Last night the Mavericks defeated the Snipers in the late inline hockey game at Gawler. Both teams had four skaters. We play three on three hockey (due the rink size) so each team had only one interchange available. Josh was between our pipes, Jess was behind theirs. We were playing to keep top spot on the ladder, they were trying to climb off the bottom.
We knew this was going to be a very tough, and potentially rough, game - despite the scoreline of our previous meeting this season. It turned out to be exactly those things, and more! The score was tied with only only one and a half minutes on the clock, it could have gone either way. It was a great game to be a part of and probably wasn't bad to watch. This is why we play hockey!
The Game
I don't remember much about our first goal except that it was a pass from Brenton to me for a shot. Nor do I recall much about their reply a minute later, mainly that the puck just dribbled across the line.
It soon became evident that the Snipers were playing quite roughly, resulting in our players being knocked over on several occasions. I expect the rough play was more 'reckless' than 'intentional', they played a body on body game but without taking responsibility for the consequences. Several times I saw our players look to the ref for a call with none forthcoming. I couldn't make out the detail on most of the plays, but on those I did the non-call seemed fair enough.
This continued until Natasha had to come off favouring her shoulder after being caught beneath two snipers against the boards. I don't think that the play was deliberate even if it should have been avoided, as Tash was adamant it could have been, and again no penalty was called. She came straight to the bench and wasn't able to go out again for the next ten minutes. This was all pretty concerning, both the injury itself and the fact that we now had perhaps a whole game to skate out between the three of us who remained.
To our credit we steeled our resolve and hung in there, blocking and interdicting and clearing and occasionally even going on the rush. In between each play and the next whistle we bent over, sucking in as much oxygen as we could before it all kicked off again. I really don't remember much about it all except taking opportunity to get air at every opportunity, hitting the right post off a rushing snapshot, and trying to walk around the goalie knowing there were less a handful of seconds to go before half time, eventually opening a gap and snapping the puck through it only to hear the siren start just before the puck crossed the line. No goal, 1-2 at half time.
Three good things happened at half time. Firstly, we got a two minute period of rest. Secondly, Natasha declared that although she was sore she was able to play again. Thirdly, Brenton reminded us that we tend to do better in the second half than in the first, that we needed to play more our game than theirs and not cough up possession as easily as we had been. Basically, communicate, pass, shots on net. We could do it. He must have worn himself out while giving his little speech because he stayed on the bench for the start of the next period!
Five minutes after the break I was on the long end of a tape to tape pass from Merrilyn and was able to put the puck into the goal from my spot near the side of the net. The pass was beautiful and she held it held it held it until the passing lane opened up between their clustered skaters. Lovely. They, unfortunately, reasserted their lead a couple minutes later. We then put ourselves one goal up for the first time since the opening goal with an unassisted goal by myself (Natasha deserved the assist, having passed it to me around the centre line before I romped in past their last defender and put it in the side of the net) and one from Brenton. Less than ten minutes to go, we were up 4-3.
To give the Snipers credit at this point, they stepped it up. There were some tough battles going on in the middle of the rink. I got in a tangle near the boards, picked up a high stick in my face cage that went uncalled. Dodging the force of the blow meant I gave up space, my opponent had the puck. I waited a second for a whistle, none forthcoming. So I gave my opponent a massive two handed shove with my stick across his chest and he got floored. As I turned to retreive the puck I heard the whistle. I didn't even look, just skated for the penalty box. Interference. Half a minute later they scored on the power play. I didn't feel bad as I skated out of the box, just resolved that after this incident I couldn't let them win.
The game see-sawed for the next four minutes, both teams putting on shots but none going in until I connected with a full flight full powered backhand pass from the right boards to Brenton steaming down the middle. He saw it coming and, with his blade on the floor, was able to time his one timer with enough force to drive it into the back of the net. I could have hugged him at that moment! We were up a goal with a minute to go!
Their goalie called a time out immediately. Smart play on her part, time to get a bit of sense into her team with one and a half minutes left on the clock. As I squared up for the faceoff I sensed that the Snipers were pulling themselves together for a final push. 'There's only one way to put an end to this,' I thought. I won the faceoff by tipping the puck forward and then skating around their centre to take possession and go for a run. I dodged and deked all of their skaters, skating at the edge of my ability and having to recovering the puck several times on the fly as I did so, drove hard around to my backhand side, took a still moment as I approached the board and flicked the puck with intent towards the net. It flew true and straight and found the gap between shoulder and post to put us two goals up just as the siren went.
What a wild game!
Thoughts
The game very much featured the physical elements of the sport, whether by this we mean understrength teams having to skate beyond their comfort zone, a high level of physical contact resulting in pain and injury, basic fitness and conditioning being challenged by the intensity as both teams dug deep in the final minutes, the effects of exhaustion or high levels of aggression. I feel both teams played well on all these indices, with the Mavericks probably displaying superiority in managing half a period with only three players and still not allowing a score, and in the final minutes when we were able to stay focused on the details while their decision making slowed down.
Not that I was immune to the effects of exhaustion, making a perfect tape to tape pass to an opponent late in the second and only realising what I'd done a moment later (at least I had the energy to haul ass and backcheck him effectively, could have been bad). This contrasted with my more general experience of, for the first time ever, 'seeing' passing lanes opening up (and closing) before my eyes in real time when I had the puck. Partly a result of keeping my head up more, but I think I might be reaching a new level of perception within the game. This is good as it allows for offensive 'reads' to complement my generally competent defensive understanding.
I found myself being pretty consistently poke checked deep in their zone. I will have to stop treating other players like pylons all because their feet aren't moving! Also, perhaps using some stickwork to avoid their having an easy play - I tend to carry the puck on the end of my stick by cupping rather than by moving it around which makes me fairly easy to line up. I will have to become a bit more versatile in this respect.
Speaking of sticks, I did remember to try using a more active stick myself, using both hands and rapid movement to dissuade an opponent from whatever they might have been thinking of doing (passing 'through' me, skating past me, etc). I could sense the confusion this technique brought on at least one occasion, will have to add this as a regular part of the defensive repertoire!
I had the unusual experience for me of an opponent who could outsprint me in the short moves that feature in hockey. I had to rely on positioning (cutting his options) and reading the play (getting the first step to counter his overall quickness), closing his options if not shutting him down. Good experience. Perhaps the fact that I have to regularly deal with fast and agile forwards on the ice helped here.
Finally, a few words about deliberate aggression. It is definitely a part of the game, not to be shyed away from out of a misplaced sense of chivalry or 'fair play'. In the competitive arena of the hockey rink, to display such civilised notions too much will only result in lost games and the other teams taking liberties. The end result of that could be seen in this game, upset and injured players. And that can lead to grudges if the sore is not lanced.
An example of what I mean was how our team was beginning to lose focus at certain moments, concentrating more on their reckless play and the refereeing than on our own game. This is the sort of stuff that can lose you games! I think that we had gotten over the worst of it, had settled down to play our own game and grumble about our 'victimisation' later, and was reasonably happy with that when (as described above) one of their main culprits sticked me in the cage. My retailiation was deliberate, proportionate, satisfying and effective. They backed away from such careless play as had led to my actions, I felt good (despite the subsequent power play goal) and it settled our team down.
GP 3 G 9 A 6 Pts 15 +11 PIMS 4 3/0/0
Inline 59
Fridge
Friday 13 November 2015
Saturday 7 November 2015
Game Day - Mavericks (8) d Bumpers (6)
We played an excellent game of inline hockey against the Bumpers in Gawler on Saturday night. We had five skaters, they had four. They had Matt the Goalie, we had Josh in his first ever time in goalie gear. Considering that the Bumpers have the strongest shot in the Division and we had a totally newb goalie I would consider it a fairly even match, despite the difference in number of skaters. Although the closeness of the match up is reflected in the final scoreline it didn't seem so for much of the game. But, indeed, that's one of the things that made it 'excellent'. Sport is a funny thing!
We scored the first goal about 10 seconds (!) in, with me skating out of the circle with the puck and Matt getting to the corner post in time for my quick pass before putting it into the empty net. I think we caught them on the hop! Not to be outdone, Craig answered back a minute later. Within two minutes, Natasha and I almost repeated the first play of the game, this time with me slotting the puck from a neat pass by Tash. Still hanging in there, the Mel skated the Bumper's second goal in two minutes after that. This was the last time they weren't behind us after Merrilyn and I combined for her to put in our third goal.
Craig was getting a bit feisty, none of his shots were getting through, and subsequently took a roughing penalty. First play off the faceoff resulted in a power play goal. Craig hadn't been back on for a whole shift after that when he took another penalty for tripping Natasha (the 'victim' of the earlier roughing call). They saw their way through that penalty and the half time siren went shortly afterwards. We were 4-2 up.
In the first five minutes of the second half we put on two more goals, 6-2. Craig kept their hopes up a minute later, but Merrilyn shortly afterwards put through what turned out to be the game winning goal when she slotted one on a joint assist from Brenton and myself, 7-3. We were feeling pretty confident at this point, further enforced by another tripping penalty being called on them a minute later.
We didn't score and the powerplay and the game then took a rapid turn as they turned up the intensity and started finding the net. Craig scored at the six minute mark and then again with only two minutes on the clock. We still had a two goal buffer. They called a time out and were able to keep their strongest line out for another shift. This strategy was rewarded with another goal with one minute left on the clock. One goal difference. One minute to go.
I grabbed the puck with aggressive wing play off the centre face off and swooped straight past them all for a one man rush. I could see a gap between the goalie and the left post and snapped a shot off at full speed. It went straight to the back of the net and I looped back to the centre dot with I'd imagine a lot of confident pride in my stance. I'd known that puck was going in from the moment I'd picked it up on my stick. Weird.
So. It was a fun and close game. We outshot them 32-16. Each side hit the pipes square on at least once. We blocked a lot of their shots before they got through to Josh, who was finding the goalie role quite a challenge. As I said to him though, he saved enough shots to win us the game. Which is all that really matters when it comes down to it.
I had another five point night against decent opposition. Alltogether, we have collected 35 individual points in the two games we've played while scoring 18 goals. That's quite amazing. We are quite a force when firing on all cylinders!
I think this procession will come to a crashing halt at some point soon, so I might as well enjoy it while I can! Which is at least until tonight when we take on the Snipers. We'll be short Matt and thus have only four skaters. The last time we met the Snipers they had six skaters. That would be pretty difficult.
GP 2 G 5 A 5 Pts 10 +8 PIMS 2 2/0/0
Inline 58
We scored the first goal about 10 seconds (!) in, with me skating out of the circle with the puck and Matt getting to the corner post in time for my quick pass before putting it into the empty net. I think we caught them on the hop! Not to be outdone, Craig answered back a minute later. Within two minutes, Natasha and I almost repeated the first play of the game, this time with me slotting the puck from a neat pass by Tash. Still hanging in there, the Mel skated the Bumper's second goal in two minutes after that. This was the last time they weren't behind us after Merrilyn and I combined for her to put in our third goal.
Craig was getting a bit feisty, none of his shots were getting through, and subsequently took a roughing penalty. First play off the faceoff resulted in a power play goal. Craig hadn't been back on for a whole shift after that when he took another penalty for tripping Natasha (the 'victim' of the earlier roughing call). They saw their way through that penalty and the half time siren went shortly afterwards. We were 4-2 up.
In the first five minutes of the second half we put on two more goals, 6-2. Craig kept their hopes up a minute later, but Merrilyn shortly afterwards put through what turned out to be the game winning goal when she slotted one on a joint assist from Brenton and myself, 7-3. We were feeling pretty confident at this point, further enforced by another tripping penalty being called on them a minute later.
We didn't score and the powerplay and the game then took a rapid turn as they turned up the intensity and started finding the net. Craig scored at the six minute mark and then again with only two minutes on the clock. We still had a two goal buffer. They called a time out and were able to keep their strongest line out for another shift. This strategy was rewarded with another goal with one minute left on the clock. One goal difference. One minute to go.
I grabbed the puck with aggressive wing play off the centre face off and swooped straight past them all for a one man rush. I could see a gap between the goalie and the left post and snapped a shot off at full speed. It went straight to the back of the net and I looped back to the centre dot with I'd imagine a lot of confident pride in my stance. I'd known that puck was going in from the moment I'd picked it up on my stick. Weird.
So. It was a fun and close game. We outshot them 32-16. Each side hit the pipes square on at least once. We blocked a lot of their shots before they got through to Josh, who was finding the goalie role quite a challenge. As I said to him though, he saved enough shots to win us the game. Which is all that really matters when it comes down to it.
I had another five point night against decent opposition. Alltogether, we have collected 35 individual points in the two games we've played while scoring 18 goals. That's quite amazing. We are quite a force when firing on all cylinders!
I think this procession will come to a crashing halt at some point soon, so I might as well enjoy it while I can! Which is at least until tonight when we take on the Snipers. We'll be short Matt and thus have only four skaters. The last time we met the Snipers they had six skaters. That would be pretty difficult.
GP 2 G 5 A 5 Pts 10 +8 PIMS 2 2/0/0
Inline 58
Sunday 1 November 2015
Game Day - Flyers (7) d Knights (2)
The Knights got trounced in our most recent Sunday night game against the Flyers. We had nine skaters, they had ten. We had Tommy in goal and they had Matt. Justine managed our bench. The Flyers seized second spot on the ladder from us as mid season approaches, we dropped down to fourth.
The first box score event in the game was an interference penalty against myself. This was the second game in a row I've been penalised. Hopefully I won't make a habit of it, as this one resulted in their first goal on the subsequent power play. I had taken Justine's edict to 'keep our house clean' quite literally had been quite savage in my netfront push and shove. Sadly, I also 'tended the garden' (was pushing a player out of the high slot away from the play) and my opponent ended up on his arse after losing his balance. Fair call. And this player didn't try and crowd our goalie for the rest of the night when I was on the ice, so who knows if it was worth the goal?
In any event, I think I stirred up the guy I'd been pushing around because he got pinged for tripping on the very next shift after their goal. My impression at the time was that he was trying to do to one of our guys what I'd been doing to him earlier (using body press to ease him out of the way) and somehow lost control of his stick. Gave me a nice warm feeling!
Be that as it may, they scored on the resultant power play and we were behind 1-0. We responded with a goal fairly shortly afterwards on a play after we had managed to keep it in the zone after a bit of a battle in centre ice. The Flyers closed out the period with a further goal and went into the break 2-1 up.
The second period was a bit of a disaster for us, with them scoring two goals in the first minute. The first came from a play that started at the centre face off and into our zone in my corner. I was too slow getting to it with a weak stick as one of their guns stormed in and proceeded to carry it around towards the back of our net. I was in pursuit, sorting trajectories in my mind and thus missed my opportunity to cut him off (which I probably could have done if I hadn't hesitated). Thus he emerged around the other end with my close behind. He spread a bit wider as I drew up covering the post. End result, he had a passing lane open up to open player in slot who in turn had an open goal as Tommy scrambled back from covering the wrap around attempt. Their fourth goal came less than a minute later, this time from a defensive zone faceoff in which their centre seized the puck and stormed the goal with a simple tap in to take them to 4-1.
Justine called a time out and told us to get into gear and inject a bit of passion into our play. As speeches go it was pretty good and you could see the difference on the next faceoff, with our guys now looking like we wanted to win the race and get the puck. Sadly, our renewed effort didn't prevent them scoring twice more in the period (albeit, we scored once on a coast to coast soire by Cam who somehow turned their whole team into pylons and their goalie into a straw man). There were also a couple of penalties.
I was on ice for both of their goals, though didn't then and don't now think I could or should have done anything different myself. On the first, I was covering my man as the puck crossed the blue line along the opposite boards. Their forward put in a long range softish shot onto net (hoping for rebounds etc) and I watched it fly into the net from a distance as I applied the brakes to my own player. It was a catch Tommy would ordinarily have made.
