Fridge

Fridge

Tuesday 31 March 2015

Purple prose for the Blue and Orange

Edmonton won their third game in a row!  They haven't been victorious outside of Edmonton since some time last month.  And they haven't been winning much (at all(!)) against Western Conference teams all season.  With only six games left in the season and no playoffs for a record 9th year in a row the win probably doesn't mean a lot in the big picture unless you're a Colorado fan (they have a bare theoretical pathway to the playoffs if they win all their remaining games and others lose theirs).

Or an Oilers fan. It means a lot to us, especially those of us here in the antipodes.  Back in their native land, it has brought out the most extreme purple prose I've seen all season.  Here's an example...

We can’t look away from games of this magnitude. Indeed, they command a heightened alertness in our souls. We gaze deeply into them like some sort of change in the cosmos. A kind of eclipse over our lives.

Ken Price posting at Copper and Blue
 
What can I say but GO OILERS GO!

Monday 30 March 2015

Post season began yesterday...

I went down the Primary School in my inlines yesterday morning, the day after the Vikings Grand Final night, for my (now) usual three hundred shots at the netball goal post from the shooting circle.  Again, interspersed with a sequence of increasingly complex stickhandling drills, culminating the whole with a tired journey home up the hill.

Shooting stats were down on recent sessions, though still respectable in the bigger scheme.  Of greatest note was the fact that I potted eight in a row forward facing snapshots, a new record that doubled the previous highest 'scores in a row' on any type of shot.  This went along with the highest ever percentage of the bracket (ie of 25 shots) hitting the target (15).

Here's the numbers: 6/6/9/3, 5/5/15/2, 6/9/3/5 (22.8%)

For drills, I started with a few laps of the entire court, each way, carrying the puck on the end of my stick using only my left hand the whole way, deking it on the straights and holding it on the outside when turning.  This then morphed into figure eights across the court.  After the first set of shots, I lined up five pucks about two metres apart and then skated down the line and back, deking the puck on the right side of the body between the pucks when I went one way, and on the left side when I returned.  After the second set of shots I skated tight figure eights in the middle of the court, keeping the puck on the outside at all times.  After the third set I skated in between two pucks on the left boards and then between two more on an angle towards the 'house' before snapping a shot.

The stickhandling is improving, and the shots continue to be more settled in approach.  With the shooting, all bar one of the sets were consistently within an inch or two at most of the post, even though the number that hit was lower than recent norms.

*

I had planned to go down again today after work, taking advantage of the fine weather and this last week of daylight saving, but have a cricked neck from the way I slept last night and so had day of rest instead.  Hopefully tomorrow...

Inline 23

Sunday 29 March 2015

Grand Final Game Day - Rockers (5) d Wheelers (3)

Last night, we went down against the Rockers 5-3 in the Grand Final of the Div II Summer Competition at Gawler.  We had a full roster whereas they, for the second week in a row, had only four.  We had Jye in goals.  Half our team had had an equipment upgrade since we last played a fortnight ago, Brendon had new skates while Rick and I both had new bearings (Rick had new wheels as well).

It was a good game, with our team under siege from the duo of Craig and Paul from about the second shift onwards.  The shot clock was a massive 36-20 in their favour by the end of the game.  What was nice (in a way) was that their first goal was actually scored by Pauline Frank from close to the net off of a cross crease pass by Craig after he and Paul had split our defence wide open.  From the bench I could see it coming as they crossed the centre line.  We equalised two minutes later with a strong unassisted play by Rick, punching up the left board before sweeping into the centre in the high slot and putting the puck in the top corner.  It was apparently a goal he'd been thinking about all week.  There followed several minutes of tight play before they scored again with a Craig/Paul combination on the rush to put them ahead 2-1 at half time.

The second half started tight, and only grew tighter when Natasha tied up the score after receiving a pass from Krystal in the low slot, swiping the puck beneath the goalie's legs.  It was nearly ten minutes later before they responded with two goals in a minute, both coming off the stick of Paul and both from passes by Craig.  It was looking grim with five minutes to go when I grabbed a pass around the centre line, raced up the wing before cutting in and splitting the defence in front of goals, flicking it in for a high corner off my backhand that caught all except myself by surprise.  Lest hope arise, though, their deadly duo punched through a final goal to reinstate their two goal lead and skated out the final five minutes to emerge 5-3 victors.

