Today I... (part 4)

[BM14]

Took a slap shot off of the ribs last night.
had to go for X-rays today.

Fun times.

 

[Ozz]

Monday: scored a shorty in a 2-5 loss on the weak team I joined last minute to try to help. I helped but we were still God-awful. Ah well, the goalie we played hated giving up the 2 we got more than we hated losing, so that's good. It's just as well, the winner of that game only moves on to play the undefeated team that is playing down a league so it would have been a mercy against us anyway.

Tuesday: opened scoring 10 seconds into the game, then got another a minute or two later to make me score on 2 out of 2. Ended up with 4 total and an assist or two, we won 12-9. It was just high-flying and the goalies were relying on it after a while. Best part was this was against a team I played on for a couple seasons so it was a bunch of friends, and I got to light em up.

Took a slap shot off of the ribs last night.
had to go for X-rays today.

Fun times.

Good luck w/the verdict. I have a pretty sore rib and I can't place what the heck happened. Can't recall a puck, stick, hit, or anything else happening anywhere to justify it. Hoping it'll go away before I suck it up and get some X-rays too.

 

[DougKnowsBest]

rib injuries are a real oddity sometimes. from the way the pain moves around your chest to the specific movements that cause sharp shooting paint in such sudden bursts. heal slow and are easy to re-injur



tonight, i wouldn't say i played my best game ever. i had two assists, i was more pleased with the way it felt. i felt strong on my skates, balanced, fast. when i was doing my little warm up circle cross over left (weak side) i felt like i was in complete control and doing it smoothly. my skating is getting to the point where its getting effortless and I'm not having to think about what my feet are doing.


it just really felt like I'm getting close to putting in my 10 thousand hours in so to speak. this years fall session i started scoring goals. that was great. but the smile on my face about the progress i see in my skating is huge. after the first game of winter session. I started playing adult league about 5 years ago. ive made steady progress with my various skills levels, but I'm starting to be able to really do what i want on the ice.

just need to make myself take the kids to a open skate and force myself into perfecting my weak side cross over and really developing a backwards crossover. we got a saucer king for christmas.... can't wait to really use that thing this spring

 

[Ozz]

Tiring night tonight. My higher-division team won the semifinals game and then played the finals immediately after, so just a few minutes of rest.

We only had 2 subs on the bench to start: lost one during the first game and lost another due to a series of penalties in the 2nd game. Of course, the other team had twice as many as we did and their guy didn't get kicked out so we just had no energy. We did do much better than we expected considering the circumstances and that the team was undefeated, and only lost by 2. Had a 4 minute penalty kill from that melee too, and killed it successfully.

Had a couple goals in the first game including a heeled one-timer I had to step into to reach (bobbling puck), which was pretty great because it went back bar and somehow hit iron 3 or 4 times. Sounded like a bunch of pucks shot at once.

No goals in the second, perhaps a couple assists. I mainly stayed back on D and dealt with a lot of odd-man rushes. One of my better defensive games in a long time, I'm happy with that!

Thursday is my lower-division playoffs, we expect to win it all. We do get one game of rest in between semifinals and finals, at least.

 

[STC]

Had to forfeit our game last night because of Obama. That's a new one.

They closed the entire highway down at 10pm so Obama could drive to the airport, our goalie got stuck in the traffic and it took him 45 minutes to go 2 miles.

 

[MullerBrotenVerbeek]

skated open hockey this afternoon after two weeks off the ice and after flying back from Asia last night. Felt like a zombie. Was supposed to play 11:30pm on Tues night, aka 5 hours after landing, but was way too jetlagged, passed out to "nap" before the game and slept for 14 hours straight.

 

[Rookie109]

Went to the Jets vs Montreal game and watched the battle of the worst AHL goalies on Ice on both sides. Drank several beers to make it tolerable.

Went directly to my regualar pickup game after, scored a breakaway bar-down wristshot on my first shot on net! Skated my ass off and snagged 4 assists off a teamate from my regualar team who now goes to Wednesday night pickup games as well.

I had great hustle and speed which was surprising considering my teammates could smell the beer everytime I burped on the bench, and I had smoked a J just before the game!

Good times.

 

[Ozz]

I had great hustle and speed which was surprising considering my teammates could smell the beer everytime I burped on the bench, and I had smoked a J just before the game!