Their fourth goal of the quarter was one where again I was pressing back against my own player as I applied the brakes weakside, saw out of the corner of my eye the puck carrier on opposite side sidle around Mike and drop it in with a soft poke.
I was on for our power play, involved a sequence where I was on point and retreived the puck six times in one shift, once passing it deep to the corner, once to the boards behind the net, and four times into the scrum on the catcher's mit. I pinched only the once, but did have to scramble once to keep it on the line as I got to my feet after a struggle on the board's, found time and space for the shot though!
We got called for a penalty just before the siren, went into the break shorthanded and 6-2 down. In the few seconds of power play that they had, I managed to get on the back of a breakaway and just clip the shooters stick as he swung. He was cursing under his breath at the shot went high and the siren went. I don't think he realised I was his undoing.
The third period was a little less dramatic in terms of the scoreboard (they scored once more with five minutes to go) but I worked my arse off. Highlights for myself included being on the penalty kill and mangling their powerplay effectively, getting involved in a scrap on the boards which resulted in me and my opponent on the ice but the puck leaving the zone, a couple of blocked shots and a nice play beginning with winning the race to seize the puck off the backboards, skating through a light stick, deking around the defender on the point and sprinting up the ice on my own to the halfboards at their end. By which time I realised that I was truly on my own out there with four opponents coming in from all directions, so I put a shot on net and into the goalie's glove. The siren went not long afterwards, we went down 7-2.
If you can't gather from the general tone of this post, I was pretty happy with my game despite going -3 for the night and the team being soundly beaten. I created no great disasters, learned from the failed race to and around the boards at the start of the second period (didn't lose any such battles in future, and tied up that particular forward from then on), created a few chances and made some good plays.
Fitness wise, I was not 100% as was still getting the aftereffects of the previous game, hayfever, etc but still put in a tough game without any real performance drop off in the third period.
Next game, November 12 against the Rangers.
GP 7 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 +1 4/2/1 PIMS 4
Ice 47
The first box score event in the game was an interference penalty against myself. This was the second game in a row I've been penalised. Hopefully I won't make a habit of it, as this one resulted in their first goal on the subsequent power play. I had taken Justine's edict to 'keep our house clean' quite literally had been quite savage in my netfront push and shove. Sadly, I also 'tended the garden' (was pushing a player out of the high slot away from the play) and my opponent ended up on his arse after losing his balance. Fair call. And this player didn't try and crowd our goalie for the rest of the night when I was on the ice, so who knows if it was worth the goal?
In any event, I think I stirred up the guy I'd been pushing around because he got pinged for tripping on the very next shift after their goal. My impression at the time was that he was trying to do to one of our guys what I'd been doing to him earlier (using body press to ease him out of the way) and somehow lost control of his stick. Gave me a nice warm feeling!
Be that as it may, they scored on the resultant power play and we were behind 1-0. We responded with a goal fairly shortly afterwards on a play after we had managed to keep it in the zone after a bit of a battle in centre ice. The Flyers closed out the period with a further goal and went into the break 2-1 up.
The second period was a bit of a disaster for us, with them scoring two goals in the first minute. The first came from a play that started at the centre face off and into our zone in my corner. I was too slow getting to it with a weak stick as one of their guns stormed in and proceeded to carry it around towards the back of our net. I was in pursuit, sorting trajectories in my mind and thus missed my opportunity to cut him off (which I probably could have done if I hadn't hesitated). Thus he emerged around the other end with my close behind. He spread a bit wider as I drew up covering the post. End result, he had a passing lane open up to open player in slot who in turn had an open goal as Tommy scrambled back from covering the wrap around attempt. Their fourth goal came less than a minute later, this time from a defensive zone faceoff in which their centre seized the puck and stormed the goal with a simple tap in to take them to 4-1.
Justine called a time out and told us to get into gear and inject a bit of passion into our play. As speeches go it was pretty good and you could see the difference on the next faceoff, with our guys now looking like we wanted to win the race and get the puck. Sadly, our renewed effort didn't prevent them scoring twice more in the period (albeit, we scored once on a coast to coast soire by Cam who somehow turned their whole team into pylons and their goalie into a straw man). There were also a couple of penalties.
I was on ice for both of their goals, though didn't then and don't now think I could or should have done anything different myself. On the first, I was covering my man as the puck crossed the blue line along the opposite boards. Their forward put in a long range softish shot onto net (hoping for rebounds etc) and I watched it fly into the net from a distance as I applied the brakes to my own player. It was a catch Tommy would ordinarily have made.
Their fourth goal of the quarter was one where again I was pressing back against my own player as I applied the brakes weakside, saw out of the corner of my eye the puck carrier on opposite side sidle around Mike and drop it in with a soft poke.
I was on for our power play, involved a sequence where I was on point and retreived the puck six times in one shift, once passing it deep to the corner, once to the boards behind the net, and four times into the scrum on the catcher's mit. I pinched only the once, but did have to scramble once to keep it on the line as I got to my feet after a struggle on the board's, found time and space for the shot though!
We got called for a penalty just before the siren, went into the break shorthanded and 6-2 down. In the few seconds of power play that they had, I managed to get on the back of a breakaway and just clip the shooters stick as he swung. He was cursing under his breath at the shot went high and the siren went. I don't think he realised I was his undoing.
The third period was a little less dramatic in terms of the scoreboard (they scored once more with five minutes to go) but I worked my arse off. Highlights for myself included being on the penalty kill and mangling their powerplay effectively, getting involved in a scrap on the boards which resulted in me and my opponent on the ice but the puck leaving the zone, a couple of blocked shots and a nice play beginning with winning the race to seize the puck off the backboards, skating through a light stick, deking around the defender on the point and sprinting up the ice on my own to the halfboards at their end. By which time I realised that I was truly on my own out there with four opponents coming in from all directions, so I put a shot on net and into the goalie's glove. The siren went not long afterwards, we went down 7-2.
If you can't gather from the general tone of this post, I was pretty happy with my game despite going -3 for the night and the team being soundly beaten. I created no great disasters, learned from the failed race to and around the boards at the start of the second period (didn't lose any such battles in future, and tied up that particular forward from then on), created a few chances and made some good plays.
Fitness wise, I was not 100% as was still getting the aftereffects of the previous game, hayfever, etc but still put in a tough game without any real performance drop off in the third period.
Next game, November 12 against the Rangers.
GP 7 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 +1 4/2/1 PIMS 4
Ice 47
Wednesday 21 October 2015
Game Day - Blades (3) d Knights (2)
We suffered our first loss of the season last night at the Ice Arena in a top of table clash with one of the new teams, the Blades. We were down a number of players but managed to field nine skaters and Tommy in goal. I think that they had ten skaters, so no major disparity there.
Our main problem was on the blue line. We'd lost Bacon to the Kings, Mike was not available to play, Cam was there but still suffering the aftereffects of the illness that stopped him playing on Saturday and I was only functioning at about 80% (at best). Shifting Jonesy back to join Cam and I on the D was the best we could do, which let us run two lines up front. We ran with this until the back end of the third period when Stewart moved back for a couple shifts on D when Cam couldn't go out any more and I was badly suffering.
They scored early in the First Period, with a virtually unassisted goal to their fast skating, deking hard shooting star from the inside of the upper right circle. At the time it went in I was busy closing the gap to his double, coming in from the other side, coming to a defensive stop just above the crease and moving into his stick as the shot went through. They backed this up early in the Second Period to go to a 2-0 lead. We struck back, closing the game to one goal, before they slotted another shortly before the siren. 3-1 in the last break. The last period was a cracker. We again closed to within a goal early in the period and then it got down to trench warfare. They somehow held us out as our game broke down from the strain. The final siren saw them victorious 3-2.
This was the toughest assignment we've yet had. Our bench was probably the weakest it's been this season, the competition the strongest, but we all put in our absolute best and created a cracking game as a result. The game was played at high intensity and had a degree of ferociousness absent from previous contests. After the game we had nothing left, we'd left it all on the ice. You can't ask for more from a hockey team!
Our worst preventable failings came from our line changes and confusion on the bench. These were most evident in the third period when there were several occasions when we only had four on the ice when we were entitled to have five. There were other times when we were totally out of position at a face off. These failings flowed through to on-ice positioning, with several occasions when both wings were down low in the same defensive corner but the puck was over in the other and a breakout was potentially stalled before it had begun. We also gave away too many penalties (three) to comfortably manage with our short bench.
My own game was a strange hybrid of good and bad. Early, their gun skater was able to get around me on the backcheck, a failing I subsequently remedied by transitioning earlier on his approach thus enabling me to keep the inside track on him to our red line. He started treating me with a little more respect once I had this worked out.
Generally I managed to keep the slot clear of danger, either by shoving them out of position or by lifting their stick at awkward moments. On the blue line I managed to use my feet effectively both on the boards and in the centre. I was more willing to engage along the boards in our corners, prevented any clean take aways or unobstructed passes through the slot. My own passes were still more to position than to a player, and I still found myself clearing it through centre-ice (ironically, picking up our own centre and setting up a play that resulted in our first goal).
My major plus AND minus came about through conditioning and health respectively. I drove myself harder than in previous games, was able to pick up the slack created by Cam's illness through the first two periods as a result. Again, it was a game where I seemed to be 'everywhere', covering forwards on the breakout, my D partner, assiting in the rush, protecting the blue line and the crease. All on top of a short bench, so I was running at the outer end of my ability.
Alas, I was pushing it too hard. By the end of the second period, was feeling tightness in my breathing. After a brutal first shift in the third, this only got worse. I was considering benching myself, but riding the line and was able to get out for a strong second shift in our zone. This culminated in a physical battle which resulted in me being hooked and then myself being called for roughing on the same play (my first ever genuine penalty on the ice!).
During my penalty time, I vacated the bench to get some ventolin in to me, was able to skate out the game at reduced intensity. Not exactly an exercise induced asthma attack like the inline game in May this year, but a bit of a scare never the less. Cause: combination of not enough sleep, wrong diet, sudden and dramatic weather change and resultant very high pollen count, long periods of maximal effort during the first two periods. Solution: better preparation, better management of aerobic resources when at risk.
I was on the ice for one of ours and one of their goals. I incurred my first minor penalty on the ice. At the end of the game, quite a few lessons to learn. And an affirmation of the potential strength of this team, we all stepped up to the mark and played out of our skins to equal them with shots on, blocked shots, took hits, skated until we were totally exhausted at game end, still came out smiling, had the opposition's respect (I got the feeling that they were worried that we would take it despite our chaos and exhaustion, you could see it in their eyes). Our next clash will be an interesting affair.
GP 6 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 +4 4/1/1 PIMS 2
Ice 46
Our main problem was on the blue line. We'd lost Bacon to the Kings, Mike was not available to play, Cam was there but still suffering the aftereffects of the illness that stopped him playing on Saturday and I was only functioning at about 80% (at best). Shifting Jonesy back to join Cam and I on the D was the best we could do, which let us run two lines up front. We ran with this until the back end of the third period when Stewart moved back for a couple shifts on D when Cam couldn't go out any more and I was badly suffering.
They scored early in the First Period, with a virtually unassisted goal to their fast skating, deking hard shooting star from the inside of the upper right circle. At the time it went in I was busy closing the gap to his double, coming in from the other side, coming to a defensive stop just above the crease and moving into his stick as the shot went through. They backed this up early in the Second Period to go to a 2-0 lead. We struck back, closing the game to one goal, before they slotted another shortly before the siren. 3-1 in the last break. The last period was a cracker. We again closed to within a goal early in the period and then it got down to trench warfare. They somehow held us out as our game broke down from the strain. The final siren saw them victorious 3-2.
This was the toughest assignment we've yet had. Our bench was probably the weakest it's been this season, the competition the strongest, but we all put in our absolute best and created a cracking game as a result. The game was played at high intensity and had a degree of ferociousness absent from previous contests. After the game we had nothing left, we'd left it all on the ice. You can't ask for more from a hockey team!
Our worst preventable failings came from our line changes and confusion on the bench. These were most evident in the third period when there were several occasions when we only had four on the ice when we were entitled to have five. There were other times when we were totally out of position at a face off. These failings flowed through to on-ice positioning, with several occasions when both wings were down low in the same defensive corner but the puck was over in the other and a breakout was potentially stalled before it had begun. We also gave away too many penalties (three) to comfortably manage with our short bench.
My own game was a strange hybrid of good and bad. Early, their gun skater was able to get around me on the backcheck, a failing I subsequently remedied by transitioning earlier on his approach thus enabling me to keep the inside track on him to our red line. He started treating me with a little more respect once I had this worked out.
Generally I managed to keep the slot clear of danger, either by shoving them out of position or by lifting their stick at awkward moments. On the blue line I managed to use my feet effectively both on the boards and in the centre. I was more willing to engage along the boards in our corners, prevented any clean take aways or unobstructed passes through the slot. My own passes were still more to position than to a player, and I still found myself clearing it through centre-ice (ironically, picking up our own centre and setting up a play that resulted in our first goal).
My major plus AND minus came about through conditioning and health respectively. I drove myself harder than in previous games, was able to pick up the slack created by Cam's illness through the first two periods as a result. Again, it was a game where I seemed to be 'everywhere', covering forwards on the breakout, my D partner, assiting in the rush, protecting the blue line and the crease. All on top of a short bench, so I was running at the outer end of my ability.
Alas, I was pushing it too hard. By the end of the second period, was feeling tightness in my breathing. After a brutal first shift in the third, this only got worse. I was considering benching myself, but riding the line and was able to get out for a strong second shift in our zone. This culminated in a physical battle which resulted in me being hooked and then myself being called for roughing on the same play (my first ever genuine penalty on the ice!).
During my penalty time, I vacated the bench to get some ventolin in to me, was able to skate out the game at reduced intensity. Not exactly an exercise induced asthma attack like the inline game in May this year, but a bit of a scare never the less. Cause: combination of not enough sleep, wrong diet, sudden and dramatic weather change and resultant very high pollen count, long periods of maximal effort during the first two periods. Solution: better preparation, better management of aerobic resources when at risk.
I was on the ice for one of ours and one of their goals. I incurred my first minor penalty on the ice. At the end of the game, quite a few lessons to learn. And an affirmation of the potential strength of this team, we all stepped up to the mark and played out of our skins to equal them with shots on, blocked shots, took hits, skated until we were totally exhausted at game end, still came out smiling, had the opposition's respect (I got the feeling that they were worried that we would take it despite our chaos and exhaustion, you could see it in their eyes). Our next clash will be an interesting affair.
GP 6 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 +4 4/1/1 PIMS 2
Ice 46
Sunday 18 October 2015
Game Day - Knights (3) d Predators (1)
It was always gonna be a tough Saturday afternoon at the Ice Arena as we were up against the Predators. It got tougher with scratchings of Ash, Kerri and Cam. And a couple of those who did skate were not feeling too well but forced themselves along. Cam and Ash helped on the bench, which was great. Tommy was his usual solid self in goal. The Predators had ten skaters, have quite a solid core of big forwards with powerful shots. It was always gonna be a tough game.
First Period was tough. They opened the scoring with a rush down the left board and a shot from the inside of the circle. At the time I was backing towards the crease from the other side, covering a winger who'd joined the rush directly from the bench. At the time of the goal I was looking my man in the eye from about two feet. I played an indirect role in our equaliser shortly afterwards, keeping the puck in the zone with a sort-of-shot from the centre of the blue that got tangled with a body in front of net. While I returned to cover my board the puck went on a pinball path to eventually be slotted by Jonesy(?). 1-1 at the first break.