My game was reasonable though not great.  I won most of my faceoffs, including the openers of each half.  Defensively I had them fairly well covered, although when I was on my own that meant taking the pass and leaving the shooter to Jye at times.  I was on the rink for one of their goals and one of ours, didn't create enough offensive opportunities to do much more.  I tipped a couple of their shots away from our goal, stickchecked to disrupt at least one otherwise open net shot of Craig's, forced Pauline away from the net as she carried it around behind to try and sweep it in on the open side, forced a rushing Craig wide onto the boards and then tied him up with stick and feet until I had to release my stick and block with my body position until help arrived.  In other words, I fulfilled the defensive part of my mission adquately but did not convert the above plays into chances for us as they effectively maintained possession on each occasion.

Part of the reason for this was because I got warnings from the ref on all the above occasions along the lines of 'keep your stick down' or 'pick up your stick.'  I don't think I was raising the stick above shoulder height at any of the relevant times, and didn't cross the line of legality, but I think this took me back inside myself and put a dampener on continued aggressive play - which had actually been my game plan for dealing with Paul and Craig.  I didn't have an 'option B' worked out beforehand, so the offensive side of my defence suffered accordingly.

Not blaming the ref, I WAS close to the line of being penalised.  Especially on the occasion when I used both hands on my stick to shield a rushing Paul around our goal post and was keeping contact on his side as he raced between net and board - I recall thinking I COULD have shoved him there as recompense for a deliberate cross check he'd done on Natasha earlier in the season (but chose not to, BEFORE the ref 'warned' me for my stick).

My other referee interaction was perhaps more direct, on four occasions chipping the puck to the board to get around an opponent and having it caught amongst the referee's feet instead.  I think that on each occasion bar one I managed to retrieve it, but the momentum had been lost on each occasion.  Sigh.

My passing was okay going forwards, but didn't direct our forwards sufficient.  Some players require it if a coordinated offence is to form itself.  I did attempt to 'reset' on several occasions by passing backwards to our D, it never ended happily as the pass often didn't find them due their not expecting it.  Me and Merrilyn continued to combine well going forward however.

I was pretty pleased with my goal, involving a very similar move to what I did down at the schoolyard a few times the night before (when tossing around for how I would take a penalty if it came to a shootout), swooping across the goal front about ten feet out, delay the shot until I appear past it, then flick the backhand in.  It was a nice feeling as I headed into the goal to be plotting my move and sliding into play with some degree of foresight.  Nice to feel the puck solid on the stick as I carried it through the pack (benefit of short drills over the past fortnight).  According to their goalie I put four shots onto net (though I only recall the one that went in).  He reckoned my other main chance was one that he only just managed to deflect with the point of his shoulder.

As the game wound down I spent too much time on the bench, considering I had energy left and the Rocker's legs were fading.  Perhaps more active bench management might have allowed us to put on more pressure but we didn't do it, continued with fairly even minutes to the final siren.  I think other teams would have skated their top line into exhaustion in a similar situation.    I can't feel too bad about this though, it is the Wheeler's way to give opportunity to all as a priority over winning at all costs.

So, a good clean game without penalties or angst, no superstars, and we got the silver.

My thoughts on the season and necessary directions for the future will be in a future post. For now, I just want to bask in the fact that I have made it through a summer of hockey seasons - 32 games in just under six months.  Well done me!

Inline 22

Saturday 28 March 2015

Pre Final Shootout Practice

Yesterday afternoon I went down the primary school for a final shooting session in the inlines before this afternoon's Grand Final at Gawler.  I was gone around seventy minutes, put through 300 shots in that time.  Before, in between, and after completing my circuits (100 each) I conducted separate stick handling drills.