Good times.

I play with a couple guys whom I don't think can operate without doing so...

 

[Elias Pettersson]

What is it like to skate while tipsy? I've never tried it. Considering I have troubles walking drunk, how does it work with playing hockey? I feel like i'd be lying on the ice.

 

[Ozz]

Thursday is my lower-division playoffs, we expect to win it all. We do get one game of rest in between semifinals and finals, at least.

Ugh, we lost. Tremendous game, even the refs said it was one of the best ones he's seen in a long time. I had the 3rd period would-be game-winner and helped kill off 2 PKs almost in a row to protect it. I believe it was with 40 seconds left in the game where one of our D dumped the puck in (!?) rather than passing it to his very open partner, and don't you know they came down with it and scored with 20 seconds left. Being playoffs, we went to OT and then to a shootout. It did not go well. I didn't want to take part it in this time, though with my luck that night* I'd have whiffed anyway.

* got a flat tire on the way to our 1st (semifinal) game, had to get towed home and therefore missed it. Thankfully we had time between that one and the finals, so I was able to make it. I didn't feel right in the head all game and kept messing up. It wasn't until I got cracked in the ear with an elbow (no call, of course) in the 3rd that I went into beast mode. I wish that happened earlier.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

Not sure how you can blame a guy for making the safe play with less than a minute to go.

 

[Rookie109]

I play with a couple guys whom I don't think can operate without doing so...

Hahaha, it is quite fun to play that way - but by no means do I always play like that lol. I seem to play well either way, that's probably more because I'm on the ice 3 or more times a week now that there is outdoor ice.

 

[Rookie109]

What is it like to skate while tipsy? I've never tried it. Considering I have troubles walking drunk, how does it work with playing hockey? I feel like i'd be lying on the ice.

It's OK, I mean a few casual beers spread out over a few hours won't change you that much. Playing completely drunk is a bad idea though, I've never seen it work well yet.

 

[STC]

Not sure how you can blame a guy for making the safe play with less than a minute to go.

Rule #1 of men's league hockey: Never give up possession unless you have no other option.

Sounds like in Ozz's case, the offending party had the option of passing it to his wide open partner.

 

[Ozz]

Not sure how you can blame a guy for making the safe play with less than a minute to go.

Rule #1 of men's league hockey: Never give up possession unless you have no other option.

Sounds like in Ozz's case, the offending party had the option of passing it to his wide open partner.

STC is right. With ~40 seconds remaining, puck carrier was at the blue line on the wall. His D partner was around the red line, halfway between center circle & the other wall. The closest opponent to him was, at best, at the top of their faceoff circle so that was definitely a ways away.


It's not like we all turned to him and said it was his fault, but I doubt anyone will say it didn't lead to the tying goal. He could have held it longer, passed to the open man, skated to neutral/D zone, passed back to our goalie. Even if he shot it, we could have killed time by fighting for possession in the crease. Even if we got a whistle we could have killed time on the draw, or even if we lost it we wouldn't have had 2 guys deep below the puck chasing a rush the opposite way.

Then again one could say the rest of the team & goalie could have stopped the puck coming all the way back, but then you might as well blame everyone for not hitting posts, missing nets, etc. all game long

 

[ArGarBarGar]

You had a guy stationary at the blue line and you want the guy with speed to pass to him?

I mean, maybe you want to keep possession, but if you can't lock it down when the opponent comes back with 30 seconds left then you just suck at defense.

 

[Ozz]

You had a guy stationary at the blue line and you want the guy with speed to pass to him?

I mean, maybe you want to keep possession, but if you can't lock it down when the opponent comes back with 30 seconds left then you just suck at defense.

I'm not sure what I said to paint the picture that way... I didn't care to say much more than "guy gave up the puck and as luck would have it, we ate it."


Fs gained entry to the zone. D parked on the points. Other team pressured our Fs, Fs moved the puck back to the D. One of the D skated away from the point to make space (assuming he'd get the pass he was yelling for), but the other D (who was not moving at all) dumped it into the corner and around the boards. It should have simply been a game of keepaway for half a minute, WHAT is the point of forcing the puck into their zone if you're not literally carrying it in?

