Pre-Game Preparation

[badtakemachine]

What do you do to get yourself prepared to play?

I am a goaltender, here is what I like to do:

- Good meal the night before
- Good night sleep
- Solid breakfast
- Small lunch of Pasta
- Nap
- 4-3 Hours before the game, get dressed up, have something playing in the background
- Get to the rink a good chunk of time before game time, usually a couple of hours (1 hour is the minimum for my team)
- Set my gear up in the stall
- Visualize
- Pre-game run
- Get the gear on, left gear first*


- After the game, in preparation for the next game, immidiately go for a little run or ride the bike and eat something nutricious

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[badtakemachine]

Hmm...no reply's....and I wondered why half the posters hear are beer-leaguers .

 

[Ri hards]

Well, on game day:

-Have dinner
-have a nice bowel movement to clear the system

-Get to the rink and re-tape my stick
-Put half gear on and strech
-Do some climbing.

I just started the climbing...I find it get's your whole upperbody working as a pre-ice warm-up.

-Put rest of gear on
-Play game
-go drink until I can't feel things anymore

 

[Mxpunk]

When I was in college, I had a Diet Pepsi and a small bag of Doritos before each game (sort of like Dave Reid). I felt like those gave me a little boost of energy. I also started taking those Hanson's Energy Drinks.

 

[Accord]

-have a nice bowel movement to clear the system

Thanks for sharing that with us.

---------

I don't really have a routine where I eat certain things or anything of that sort.

-Just go about my daily business
-show up to the rink, put my gear on left to right
-Get a hat trick
-take my gear off right to left
-let everything air dry when I get home

do it all over again.

 

[hockeyfan125]

ACDC cd, nuff said....

 

[Slats432]

I don't know about superstition, but I always drive to my home rink the same way.

Always buy a Tim Horton's on the way to the game.(Has to be an early stop so I don't need to take a leak after my equipment is on.).

Always get to the rink at least an hour before game time.

Always take the stall/spot in the corner furthest from the door.

And what is wrong with being a beer leaguer?

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

I am not superstitious in the least bit. Goaltenders are allways said to have crazy gre game routines though....they are the crazy breed of hockey players.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

I'm a goalie... I don't do anything in particular. Hour or so before the game I get really jittery and my stomach ALWAYS gets upset. Once I'm on the ice I'm fine though.

 

[SwisshockeyAcademy]

I play in two different gentlemans leagues and the group of guys i play with like to smoke a joint about a half hour before the game, most of them not really recalling what it is like to play straight. These guys play exceptionally well on weed and i have no idea how. My other team generally drinks hard the night before and each have one pregame beer. We flood after two where the options are a beer, rev or one shot of rum. Post game has all of the above and one bottle of the cheapest wine money can buy which gets passed around until gone. I cannot play on substances of any kind and wonder if there are other guys out there who deal with this or is it just our sleepy little town?

 

[jiggs 10]

I have certain kinds of socks and t-shirts I wear, so I make sure my bag is packed the night before. On game day, I eat pasta (plain) about 3 1/2 hours before I play, if possible. Then get to the rink about 45 minutes before the game to tape my sticks, stretch a little (not too much, or I'll pull a muscle ), and get 2/3's dressed. I chat with the boys a little and at times have had a beer, but usually don't like to drink before I play. Oh, and I try to have a bowel movement 30 minutes before the game. Right before I hit the ice, I eat a Reece's Peanut Butter Cup for the sugar energy ( I hate the Red Bull type drinks!). When the Zamboni starts cleaning the ice, I put on my jersey and helmet and gloves and go wait by the gate. I like to get on the ice the second the Zamboni is done to get in as much skating as possible before the game starts.

That's about it.

 

[Keetz]

The rink I play at is like 25 miles away. In L.A. terms thats at least an hour away. So I stop at starbucks before the drive, after Ive had chicken and pasta an hour earlier. I'm always the first one from my team there and I Always put on my socks,jock, and skates first, then pull everything else on after I've walked around a bit to make sure the skates are not too tight.

I'm like Jiggs. I'm somewhat loosened up, and I'm the first one on after the Zamboni doors are closed. we only get four minuets to warm.

I never drink before the game. there is only one guy on the team who drinks before, and now we make sure he has at least one before the game otherwise he'll suck.

 

[Malefic74]

I find that as I've gotten older I have less superstitions. I stopped smoking before the game because I quit smoking so one down. I also generally go right to left, but I'm not as ridiculous about as I used to be (left laces first etc...), and I generally don't stretch as much at the rink as I used to. I find yoga stretches at home are less rushed and do me more good than hurried stretches in a cramped dressing room.

The only superstition I have kept is my can of Pepsi before the game. Can't remember how it started, but I've been doing it for a long time now.

