Seven-Zero

What a great weekend!

Friday started with work (boo) but it was an alright day. Friday afternoon I picked up the kids from Grandmas -- That's not really what you want to hear about is it? How about some HOCKEY?

Okay!!

Friday I went to work at 3am (yeah, I know that sounds early, but hey, only 6 more weeks!!) to find my new JERSEYS!!! With my name on them!! I was so excited! One red, one white. I put one on to wear around for the day. I couldn't help myself. Silly, I know, but that's what all the jocks did in high school on a game day so I figured I could too. :) I actually ended up putting on a different Banshee shirt I had. Still, its game day, gotta support the team, right?

Our first game was at 7:30 Friday night.  Several of us were there around 7:00 to get ready. Let me tell you, the energy level in the locker room was HIGH. Several gals were saying how they had been stressed all day. I wasn't stressed so much as high-strung, excited. So excited!! Especially since I had a JERSEY! With my name on it!! We talked, changed, laughed and did some jello-shots! Gotta love my team!! Our coach came in and made position assignments; for the first game I was playing wing.

We had 12 gals on our team (which is a lot) so we had three wing-pairs and two defense pairs plus one set of centers. Lets see, to explain what that means - We play with 5 on the ice, two wing, two defense and a center. Every couple minutes we switch out. Usually there are two sets of each, wings, defense and centers, but for the tournament, due to the number of players we had three wing sets so we sat out an extra shift. Not a big deal, but it can make for a long wait. But it was so much fun! AND -- AND?? -- AND!!! I made a goal. Re-read that, wait, I will just re-type it - I. MADE. A. GOAL!!!!Seriously, no one was more surprised than I was that the puck went into the net! It never should have, but did and I will take the stat!

During the second period, I came flying down the ice, I really don't remember how I ended up with the puck but that's not the part that matters, and all of a sudden I was within shooting range, and the ice was wide open. I'm pretty sure I heard someone yell "take a shot" or "shoot it" or maybe I just thought "what the hell" it doesn't really matter, I just did it - because you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, right? The damn puck hit the pipes and then it bounced in. I could not believe it. I'm pretty sure the goalie was shocked too. But it was a goal and it was scored, unassisted, by me. Little ol' me. I'm still in a bit of shock. My coach (the one who has pestered me to play for so many years) was sooooo excited! That made it fun too.  We ended up losing the game, but, as it turns out, I scored half of our points for the whole tournament.

Saturday morning's game was at 9:15, I played defense which was new and weird and we tied 0-0. Our last game was at 4:30 and we lost that one too. It was a hard fought game though, I feel like we really rose to the level of the opposing team. I did attempt a couple shots, and got in the way of a couple and totally missed a wide open opportunity to dump one in. That will stay with me for a long time. The puck was "in the crease" (the blue half-circle right in front of the net) I was right there, RIGHT. FRICKING. THERE. and failed getting it in the net. Oh the pain. And another time I was in the wrong place, the puck hit my feet and failed to get in the net. Oh the misery. I really felt bad about that one, I saw it coming and didn't even think to jump. Man, oh, man.

My Honey was at all three games so he was good to talk to after and re-hash the good and the bad. I need to work on being less afraid. Apparently I have speed. I can go fast, but I get afraid and slow down way too soon. Me, speed? Fast? Huh. The kids and some work friends were there for my goal-game. Some other friends were there for the last game. Good times.

And weaved throughout the whole thing was my birthday. It was on Saturday so it was a fun day. It started with breakfast in bed, then the game, then out to lunch, a little nap, another game and then we dropped the kids off at the grandparents and had ourselves a little date night. We went to the arena and watched the really good teams play. That was fun, I have so far to go!

I'm sure I will think of a ton more stuff, but that's all I have for now. Super great weekend! Super. Great.