Second Period was tougher. Both teams played heavy in the neutral zone, penalties started to accumulate (we took one for the night - too many men on the ice, they had two by period end, roughing and butt ending). I started to find my game however, chasing to the backboards and cutting off the centring pass, covering my winger if he dropped too low, finding an outlet pass a couple times, losing my feet at least twice (and taking down at least one Predator each time I did so, except the time that I used my backward sliding feet to intercept the cross ice pass and deflect it into the corner instead of finding the pinching swooping centre in the slot). Generally though, our positioning fell away a bit his period. Neither team had scored again by the second buzzer, still 1-1.
Third Period was equally tough, but by this stage our conditioning was beginning to come up trumps. Only their best and brightest were keeping their speed up (they were always the ones who were a real threat), the rest of their team was fading. Our guys just kept going and concentrated on keeping it fairly tight. It was good to see.
I put in the game winning goal from the point on my second shift. It was one of my usual 'shots', a wrister along the ice with no set up except stepping into the shot. It went through under the goalie's pad right in the corner. It was about my fourth similar style shot from the blue line on the evening and not the strongest of them. Sweet! We backed up with another goal from our forwards and then battened down defensively for the final onslaught over the last five minutes. Somehow we kept them out.
Good win, 3-1.
The Predators had almost as many shots on goal as we did, though they blocked a few more than us. I pinched and got beat once early in the first, played more responsibly after that. I joined the rush on the PP once in the second, apart from that I stayed high in the O zone and tried my best to cover the blue. Generally I was successful. I tried to play stronger on my stick (wider grip) and, when I remembered, it allowed me to keep the puck against opposition a couple of times, take it away from them twice.
I got outskated for speed a couple of times but managed to drive them behind the goal line before they got away from me. I failed to release my lower hand when racing for the puck, will add a couple of paces when I can more consistently do this.
Keeping my eye on the body as I backed up meant that I generally was able to prevent them deking around, when combined with proper gap control. Managed several poke checks, made good use of the boards, put a couple of good passes up to my wingers, still need to work on our breakouts. Managed to surprise one of their guys when he'd taken the puck onto his blade and I proceeded to pass the puck anyway, forcing his stick with mine to get it where I wanted it to go. Good little trick, that!
I was on for all three of our goals as well as theirs. Apparently I was 'everywhere' according to more than one observer. Will have to watch this, ensure that wherever I might be on the ice, I'm where I need to be at the right moment!
GP 5 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 +4 4/0/1
Ice 45
Videos to come when I edit can find the time to post them up!
First Period was tough. They opened the scoring with a rush down the left board and a shot from the inside of the circle. At the time I was backing towards the crease from the other side, covering a winger who'd joined the rush directly from the bench. At the time of the goal I was looking my man in the eye from about two feet. I played an indirect role in our equaliser shortly afterwards, keeping the puck in the zone with a sort-of-shot from the centre of the blue that got tangled with a body in front of net. While I returned to cover my board the puck went on a pinball path to eventually be slotted by Jonesy(?). 1-1 at the first break.
Second Period was tougher. Both teams played heavy in the neutral zone, penalties started to accumulate (we took one for the night - too many men on the ice, they had two by period end, roughing and butt ending). I started to find my game however, chasing to the backboards and cutting off the centring pass, covering my winger if he dropped too low, finding an outlet pass a couple times, losing my feet at least twice (and taking down at least one Predator each time I did so, except the time that I used my backward sliding feet to intercept the cross ice pass and deflect it into the corner instead of finding the pinching swooping centre in the slot). Generally though, our positioning fell away a bit his period. Neither team had scored again by the second buzzer, still 1-1.
Third Period was equally tough, but by this stage our conditioning was beginning to come up trumps. Only their best and brightest were keeping their speed up (they were always the ones who were a real threat), the rest of their team was fading. Our guys just kept going and concentrated on keeping it fairly tight. It was good to see.
I put in the game winning goal from the point on my second shift. It was one of my usual 'shots', a wrister along the ice with no set up except stepping into the shot. It went through under the goalie's pad right in the corner. It was about my fourth similar style shot from the blue line on the evening and not the strongest of them. Sweet! We backed up with another goal from our forwards and then battened down defensively for the final onslaught over the last five minutes. Somehow we kept them out.
Good win, 3-1.
The Predators had almost as many shots on goal as we did, though they blocked a few more than us. I pinched and got beat once early in the first, played more responsibly after that. I joined the rush on the PP once in the second, apart from that I stayed high in the O zone and tried my best to cover the blue. Generally I was successful. I tried to play stronger on my stick (wider grip) and, when I remembered, it allowed me to keep the puck against opposition a couple of times, take it away from them twice.
I got outskated for speed a couple of times but managed to drive them behind the goal line before they got away from me. I failed to release my lower hand when racing for the puck, will add a couple of paces when I can more consistently do this.
Keeping my eye on the body as I backed up meant that I generally was able to prevent them deking around, when combined with proper gap control. Managed several poke checks, made good use of the boards, put a couple of good passes up to my wingers, still need to work on our breakouts. Managed to surprise one of their guys when he'd taken the puck onto his blade and I proceeded to pass the puck anyway, forcing his stick with mine to get it where I wanted it to go. Good little trick, that!
I was on for all three of our goals as well as theirs. Apparently I was 'everywhere' according to more than one observer. Will have to watch this, ensure that wherever I might be on the ice, I'm where I need to be at the right moment!
GP 5 G 2 A 1 Pts 3 +4 4/0/1
Ice 45
Videos to come when I edit can find the time to post them up!
Saturday 17 October 2015
Pregame - Knights v Predators
There have been a couple of late scratchings for our game against the Predators later today. Kerri and Cam have both pulled out, leaving us with ten skaters (assuming everyone else makes it). That will be good for two forward lines with one extra winger, three on the D. Alternatively, two forward lines and four D. In the first instance, would expect Bacon, Mike and me on the back end, probably have Griff and Ash rotating shifts as second line wing with Jonesy as 2C. In the alternate, Jonesy joins us on the D and Richard slots in as 2C with Ash and Griff while Baden centres Foxy and Stewart on the first. Will be interesting to see how Justine plays it.
As for me, concentrate on stride recovery, stance and my grip on stick. Emphasis on defensive play (ie conservative with the pinching, control the gap, give them no spare time in the corner, short shifts).
As for me, concentrate on stride recovery, stance and my grip on stick. Emphasis on defensive play (ie conservative with the pinching, control the gap, give them no spare time in the corner, short shifts).
Friday 16 October 2015
Knights Training
Yesterday evening we had a combined Knights/Bombers (and a few friends) training session at the Ice Arena. Neil ran the show in Justine's absence. About twenty skaters and one goalie turned up (including six Knights) making it a pretty busy session for the small ice.
Concentrated on two main drills, performed each side of the ice, and a brief four on four shinny. The first drill involved a pass, receiving it on the breakout, tip and go into the zone, shot. The second drill involved a pair entering the zone, one following the boards wide and deep with the other creating the passing lane into the slot, and a shot. Between the drills was a brief interlude of moving the puck by feet alone.
Passing technique (elbow up, hands forward of hips, puck towards heel of stick, roll and point on release), chin up, use the feet, swift, decisive movements. Stance, grip, width of. Control of the game as the default priority. Creativity.
Again, an offensively oriented session.
The Good - holding my feet, jamming the puck through the pokechecking goalie's five hole, making the pass if I gave myself enough time, co-ordinating with a Bomber on the 2 on 0 to score both times.
The Bad - holding the stick not widely enough, rushing the pass, not always being smooth at speed while carrying the puck.
Ice 44
Concentrated on two main drills, performed each side of the ice, and a brief four on four shinny. The first drill involved a pass, receiving it on the breakout, tip and go into the zone, shot. The second drill involved a pair entering the zone, one following the boards wide and deep with the other creating the passing lane into the slot, and a shot. Between the drills was a brief interlude of moving the puck by feet alone.
Passing technique (elbow up, hands forward of hips, puck towards heel of stick, roll and point on release), chin up, use the feet, swift, decisive movements. Stance, grip, width of. Control of the game as the default priority. Creativity.
Again, an offensively oriented session.
The Good - holding my feet, jamming the puck through the pokechecking goalie's five hole, making the pass if I gave myself enough time, co-ordinating with a Bomber on the 2 on 0 to score both times.
The Bad - holding the stick not widely enough, rushing the pass, not always being smooth at speed while carrying the puck.
Ice 44
Thursday 15 October 2015
Vikings Training
Last night I went to inline hockey training at Gawler. There were over a dozen skaters and a couple goalies. The majority of skaters were Division II level, several of them being rookies. When the group was split according to skill level I was placed with the beginners (fair enough, the advanced group contained several national level players). The down side of this was that the training was pretty slow for most of the time. The advantage was that I got to give little words of advice and encouragement to my peers. Good bonding.
Simple shooting and passing games to begin with, followed by a shinny. For the first part, my heart rate didn't get much above walking pace but it did get pushed up to 180 in the game of Red Rover that preceeded the shinny.
And then, a drive a back to Adelaide in the warm spring night.
Inline 57
Simple shooting and passing games to begin with, followed by a shinny. For the first part, my heart rate didn't get much above walking pace but it did get pushed up to 180 in the game of Red Rover that preceeded the shinny.
And then, a drive a back to Adelaide in the warm spring night.
Inline 57
Wednesday 14 October 2015
Game Day - Knights (4) d Sharks (0) - and I finally score!
On Sunday afternoon the Knights played their second game in four days, taking on the Sharks at the Adelaide Ice Arena. Both teams had eleven skaters. We had Tommy in goal. Neil coached from the bench for the first period before Justine arrived and took over.
We scored 2 goals in the first period and 2 more in the third. We outshot them in the first two periods, were equal in the third (I souvenired the game sheet). There was one penalty each way. No power play or shorthanded goals were scored. No complaints about the refereeing.
We ran with three D for the first two periods (Bacon, Mike and me) during which time Jonesy and Cam were 1C and 2C and we had three rotating pairs of wingers. It sounds complex but seemed to work reasonably well as it allowed Centres to change independently from the wingers as needs (and conditioning) dictated. As we haven't settled on fixed lines yet there was no real loss of cohesion, and by rotating pairs of wingers we still allowed these players (mainly rookies) to start establishing linemate chemistry never the less. Smart coaching, turning the absence of Baden into some sort advantage (as it allowed each pair to play with both centres).
In the third period Cam moved back to the defence and we ran with four D (giving all four of us a bit of a break in terms of the physical demands of playing either Centre or with only three D). Richard took the 2C job with Steward on one wing and the rotating pair of Griff and Ash on the other. Foxy and Kerri stayed with Jonesy on the first line. These changes took advantage of Cam's experience in return for giving him a 'rest' and allowed Richard a period at Centre. All good, it almost looks like a team structure is forming out of apparent chaos.
My Game
As always, my recollections are a mixture of impressions and lessons.
Lessons first; a need to keep my shifts shorter (especially early in the game) might come down to trusting my team mate's ability to come back out sooner rather than later; keeping my right hand lower on the stick for more stability, strength and better posture; taking the puck behind the net rather than effectively passing up possession out of the corner by sending it to where a winger should be but isn't; work out technique better for trying to move a giant off the puck; a quicker advance into the forecheck and, finally; more reactive defence of 'my' corner off of the crease.
I did reasonably well at keeping attacking puck carriers on the outside. On the three occasions they managed to get past, twice were behind the red line and the other almost so. On three occasions I can recall I took the second forward as they entered the zone, closing the gap and (perhaps) helping to force the offside by causing them to look at me instead of the puck carrier. Needless to say, continued improvement in both these disciplines can only help.
In the crease I managed my space fairly good, picking up loose defenders or late comers, kicking the puck out on one occasion, swatting it to the corner on another, tying up sticks generally.
The battle to keep the puck in the zone was one I generally won more than lost, though will have to get my mind to more quickly react and decide whether to pinch or not. Generally I seem to be able to get away with it, though once in the second when my edge caught as I tried to transition backwards led to a 3 on 1 against until I managed to get up and back. My first period highlight was a shot/pass in after defending the blue, which Kerri picked up and shot in. This was my first official point in ice hockey.
The third period was fairly tough. I took a shot from the corner on my knee armour early on, it really stung despite the kevlar. No bruise, however, and was mobile again within seconds. Their frustrations were beginning to show, resulting in their giant and one of our larger players starting to exchange words and bump chests. Jonesy separated them before it got worse (the irony) and I acted as shotgun and shooed away their only supporting player as the event dissipated. Never gotten close to getting 'involved' before, not sure what to make of it in retrospect.
Finally, my goal. We were comfortably up 3-0 with a few minutes to go when they called a time out. We took advantage of that to get our breath and remind ourselves to batten down defensively and try and get the shutout. We had been good for this as we entered the final minute. I was on our backboard, spotted a pass to a player about half way up the boards in the zone, followed the pass to offer support and cut out the centre from the play (really keen to keep it a shutout). Somehow I got the puck on my stick and pushed it up past their defender on the point, sprinted after it aware that I was now higher than all of our other players, just wanting to get it away from the zone.
The puck was now rolling at high speed down the rink near the boards. I set off in hot pursuit, the only real thought in mind was to prevent an icing and the puck returning to our end for a potential goal in the dying moments of the game.
I looked up as I passed the blue, could see no one in front (not even a goalie). Kept moving, gained control of the puck, took a moment to compose myself (don't fall over, don't miss the puck, don't miss the net) swooped around and tapped it in from about twenty feet. I didn't watch it cross the line, was already looking up and around to make sure I didn't collide with anyone. Grin, raise both hands and one leg in the air as I circle back to my team mates. They are rapt. How cool!
Was told later by a friendly shark that from their bench it had seemed like at one moment the puck was up the far end, then I was skating down the boards 'like the wind' with no-one close to me but several in pursuit. Nice. Got the puck to prove it :).
It only took 31 games.
Well, that about wraps a big game. I was on for three of our goals.
GP 4 G 1 A 1 Pts 2 +2 3/0/1
Ice 43
We scored 2 goals in the first period and 2 more in the third. We outshot them in the first two periods, were equal in the third (I souvenired the game sheet). There was one penalty each way. No power play or shorthanded goals were scored. No complaints about the refereeing.
We ran with three D for the first two periods (Bacon, Mike and me) during which time Jonesy and Cam were 1C and 2C and we had three rotating pairs of wingers. It sounds complex but seemed to work reasonably well as it allowed Centres to change independently from the wingers as needs (and conditioning) dictated. As we haven't settled on fixed lines yet there was no real loss of cohesion, and by rotating pairs of wingers we still allowed these players (mainly rookies) to start establishing linemate chemistry never the less. Smart coaching, turning the absence of Baden into some sort advantage (as it allowed each pair to play with both centres).
In the third period Cam moved back to the defence and we ran with four D (giving all four of us a bit of a break in terms of the physical demands of playing either Centre or with only three D). Richard took the 2C job with Steward on one wing and the rotating pair of Griff and Ash on the other. Foxy and Kerri stayed with Jonesy on the first line. These changes took advantage of Cam's experience in return for giving him a 'rest' and allowed Richard a period at Centre. All good, it almost looks like a team structure is forming out of apparent chaos.
My Game
As always, my recollections are a mixture of impressions and lessons.
Lessons first; a need to keep my shifts shorter (especially early in the game) might come down to trusting my team mate's ability to come back out sooner rather than later; keeping my right hand lower on the stick for more stability, strength and better posture; taking the puck behind the net rather than effectively passing up possession out of the corner by sending it to where a winger should be but isn't; work out technique better for trying to move a giant off the puck; a quicker advance into the forecheck and, finally; more reactive defence of 'my' corner off of the crease.
I did reasonably well at keeping attacking puck carriers on the outside. On the three occasions they managed to get past, twice were behind the red line and the other almost so. On three occasions I can recall I took the second forward as they entered the zone, closing the gap and (perhaps) helping to force the offside by causing them to look at me instead of the puck carrier. Needless to say, continued improvement in both these disciplines can only help.