I hate to actually reply to this but I feel I must. Sigh...Regarding the "you suck at defense" comment: anyone can get walked at any time especially with a 3 on 2 and a shot through traffic. You play, you ought to know that. I and probably you, or probably your teammates, have walked many entire TEAMS to score and I wouldn't say they flat out suck. Those same guys would stuff me for most of the game until I pulled off a crazy shift like that, or perhaps the next time we play it's a battle just to get 1 goal if any. And it was indeed one of the better goals of the night, between the 2 teams with the best GA in the division. We can get scored on from a solid team just as easily as we can score on them, this game was back and forth all night and ended past OT into a shootout. If we suck, they suck, and if we both suck then the we're well-matched. By contrast, we could annihilate a team with lesser talent, and a team full of far better players could probably kill us. Obviously that is the case, there's no value in a "you suck" statement when the only comparative basis has the same talent. Hell, I wasn't even out there, and the prior shift we stopped 2 scrums with the puck on the line as well as killed the last penalty of the game. I think I helped kill 3 all night. I WISH I were out there on that last shift, aside from positioning myself better than the other C did when the puck was dumped, perhaps I would have caught the rush and stopped it.

Meanwhile, in our A division, there's barely any D and everyone just goes balls to the wall with 15-9 games every week. Now that's ridiculous.

ANYWAY...enough with my rant, but that was certainly one of the better goals of the night, and the teams in question are the 2 best for GA in the division. We can get beat just as much as we can beat others. It was a fine matchup.



I just can't agree that GIVING them possession with under a minute left is a wise choice. Now that I think of it, I can't even imagine how many last-second goals I've either been part of w/this team or gave up w/this team. It happens a lot, man.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

Okay, it came off as if it was off a breakout rush, hence me not understanding the issue with the play. That makes more sense.

 

[Ozz]

I knew there had to be a misunderstanding. Yeah, the rush was the other way once we literally gave up possession I wish we were on a rush, the guy who dumped it has a wicked slapshot and if he had speed up the side he just may have blasted it right in (he did exactly that earlier). But that's hockey! We'll get these guys next time.

 

[eternalbedhead]

Got murdered 9-3 last night. We've only had 6 players our first two games and even though we play 4s in this league (due to a low player count), it's been hard considering how much fast break hockey there is in this league especially with it being 4v4. Batteries drain very quickly; we're playing up to 2-3 minute shifts before sitting for 45 seconds to a minute or so. Not to mention this is inline, not ice (too expensive down here), so we don't have a natural AC system to work with. The rink is covered, but not enclosed, so as you can expect, it's awful playing afternoon games in the summer.

 

[hillcrest34]

Lost 2-0 against the top, undefeated last night. Not too upset considering that's their lowest score and we're a bottom of the table team. That and the guy who score both their goals was playing down a division.

We definently were competitive throughout though and I had a ripper game by my standards, killed 2 icings, 5 SOG and two offensive zone turnovers. Now I just need to work on my shot so I actually lift it off the ice

 

[Cursed Lemon]

In the first 30 seconds of tonight's beer league game, someone threw a full-on hip check on me, busting open the bench door.

Needless to say, tones were set.

 

[STC]

last night we had the luxury of 6 skaters which is better than the game earlier in the week where we only had 5. We won the game we only had 5 skaters, 8-7. Nothing more satisfying than beating a team when you have no subs.

Last night we played the team we beat the last 2 seasons for the championship. Had 6 guys, but honestly we probably would've been better with 5. One of our guys played so bad on defense he got walked for 3 of the 4 goals the other team scored and all by guys who have no business walking anyone. We ended up tying the game 4-4.

I had a couple goals, including an upper 1% forhand-backhand top shelfer. That's my go to move, use it all the time. When I really get a hold of it and roof it hard I go back to the bench and tell the guys that was an upper 3%er. Last night's was top 1%. Got sent in all alone from the top of the circles off a turnover, got in tight but went for it anyway and got it up quick where it hit the top corner of the post and rode the crossbar before going bar down.

 

[SportyC0ry0]

Today I had to learn how to stop properly after going full speed to prevent myself from flying lmao

 

[Ozz]

Played with zero subs and as luck would have it I had a completely off night too. Felt like dying since the first, though we were able to only lose by 2. Haven't had a bad game like that in a while!

Edit: woke up in the middle of the night feeling sick as hell. Probably had something to do with how I felt during the game :-\