Holy puck

Wow! We played hard. The tournament is over and it was good and we made it into our division playoffs where we were creamed by a not-so-novice team. Not only that, they were pushy. Pushy as in very physical. I'm not sure what I would have done if I hadn't known to expect that.

Backing up; our first game on Saturday was a loss. I'm having trouble remembering how I played, probably just okay. I do remember coming into the bench off my first two shifts feeling really shaky, telling myself to calm down and take some breaths. We lost 0-1, I think. It might have been 0-2.

The second game Saturday was okay. I didn't get that shaky feeling but I was tired and feeling some muscles in some parts that I haven't felt for awhile.

Part way through the second period one of our players went out with a injury (but not before she scored a goal) so we had to dump one of our defensive players to offense. It changed it up quite a bit not to play with the same person at every switch.

Our sub offense ended up scoring a goal, her first ever! Those are fun.

Most of our players from both teams got together for dinner after our second game. Can you imagine 30 people coming in together wanting to sit near each other, separate checks, someone bought a round of shots. We were pretty noisy, but I gotta say, we are a polite, patient, not too fussy group! I was also impressed with the customer service EVERYWHERE in Spokane! Everyone was awesome!

Anyway, it was late when we finished dinner, so back to the hotel and then off to the rink first thing in the morning to cheer on the intermediate group. They won all their games including their championship game.

Our third game was pretty good. And it was only a few hours ago, but I am so tired I can't remember much. Unfortunately the same gal that got hurt in the second game got REALLY hurt in the third game. She had to leave the ice and she never came back. It sucked to see one of us go out like that. She wanted so bad to get back out there too. I have more to say about that, something about dedication and devotion but my thoughts aren't totally processed yet.

We won game 3 and we were in the championship game. Several people warned us about our opponent that they were more physical, in your space players, that they had quite a few intermediate players. Yeah. They slaughtered us. Fed us to the cows. Creamed us 10-1. And they gave us the one. bitches.

I'm not as wound up about their players as everyone else, I just played my best game possible. The coach told me he wanted me "be aggressive" and I think I did. Someone else said to play so we had no regrets tomorrow morning. I KNOW I did that.

So the thing is, the other team scored 10 on us. On me. On our defense. We didn't, well I didn't have it together. I'm feeling pretty shitty about how many goals got by. I know it's not all on me, but it sucked to skate off when they had scored. Sucked. But that's good, right? Make me more aware for next time, gives me something to work on for the next time.

Next time, that's only two weeks away. Canada, here we come!

I did it

Got up early and went to practice. It's a good plan. I'll sleep better tonite because of it.

We did a couple great drills. We started with the nets set up at center ice, skated up the boards with a puck, hit it around a bucket (opponent) and then into the net. Coach started us out on our back hand so webwere very unsuccessful at making goals. Well, I'll be honest, I probably only made two goals anyway. On my forehand or backhand. But it was a good drill. Worked our speed, thinking, shots and playing it off the boards.

Good stuff. Then we did some penalty practice drills. We played as though we had a gal in the penalty box. It could happen! So it is good to practice. Very. I played a lot of defense so I would have that in my memory for this weekend. HA! I leave in a few hours!

Priorities

Well, mine anyway. Take a walk. Do laundry (that's the clean stuff by the way) and get my gear ready. Leaving for Spokane tomorrow. I might have fit some grocery shopping, a stop at the coffee shop and a massage in there too.

I know, I am amazing!! :)

Heading out

I was sitting here, killing some time reading blogs and realized that I will have a TON of time in Spokane on Friday and Saturday!! Our tournament is only a few days away.d I am totally looking forward to the road trip, just need some music suggestions ... anyone? And I am looking forward to getting to know some of the gals on my team. Yes, by the way I have learned several names (it helps that there are two Michelle's and Julie's!!) But I can tell them apart and I even know a little bit about each of them. Yay me :)  I am looking forward to getting away, although it comes with some inner conflict - more on that latter. And, of course I am looking forward to playing!!!

Time for a walk today

I had to take some time off for a doctors appointment today. I tried, really, to get an appointment on a day off but it didn't work out. Anyway, I ended up with time for a walk.