BTW I'm a goalie and having been to many goalie schools and I concur that some goalies are out on the planet Zoomar as far as their superstitions are concerned. There was one guy who would be noticeably rattled if ANYTHING was different in his routine. I later heard that he lost his spot as his team's starter and got cut because the other two goalies trying out would mess with his routine during the tryout camp. That's the story that prompted me to be a lot less anal about my routine.

 

[The Old Master]

hey im not superstitious, i just feel more at ease in my holey undies! and i alwas get dressed the same way so i don't forget anything. and i always sit next to the door so i can greet the rest of the players as they come in. and i just happen to like pasta. i need to be first on the ice and last one off because i need the ice time. and i always skate all the way around the rink when i first get on to check the ice. so you see some of my buddys may think i'm superstitios but i'm not. oh by the if we lose disreguard the above.

 

[Avery4Byng*]

Well since I am a beer leaguer now my pregamer is usually a couple of beers and a dip of skoal mint.....

But lacrosse I play competitvely still.... My pregame ritual for that is spaghetti and cheese bread 3 hours before the game , then a shower, drive the same route to the rink for home games (bus leaves form our rink for away games). Always listen to my Van Halen greatest hits cd, usually "Right Now" and "Dreams" are the 2 I listen to most. Get to the rink about an hour and 30 mins before gametime, stretch throw in a dip gof or a jog and listen to tunes. visit the can... al;ways 2nd last out of the dressing room, last one into goalie after national anthem. Then post game is grab a bite to eat and a 12 pack and go party.

 

[IkeaMonkey*]

-have a nice bowel movement to clear the system

I concur. As one of my boys said, "If you wanna be a PPG player, you gotta take a PGP(pre-game poo)". Truer words have never been spoken.

 

[It Kills Me]

Bathroom - cause my ass gets really sweaty when i have to go (too much info i know)
Shower - makes me feel clean
A pizza pocket - screws up what i do first but watever
music - on the car ride over, pumps me up.

 

[Avery4Byng*]

I concur. As one of my boys said, "If you wanna be a PPG player, you gotta take a PGP(pre-game poo)". Truer words have never been spoken.

A guy on my lacrosse team last year had a legendary first intermission crap. it was a given at every game. kinda funny.

 

[BuppY]

I start off by going for a jog during game days, and try to eat healthy food as possible try to stay away from coke. 2 hours before the game get my stuff organized and befoe the game listen to music to really get pumped , really don't talk to anyone. Like to concentrate on the game.

 

[bleedgreen]

know its weird and too much data, but i noticed whenever i um...enjoyed the company of my girlfriends (over the years), that i tended to be WAY too relaxed at my game and never really got going. generally, i dont really care that much anymore - so this is not an issue. itry to be as relaxed as possible now . it was something i tried not to mess with when i was younger. the naivety of youth. now i tend to mess with my sticks and get to the rink as close to game time as possible. it drives me nuts to be all dressed up and hanging out forever waiting for the game to start. i still get butterflies before every game (after over 20 years), so i tend to catch up with teamates after the game. or during - not before tho.

4 beer minimum post game....to replace those electrolytes.

 

[bruins4777*]

Crank up the pearl jam and sing along. Depends which one of my songs in my favorite. My favorite pearl jam song fluctuates so whatever i feel like, but "do the evolution" is ALWAYS a must

 

[Habsfan 32]

I get to the rink an hour and a half or so before the game. Place all my stuff then i go in the shower before the game to get all my muscles hot to prevent injury. Then I stretch for 10 minute and then i shoot tennis balls on the wall to focus as if i was stoping the puck. And i get dressed and i'm very specific on whatever shorts i wear to play and when i have my pads on I check my stick and re-tape it if i need to. Then i say a quote that will inspire me to play good and i say it all along the game. And before going on the ice I do my speech to my teamates to inspire them and I finish it off with what Fred Shero told the Flyers ''Win today and we walk together forever''.

 

[#66]

I don't sleep well so I try to take a nap before a game. Thats pretty big for me but other than that I drink alot of coffee and get to the rink early for a long warm up just to get the legs going.

 

[glimradnor]

I start off by going for a jog during game days, and try to eat healthy food as possible try to stay away from coke.

I know what you mean. It is always hard to get off blow.
I realized it wasn't doing my game any good, so I switched to PCP.
All is well now.



I'm just being an arse, pay no attention to me.
Nothing to see here folks, move along...

 

[Toonces]

I show up

With my School team, we get there early, and I sit around and shoot the breeze with everybody until it's time to go. I'm a checker, always have been, but I always talk up the guys, try and inspire them with hard work and intensity on the ice, but I'm always trying to get everybody else loose in the locker room before the game.

I play beer leagues too and my pre-game isn't much different. Try to loosen everybody up, then go play hard.

Hockey is about having fun.