In the crease I managed my space fairly good, picking up loose defenders or late comers, kicking the puck out on one occasion, swatting it to the corner on another, tying up sticks generally.
The battle to keep the puck in the zone was one I generally won more than lost, though will have to get my mind to more quickly react and decide whether to pinch or not. Generally I seem to be able to get away with it, though once in the second when my edge caught as I tried to transition backwards led to a 3 on 1 against until I managed to get up and back. My first period highlight was a shot/pass in after defending the blue, which Kerri picked up and shot in. This was my first official point in ice hockey.
The third period was fairly tough. I took a shot from the corner on my knee armour early on, it really stung despite the kevlar. No bruise, however, and was mobile again within seconds. Their frustrations were beginning to show, resulting in their giant and one of our larger players starting to exchange words and bump chests. Jonesy separated them before it got worse (the irony) and I acted as shotgun and shooed away their only supporting player as the event dissipated. Never gotten close to getting 'involved' before, not sure what to make of it in retrospect.
Finally, my goal. We were comfortably up 3-0 with a few minutes to go when they called a time out. We took advantage of that to get our breath and remind ourselves to batten down defensively and try and get the shutout. We had been good for this as we entered the final minute. I was on our backboard, spotted a pass to a player about half way up the boards in the zone, followed the pass to offer support and cut out the centre from the play (really keen to keep it a shutout). Somehow I got the puck on my stick and pushed it up past their defender on the point, sprinted after it aware that I was now higher than all of our other players, just wanting to get it away from the zone.
The puck was now rolling at high speed down the rink near the boards. I set off in hot pursuit, the only real thought in mind was to prevent an icing and the puck returning to our end for a potential goal in the dying moments of the game.
I looked up as I passed the blue, could see no one in front (not even a goalie). Kept moving, gained control of the puck, took a moment to compose myself (don't fall over, don't miss the puck, don't miss the net) swooped around and tapped it in from about twenty feet. I didn't watch it cross the line, was already looking up and around to make sure I didn't collide with anyone. Grin, raise both hands and one leg in the air as I circle back to my team mates. They are rapt. How cool!
Was told later by a friendly shark that from their bench it had seemed like at one moment the puck was up the far end, then I was skating down the boards 'like the wind' with no-one close to me but several in pursuit. Nice. Got the puck to prove it :).
It only took 31 games.
Well, that about wraps a big game. I was on for three of our goals.
GP 4 G 1 A 1 Pts 2 +2 3/0/1
Ice 43
Tuesday 13 October 2015
Game Day - Mavericks (10) d Snipers (0)
The Mavericks began life as an inline hockey team on Saturday with a ten goal shutout against the Snipers, the other new team entrant in the Division. Very auspicious for us!
We were composed of three Pfeiffers, Matt and me on skates, and Matt the Goalie filled in the pipes due Josh's absence at a cricket game. The Snipers had five skaters (three Lukes, Bec and Mel) with Jess the rookie goalie.
The game narrative is fairly simple. The Snipers began strongly on the attack. Within five minutes we'd corrected this and I scored the first goal shortly afterwards off a pass by Brenton. Merrilyn and Natasha each slotted another before half time. There was one first half (minorly) controversial failed goal attempt by us when the puck ended beneath the goalie's pad and Tash wasn't able to shove it entirely over the line before the whistle sounded. 3-0 at half time.
We had had twelve official shots at goal in the first half to their two (!). As if this wasn't a wide enough disparity it fails to account for what was probably that many shots again that we'd taken but which missed the goal entirely. We were pretty happy with our efforts, agreed we only really needed to get more of our shots on net to allow the puck gods to reward us appropriately.
We seem to have inherited the old Wheelers' habit of playing a stronger second than first half and we managed to pile on seven more goals before the final siren ended the Snipers' misery. We also officially put eighteen shots on net, so our shooting accuracy improved after half time. As should be expected, this was reflected in the number of goals scored. I took the only penalty of the game, a minor for interference midway through the second half. We kept them scoreless albeit they got four shots on net.
A big debut win for the Mav's. Even more encouraging, all five skaters shared in the points and we all scored at least one goal. We recorded an impressive eighteen individual points (goals or assists) for our ten goals. Good teamwork!
The Mav's are already showing some of the good qualities of our Wheeler forebears, namely a strong second half, good passing game, good defensive coverage. What we seem to have added to the palate is a remergent Matt as playmaker in the forward zone, and a willingness to play forward in defence and deny unopposed rink space in the neutral zone to the other team. If we only do this against the Bumpers we may have found our antidote to Craig and his slapshot.
My game
During the warmup I finally managed to crack the art of lifting the puck when shooting at goal. It seemed every shot type I tried could be directed into the various quadrants of the net. This is the first time this skill has 'clicked' for me so it was a tremendous pleasure to be successfully aiming at the top corner and getting it in there! Sadly I wasn't able to do it much during the game and, even when I did, not with any real precision, but it is nice to know it's possible and I just need to keep working at it.
I was on our opening line up and had a major full frontal collision with Crystal behind their goal net. It was jarring in its effect on me but I managed to keep my feet and check that she had too before continuing to skate. I was a bit conservative for a minute or so after that while I got my breath back. She skated off for a quick change. I gather she was at least as stunned as I was. It was a good reminder that Inline hockey is a collision based sport!
I scored the opening goal, then two more in the second half. Both of those goals were off of assists by Matt, one such having been deliberately passed through the legs of the Sniper who stood between us! That was probably my favourite moment, closely followed by a double assisted goal where Brenton put it into the back of the net off a cross crease pass from myself after receipt of another pass from Matt in the corner to me in the slot. All one touch passes and shot, while moving. Very slick!
My penalty was probably fair enough, though I didn't think so at the time. I was called for interference after brushing off and down Dan Luke as he collided with me from behind. He ended up on the floor as I skated off with the puck. At the time I just thought that 'he hit me first,' which he had, but didn't account for the fact that his collision hadn't been deliberate and I had kept my feet, while I had meant to contact him and he didn't keep his feet. Live and learn.
Speaking of Dan, he'll be a great skater as he seems to have his brother's speed and agility. It won't take him long if he practices and the Snipers will have two of the best skater's in the division. Josh gave me the strange experience of someone turning inside me, taking the puck, and then accelerating away quicker than I could catch them. Not only this, but I caught him at least once using a toe drag to make a blind pass. A challenge for sure to keep him in his box in future games!
I was directly involved in five goals and had a hand in a sixth.
GP 1 G 3 A 2 Pts 5 +6 1/0/0
Inline 56
We were composed of three Pfeiffers, Matt and me on skates, and Matt the Goalie filled in the pipes due Josh's absence at a cricket game. The Snipers had five skaters (three Lukes, Bec and Mel) with Jess the rookie goalie.
The game narrative is fairly simple. The Snipers began strongly on the attack. Within five minutes we'd corrected this and I scored the first goal shortly afterwards off a pass by Brenton. Merrilyn and Natasha each slotted another before half time. There was one first half (minorly) controversial failed goal attempt by us when the puck ended beneath the goalie's pad and Tash wasn't able to shove it entirely over the line before the whistle sounded. 3-0 at half time.
We had had twelve official shots at goal in the first half to their two (!). As if this wasn't a wide enough disparity it fails to account for what was probably that many shots again that we'd taken but which missed the goal entirely. We were pretty happy with our efforts, agreed we only really needed to get more of our shots on net to allow the puck gods to reward us appropriately.
We seem to have inherited the old Wheelers' habit of playing a stronger second than first half and we managed to pile on seven more goals before the final siren ended the Snipers' misery. We also officially put eighteen shots on net, so our shooting accuracy improved after half time. As should be expected, this was reflected in the number of goals scored. I took the only penalty of the game, a minor for interference midway through the second half. We kept them scoreless albeit they got four shots on net.
A big debut win for the Mav's. Even more encouraging, all five skaters shared in the points and we all scored at least one goal. We recorded an impressive eighteen individual points (goals or assists) for our ten goals. Good teamwork!
The Mav's are already showing some of the good qualities of our Wheeler forebears, namely a strong second half, good passing game, good defensive coverage. What we seem to have added to the palate is a remergent Matt as playmaker in the forward zone, and a willingness to play forward in defence and deny unopposed rink space in the neutral zone to the other team. If we only do this against the Bumpers we may have found our antidote to Craig and his slapshot.
My game
During the warmup I finally managed to crack the art of lifting the puck when shooting at goal. It seemed every shot type I tried could be directed into the various quadrants of the net. This is the first time this skill has 'clicked' for me so it was a tremendous pleasure to be successfully aiming at the top corner and getting it in there! Sadly I wasn't able to do it much during the game and, even when I did, not with any real precision, but it is nice to know it's possible and I just need to keep working at it.
I was on our opening line up and had a major full frontal collision with Crystal behind their goal net. It was jarring in its effect on me but I managed to keep my feet and check that she had too before continuing to skate. I was a bit conservative for a minute or so after that while I got my breath back. She skated off for a quick change. I gather she was at least as stunned as I was. It was a good reminder that Inline hockey is a collision based sport!
I scored the opening goal, then two more in the second half. Both of those goals were off of assists by Matt, one such having been deliberately passed through the legs of the Sniper who stood between us! That was probably my favourite moment, closely followed by a double assisted goal where Brenton put it into the back of the net off a cross crease pass from myself after receipt of another pass from Matt in the corner to me in the slot. All one touch passes and shot, while moving. Very slick!
My penalty was probably fair enough, though I didn't think so at the time. I was called for interference after brushing off and down Dan Luke as he collided with me from behind. He ended up on the floor as I skated off with the puck. At the time I just thought that 'he hit me first,' which he had, but didn't account for the fact that his collision hadn't been deliberate and I had kept my feet, while I had meant to contact him and he didn't keep his feet. Live and learn.
Speaking of Dan, he'll be a great skater as he seems to have his brother's speed and agility. It won't take him long if he practices and the Snipers will have two of the best skater's in the division. Josh gave me the strange experience of someone turning inside me, taking the puck, and then accelerating away quicker than I could catch them. Not only this, but I caught him at least once using a toe drag to make a blind pass. A challenge for sure to keep him in his box in future games!
I was directly involved in five goals and had a hand in a sixth.
GP 1 G 3 A 2 Pts 5 +6 1/0/0
Inline 56
Monday 12 October 2015
Game Day - Knights (4) d Generals (0)
On Thursday we played the late game at the Ice Arena, this time against one of the Division's new teams, the Generals. We had eleven skaters, down one from our first two games, and had Tommy between the pipes. We changed the structuring of our team by switching Jonesy and Cam back onto the D with Mitch and I, and running two offensive lines, one have rotating wings. Baden was our 1C, Richard led the second line. Justine was back and kept us honest.
It is the case with hockey that, if one doesn't record it immediately afterwards, the narrative of the game will be gone by the next day. What is left is impressions so that is what I'll try and capture later in this blog. First, though, a brief outline.
The first period was even on the scoreboard, 0-0. On the ice, however, it was a different story with the Knights massively outshooting the black team. I don't have a scorecard but we had about three shots on net in the first shift alone, I think they totalled one maybe two for the period. Second period was much the same in terms of shot differential, with the (major) exceptions being that they go NIL shots on net and we put in two goals. In the third period we cleaned up with two more scoring shots giving Tommy his first shut out for the season and continuing the horror which is the Generals first four games.
In terms of impressions - a fun game. With four D on our team it was a bit easier than the first two games. I will deal with the fitness metrics in a separate post that also draws data from other games. I was up to most of the conditioning related tasks (eg. push and shove, hold position, stick lifting, ability to sprint) and what I lacked in terms of ability or skill (eg speed and quickness against their first line) I made up for with positioning and reaction speed. The couple of times I got badly caught out my D partner or centre was on the case.
One of these episodes was entirely my fault. I occurred late in the first period when they iced the puck back into our zone. I was last man back and chased the puck until it hit the back board. I was still above our goal and gliding towards the skittering puck that was by now behind our goal when I realised that, firstly, the referee hadn't blown the whistle, and secondly, their fastest skater was powering around outside me and would get there first. I set off in pursuit but was too late to do anything more than drive him towards the other back corner and tie him up there while my D partner covered the net front against the cross pass. A scary moment.
I carried the puck from deep in our zone right through to the goal line late in the second period. I haven't done this before. I found clear ice by barging my way through a confused winger/D combination on our blue line. I got a bit too excited and the puck sort of leaked off my stick as I got close to goal. I ended up on the boards behind their net and had to race back to the point to defend the blue.
My main role was defending the blue lines (as it should be for a defender). I am able to say this as we didn't have to much defend our net or goalie too much, though they had a couple of deep penetrations these were the exceptions. Our team's play in the neutral zone and forechecking generally was really strong.
The one real battle royale in front of net was in the third, involved kicking the puck, clearing sticks, pushing out the opposition, manipulating my stick while falling to not bring anyone else down but still retain it, shielding the puck with body and feet, hammering the puck out of the danger zone and following through to prevent time for a shot. Great fun!
My youngest sister was over from Melbourne for the Masters Games which were on in Adelaide (she is a figure skater) and she was in the stands for the first two periods. It was great to be able to show her where I have gotten to in my development as a skater. After the game she said that I was one of the best three skaters on our team and don't have to worry about that front. She also said that I need to work on my stickhandling and puck work. I can't disagree with these observations!
I was on ice for 2 of our goals though played no direct role in either.
After the game had a dip in the pool (closest thing I have to an ice bath) as this apparently improves muscle recovery rates. I did this to start getting ready for the inline game I was to play on Saturday.
GP 3 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 -1 2/0/1/0
Ice 42
It is the case with hockey that, if one doesn't record it immediately afterwards, the narrative of the game will be gone by the next day. What is left is impressions so that is what I'll try and capture later in this blog. First, though, a brief outline.
The first period was even on the scoreboard, 0-0. On the ice, however, it was a different story with the Knights massively outshooting the black team. I don't have a scorecard but we had about three shots on net in the first shift alone, I think they totalled one maybe two for the period. Second period was much the same in terms of shot differential, with the (major) exceptions being that they go NIL shots on net and we put in two goals. In the third period we cleaned up with two more scoring shots giving Tommy his first shut out for the season and continuing the horror which is the Generals first four games.
In terms of impressions - a fun game. With four D on our team it was a bit easier than the first two games. I will deal with the fitness metrics in a separate post that also draws data from other games. I was up to most of the conditioning related tasks (eg. push and shove, hold position, stick lifting, ability to sprint) and what I lacked in terms of ability or skill (eg speed and quickness against their first line) I made up for with positioning and reaction speed. The couple of times I got badly caught out my D partner or centre was on the case.
One of these episodes was entirely my fault. I occurred late in the first period when they iced the puck back into our zone. I was last man back and chased the puck until it hit the back board. I was still above our goal and gliding towards the skittering puck that was by now behind our goal when I realised that, firstly, the referee hadn't blown the whistle, and secondly, their fastest skater was powering around outside me and would get there first. I set off in pursuit but was too late to do anything more than drive him towards the other back corner and tie him up there while my D partner covered the net front against the cross pass. A scary moment.
I carried the puck from deep in our zone right through to the goal line late in the second period. I haven't done this before. I found clear ice by barging my way through a confused winger/D combination on our blue line. I got a bit too excited and the puck sort of leaked off my stick as I got close to goal. I ended up on the boards behind their net and had to race back to the point to defend the blue.
My main role was defending the blue lines (as it should be for a defender). I am able to say this as we didn't have to much defend our net or goalie too much, though they had a couple of deep penetrations these were the exceptions. Our team's play in the neutral zone and forechecking generally was really strong.
