It's a Hockey Night in Snellville

Well, I've been slacking once again. I haven't provided my obligatory update on the hockey season in a few weeks. I have got some details that I just need to get to you. Since my last post, week 3 of stick time was played, I selected the competitive "AA" league to play in, and games 1-3 are in the books and we are at a 1-2 record.

So, for week 3 of stick time, I played on the AA side of the house for the entire time. I really enjoyed the tempo of the game. The game play was so much more fluid and contained more of a team atmosphere than the other league. Once the 2 hour session was over, I asked one of the players their opinion. She was brutally honest with a "...you don't belong in this league" response. I also talked to the A league coordinator and his opinion was that I would not be completely out of place playing in AA. He indicated that my skill level would put me at the bottom 10% in skill for the league, but I appeared to possess enough skill to make a reasonable go in that league.

The player that I had asked for their opinion has some interesting background. First, she is one of very few girls playing in either league. Secondly, she has a posture that shows that she has spent some considerable time playing the sport. However, Angel has been watching her play during the stick time sessions and also in the other games that have been in progress during my games. She has a distinct opinion that she has no room to talk regarding my skill level. Yes, she can skate, however, in comparison to the guys, she doesn't have nearly the same speed. She can stop, she can cut, and move very well on her skates. However, her game play does not commiserate with her skate skill. Angel says that she is not very aggressive and is seeming to be outclassed in the A league. I can't wait to have a game against her to see how she stacks up against me on the court.

Anyway, since I made the decision to play in the AA league, things have been interesting. Apparently this "draft" league wasn't much of a draft. The teams that have been playing together for the last few years and in other leagues stayed together. The remaining players were divvied up for the other teams. However, it seems that I have lucked out to have quite the well skilled team. We've been generally playing well together.

During the preparation for the first game, it was interesting trying to figure out who all was going to be on our team. The team shirts were not ready yet and therefore, our only requirement was to have a white shirt. However, in the locker room, that still wasn't enough as many people come in dressed in one fashion and dress for the court in something totally different. It appears that our team was thrown together with all of the previously undeclared players as everyone was a stranger to the next person.

So, the season started out with a bang. Our goaltender was MIA. To fill in, we were provided a goalie from the A league. I am not about to complain about him. He wasn't signed up for this league and was doing us a favor. Unfortunately, he plays in the A league for a reason. Anyway, for being the first game for us all together, the first game went very well. According to my teammates, the team we played for game one was the best team in the league. Well, we gave them quite a run. The game ended with us only loosing by a point. I can't recall the exact score, but I believe it to be either 7-6 or 8-7. Either way, it showed me that we have pulled ourselves quite a team to potentially be reckoned with. We had lead majority of the game. It wasn't until the 3rd period that they finally took the lead and was able to hold it. To top of the interesting first game of the season, I managed to be a contributor to the team in a very real way. I was fortunate enough to score the first goal of the season for my team. It was certainly a case of being in the right place at the right time and managing to get the puck past the goaltender.

I found that scoring the team's first goal to be quite ironic. The last (and only other time) that I played in a league, the same situation occurred. However, that goal was earned all on my own effort. I had obtained the puck in our blue area and I ran the puck up the boards, behind the net, and scored a wrap around goal. This season's goal was a cross crease one timer that found the back of the net on a 2-1 run. I think it was a good way of showing my team that I may be the eldest, I may be the most rusty, but I'm here to play and I do have some skill to speak of.

The second game wasn't nearly as good as the first game. We were at a distinct disadvantage by playing the double header of the night. The league consists of 5 teams and to ensure that each team plays a game every Sunday night, one of the teams will be tasked with a double header. We drew the short straw and had to play our doubleheader on the first weekend. Anyway, we lost some players that decided not to hang around for the second game and we were provided another goalie. This temporary goalie was the same goalie we played against in the first game. We knew he was certainly a better tender. Anyway, it wasn't enough. This game's opponent was much more physical and certainly more fresh. We gave the game a good go, but minus players and being considerably more spent, it wasn't enough. This team was so physical at times that they were drawing a significant number of penalties. One such penalty was near center court at the opponent's blue line. One of the guys just put on a serious (intentional) check on me. I wouldn't have thought so much about this except that I wasn't involved in the play at that time. The puck was on the boards. Well, as soon as I was on my ass, the penalty indicators were up. I don't recall the final score of the second game, but it wasn't nearly as close on the scoreboard and we trailed the entire game.