- Skate in large figure eights around entire netball court, using only left hand to hold the stick and deke the puck in front of me, keeping it on the outside around the corners.
- Put five pucks in a line with about two metres between each, carry the puck in slalom through them, keeping puck on outside, each way, both one handed and with two.
- Put two pucks about two metres above the goal circle, about two metres apart, carry a puck in from the side at moderate speed, dodge between the two pucks and shoot at goal as emerge (both ways, ie forehand and backhand shots).
- Line up five pucks in a 'V' above the goal circle, with three pucks about a metre apart in a line towards the centre and then the last two pucks at an angle back towards the goal line at about a forty five degree angle, then skate up dodging between the pucks around the 120' angle and down through remaining pucks to have a shot at post from the side.

I ended the session by skating in from centre about ten times in a shootout simulation.  Lots of fails.  Decided in the end to come in at speed, dart to the left and flick in the backhand from the tight angle at the last moment.  I hit the post only once, on the last attempt.

My shots were 'average' for recent times, though much improved from in the past:

11/6/9/6, 7/12/5/5, 7/7/7/5 (29%)

Of note, this was the first time ever that I put four shots on a row on the post.  Twice!

Inline 21

Friday 27 March 2015

Wednesday skate, derby players, knee and family updates

Last night I went down the Ice Arena for the first time in a fortnight, enjoying a social skate with Jess and Craig.  There were quite a few people there, including a number of women who knew each other and who, despite all but one wearing blue house skates, all knew how to skate.  Their kneepads and wrist guards, not to mention the weird and dangerous looking powerslide stopping techniques of their leader, gave them away as inline skaters.  This was only confirmed by the fact that several wore, or had at least brought along, a pink tracksuit top with a roller derbyish team name on the back.  They stuck it out and weren't afraid to have a go.  We skaters are indeed a brave bunch.

I spent about 90 minutes evenly between highish speed laps, backwards and forwards edge work, tight turns and transitions in the corners, buzzing around chatting.  I tried to keep an awareness of my posture and stance throughout.  At the end of the session I felt I'd had good workout. 

Today, can feel at times a tiredness in the muscle structure linking above and below my right knee, but apart from that all is good.  It's been just on six months since I had my knee crashed while playing with the Knights.  I think it is strong enough now to cope with what I plan to do over winter in my 'off season' (though will still be playing inline hockey with the Vikings).

Jess is coming along in her inimitable fashion, making big breakthroughs in crossover and stopping technique.  A is apparently loving his lessons earlier in the day.  B's training with Pee Wee hockey starts next Thursday, and the season in less than a month.  I play my Grand Final on Saturday afternoon with the Wheelers, Jess played in a netball Grand Final on Monday night.  The Grand Final playoff series for C Grade Ice Hockey also happens over the weekend (Flyers won game 1 against the Redwings with an overtime goal).

It's a grand time of year.

Ice 22

Wednesday 25 March 2015

Crashing the 30% barrier

Yesterday after work I managed to get out on my inlines, grab my stick and pucks, and squeeze in a seventy minute session down at the local school before dusk settled in.  It was the most productive I've yet had in terms of shooting percentage.  I am beginning to get a 'flow' into the drill, catching the puck as it rebounds off the backstop concrete or the the goal and moving immediately into another shot.  It develops a rhythm all of its own.  I've definitely shifted up a gear in terms of accuracy, power and ease with my shooting in the past week or so.

Because of the time factor and my own level of fatigue after a long day I didn't do a lot of anything else, though did make a point of carrying the puck on my stick as I did big looping figure eights for a few minutes.

I'm hoping to get down there for another session on Friday afternoon.  I'll make a point of spending more time on my stickhandling as this will be what I expect will be needed most in the Grand Final on Saturday afternoon.

11/11/5/3, 10/10/9/1, 10/14/7/2 (31%)

Inline 20

Tuesday 24 March 2015

One Thousand Shots

Since I last blogged a skating episode I have been down to the primary school four times in my Vapors (on their new bearings) with stick and puck.  It's primarily shooting practice on 'my' own drill, sets of 25 shots from the netball circle at the target goal post..  I do it in rotating sets of different types of shot and tend to zero in on one or another aspect of shooting technique or mindset.

In between sets or 'circuits' (one hundred shots) I tend to do something totally different for a few minutes.  It might be a simple skating drill, stickhandling, shots from way out, dynamic snaps.  The only limit is my imagination.  I usually have no idea what I'm going to do for these drills when I arrive and tend to work it out as I go, though I do try to stick to a theme for the 3-5 drills I work into a session.