The one real battle royale in front of net was in the third, involved kicking the puck, clearing sticks, pushing out the opposition, manipulating my stick while falling to not bring anyone else down but still retain it, shielding the puck with body and feet, hammering the puck out of the danger zone and following through to prevent time for a shot. Great fun!
My youngest sister was over from Melbourne for the Masters Games which were on in Adelaide (she is a figure skater) and she was in the stands for the first two periods. It was great to be able to show her where I have gotten to in my development as a skater. After the game she said that I was one of the best three skaters on our team and don't have to worry about that front. She also said that I need to work on my stickhandling and puck work. I can't disagree with these observations!
I was on ice for 2 of our goals though played no direct role in either.
After the game had a dip in the pool (closest thing I have to an ice bath) as this apparently improves muscle recovery rates. I did this to start getting ready for the inline game I was to play on Saturday.
GP 3 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 -1 2/0/1/0
Ice 42
Thursday 8 October 2015
Knights Trainings with Neil
Last Thursday Neil held the Knights training session due Justine's absence. Seven knights plus our goalie turned up, plus a handful of select others to make up the numbers. A reasonable amount of the time was spent on whiteboard, explaining some basic concepts that needed coverage. Also time spent on faceoffs, shooting technique, the passing game. I found most interesting the demonstrations on separating the puck from opposition players along the boards in our non checking league. Confirmed a few thoughts I have had, particularly about leading with the body in such situations and not the stick. The session was not high intensity, though there was a good ten minute shinny at the end which used up any excess energy.
Also interesting to me was that, after the session, I had one player tell me how it was an 'okay' session but too much talking and whiteboard, and not ten seconds later another player tell me that it was a 'great' session and it was really good to have a few things explained. To me, seems that different people benefit at different rates from different types of instruction. Thus Neil's didactic approach was attractive to some, Justines Kinesthetic approach to others. I like either.
On Sunday I and another Knight were one of several C graders who turned up at Neil's session for Justine's Div I team. This time it was we who were helping make up the numbers. The session was quite different to Thursdays (as one would expect). This session seemed more 'active', and certainly was more aimed at offensive tactics and skills. Mainly shooting, assistive passing, relative positioning in the offensive zone. Neil pointed out to me that my otherwise reasonable shooting would benefit from me aiming my body towards the goal more accurately as I take the shot.
I finally managed to get my HR monitor working properly for an ice session. As it again was not run specifically as a High Intensity session the readings don't quite reach the figures I believe I would have made with either Justine or at Inline but peak HR was still at 180 during the shinny at the end, averaged 135 through the whole hour.
Ice 40 & 41
Also interesting to me was that, after the session, I had one player tell me how it was an 'okay' session but too much talking and whiteboard, and not ten seconds later another player tell me that it was a 'great' session and it was really good to have a few things explained. To me, seems that different people benefit at different rates from different types of instruction. Thus Neil's didactic approach was attractive to some, Justines Kinesthetic approach to others. I like either.
On Sunday I and another Knight were one of several C graders who turned up at Neil's session for Justine's Div I team. This time it was we who were helping make up the numbers. The session was quite different to Thursdays (as one would expect). This session seemed more 'active', and certainly was more aimed at offensive tactics and skills. Mainly shooting, assistive passing, relative positioning in the offensive zone. Neil pointed out to me that my otherwise reasonable shooting would benefit from me aiming my body towards the goal more accurately as I take the shot.
I finally managed to get my HR monitor working properly for an ice session. As it again was not run specifically as a High Intensity session the readings don't quite reach the figures I believe I would have made with either Justine or at Inline but peak HR was still at 180 during the shinny at the end, averaged 135 through the whole hour.
Ice 40 & 41
Saturday 3 October 2015
Game Day - Knights (5) d Storm (4) SO
Three nights after our first game we were back on the ice for a late Sunday game against the Storm. They are essentially last year's runners up Redwings team against whom we'd had no success. Our team was unchanged from our win against the Kings, the only exception being that Justine wasn't there to coach so Christian filled in for her and managed the bench. We ran the same lines.
The score was 2-2 at the first break, 3-2 at the second. We got out to a 4-2 lead midway through the last period, but they chopped that back to 4-4 on the siren. We went to a shoot out, in which Baden popped the first shot in and the goalies cleaned up the rest to give us the win.
I was on for two of our goals and three of theirs. The goals they scored on 'me' were all from very close in. Two of them were strong and we were just outplayed by their guns. The third was a bit lucky as their third forward tottered in while everyone else was on the ice and scrambling and just tapped it across beyond my reaching stick. I felt less to blame for their goals than I had on the ones against the Kings.
I used my feet at least four times in this game, generally in keeping the puck in their zone but on at least one occasion playing soccer in front of our net to drive the puck out of the danger zone.
I felt like I played better, particularly making smoother changes with my D partners and getting to the point when we were on the attack. It took me a little while to figure out how I could shut off their star forwards but by the third period I had their defensive measure.
The last play of the night, a D Zone faceoff with about 20 seconds on the clock and the Storm in the ascendancy after tying up the score not long before, was probably my most significant. I was guarding the slot against a straying centre, the puck went back into my corner, I could see their gun winger steaming in for it (faster and stronger than me) as I moved towards it. I realised that he'd get their first if I didn't hammer it. I put my fatigue aside and managed to get a fast three steps in to tie it up, force him around behind the net as I fell back to the post. He tried to sneak back and forced him down. He was on his belly at the side of the net and I was on my knees at the post when the siren went off. We both knew it had been a close run thing. In past seasons I think he would have beat me.
This was a hard game and a good win. I was reaching my limit physically by the end of the third period but kept formation a bit better than many of our team (we often had one forward getting deep and no-one to pass to). Perhaps I need to move into puck support / potential forecheck positioning more rapidly in the fatigued moments?
I had one minor injury which I only discovered after the game. There was a small cut/graze on the outwards side of my left forearm, right between where glove and elbow pad almost meet. I assume a stray puck or stick got me there at some time. No drama.
GP 2 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 -3 1/0/1
Ice 39
The score was 2-2 at the first break, 3-2 at the second. We got out to a 4-2 lead midway through the last period, but they chopped that back to 4-4 on the siren. We went to a shoot out, in which Baden popped the first shot in and the goalies cleaned up the rest to give us the win.
I was on for two of our goals and three of theirs. The goals they scored on 'me' were all from very close in. Two of them were strong and we were just outplayed by their guns. The third was a bit lucky as their third forward tottered in while everyone else was on the ice and scrambling and just tapped it across beyond my reaching stick. I felt less to blame for their goals than I had on the ones against the Kings.
I used my feet at least four times in this game, generally in keeping the puck in their zone but on at least one occasion playing soccer in front of our net to drive the puck out of the danger zone.
I felt like I played better, particularly making smoother changes with my D partners and getting to the point when we were on the attack. It took me a little while to figure out how I could shut off their star forwards but by the third period I had their defensive measure.
The last play of the night, a D Zone faceoff with about 20 seconds on the clock and the Storm in the ascendancy after tying up the score not long before, was probably my most significant. I was guarding the slot against a straying centre, the puck went back into my corner, I could see their gun winger steaming in for it (faster and stronger than me) as I moved towards it. I realised that he'd get their first if I didn't hammer it. I put my fatigue aside and managed to get a fast three steps in to tie it up, force him around behind the net as I fell back to the post. He tried to sneak back and forced him down. He was on his belly at the side of the net and I was on my knees at the post when the siren went off. We both knew it had been a close run thing. In past seasons I think he would have beat me.
This was a hard game and a good win. I was reaching my limit physically by the end of the third period but kept formation a bit better than many of our team (we often had one forward getting deep and no-one to pass to). Perhaps I need to move into puck support / potential forecheck positioning more rapidly in the fatigued moments?
I had one minor injury which I only discovered after the game. There was a small cut/graze on the outwards side of my left forearm, right between where glove and elbow pad almost meet. I assume a stray puck or stick got me there at some time. No drama.
GP 2 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 -3 1/0/1
Ice 39
Game Day - Knights (3) d Kings (2)
We had 12 skaters (of whom 5 were rookies in their first game), Tommy was in the goals and Justine was calling shots. We started with 3 Defencemen and 3 forward lines, with Cam and Foxy taking on centre roles.
Jonesy - Bayden - Richard
Stewart - Cam - Griff
Kerri - Foxy - Ashley
Mike / Bacon / Me
Tommy
These warning signs were proven founded when the Kings scored off an early D zone face off caused by an icing I'd made in clearing the zone. The shot was from their outside wing, who was my man. Even if I'd been moving quicker, however, the shot would have been set up and off before I got there. What didn't help also was that one of our players managed to get a slight deflection on the puck as it went past him. This was probably sufficient to send the puck through the narrow gap I could see between Tommy's pads (I watched it good into the back of the net). Such is life.
We equalised not much later and went into the first break 1-1.
The second period was tight. We picked up two goals to be leading 3-1.
Third period and the pressure stayed on. They pulled back a late goal but we were able to see the game out with a cheer as we recorded our first win of the year.
It was really good to be back on the ice as a Knight. I held up much better than I thought I would to the demands of being one of only three defencemen. I pulled at least my time on ice, including on the Power Play, making for about 40 minutes. Those are huge minutes in anyone's book, but I felt my body held up well. There were a few positional things I had to get hold of, but Bacon guided me through the worst of them.
I managed a couple shots from the blue line, and a third that could be classified as a shot if you didn't know I was just hammering it in there. I was generally able to keep the puck in the O zone, didn't panic when I had it, was able to compete on the boards most of the time. I used my feet on something like four occasions, all productive. Once when I went over I used my prone body to shield the puck from my opponent so my centre could pick it up and continue the attack. The only time I went deep into the offensive zone was on the Power Play (ie. when I should have). I even did something that in past I have not been good at, use my stick to tap an airborne puck down to the ice so that I could release it on a controlled pass towards the net.
I was on for both of their goals and none of ours, but aren't too worried about that. On the first I was in a useless position as it turned out on the D Zone faceoff, not a decision of mine. On the second, I was last line defence and had a couple chances to clear the puck on its journey in. My skills weren't up to it but at least I was in the right position.
Finally, my sister and her family (husband and four boys) were down for the week from Melbourne and had come along for the game. Added to my grandkids from Adelaide, wife and daughter in law I had a quite a cheersquad. Especially in the later part of the game when they started chanting my name. Everyone should have the feeling of having a cheersquad rooting them on, it's fantastic!
GP 1 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 -2 1/0/0
Ice 38
Wednesday 30 September 2015
Endings - Wheelers and Pre-Season
The winter inline season and my Pre (ice hockey) season ended within a few days of each other. The summer inline season starts with training on the 7th of October and the first game on the 10th. That's all within sixteen days. Events have already got away from me as I post this (2 unblogged Knights games) so the reader will have to forgive me if this review of what has been is not as in-depth a post as it ideally should be.
Endings I - Wheelers Winter Season
We lost in the Grand Final against our Divisional foes, the Bumpers. This was not only the end of the season but also the end of the current team formations. This is because this Summer we are being encouraged to form our own teams, choose our own names, select our own jerseys (more on that later). The organisers are of the belief that the Division has matured enough to allow for self formed teams (rather than centralised drafting for need). As such, it seems appropriate to look back.
In the season just passed we fielded six skaters more often than not. This was a major change from the past. Our lines stabilised by the playoffs, albeit not entirely due on rink performance (a consequence of having two family groups, each with their own internal issues to juggle). In this regard, the stats of Josh and Crystal look very good offensively but that was to at least some extent a result of putting our best defence with them (Merrilyn). In goal, after a bit of chaos initially we settled in with Nicole between the pipes. I think she was finding her game by season end.
In the longer term, I have played 48 games with the Wheelers across four seasons during which I went to four grand finals, won gold once and received an MVP. My regular season stats have steadily improved over time but my post season stats remain woeful.
Regular Season Post Season
GP G A Pt PPG
13/14 Summer C Grade Wheelers 5 3 1 4 0.8 (3/1/0/1 0.33) Silver
14 Winter DivII Wheelers 10 8 7 15 1.5 (2/0/0/0 0.00) Gold MVP
14/15 Summer Div II Wheelers 12 12 8 20 1.67 (2/1/0/1 0.50) Silver
15 Winter Div II Wheelers 12 11 14 25 2.08 (2/0/1/1 0.50) Silver
Endings II - Ice Hockey Pre-Season
After a false start I began an off-season strength and conditioning program on July 1st. I kept to my schedule pretty well for the first month, and then maintained an acceptable level of commitment through to the start of the season. I had noticeable gains in leg, core and upper body strength, aerobic capacity and anaerobic performance, quickness and agility. As the program wore through its second and into the third month I derived a great deal of satisfaction from my commitment itself, the activities themselves and the almost daily challenges such a program poses.
At the end of eleven weeks I was regularly going for a run, interval training, using a HR monitor (thanks Jess for the loan!) and pushing weights (again, thanks Jess!). To a limited extent I'll be bringing all of these activities forward into the season proper, for both their game specific values AND the intrinsic pleasure I derive from them in themselves. Who would have guessed it?
As to the value of the program, it was well worth it! I had a small amount of weight gain (a primary goal of mine for years) and increased performance on many health related indicators. Perhaps more importantly, the value has already shown itself in my inline games and the first two games of the ice hockey season. They show themselves particularly in the following ways...
Increased ability to skate a shift and a game out
Better decision making through a game (due being less fatigued)
Decreased recovery time between both shifts and games
Greater strength along the board and in the crease
Quicker and faster
Increased confidence.
Greater knowledge about my own and other's bodies and physical capacity
All in all, a great advance in both my hockey and life potential.
Endings I - Wheelers Winter Season
We lost in the Grand Final against our Divisional foes, the Bumpers. This was not only the end of the season but also the end of the current team formations. This is because this Summer we are being encouraged to form our own teams, choose our own names, select our own jerseys (more on that later). The organisers are of the belief that the Division has matured enough to allow for self formed teams (rather than centralised drafting for need). As such, it seems appropriate to look back.
In the season just passed we fielded six skaters more often than not. This was a major change from the past. Our lines stabilised by the playoffs, albeit not entirely due on rink performance (a consequence of having two family groups, each with their own internal issues to juggle). In this regard, the stats of Josh and Crystal look very good offensively but that was to at least some extent a result of putting our best defence with them (Merrilyn). In goal, after a bit of chaos initially we settled in with Nicole between the pipes. I think she was finding her game by season end.
In the longer term, I have played 48 games with the Wheelers across four seasons during which I went to four grand finals, won gold once and received an MVP. My regular season stats have steadily improved over time but my post season stats remain woeful.
Regular Season Post Season
GP G A Pt PPG
13/14 Summer C Grade Wheelers 5 3 1 4 0.8 (3/1/0/1 0.33) Silver
14 Winter DivII Wheelers 10 8 7 15 1.5 (2/0/0/0 0.00) Gold MVP
14/15 Summer Div II Wheelers 12 12 8 20 1.67 (2/1/0/1 0.50) Silver
15 Winter Div II Wheelers 12 11 14 25 2.08 (2/0/1/1 0.50) Silver
Endings II - Ice Hockey Pre-Season
After a false start I began an off-season strength and conditioning program on July 1st. I kept to my schedule pretty well for the first month, and then maintained an acceptable level of commitment through to the start of the season. I had noticeable gains in leg, core and upper body strength, aerobic capacity and anaerobic performance, quickness and agility. As the program wore through its second and into the third month I derived a great deal of satisfaction from my commitment itself, the activities themselves and the almost daily challenges such a program poses.
At the end of eleven weeks I was regularly going for a run, interval training, using a HR monitor (thanks Jess for the loan!) and pushing weights (again, thanks Jess!). To a limited extent I'll be bringing all of these activities forward into the season proper, for both their game specific values AND the intrinsic pleasure I derive from them in themselves. Who would have guessed it?