Scrim-scrim-scree*

I don't have much time, I should really be in bed, but I am wound! up! from practice tonite. We scrimmaged with our team for the tournament this weekend - THIS. WEEKNED. as in Saturday. I'm going to be playing -- are you ready for this? Defense. I'm very excited, but a little nervous.  My partner is rad, we've been playing together and getting to know each other all season so we're going to do fine.

So our job(s) depending where our team is, are as follows:

• If we are in the offensive zone (the other team is trying to score) we hang back, one of us near a corner and the other near the goal. Stay outside the blue, diagonal of the pipes. Stay in a corner (of the oval rink, ha ha) and guard your gal. Make sure that no one near the goal or the corner gets the puck. That's our only job - oh, and make sure to either run it up the ice or hit it to one of our teammates.
• If we are in the defensive zone (we are scoring) we hang back at the blue line, make sure the puck stays in the zone and is playable - make sure our team gets the puck and makes a goal. Or make a goal. It's not completely out of the question that one of us could score a goal, but it's not our main job.

And that's it. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. We did alright during the scrimmage. My d-gal and I both had a huge learning curve since we hadn't played D, but coach Cal was really encouraging, answered our questions, and told us what we could do better next time without making us me feel like I had totally buggered it up. I really, really appreciate that. I also really need to hear it right away, before I forget what I've done. Tell me at the end of the period or the end of the game and I'm just gonna say "Uh, okay" because I won't remember it. My brain doesn't work that way.

One thing I noticed, when I am pressured by the other team I tend to throw the puck away without looking. Bad idea! Stop, take my time, look. I am going to be SO much more successful if I just look up and wait half a second. Also, my d-gal has quick reflexes and she's paying a lot more attention to more things than I am. I need to listen to her. And I need to talk to her, tell her what I'm doing too. In fact, I need to talk to them all, yell their names, keep them in the loop. Listen to them, they're trying to keep me in the loop.

I'm still feeling a little antsy about the whole thing, but it will be fine. I've had a few folks offer to let me ride over with them (which is cool) and it looks like I will be going on Friday (YAY) and our last game, if we make a championship game is on Sunday at 1215 so we should be home for dinner (double YAY)! However, we finally got winter, several inches of new snow, hopefully this storm just blows through and everything will clear up by the weekend.



*John Decker

Today

Still cold. Not quite as windy and it started to snow again. If I had the weekend off I might be happier.

Yesterday

Freaking freezing, that's what it was!

A new thing

I started a post earlier today, but it seems to have disappeared into my iPhone and now its lost. Oh well, I know what I want to say ....

I got invited to a Canadian hockey tournament!

Yeah, me. One of the gals on my team - well the intermediate team - also coordinates travelers to other tournaments around the area. She sent me an email a few days ago asking if I would like to go to a tournament in Canada in February. EEK!! Me? Granted, they are trying to fill slots on a recreational team which means (to me anyway) that they are looking for good, better and best players, but she considers me a good-enough good player to go! Yay! I'm kind of excited. I thought I would only get to one out of town tournament, but now I get one out of towner AND an international tourney too (hahaha)!

I skated women's league last night. Good times. It's taking me less time to get into the game, to realize what I am forgetting or what I need to work on. Unfortunately my brain has trouble deciding which direction we are shooting and I choked when I got the puck after the drop. "Oh shit, which way?" Ummmm, how about the direction you are facing, dumb ass? Oh yeah ....

About the second period I remembered I need to slow down and take my time receiving and passing the puck. Talk about a difference! After a few falls (most of which were caused by me being a DORK), a few crashes into the novice men (why don't they move??!!) and an awesome pass received right behind my shin guards on my calf (yeah baby, war-wounds). The third period came together pretty good. I remembered to move in toward the goal, I remembered to take my time with the puck, I remembered to keep my head up and I was remembering to MOVE TOWARD THE PUCK. Oh that's a big one. You mean it's not gonna come to me, I have to move toward it? Duh. Sometimes I pull out the blond in a big way!

It is good stuff though. I'm sure sorry I missed a few weeks of it.The game playing is exactly what I need. I will admit I got a little intimidated when the co-ed players were coming in for their ice time and stopped to watch.

