Hockey - League Week #3

Well, I am going to keep this as short as possible because I want to put out a message about this week's game, I don't want to wait any longer to get something out, and I'm tired.

Week #3, game #4, we lost. As a team we didn't show up to play at our full potential. However, I'm not certain that was our fault completely. This team did not play in a traditional team structure. They are a bunch of cherry pickers. Even at the red line, I was still too far in the zone to adequately play defense. I can't tell you how many times that I got beat because I forgot about the guy that was behind me in our zone. I guess that is as much my fault that I got beat, but that isn't the point. Cherry picking is the reason the 2 line pass rule was created in the first place. They didn't do it often, but it seemed that each time they did they scored.

Anyway, from my last post, this was the team that the chick player I talked with during the stick time nights regarding my viability in the league. I am not going to say I'm better than her because I didn't get an opportunity to play head to head with her. However, what I do recall seeing of her specifically was not impressive. Granted, not everything I do is impressive either. Therefore, the information that follows cannot be deemed 100% fact. Her court awareness is present. She knows the game and knows where to be. However, there are some aspects which were less impressive. Her shooting ability seems to be a bit weak and her skating ability isn't what I thought it was. Angel had told me about this habit that she has, but I took it as the situation at hand, of which I did not see, had warranted the action. However, now that I've seen it, I find it to be a deficiency in her abilities. Her acceleration pumping is unorthodox and in my opinion inefficient. She has this tendency to run on her skates. I can't understand how or why it works. Anyway, to each their own.

As for the rest of the team and game, they are skilled players. I have to say that I think this is one of the established teams in the league. These kids (yes, it is a primarily young team) can play, but they play together too well to indicate that they are a set of players thrown together for the first time. They are good. They seem to be everywhere all at once. Our shot count (though unknown) seemed to be extraordinarily low. The shooting lane was often blocked and frequently when shots were taken, they were off the mark. Of the shots that did land on the mark, only one found the back of the net. The goalie was strong and (based on the remarks of my team) having a good night.

Well, outside of my opinion of how we played and the players of the other team, there is also one more topic I have to cover. Injuries. Game #3, Injury #3 to report. This week's injury has got to be the most obvious one to date. I took a puck to the face. I think I may have broken my nose again. The play was on the boards and I was rolling in as support. Well, during the fight for the puck, it popped out in my direction. It seemed to fly at me in slow motion, but yet I couldn't get my faculties together to react and block the puck from my face. The pain was seriously intense. However, after hitting me in the face, the puck did drop so I could clear it out of our zone. Amazingly, the puck didn't break skin; it didn't cause bleeding; externally I was fine (for the time). I was able to play out the rest of the game. It was sore and it gave me something to complain about, but all was well.

Anyway, when I woke this morning, I discovered that I have a black eye and one side of my nose is swollen. The pain is subtle but in attempt to identify what the damage is and where. Well, I have identified that the tip of my nose is fine. I can push it down to my lip and no pain is presented. However, to move it to the right (when pushing closer to the bridge) produces an intense pain. Although, moving it left does not produce the same result (accept when I poke a the swelled area).

It wasn't until today that I discovered that I had made another mistake. I had made the most unusual mistake. I forgot to put on my cup. There were several times that I slid down to sacrifice my body to block a shot (thankfully they missed or passed around me) that would have exposed myself to some serious pain had a shot connected. I doubt that will be another mistake that I make again any time again. I blame my long day for the problem. By the time that I reached the arena, I was already beat. A long day in the sun, doing the bidding of the army followed by a 2.5 hour drive home. I would have liked to head home & to bed, but I wanted to play. Well, I got to the arena about an hour early and still managed to not be adequately prepared for the game at start time. I guess that goes to show you where my head wasn't.

Well, more hockey details to follow next week.