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.

Goaldiggers Game - 2012-05-29

I went to this game, knowing a few things. The first being that it was going to be painful. I went to a hockey coach, and had a brief lesson. Ever since I made a couple of changes, I've been extremely sore afterwards. It happens when you change your skating stride. I knew that the games would be a lot faster than I was used to since I haven't played with the Goaldiggers for a while. I also expected me to not be at my top level based on I haven't played in a real game in a while.

First shift, I come over the boards and there's a break away from the blue line in, and I'm the only one who has a chance to catch him. I tried to push him to the right side as I was coming from his left, and he of course went to his right side, but still scored. I was really impressed at how fast I got up to speed and caught him.

I continued with my new skating stride and it really wore me out. I expected that. I didn't eat as well as I should have, and my conditioning isn't as great as it could be. I still felt very fast. I did feel off balance at times, but it'll take getting used to. At one point, battling for the puck along the boards and I just fell on my knees because I was so tired.

I had one good hustle move on the power play. I raced to keep a puck in at the blue line and dumped it back in. The other winger was able to pick up the puck, dance through two defenders and score. I don't think I got an assist on it, but if I don't win that race to keep the puck in, we don't get that goal.

Other than that, I felt I was pretty invisible. I made a mistake here and there but I didn't do much. I don't know if its because I'm in the wrong spots, or I'm just too slow for this league, but I don't get a chance to do much with the puck considering I'm a winger. Defensively, I guess I did ok. I constantly had two guys up high, and I tried to cover both of them when appropriate.

Ironman Tournament - 2012

There are a few events of hockey that I really look forward to all year. I love playing 3-on-3 on studio ice, late night Saturday hockey, and most of all - the Ironman. A Saturday night tournament that lasts until the early hours of the morning is without my favorite. Six guys form a team, and play multiple 15 minute games running clock, with no subs.

This year most of the team returned from the last two years. We had one new guy who was outstanding, and had played in the past, but not on our team. Additionally this year, I knew a couple of players on another team.

The entire day, I took it easy, and didn't do a lot of difficult work around the house. I wanted to make sure I was prepared. I didn't feel like I was in as good of conditioning as I was for past tournaments, so I could easily see myself getting burned out.

For the first half of our first game, it was really close. I felt our team wasn't as good, but if we played smart we could beat them. We had a great chance about half way through. I had the puck on my forehand laying in the crease, but I couldn't jam it home. I wasn't happy that I didn't finish, but it happens.  By then, we learned quickly that our new guy would take advantage of his big shot and clear it, and since there was no icing, it wasn't a big deal to do so. The game went on, and the opponents turned on the gas. Their center just took over and scored probably 4 goals towards the end of the game. At one point, he was coming up the ice along the boards. I saw this happening, and went to stand in his way. I knew he was going to get past me. He had all the speed, and I thought he was going to go around, but quickly I realized I was going to get hit, and I did. I wasn't too happy about the entire game as it was a lot more gritty than it should be for this event, but it happens. We lost.

Next we played the team with people I knew on it. We definitely had a chance against this team, and by this game, I knew that it was the only team we'd have a good chance at winning. Unfortunately, things didn't go well. Our offense did not work well together. All of us at this point are tired, and because of that, it makes it difficult to move into the offensive zone and get positioning. From here on out, there was no true team work among our forwards, and it naturally hurt us. Part way though the game, I was trying to back check and catch the puck carrier as he was along the wall. Once he got to a certain point, and didn't have a good angle, I let up and let him go to conserve energy. He shot anyway, and it went in. I hated that goal because I could have prevented it. I made sure that nothing like that would happen again. Sure enough, going down the other wing, I'm behind the puck carrier. This time I caught up to him but he still could get a shot off. I knew I had to hook him to haul him down. I put my stick along his waste and pulled, but he was so good on his skates that I pulled myself closer. Eventually, he was wearing my stick like a belt. It was the most obvious hook I've ever seen in my life. No call. We lost that game 2-0.