As to the value of the program, it was well worth it! I had a small amount of weight gain (a primary goal of mine for years) and increased performance on many health related indicators. Perhaps more importantly, the value has already shown itself in my inline games and the first two games of the ice hockey season. They show themselves particularly in the following ways...
Increased ability to skate a shift and a game out
Better decision making through a game (due being less fatigued)
Decreased recovery time between both shifts and games
Greater strength along the board and in the crease
Quicker and faster
Increased confidence.
Greater knowledge about my own and other's bodies and physical capacity
All in all, a great advance in both my hockey and life potential.
Monday 28 September 2015
Skating to the Smooth Sounds
On Wednesday night last week I went for a skate during public hours, seeing as A Grade hockey is over for the season and Wednesdays therefore return to being public scouting with Steve the DJ and his classic rock repertoire. There were about a half dozen youthful figure skaters doing their thing prior some competition and maybe a dozen or so other skaters who were there for (most) of the time I was.
It will get busier as people get used to Wednesday nights being open again so it was nice to take advantage of the relatively clear ice. I'd been a bit slack on my training in the final week of pre-season (ie. none) so I wanted to use the time as well I could to help me be ready as the first game of the season was the following night. As my most recent skating experience had been at the Inline Final four days earlier I thought some practice with my edges and basic skating techniques (as well as an implied Cardio Respiratory workout) was probably the best I could achieve.
So that's what I did for ninety minutes, concentrating particularly on recovery periods, pivots, stride technique and tight turns.
Was nice to be back on a Wednesday night again.
Ice 37
It will get busier as people get used to Wednesday nights being open again so it was nice to take advantage of the relatively clear ice. I'd been a bit slack on my training in the final week of pre-season (ie. none) so I wanted to use the time as well I could to help me be ready as the first game of the season was the following night. As my most recent skating experience had been at the Inline Final four days earlier I thought some practice with my edges and basic skating techniques (as well as an implied Cardio Respiratory workout) was probably the best I could achieve.
So that's what I did for ninety minutes, concentrating particularly on recovery periods, pivots, stride technique and tight turns.
Was nice to be back on a Wednesday night again.
Ice 37
Saturday 26 September 2015
Grand Final Game Day - Bumpers (7) d Wheelers (3)
The North Vikings Inline Hockey Club held its Grand Final extravaganza on Saturday. All games from U10 up except ours were one goal games. It was a great day, complete with flag, national anthem and a BBQ to keep the troops fed before the award presentations. Profits from the BBQ and attendant cake stall went towards sending a Viking squad to the Barmera spring tournament.
We had a full roster, with Nicole in goal. The Bumpers had their regular five with Matt the Goalie. We had home advantage. Game sheet is here. What is not reflected on the game sheet is the penalty shot given the Bumpers when Crystal got called for unsportsmanlike conduct after losing her stick and throwing her glove towards/at (?) Craig (Nicole stopped the shot).
I have below posted video of various moments in the game. I'll let it speak for itself. There are a couple things I'd like to clarify however. FIRSTLY, it was a closer game than the scoreline shows, though they did essentially outplay us and deserved their win. There were two 'own goals' (one from a backwards pass that wasn't expected, another from a puck blinded goalie) and one that was a total 'fluke' (cleared hard up the boards by Craig, rebounded all the way to the back of the net). Two goals were shorthanded. Add to this the fact that I hit the post without reward and you can see that it was a close game.
The SECOND thing that (especially in retrospect) was memorable was the good feelings evident both during and after the game, more smiles than not and lots of hard but fair competition. This despite the relatively large number of penalties (5 plus a penalty shot).
The Most Valuable Player in the game was judged to be Mel (Bumpers). You can see in the video that her defensive play was tenacious, and she ended up with 1-3-4 on the game which is pretty darn good!
As for me, I scored one assist and was -1 for the game. I had a quite a bit of energy left over at the end. I was happy with my play, generally speaking, though there were aspects that could do with improvement (aren't there always!).
Things that I was happy, or at least satisfied, with include my general positioning and defensive coverage, nice sweep check (not caught on video), hardness of shots on goal and in-the-slot positioning, the fact I'm constantly moving, fitness level.
Things that need improvement include regulating the power of my passes (how often did the puck arrive too far ahead of a player to be of any use?), being a little more assertive onto the puck defensively (ie. aim at breaking up plays and turning over possession rather than a policy of denial), more talk.
A fitting game to end a fun season.
We had a full roster, with Nicole in goal. The Bumpers had their regular five with Matt the Goalie. We had home advantage. Game sheet is here. What is not reflected on the game sheet is the penalty shot given the Bumpers when Crystal got called for unsportsmanlike conduct after losing her stick and throwing her glove towards/at (?) Craig (Nicole stopped the shot).
I have below posted video of various moments in the game. I'll let it speak for itself. There are a couple things I'd like to clarify however. FIRSTLY, it was a closer game than the scoreline shows, though they did essentially outplay us and deserved their win. There were two 'own goals' (one from a backwards pass that wasn't expected, another from a puck blinded goalie) and one that was a total 'fluke' (cleared hard up the boards by Craig, rebounded all the way to the back of the net). Two goals were shorthanded. Add to this the fact that I hit the post without reward and you can see that it was a close game.
The SECOND thing that (especially in retrospect) was memorable was the good feelings evident both during and after the game, more smiles than not and lots of hard but fair competition. This despite the relatively large number of penalties (5 plus a penalty shot).
The Most Valuable Player in the game was judged to be Mel (Bumpers). You can see in the video that her defensive play was tenacious, and she ended up with 1-3-4 on the game which is pretty darn good!
As for me, I scored one assist and was -1 for the game. I had a quite a bit of energy left over at the end. I was happy with my play, generally speaking, though there were aspects that could do with improvement (aren't there always!).
Things that I was happy, or at least satisfied, with include my general positioning and defensive coverage, nice sweep check (not caught on video), hardness of shots on goal and in-the-slot positioning, the fact I'm constantly moving, fitness level.
Things that need improvement include regulating the power of my passes (how often did the puck arrive too far ahead of a player to be of any use?), being a little more assertive onto the puck defensively (ie. aim at breaking up plays and turning over possession rather than a policy of denial), more talk.
A fitting game to end a fun season.
Sunday 20 September 2015
Off Season Day 81 - Week 11
Sep 13 Rest
Sep 14 Rest
Sep 15 Stickhandling, Run
Sep 16 Arms, Vikings Training
Sep 17 Run
Sep 18 Ice (sprints)
Sep 19 Wheelers Game
September 13 and 14 were rest days. Significantly warmer than we've had for months. On the 14th I was at the Ice Arena to watch the final period of the Bantams Grand Final before returning a Peewee jersey and then again in the evening to watch the opening game of the C grade season between the Kings and the Predators.
On September 15 I spent almost twenty minutes in the morning doing some stickhandling practice. Around midday I went for a run - 22 min, 55% in or above Zone 3, Avg HR 139, Max HR 169. It is interesting that I was 3 minutes quicker than the previous run, despite having 7 walking periods this time (was 4 last time). Again, I returned to running from walking mode as soon as HR dropped to 120. I was using my breathing as the guide to when I thought I was getting close to 120, and then looked at the wrist unit of my loaned HR monitor to fine tune the time of commencement of my running. which I was generally able to . I was feeling it in the calf muscles more severely than the other day, I suspect because I haven't been eating as much as I should have the last few days.
On September 16 I started the day with a change up in the Arms routine. I have now dropped the weight on the 'heavy' lifts to 4kg (plus 1kg for the bar) per dumb bell, and 2kg plus bar for the 'light' lifts, increased the number of reps to 15 per set and dropped recovery time between sets to 30 seconds. I did two circuits. Emphasis now has changed almost entirely to muscle endurance and power (previous weeks emphasised muscle building). All done in less than 20 minutes.
In the evening I went to Gawler for Vikings Training. I wore the heartrate monitor. Sadly, wiped the data not long after seeing it, but memory serves to say that I had 66 minutes of data, about 3% of time below Z1 and over 60% of time in or above Z3, Max HR 197(!) and Avg was 148. I put a lot of effort into the session, but recovered reasonably well when required and was still strong at the end (though the fading point wasn't far away). The monitor said I burned over 800 calories.
Drills included variants of 1 on 1 race/battle/shoot from prone, the game of building numbers from 1 on 1 to potentially 1 on 4, one with one passing/protection game, 4 on 4 shinny and red rover. A dozen skaters and one goalie. I got given some good advice about keeping my stick in front of me rather than to a side when protecting a puck from an opponent behind me.
On September 17 I went for a run in the late morning. Ran in spurts that took HR out to 155-165 then walked until dropped back to low 120s before running again. Recovery HR dropped about 20 per minute, fairly consistent. 22 min, 15 min (65%) Z 2&3, Avg 138, Max 166.
On September 18 I made up for getting too late to training the night before by getting the rink in the morning 7of an already busy day and putting in a half hour of drills, including a run of 5 line sprints with 2 min recovery periods. Probably 60 stops and pivots and half that of undercut takeoffs. Time 30 mins, 45% Z2, 5% Z3, avg HR 134, max HR 163.
On September 19 I took it easy until playing in the Vikings Div II Grand Final for the Wheelers (we lost 7-3). We kept to our line changes generally speaking, I double shifted only maybe twice (to take advantage of a Power Play and to work on the Penalty Kill). I didn't have a HR monitor on (I forgot to bring it) but was pulling my breathing down to the 120 level within the minute during each recovery period, had energy to spare for the needs of each shift, didn't hold back on pushing myself to the limit when required.
On fitness and conditioning scales, in other words, I have reached the pass mark. In terms of speed, I wasn't particularly aware of any failing. Similarly with strength battles, whether on the boards or over a puck (including against a significantly larger stronger opponent). Coped with knockdowns and slashing incidents well. Overall, I am happy with my level of preparation for the ice season.
Week 11 in summary: am starting to scale back on strength, aerobic and, in effect, agility training, increasing the proportion of time devoted to on-ice activity and anaerobic conditioning in particular. I failed to perform agility or speed exercises, so this will have to be commenced within Week 12 and I'll have to work on it during the early part of the season. Overall for Week 11, a yellow grade.
Inline 54 & 55
Ice 36
Sep 14 Rest
Sep 15 Stickhandling, Run
Sep 16 Arms, Vikings Training
Sep 17 Run
Sep 18 Ice (sprints)
Sep 19 Wheelers Game
September 13 and 14 were rest days. Significantly warmer than we've had for months. On the 14th I was at the Ice Arena to watch the final period of the Bantams Grand Final before returning a Peewee jersey and then again in the evening to watch the opening game of the C grade season between the Kings and the Predators.
On September 15 I spent almost twenty minutes in the morning doing some stickhandling practice. Around midday I went for a run - 22 min, 55% in or above Zone 3, Avg HR 139, Max HR 169. It is interesting that I was 3 minutes quicker than the previous run, despite having 7 walking periods this time (was 4 last time). Again, I returned to running from walking mode as soon as HR dropped to 120. I was using my breathing as the guide to when I thought I was getting close to 120, and then looked at the wrist unit of my loaned HR monitor to fine tune the time of commencement of my running. which I was generally able to . I was feeling it in the calf muscles more severely than the other day, I suspect because I haven't been eating as much as I should have the last few days.
On September 16 I started the day with a change up in the Arms routine. I have now dropped the weight on the 'heavy' lifts to 4kg (plus 1kg for the bar) per dumb bell, and 2kg plus bar for the 'light' lifts, increased the number of reps to 15 per set and dropped recovery time between sets to 30 seconds. I did two circuits. Emphasis now has changed almost entirely to muscle endurance and power (previous weeks emphasised muscle building). All done in less than 20 minutes.
In the evening I went to Gawler for Vikings Training. I wore the heartrate monitor. Sadly, wiped the data not long after seeing it, but memory serves to say that I had 66 minutes of data, about 3% of time below Z1 and over 60% of time in or above Z3, Max HR 197(!) and Avg was 148. I put a lot of effort into the session, but recovered reasonably well when required and was still strong at the end (though the fading point wasn't far away). The monitor said I burned over 800 calories.
Drills included variants of 1 on 1 race/battle/shoot from prone, the game of building numbers from 1 on 1 to potentially 1 on 4, one with one passing/protection game, 4 on 4 shinny and red rover. A dozen skaters and one goalie. I got given some good advice about keeping my stick in front of me rather than to a side when protecting a puck from an opponent behind me.
On September 17 I went for a run in the late morning. Ran in spurts that took HR out to 155-165 then walked until dropped back to low 120s before running again. Recovery HR dropped about 20 per minute, fairly consistent. 22 min, 15 min (65%) Z 2&3, Avg 138, Max 166.
On September 18 I made up for getting too late to training the night before by getting the rink in the morning 7of an already busy day and putting in a half hour of drills, including a run of 5 line sprints with 2 min recovery periods. Probably 60 stops and pivots and half that of undercut takeoffs. Time 30 mins, 45% Z2, 5% Z3, avg HR 134, max HR 163.
On September 19 I took it easy until playing in the Vikings Div II Grand Final for the Wheelers (we lost 7-3). We kept to our line changes generally speaking, I double shifted only maybe twice (to take advantage of a Power Play and to work on the Penalty Kill). I didn't have a HR monitor on (I forgot to bring it) but was pulling my breathing down to the 120 level within the minute during each recovery period, had energy to spare for the needs of each shift, didn't hold back on pushing myself to the limit when required.
On fitness and conditioning scales, in other words, I have reached the pass mark. In terms of speed, I wasn't particularly aware of any failing. Similarly with strength battles, whether on the boards or over a puck (including against a significantly larger stronger opponent). Coped with knockdowns and slashing incidents well. Overall, I am happy with my level of preparation for the ice season.
Week 11 in summary: am starting to scale back on strength, aerobic and, in effect, agility training, increasing the proportion of time devoted to on-ice activity and anaerobic conditioning in particular. I failed to perform agility or speed exercises, so this will have to be commenced within Week 12 and I'll have to work on it during the early part of the season. Overall for Week 11, a yellow grade.
Inline 54 & 55
Ice 36
Saturday 12 September 2015
Off Season Day 74 - Week 10
Sep 6 Rest
Sep 7 Stickhandling
Sep 8 Stickhandling, Ice (sprints)
Sep 9 Arms, Legs, Stickhandling
Sep 10 Rest
Sep 11 Ice (Sprints)
Sep 12 Stickhandling, Arms, Run
On September 6 I had another rest day. The previous two days had wiped me out. This almost continued through September 7, saved only by 15 minutes of stickhandling late in the evening after another busy day. Of hockey interest amongst the day's business was the fact that I came into possession of a heart rate monitor for use in training and attended registration/orientation for the upcoming C Grade season.
In the morning of September 8 I had another 15 minute stickhandling session, then went down the Ice Arena in the afternoon. I was down there for an hour and a half, but spent much of the time chatting with Rick (a fellow Viking who will be playing with the Blades in C Grade) as he got some new skates. I again drilled myself based upon Corey's class from the week before. I conducted four line sprints up the ice with two minute intervals between each thirty second sprint. I wore the HR monitor at the Arena. My peak HR was 167. Getting to know the equipment.
On September 9 I did strength circuits for arms and legs and fifteen minutes of stickhandling. Peak HR for arms circuit was 148, peak for legs was 137. Both were completed within 30 minutes.
September 10 was a rest day.