I guess I'm too hard on myself. I am not shy of letting the guys know of what I think about my skills. Well, after the first two games, I think I had demonstrated that I don't have much of an offensive mindset. I was caught out of position several times and felt that I was out there flailing. However, the other guys on the team are very supportive and said that I was doing acceptably. Not ideally, I still have much to learn about coordinated team play, but according to them, I wasn't doing nearly as bad as I had thought.

Anyway, during one of the many times that I found myself off of my skates and on my ass on the court, I managed to hurt myself. I tweaked my wrist somehow. I don't recall it occurring, but I have been dealing with it for the full extent of the past week. The pain isn't extreme. It is more like a distinct reminder that I did something to aggravate my wrist. I can't describe the pain, but it isn't unbearable. Using the old style/manual hedge trimmers, each cut reminding me of the discomfort, but the pain wasn't so extreme that I couldn't finish the task.

Well, that brings us to this week. Game 3. Well, of our 10 man roster, we had 8 show up and our goalie was MIA again. Our substitute goalie was phenomenal! As I later learned, he was a collegiate level player. And let me tell you, it certainly showed. He didn't permit a single goal. Unfortunately, due to a poor decision by the goalie, the other team was awarded a goal. He had come out of the crease to play a cleared puck and fanned on the pass. The puck managed to make it directly to a member of the opposite team. The guy shot and rung the post and the rebound found its way into the crease. One of our defensemen were there to try to play the puck away. In the goalie's attempt to return to the net, he tried too hard to get there fast and found himself on the court, face down. Since he was still out of position and our defenseman lost the puck to the opposition again, the goalie decided that he would throw his stick in a last ditch defensive move. Well, his stick throwing was deemed to be reason to award the other team a goal. Therefore, they never did beat him all night, but put up a number on the board.

Tonight's game was quite similar to that of the second game last week in that the opposition was quite physical. There was one guy that I managed to get tied up with on a few occasions that managed to put his elbow into my kidney. Let me tell you, it doesn't feel much better now than when it occurred. Since I am that guy, it wasn't enough to stop me from staying in the game, but it certainly uncomfortable. I expect this inconvenience to be around for a minimum of the next three days.

Tonight's game was much different for me. I think I found my rhythm tonight. I don't know if it was because we were winning and made the game play much less goal focused or if the opposition played the game more like I was used to, but I found myself playing defense more this week than in the last few weeks. My defensive awareness seemed to find its way back. My team noticed. I didn't play a flawless game, but my teammates were certainly commenting on a few plays thru the game.

There was one play that started with me snagging the puck in our blue end and I ran it up the boards to the net. In route to the net, I managed to keep possession of the puck thru two defensemen that were playing their physical style. They were pretty impressed that I managed to maintain control of the puck in the traffic. I guess it looked pretty good. I was just in desperation mode and didn't want to relinquish possession of the puck to the other team. Unfortunately, that run didn't end up in a goal, but I guess it got the guy's attention.

After the game ended, us winning 6-1, we were in the locker room chatting. I mentioned about a few of the errors that I had made during the game and was reassured that my game play tonight was quite adequate. My defensive stand must have gotten their attention. The only problem was when I had to handle the puck. There were several instances where I mishandled the puck, however, they were either being nice or they were not memorable.

I think I certainly made the correct decision to play in the AA league. I am having a blast. I knew I missed the sport, but now that I'm back into it, I can't believe that I let as many years pass by as I had. I hope to not let it happen again. Well, I think that is more than enough for now. I hope to provide the hockey updates in a more timely fashion so I don't have to compose a book to catch up.