So, Spokane here I come in January. BC we'll meet in February!

Hockey Sunday

We had a noon practice today followed by a scrimmage. The practice was great, a LOT of puck-handling, tight turns, control drills. Control. Yeah, I am lacking in the control area. We did a really good drill where we skated up the ice, between a couple cones then zig-zagged through 5 more cones at center ice, rounding the last one, skating to the goal and taking a shot. Great drill!!! No control ... I finally gave it up and yelled at the coach "SHIT! WHAT AM I DOING WRONG???!" So he called a halt to our drill and told us - well, me. I'm not turning my wrist, not protecting the puck. Oooooh. That. I suppose a few hours of practice would help that. Maybe I will try to check out stick & puck on Thursday.

My sister and nephew have been here since Saturday. What fun! We were able to spend some quality time outside yesterday (sledding in the sand) and today on a walk with the dog. It is always nice to have her around, she inspires me to cook (although the broccoli still needs to be made into soup) and its always a treat to have another kid around.And its always extra special when the extra kid is a cousin.  The kids have played pretty well, the most annoying thing they did was play Rock Hero on Wii. The tapping sounds of the guitar and drums were about all we could take!

Back to work tomorrow. Women's league tomorrow night, kids activities on Tuesday and Wednesday, our cooking -- actually nutrition -- class on Wednesday night, and a busy week of school work. Whew!

BUT! Only ten days until our tournament in Spokane. I'm getting pretty excited.

Saturday walk

Took a walk today. It had snowed but not enough so we sledded in the sand!! Talk about making do!! We did end up with a little sand in our shoes tho!

I did it

The dog and I braved the freezing temperatures. It was worth it.

A little practice, a little school

Great practice this morning. Lots of stick-handling. Tight turns, passing and example-setting.

Example-setting? Yeah. Apparently I have a lot of bad habits. It's not a bad thing, that means I have lots to work on, but I found myself being the last one to go before the coach would stop and say "don't do it like that" only not really, she wasn't that mean!! It doesn't bother me either, I can correct myself much better if I get the information right after I screw up, or AS I am screwing up!!!

Our drills focused on passing and receiving the puck on the go. Good stuff for the upcoming tournament. In two weeks. !!! I am really excited and maybe a little nervous, but really looking forward to getting out of town for a few days and getting to know some great women.

For the first time in a couple years I went to the school and volunteered. I have missed being in the classroom, but really didn't feel a connection with the teacher last year so it made it hard to want to go in. This year I decided it didn't matter if I felt a connection or not, I needed to be there. It took awhile, I have missed part of the school year, but I am there now. Luckily, Hannah's teacher and I get along great so helping in her class is going to be a real easy deal. It's going to be a couple more weeks before I get to help in Bubba's class, but that's okay.

It's in my plan to get a walk in today, (after the last couple loads of laundry, lunch, getting the car from the repair place, sweeping, moping, vacuuming ...) if so, I will post some pictures. Its a might-bit cold out, but I sure feel better when I get out!

This ....

I've decided to try and teach myself to knit.  I started around the first of December hoping to make at least one hat for Christmas. Six weeks or so later I'm still working on that hat. The other day I checked out a few books on knitting at the library and I found one called Yarn Bombing. I'm kind of itching to try it out. It reminded me of a trip to the Seattle area I took last year during an art festival. They had knitted stuff around trees in the park. It made me giggle and laugh out loud and feel happy all at once. Now I'm thinking maybe my little town needs a pick-me up ...?

I think it was all the bright colors that made me so happy and smiley. I wish I had taken a picture of the trees ... Thankfully, someone else did.

A little walkie-walk

I walked from the car repair place to downtown this morning. Here's a bit of what I saw. On to laundry and cleaning up. I have company coming, ya know?!

SMACK

A bird flew into the window at work the other day. I missed it, but apparently it made quite the smacking sound! One person screamed and several others may have peed a little but they're not saying. Here's the photo I took edited several different ways. Kind if eerie isn't it?

Shoot, shoot, shoot

Finally a night on the ice! I've missed it since December!! I glided onto the ice and giggled a little, took a deep breath, and wishes out loud that I knew some fancy move to show the ice how much I missed it. Alas, I only know hockey moves so I got busy warming up with a few laps, some stretching and them I found a puck and worked it around the rink until our start-whistle blew.