On September 11 I went to the Arena for a concentrated 40 minute session. Only had half the ice to work with as the other half was in use for hockey training (Ice Factor schools program). For my sprints I went from Red to Blue lines and vica versa. Six lengths were under 30 seconds, so I did seven (between 35s and 40s). I did five of these sprint circuits, two minute recovery periods. Spent approximately equal time for the remainder of the period on leg recovery and extensions during stride (forwards and backwards), transitions, pivots, stops, tight turns, cross unders and backwards first steps. Peak HR was 173, avg was 133, 39% of time was spent in 'zone 3' of HR and 11% was above. Despite the higher intensity and density of the session I felt less exhausted afterwards than I have previously, so I guess it is having a conditioning effect.
On 12 September I started the day early with 15 minutes of stickhandling, shortly afterwards followed by a short (10 minutes) arms session. For the weights my heartrate averaged 111, maxed at 134, 1m30s in Zone 2. In the dusk I ran my old run - 25 minutes, 50% in Zone 3 or above (5%), average HR of 135, maxed at 161. Easing back into it as it's been 2 weeks since I last went running. Ran it easy, with four walks. During each walk I waited till breathing had returned to close to normal before setting off again (HR was between 116 and 123 when I felt comfortable with the breathing).
Week 10 summary: a yellow rating for this week, managed to pull it together due to my visits to the Ice Arena (with interval training) and run this afternoon. I didn't, sadly, get in any agility training, downgrading what would otherwise have been a green rating. The two big things that have happened were the confirmation that I am a Knight on Registration night and coming into possession of a heart rate monitor loaned me by Jess.
The Knights have a bye in the first week of the season, playing our first game on September 24. Which is almost two more weeks of preparation than I'd most recently thought would be the case. Have added two weeks to the sidebar off season schedule.
Ice 34 & 35
Sep 7 Stickhandling
Sep 8 Stickhandling, Ice (sprints)
Sep 9 Arms, Legs, Stickhandling
Sep 10 Rest
Sep 11 Ice (Sprints)
Sep 12 Stickhandling, Arms, Run
On September 6 I had another rest day. The previous two days had wiped me out. This almost continued through September 7, saved only by 15 minutes of stickhandling late in the evening after another busy day. Of hockey interest amongst the day's business was the fact that I came into possession of a heart rate monitor for use in training and attended registration/orientation for the upcoming C Grade season.
In the morning of September 8 I had another 15 minute stickhandling session, then went down the Ice Arena in the afternoon. I was down there for an hour and a half, but spent much of the time chatting with Rick (a fellow Viking who will be playing with the Blades in C Grade) as he got some new skates. I again drilled myself based upon Corey's class from the week before. I conducted four line sprints up the ice with two minute intervals between each thirty second sprint. I wore the HR monitor at the Arena. My peak HR was 167. Getting to know the equipment.
On September 9 I did strength circuits for arms and legs and fifteen minutes of stickhandling. Peak HR for arms circuit was 148, peak for legs was 137. Both were completed within 30 minutes.
September 10 was a rest day.
On September 11 I went to the Arena for a concentrated 40 minute session. Only had half the ice to work with as the other half was in use for hockey training (Ice Factor schools program). For my sprints I went from Red to Blue lines and vica versa. Six lengths were under 30 seconds, so I did seven (between 35s and 40s). I did five of these sprint circuits, two minute recovery periods. Spent approximately equal time for the remainder of the period on leg recovery and extensions during stride (forwards and backwards), transitions, pivots, stops, tight turns, cross unders and backwards first steps. Peak HR was 173, avg was 133, 39% of time was spent in 'zone 3' of HR and 11% was above. Despite the higher intensity and density of the session I felt less exhausted afterwards than I have previously, so I guess it is having a conditioning effect.
On 12 September I started the day early with 15 minutes of stickhandling, shortly afterwards followed by a short (10 minutes) arms session. For the weights my heartrate averaged 111, maxed at 134, 1m30s in Zone 2. In the dusk I ran my old run - 25 minutes, 50% in Zone 3 or above (5%), average HR of 135, maxed at 161. Easing back into it as it's been 2 weeks since I last went running. Ran it easy, with four walks. During each walk I waited till breathing had returned to close to normal before setting off again (HR was between 116 and 123 when I felt comfortable with the breathing).
Week 10 summary: a yellow rating for this week, managed to pull it together due to my visits to the Ice Arena (with interval training) and run this afternoon. I didn't, sadly, get in any agility training, downgrading what would otherwise have been a green rating. The two big things that have happened were the confirmation that I am a Knight on Registration night and coming into possession of a heart rate monitor loaned me by Jess.
The Knights have a bye in the first week of the season, playing our first game on September 24. Which is almost two more weeks of preparation than I'd most recently thought would be the case. Have added two weeks to the sidebar off season schedule.
Ice 34 & 35
Monday 7 September 2015
Off Season Day 67 - Week 9
Sep 3 Stickhandling, Arms, Knights Training
Sep 4 Rest
Sep 5 Rest
In the morning of 3 September I backed up my efforts from the day before with a rapid fire strength session. I kept recovery times to a minute or less between sets as the emphasis shifts from muscle building to endurance, and increasing the tempo of the actual lifts themselves (particularly adding an explosive push to full extension, rather than the more usual deceleration, as hockey is a game of explosive acceleration). Good session.
Followed this up with a fifteen minute stickhandling session. Still keeping it simple, concentrating on cupping the golfball as I move it either way through loops and figure eights, and where on the blade (ie toe or heel) it is held when I tap it away from or closer to my body. Again, persistence is paying off and am gaining a lot more control at moderate speed.
Finally, I went to a good Knights training session in the evening. Close to twenty people turned up, including two goalies. Was still skating strong at the end of the evening. Could really feel the positive impact of my training in a number of ways (eg. anaerobic energy recovery, strength in moving people off the puck). I'd also had my skates sharpened as one of them was blunt as shit, this made a huge difference and I am now able to keep within defence range of all but the most skilled opposition.
One of the goalies commented to me after the session that I was doing good at clearing the shooters away, if not the puck itself. Most hearteningly, I was connecting a lot more with simple poke checks and stick sweeps when in the D role. The pieces seem to be fitting together. Finally! Let's hope this translates into match play.
I then had two rest days on 4 and 5 September. This was not necessarily by choice. Rather, due the fact that I was flat chat busy on both days with kids and had neither time nor energy left over for hockey pursuits.
In summary, week 9 started strong but finished quietly and with an orange rating due failure to train on three days in total. Never the less, I kept up a significant effort for anaerobic and stickhandling/skill based work, which is where I should be at this point of pre-season.
Ice 33
Sep 4 Rest
Sep 5 Rest
In the morning of 3 September I backed up my efforts from the day before with a rapid fire strength session. I kept recovery times to a minute or less between sets as the emphasis shifts from muscle building to endurance, and increasing the tempo of the actual lifts themselves (particularly adding an explosive push to full extension, rather than the more usual deceleration, as hockey is a game of explosive acceleration). Good session.
Followed this up with a fifteen minute stickhandling session. Still keeping it simple, concentrating on cupping the golfball as I move it either way through loops and figure eights, and where on the blade (ie toe or heel) it is held when I tap it away from or closer to my body. Again, persistence is paying off and am gaining a lot more control at moderate speed.
Finally, I went to a good Knights training session in the evening. Close to twenty people turned up, including two goalies. Was still skating strong at the end of the evening. Could really feel the positive impact of my training in a number of ways (eg. anaerobic energy recovery, strength in moving people off the puck). I'd also had my skates sharpened as one of them was blunt as shit, this made a huge difference and I am now able to keep within defence range of all but the most skilled opposition.
One of the goalies commented to me after the session that I was doing good at clearing the shooters away, if not the puck itself. Most hearteningly, I was connecting a lot more with simple poke checks and stick sweeps when in the D role. The pieces seem to be fitting together. Finally! Let's hope this translates into match play.
I then had two rest days on 4 and 5 September. This was not necessarily by choice. Rather, due the fact that I was flat chat busy on both days with kids and had neither time nor energy left over for hockey pursuits.
In summary, week 9 started strong but finished quietly and with an orange rating due failure to train on three days in total. Never the less, I kept up a significant effort for anaerobic and stickhandling/skill based work, which is where I should be at this point of pre-season.
Ice 33
Thursday 3 September 2015
Off Season Day 64
Aug 30 Rest
Aug 31 Stickhandling, Agility
Sep 1 Ice, Stickhandling
Sep 2 Legs, Vikings Training
On August 30 I was getting over a long weekend and so made it my third rest day in a row. Not a regular practice (it gets harder to start up again with each day off) but it was nice to give the body a break as I enter the stretch period before the ice season starts.
On August 31 I started simple, with 20 minutes stickhandling in the morning and an opportunist chance to do some agility exercises during a quiet moment during an evening engagement (with no other opportunity to do more (such as Power & Edges) this was as good as it got - almost but not quite another day of rest).
On September 1 I started spring with 15 minutes of stickhandling and then went down the Ice Arena at midday for 45 minutes of concentrated effort. Went through all the basic technical points Corey had led us through the week before and then powered through three sets of line sprints for some conditioning training. A complete sprint set took 30s, I gave myself 2 1/2 minutes between each sprint set. It was easier to do than the previous occasion. Intention is to increase the number of sets and reduce the recovery times before season starts.
In the morning of September 2 I powered through my complete set of leg exercises (sans squats and lunges) in thirty minutes. Felt a lot better for it, noticed how I was able to complete full sets of everything (including 3 sets of 10 leg raises) with bare seconds between exercises to fit it in the time available, pleased.
In the evening I was at Gawler for resumption of Vikings training. There were only ten people there so it was a fairly free flowing but continual session. Shooting to start with, followed by variants of the house drill (with only two forwards and one chasing D, adding a backchecking D and passing elements), finishing with a expanding battle game that grew from 1 to 5 players per side depending how the game developed. Great fun.
Ice 32
Inline 53
Aug 31 Stickhandling, Agility
Sep 1 Ice, Stickhandling
Sep 2 Legs, Vikings Training
On August 30 I was getting over a long weekend and so made it my third rest day in a row. Not a regular practice (it gets harder to start up again with each day off) but it was nice to give the body a break as I enter the stretch period before the ice season starts.
On August 31 I started simple, with 20 minutes stickhandling in the morning and an opportunist chance to do some agility exercises during a quiet moment during an evening engagement (with no other opportunity to do more (such as Power & Edges) this was as good as it got - almost but not quite another day of rest).
On September 1 I started spring with 15 minutes of stickhandling and then went down the Ice Arena at midday for 45 minutes of concentrated effort. Went through all the basic technical points Corey had led us through the week before and then powered through three sets of line sprints for some conditioning training. A complete sprint set took 30s, I gave myself 2 1/2 minutes between each sprint set. It was easier to do than the previous occasion. Intention is to increase the number of sets and reduce the recovery times before season starts.
In the morning of September 2 I powered through my complete set of leg exercises (sans squats and lunges) in thirty minutes. Felt a lot better for it, noticed how I was able to complete full sets of everything (including 3 sets of 10 leg raises) with bare seconds between exercises to fit it in the time available, pleased.
In the evening I was at Gawler for resumption of Vikings training. There were only ten people there so it was a fairly free flowing but continual session. Shooting to start with, followed by variants of the house drill (with only two forwards and one chasing D, adding a backchecking D and passing elements), finishing with a expanding battle game that grew from 1 to 5 players per side depending how the game developed. Great fun.
Ice 32
Inline 53
Sunday 30 August 2015
Off Season Day 60
27 August Legs, Ice (tech/sprints), Stickhandling
28 August Rest
29 August Rest
August 27 began with a morning legs workout before breakfast. Brought back supine lateral leg lifts to the mix (ten each side for 5s) and traditional and figure four squats (sets of ten for the former, five each leg for the later).
In the afternoon I went down the Ice Arena for a fairly concentrated 45 minute session. I did the various drills Corey had led us through on Monday, with the addition of several repetitions of my (wide) lateral line drill and three line sprints as an anaerobic workout.
In the evening I spent about twenty minutes on a lino floor with golf ball and hockey stick. Am already noticing the difference in the softness of my hands and, correspondingly, in the increased degree of control of the ball.
I then went up country with the Missus on August 28 and 29. I took the opportunity to concentrate on what was happening around me in the world, didn't even think of hockey for a couple days, let alone maintain my off season program. As long as I get back into it sooner rather than later the break will do me no harm, and quite probably will add to my overall progress as I enter the final intense fortnight before the season starts.
Overall for Week 8 I think I did okay. I have given the week a 'yellow' rating because for once I ticked all of the boxes, albeit didn't really reach required level for either aerobic (only one run) or anaerobic (counted my ice line sprints, but still did no hardcore interval training) activity. It will be interesting if I can get back to green entries during the stretch.
Ice 31
28 August Rest
29 August Rest
August 27 began with a morning legs workout before breakfast. Brought back supine lateral leg lifts to the mix (ten each side for 5s) and traditional and figure four squats (sets of ten for the former, five each leg for the later).
In the afternoon I went down the Ice Arena for a fairly concentrated 45 minute session. I did the various drills Corey had led us through on Monday, with the addition of several repetitions of my (wide) lateral line drill and three line sprints as an anaerobic workout.
In the evening I spent about twenty minutes on a lino floor with golf ball and hockey stick. Am already noticing the difference in the softness of my hands and, correspondingly, in the increased degree of control of the ball.
I then went up country with the Missus on August 28 and 29. I took the opportunity to concentrate on what was happening around me in the world, didn't even think of hockey for a couple days, let alone maintain my off season program. As long as I get back into it sooner rather than later the break will do me no harm, and quite probably will add to my overall progress as I enter the final intense fortnight before the season starts.
Overall for Week 8 I think I did okay. I have given the week a 'yellow' rating because for once I ticked all of the boxes, albeit didn't really reach required level for either aerobic (only one run) or anaerobic (counted my ice line sprints, but still did no hardcore interval training) activity. It will be interesting if I can get back to green entries during the stretch.
Ice 31
Wednesday 26 August 2015
Off Season Day 57
Aug 23 Run, Agility, Stickhandling
Aug 24 Arms, Legs, Ice Power & Edges
Aug 25 Rest
Aug 26 Arms, Agility, Stickhandling
In the evening of August 23 I forced myself to get ready and go for a run. More of a wind than there has been before, still daylight, cool to cold. I hadn't ran for five days so I knew it wouldn't be the easiest. Which it wasn't, I had four walking periods of varied length which I used by being 'mindful' of the breathing/muscle/heart/brain interactions as I recovered for the next running phase. I did, however, push it harder during the actual running through the middle phases, reaching pretty high running speeds along the river, to the school and on the final short slope to home. Total time was 21 minutes.
After getting my breathing fully back I moved straight into a set of Agility exercises. I built up what I'd done last week except that I increased the reps to six for each set and kept count of my best score amongst those reps in each set. Will be interesting to measure the improvement now that the actual movements are pretty well secured in my neuromusculature.
Later in the evening I took the opportunity to do some stickhandling training during a twenty minute break between other, more domestic, activities. I limited myself to two 'sets' each of two simple drills. I will try to get the neuromuscular imprint fixed before working up the speed (treating this as an extension of agility training methodology).
The first drill involves facing a coffeetable from about 3 feet away, lay a hockey stick on the table edge with the grip end at my feet so as to form a diagonal obstacle between the edge of the table and my feet, then tap a golfball from one side of the obstacle to the other, performing whatever variants on the basic pattern I feel like doing at the time. This drill requires the upper hand to pull/push the stick through the relatively stationary lower hand to control the height of the blade off the ground.
The second drill has two tins on the ground about shoulder width apart and about 18" in front of me, using them to form various improvasitional deking patterns, again using the lower hand to both rotate the stick for forehand/backhand sides but also to raise and lower the stick through the lower hand depending upon where the golf ball is.
I did each drill for about two minutes, twice.