From here, it kind of fell apart for the night. We had a +2 hour break, and our team really didn't stick together. One player went and stayed with his wife, another sat with other teams and drank. One player went and read a book.  Before the next game though, most of us would hit the studio ice to just get our legs back a little bit and warm up.

It didn't help. Our third game, I started waiting for those big slap shots from inside our own zone. I cherry picked trying to get the puck, but that stopped working fast. The opponents were smart and wouldn't let me get to the puck. I still skated hard but with little success. The fourth game was very similar. I decided to try and get the opponents to laugh, and some of them were talkative, but other players were just as serious as if the games meant anything.

In my book, this tournament is more about the social aspect. The skill range was so wide that you mostly know the outcome of the game before the game even starts. The fact that everyone was taking it serious, and not really being together ruined it a little bit for me. There was no prize, and we were 0-4 the entire night, so why run up the score against the worst team there? Treat it like rat hockey, and give them a chance to have some fun. I hate admitting it, but the best time of the night was when we warmed up on the studio ice. The players there were lose, having fun and not frustrated.

Piranhas vs. Sharks - 2012-04-04

I felt good all night about this game. I had a lot of energy, I knew the team was beatable, we had plenty of players on our bench, and I got a nap in.

I found out I was playing on the top line with arguably our two best players, and I was excited about that. Both are fast, skilled and can move the puck.

On my third shift, in a face off in their end, I was on the far wing. The puck came to me, and I knew exactly where I was going. I grabbed it, gave a quick pass to the d-man in the center of the ice. He wound up and blasted a nice slapshot. Unfortunately, it was right into the pads of the forward. The puck bounced out of the zone, and we gave up a break away goal as a result. Somehow, I felt responsible for it, but I really wasn't. I noticed later in the game, that that specific guy has put a lot of shots into the pads of skaters.

At one point in the offensive zone, the puck came to me from the corner. I drove the net. My work on my blance must have been working, as I plowed through a defenseman while I maintained possesion of the puck.

Another time in the offensive zone, a player was skating around, trying to defend against the puck carrier. Unfortunately he ran into me. I put him down as well as I was prepared for it. He did not like that. He tried to get me to take a penalty, but I'm just not that type of player.

I felt that our d-men pinched a lot, and we gave up many odd-man rushe because of it. When I was on the ice, I tried to make sure that didn't happen. Once I was able to come back, and play as a d-man. I broke up an odd-man rush, and it felt good. Another time, I made a great keep in on the blue line. Unfortunately I lost control of the puck when I kept it in, and gave up posession. But still, it was better than just having it exit the zone.

At the end of the game, I was actually sad it was over. I still wanted to play. I had a ton of energy. I could have easily played a second game. The strange part was I was moving my feet the entire game. I can only think of one bad pass, but there wasn't a time or play where I didn't give it 100%. I like this.

Goaldiggers vs. GoalBusters 2012-04-02

With the exception of my toes, this is the first time I've felt this good in at least six months. I knew conditioning was still poor from my last handful of games, but it is getting better. I was excited to get out there and play.

I think I did alright. I went into the game trying to tell myself to control the puck. Don't just give it up. Maintain possession, and if the opponents are going to get the puck, they're going to earn it. I think it showed. I had a couple of good showings on the break out, carrying the puck through the neutral zone. I had a couple of passes that were on the mark, and a few that weren't but I think they were all a little too hard.

My legs didn't feel good though, and it showed. This goes back to conditioning, and once that is there, I'll be fine. I'm not too worried about that. For the most part, everyone on the other team was a stronger skater than me. Having no advantage in any area makes it difficult to be productive.

I did have a couple of shots on goal, but they were weak. I didn't get a good shot off, and the goalie didn't give up a rebound.

I had one shot that I had half of the net, and yet I missed the net. It was even a decent shot. I guess if I don't take my time getting my shot off, my accuracy suffers. Patrick Roy once said something along the lines of, "I won't say sorry for letting in a goal because I did my best." Despite his issues, he's right about that one. Why apologize for something where you did your best? I'm trying to get to that mode.