We worked on our shots last night, and I'm not talking about jello-shots either. We found a place along the boards and worked them. Forehand and backhand. Find a spot on the board, look there and most importantly, point your stick there at the end of your shot. Kind of like keeping your eye on the ball when your batting, I guess, only you keep your eye on the stick. So much to remember.

Anyway we worked on this for a good long while and Coach Cal observed me for awhile-which makes me nervous- but he said he likes my technique, just work on this one detail. YAY!! I was doing something right(ish). Or maybe he's figured out that I can only focus in one thing at a time? Either way I felt good about my shooting.

Fun weekend coming up, my sister will be here, a little scrimmage, a family dinner and our final Christmas.

Saturday walk

My Honey and I got to take a walk today. After a completely lazy morning it was great to get out. As you can see we took the dog and headed to the river. It was a real nice quiet escape.

Some days

I always expect to see names of people II know come through my computer at work. Always. What I don't expect is how I will feel.

Today was a super-feeler day. A call I just can't shake. A senseless suicide. They all are, aren't they? Permanent solution to a temporary problem. That's always been my take.

Last two days

It's probably the last two days I will get the chance for a walk do I'm taking them, this cold be damned!!

Oh yeah, I've been sick. I didn't realize just how sick until I had a couple days off to recover and then ended up taking an extra sick day because I wasn't quite well. Egads! At least I'm over it now.

As you can see, I took the dog on my walk. No worries, no chickens (or roosters) or dogs were harmed in the capturing of that photo!!

Generational

The holidays left me thinking about quite a few things; old and new generations, disappointment and something I haven't quite named yet. -- I just figured it out, Facebook.

Maybe I have mentioned this exceptional family we have had the privilege of knowing for 20 years, maybe not, I'm not gonna search it, but I am going to tell you about them now. The C's have been a HUGE part of our lives, from encouraging My Honey and I to date, to inviting us to family gatherings, from card playing nights and holiday weekends in Chelan to allowing us to love their kids and loving ours in return, I adore these guys. I just forget how much because we don't do nearly enough with them these days.

Enter Facebook. Through FB I have been on the sidelines of their lives (and many others) for the past year or so. I'm not much of a commenter, maybe once a week on average, and nothing too personal or wishy-washy or radical, just dumb stuff like "I didn't think I could do it after 3-12 hour shifts and fighting this cold, but I got Christmas put away after work. Many thanks to my Sissy Lala (Hannah) for all the help a 6 year old can contribute!" Yeah, I know. Lame. But, but! It's provided this odd connection to all these people, mostly family-types, that made the holidays less awkward. I don't know how to explain it (and I've been trying for three days), but it did.

When we got to the C's NYE party I had an immediate connection with You (you know who you are) and I don't think we would have shared that without FB. When I went to my Dad's-family Christmas party I had connections with  my younger cousins because I knew what they had been up to and I could ask them about stuff they were interested in, where for the past 20 years its always been a struggle to find something to talk about. It was great! I really enjoyed the connection part of the holidays this year. Turns out, I really like my cousins too.


About generations. In most cases, we had three generations present for holiday events. It was interesting to note this year that the Grandparents were, in large part, sitting back watching the fruits of their labor. It could be because they don't hear that well anymore, it could be because it's just their turn to enjoy. Either way at the C's event and at my in-laws events, that's what the Grandparents were doing. I loved it. I felt privileged to notice. To just watch them enjoy for a few minutes. It makes me smile. It makes them proud. I wonder if they were thinking? "Look what we did?"

The parent generation was, in large part, taking on the responsibilities for the cooking and cleaning. The kid generation was just being kids. Its interesting to think in twenty years that one of my kids could possibly make the same observation of me. Circle of life, right?
Another interesting and scary note: My Honey and I are about the same ages his parents were when we started dating. Think about that for a minute .... When. We. Started. Dating.

Happy New Year

My intentions for 2012: Compassion and Perspective
I'm thinking I've already started, and just as I assumed, the compassion part is hard on my heart.