In the morning of August 24 I did an arms workout. 2 circuits of ten reps each set, 1 minute recoveries between sets. I backed this up with an almost full circuit of leg drills (minus lunges and squats, though I did Sumo Squats). In both legs and arms sessions I reached the stage of moderate fatigue by the end of most sets.
In the evening I went down the Ice Arena for a 'Power and Edges for Ice Hockey' session with Corey. Besides the technical side of things it was also a good anaerobic workout. A short slalom event of tight turns and stops, crossovers (lateral extensions and cross under), T starts (glides), outside edges, backwards take off and first step (cross under on first couple steps), transitions, several long 'sprints' around all the circles incorporating above, line sprints, balance, recovery, core strength. A good hour.
August 25 I declared a rest day.
August 26, in the morning I completed an arms workout paced by agility exercises during my 1 minute recovery periods, and then completed the agility circuit, with six reps per set. Have now added the wide variant to the lateral line drill, which is introducing distinct pylometric aspect to training.
In the evening I had about fifteen minutes stickhandling on the lino in the kitchen with a golf ball and my Bauer stick. The lino is conveniently marked out in a grid composed of 6" squares which makes it fairly easy to create standard (and not so standard) patterns designed to exercise the various technical components of the act of stickhandling.
Ice 30
Aug 24 Arms, Legs, Ice Power & Edges
Aug 25 Rest
Aug 26 Arms, Agility, Stickhandling
In the evening of August 23 I forced myself to get ready and go for a run. More of a wind than there has been before, still daylight, cool to cold. I hadn't ran for five days so I knew it wouldn't be the easiest. Which it wasn't, I had four walking periods of varied length which I used by being 'mindful' of the breathing/muscle/heart/brain interactions as I recovered for the next running phase. I did, however, push it harder during the actual running through the middle phases, reaching pretty high running speeds along the river, to the school and on the final short slope to home. Total time was 21 minutes.
After getting my breathing fully back I moved straight into a set of Agility exercises. I built up what I'd done last week except that I increased the reps to six for each set and kept count of my best score amongst those reps in each set. Will be interesting to measure the improvement now that the actual movements are pretty well secured in my neuromusculature.
Later in the evening I took the opportunity to do some stickhandling training during a twenty minute break between other, more domestic, activities. I limited myself to two 'sets' each of two simple drills. I will try to get the neuromuscular imprint fixed before working up the speed (treating this as an extension of agility training methodology).
The first drill involves facing a coffeetable from about 3 feet away, lay a hockey stick on the table edge with the grip end at my feet so as to form a diagonal obstacle between the edge of the table and my feet, then tap a golfball from one side of the obstacle to the other, performing whatever variants on the basic pattern I feel like doing at the time. This drill requires the upper hand to pull/push the stick through the relatively stationary lower hand to control the height of the blade off the ground.
The second drill has two tins on the ground about shoulder width apart and about 18" in front of me, using them to form various improvasitional deking patterns, again using the lower hand to both rotate the stick for forehand/backhand sides but also to raise and lower the stick through the lower hand depending upon where the golf ball is.
I did each drill for about two minutes, twice.
In the morning of August 24 I did an arms workout. 2 circuits of ten reps each set, 1 minute recoveries between sets. I backed this up with an almost full circuit of leg drills (minus lunges and squats, though I did Sumo Squats). In both legs and arms sessions I reached the stage of moderate fatigue by the end of most sets.
In the evening I went down the Ice Arena for a 'Power and Edges for Ice Hockey' session with Corey. Besides the technical side of things it was also a good anaerobic workout. A short slalom event of tight turns and stops, crossovers (lateral extensions and cross under), T starts (glides), outside edges, backwards take off and first step (cross under on first couple steps), transitions, several long 'sprints' around all the circles incorporating above, line sprints, balance, recovery, core strength. A good hour.
August 25 I declared a rest day.
August 26, in the morning I completed an arms workout paced by agility exercises during my 1 minute recovery periods, and then completed the agility circuit, with six reps per set. Have now added the wide variant to the lateral line drill, which is introducing distinct pylometric aspect to training.
In the evening I had about fifteen minutes stickhandling on the lino in the kitchen with a golf ball and my Bauer stick. The lino is conveniently marked out in a grid composed of 6" squares which makes it fairly easy to create standard (and not so standard) patterns designed to exercise the various technical components of the act of stickhandling.
Ice 30
Game Day - Wheelers (5) d Bumpers (4) - Finals Rd 1
We started our finals campaign last night with an intense one goal win over the Bumpers.
The winner would go direct to the Grand Final on September 19. Whoever lost this game would have to win an elimination game on September 6 against the winner of the game which followed ours (between the Rockers and Shufflers (Rockers won)) if they were to get there. The winner of this first round would also have home rink advantage in the final (ie. able to change lines second at stoppages).
We had a full roster of Wheelers and Nicole between the pipes. The Bumpers had four skaters, with Jana on IR due an upper body injury (received last week while playing up in Div I) and Kylie off to see her beloved Crows at Adelaide Oval. They had Ashley as a fourth skater and Matt the Goalie in goals.
Our first line was composed of Crystal, Luke and Merrilyn. Brenton, Natasha and I formed the second line. The game featured frequent stoppages with few exceptionally long unbroken periods and practically no changes on the fly. The lines themselves seemed to work well and we were all able to keep up a complete effort till the final siren. The fact that the Bumpers only had four skaters and, due a major penalty, were then reduced to three with almost ten minutes to go (ie. no-one on the bench) certainly helped us on the night but I think that we would have coped just as well physically if they had had full lines (judging by the good condition we were still in at the end of the game).
The first couple shifts were pretty even. That changed on the third, when Mel put one in for them from fairly close (deflecting in off of one of our players), and a minute later when Craig was given too much time and space near the centre line on the left flank and set up a crunching wrist shot that found a clear lane past all three of our skaters as it dipped and curved into the top left hand corner of the net. A slashing penalty on Craig shortly afterwards didn't help our cause, and it took a single handed effort on Josh's part to score an unassisted goal and give us some hope as half time closed in.
We had three OZ faceoffs in the last thirty seconds of the first half. We won all three and all ended in smothered shots on net. I took the last face off, chipped it forward and burst past my opponent's sticks to rush the net with puck on stick, only to have Matt collapse himself onto the puck and hold it down until the half time siren whistled. We were down 1-2.
The second half was one of the hardest periods of hockey I've yet played. Josh opened the scoring off a pass from Merrilyn a couple minutes in to even the score, only to have Craig drop an impossible shot in from the corner a minute later. Two minutes later Josh put in another equaliser, this time off a pass by Crystal, and the score was 3-3. From our bench you could see them beginning to tire.
At this point the game got a bit stupid when a bit of verbal broke out on the rink. I'm not sure exactly who started it nor over what the initial dispute was, but it resulted in an 2 minute minor against the Bumpers. This was compounded shortly after by an initial refusal to leave the rink by the affected player, then by some bad mouthing of the referee, hurling of equipment and storming out of the barn. This last resulted in a five minute major being levied.
While the theatrics played themselves out near the other team's bench we clustered around our gate, resolved to remain focused, make the most of our advantage. Which we did with a power play goal a minute later (another score to Josh from a pass by Crystal).
At six minutes to go, the Bumpers called a time out to give their three skaters a chance to regather their breath. We used it to reaffirm our intention to keep talking, passing, short shifting and pressing our advantage.
In the next play, things were starting to get desperate for them, resulting in their bear of a player (Craig) yelling a warcry as he approached the puck on the boards near our bench. Not sure if his voice weapon was the culprit on its own or actual contact was made but Crystal went down and looked to be a bit in shock so I pulled her off on the fly and skated briefly with Merrilyn and Josh until the next whistle brought my own line mates out. Next play, Natasha is down the OZ and puts in the game winning goal.
The last couple minutes were crazy with the Bumpers running on pure adrenaline and desire and on the attack. This resulted in a single desperation goal from Mel, but there was nothing left in their tank during the final minute and we skated out winners 5-4.
My game was as good as its been in a puck possession sense, not surrendering any loose pucks without a massive struggle, pushing hard against their snipers in the neutral zone, kicking and scrapping on the boards to ensure forward motion, charging the net from the faceoff. In my shotblock attempts I managed to make at least two minor deflections that probably weren't noticed by anyone but were sufficient to tip the puck over the net. Had a couple comments made to me after the game about an apparent increase in my speed on the night (an artifact of skating practice at the Ice Arena the day before?).
Again, no points in a playoff game for me but, again, a valuable backup role and good last line player.
We go straight through to the Grand Final on September 19. The Bumpers will have to beat the Rockers in the Semifinal next week if we are to complete a best of three end of season series against them. We'll have to increase our intensity another notch if we wish to repeat this performance.
Inline 52
The winner would go direct to the Grand Final on September 19. Whoever lost this game would have to win an elimination game on September 6 against the winner of the game which followed ours (between the Rockers and Shufflers (Rockers won)) if they were to get there. The winner of this first round would also have home rink advantage in the final (ie. able to change lines second at stoppages).
We had a full roster of Wheelers and Nicole between the pipes. The Bumpers had four skaters, with Jana on IR due an upper body injury (received last week while playing up in Div I) and Kylie off to see her beloved Crows at Adelaide Oval. They had Ashley as a fourth skater and Matt the Goalie in goals.
Our first line was composed of Crystal, Luke and Merrilyn. Brenton, Natasha and I formed the second line. The game featured frequent stoppages with few exceptionally long unbroken periods and practically no changes on the fly. The lines themselves seemed to work well and we were all able to keep up a complete effort till the final siren. The fact that the Bumpers only had four skaters and, due a major penalty, were then reduced to three with almost ten minutes to go (ie. no-one on the bench) certainly helped us on the night but I think that we would have coped just as well physically if they had had full lines (judging by the good condition we were still in at the end of the game).
The first couple shifts were pretty even. That changed on the third, when Mel put one in for them from fairly close (deflecting in off of one of our players), and a minute later when Craig was given too much time and space near the centre line on the left flank and set up a crunching wrist shot that found a clear lane past all three of our skaters as it dipped and curved into the top left hand corner of the net. A slashing penalty on Craig shortly afterwards didn't help our cause, and it took a single handed effort on Josh's part to score an unassisted goal and give us some hope as half time closed in.
We had three OZ faceoffs in the last thirty seconds of the first half. We won all three and all ended in smothered shots on net. I took the last face off, chipped it forward and burst past my opponent's sticks to rush the net with puck on stick, only to have Matt collapse himself onto the puck and hold it down until the half time siren whistled. We were down 1-2.
The second half was one of the hardest periods of hockey I've yet played. Josh opened the scoring off a pass from Merrilyn a couple minutes in to even the score, only to have Craig drop an impossible shot in from the corner a minute later. Two minutes later Josh put in another equaliser, this time off a pass by Crystal, and the score was 3-3. From our bench you could see them beginning to tire.
At this point the game got a bit stupid when a bit of verbal broke out on the rink. I'm not sure exactly who started it nor over what the initial dispute was, but it resulted in an 2 minute minor against the Bumpers. This was compounded shortly after by an initial refusal to leave the rink by the affected player, then by some bad mouthing of the referee, hurling of equipment and storming out of the barn. This last resulted in a five minute major being levied.
While the theatrics played themselves out near the other team's bench we clustered around our gate, resolved to remain focused, make the most of our advantage. Which we did with a power play goal a minute later (another score to Josh from a pass by Crystal).
At six minutes to go, the Bumpers called a time out to give their three skaters a chance to regather their breath. We used it to reaffirm our intention to keep talking, passing, short shifting and pressing our advantage.
In the next play, things were starting to get desperate for them, resulting in their bear of a player (Craig) yelling a warcry as he approached the puck on the boards near our bench. Not sure if his voice weapon was the culprit on its own or actual contact was made but Crystal went down and looked to be a bit in shock so I pulled her off on the fly and skated briefly with Merrilyn and Josh until the next whistle brought my own line mates out. Next play, Natasha is down the OZ and puts in the game winning goal.
The last couple minutes were crazy with the Bumpers running on pure adrenaline and desire and on the attack. This resulted in a single desperation goal from Mel, but there was nothing left in their tank during the final minute and we skated out winners 5-4.
My game was as good as its been in a puck possession sense, not surrendering any loose pucks without a massive struggle, pushing hard against their snipers in the neutral zone, kicking and scrapping on the boards to ensure forward motion, charging the net from the faceoff. In my shotblock attempts I managed to make at least two minor deflections that probably weren't noticed by anyone but were sufficient to tip the puck over the net. Had a couple comments made to me after the game about an apparent increase in my speed on the night (an artifact of skating practice at the Ice Arena the day before?).
Again, no points in a playoff game for me but, again, a valuable backup role and good last line player.
We go straight through to the Grand Final on September 19. The Bumpers will have to beat the Rockers in the Semifinal next week if we are to complete a best of three end of season series against them. We'll have to increase our intensity another notch if we wish to repeat this performance.
Inline 52
Sunday 23 August 2015
Off Season Day 53 - Week 7 Summary
Aug 21 Ice
Aug 22 Wheelers Game
On August 21 I went down to the Arena for an hour's skate in the afternoon. Had half the ice due Ice Factor team practice on the other half. Shared the space with a couple figure skaters. I spent about ten minutes in recovery time.
Individual drills which I did were sideways walking, stops, first 'stride' backwards, first stride from transition (backwards to forwards), power stride recovery action, pivots. Most technical was the exit from forwards transition onto the left leg. Most measurable gain was power stride recovery. Least satisfactory were the pivots.
On August 22 I played in the Wheelers' Round 1 win in winter season finals. We played with six skaters and thus were able to avoid double shifting. Had a lot of energy left in the tank for the final minutes, could have played out another period. Very physical game where strength on puck came into it, leg and core up to the task. Several comments afterwards about apparent increase in my 'speed'. I didn't think this while playing.
What was noticeable to me, however, was that I spent more of my time in a 'high energy state' than is usual (ie. race to shut down uncontested space, open up a lane, etc). This elevation in intensity came about due to increase in ability (physical strength and first step technique) as well as willingness to do so (no holding back energy for potential double shift, fact it was a final), wasn't an increase in speed per se. That's what I think, anyway.
Week 7 Summary
I have only given myself an 'orange' rating for this past week. Again, I didn't make quota on anaerobic conditioning (interval training) nor on Off Ice Technique (stickhandling). I did make the cut on everything else, however, which wasn't too bad considering it was a rather busy week.
Ice 29
Aug 22 Wheelers Game
On August 21 I went down to the Arena for an hour's skate in the afternoon. Had half the ice due Ice Factor team practice on the other half. Shared the space with a couple figure skaters. I spent about ten minutes in recovery time.
Individual drills which I did were sideways walking, stops, first 'stride' backwards, first stride from transition (backwards to forwards), power stride recovery action, pivots. Most technical was the exit from forwards transition onto the left leg. Most measurable gain was power stride recovery. Least satisfactory were the pivots.
On August 22 I played in the Wheelers' Round 1 win in winter season finals. We played with six skaters and thus were able to avoid double shifting. Had a lot of energy left in the tank for the final minutes, could have played out another period. Very physical game where strength on puck came into it, leg and core up to the task. Several comments afterwards about apparent increase in my 'speed'. I didn't think this while playing.
What was noticeable to me, however, was that I spent more of my time in a 'high energy state' than is usual (ie. race to shut down uncontested space, open up a lane, etc). This elevation in intensity came about due to increase in ability (physical strength and first step technique) as well as willingness to do so (no holding back energy for potential double shift, fact it was a final), wasn't an increase in speed per se. That's what I think, anyway.
Week 7 Summary
I have only given myself an 'orange' rating for this past week. Again, I didn't make quota on anaerobic conditioning (interval training) nor on Off Ice Technique (stickhandling). I did make the cut on everything else, however, which wasn't too bad considering it was a rather busy week.
Ice 29
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