocked it down, picked it up and tried to do a wrap around and put it into an empty net. The problem was that I was on my back hand and had little control. It didn't bother me at all but had I been in my forehand, it would have.

So after being on the ice for the second time in two nights, I'm exhausted and sore. I'm not sure if all of this post makes sense or is coherent, but it is what it is.