The skate home is almost all up hill, with the final climb being the steepest.  My benchmark has been 83 strides on this stretch.  Sometimes up to 90, sometimes as low as 79.  With the new bearings it was never higher than 79 and as low as 70.  This is partly due the fact that I am relatively healthy in playoff season and so am at a competitive peak, but is more due the new bearings.

The improvement in my skating due the new bearings became all of a sudden noticeable on the third session.  Maybe it took that long for the lubricant to achieve its functional status?  Whether or not that's the reason, it's added a bit of pace to my strides (especially as I need to use correct technique more at higher speeds to keep better control, adding to performance even more) and a lot of ease to my gliding (is good for energy conservation).  I've had to slightly change how I approach some of my skating.  I think it would be difficult to go back to my old 'precision' bearings.

For the record, here are my shooting results for the four days:

Tue 17 March    8/2/9/1, 8/10/6/2 (23%)
Wed 18 March   1/6/7/4, 6/7/9/7 (23.5%)
Sat 21March      7/3/10/5, 7/10/9/4, 7/11/9/4 (27.7%)
Sun 22 March    6/7/8/5, 7/10/9/6, 5/5/11/2 (27%)

It will be interesting to see how I go on the next thousand!

Inline 16-19.

Saturday 21 March 2015

Beards, and a (weak) Chuck Norris joke.

From Oilers Nation:


#77 MessyEH!

Wanye wrote:
DOES ANYONE ELSE CORRELATE EBERLES HOT STREAK TO HIS SEXY BEARD? PLEASE PROVIDE STATISTICAL PROOFS IN YOUR COMMENTS
A rugged beard creates 100% more awesomeness. This awesomeness transcends the galaxy, to effect everything.
14s beard is such a beard.They only come around once every 2 thousand years. Moses had such a beard. Jesus had a kick ass beard. Now one Jordan Eberle has found the power of the beard.
From ancient scripture
"One beard to rule them all, One beard to find them, One beard to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them."
Chuck Norris is jealous of Ebs epic beard right now.

I can only agree with the sentiments (albeit, Chuck Norris could only ever envy Chuck Norris, I'm sure!).

A finals week off - Part 1

The Wheelers' win last Saturday night marked the start of a two week break from competitive hockey, with the next game being the Grand Final next Saturday night.  I've learned that a week off can be a dangerous thing, especially when about to play a winner take all final.  So I've made an effort to remain hockey focused during this past week.  This has been both on and off of my skates.  This post is about the off-skate hockey week I've had.

Last Sunday, I watched the last two periods of the Redwings v Kings Game at the Ice Arena.  This was the second of their first round playoff series of three games.  The Kings had won the first.  This game, the Wings won.  After this game I watched the first period of the Flyers v Sharks.  It didn't seem as high a standard as what I'd just seen, though I did think that Jana was playing an excellent game in D for the Sharks.

On Monday, I watched the Edmonton Oilers score four goals in ten minutes to beat the Leafs 4-1.  As an Oilers Fan it was good to watch, that ten minutes.  Their season has been awful, though I have gotten to appreciate it in all its depths due the fact that I am subscribed to NHL and have therefore watched maybe twenty games online, some of them live.  Tomorrow I might watch them play the Flyers.

On Thursday I went back to the Ice Arena to watch the deciding game between the Redwings and Kings, along with about 150 other viewers.  That's pretty good for a C grade game.  It really felt like playoff hockey and was a great game to watch.  Redwings won out 2-1 and went through to the finals against the Flyers.  Renee scored the game winning goal in the third, I thought she played a great game.  In fact, it was great to see a bunch of players I've played with and against over the past year having a really good game.

Friday, I watched Winnipeg defeat the Blues 2-1.  I had thought it would be a tight defensively strong game, which it was.  And it was pretty exciting at the same time, the goalies (particularly Pavalec for the Jets) really shone.  Both the style of game and skater were markedly different from Edmonton's smaller framed more agile set of play and player.  If Edmonton can one day make 'it' work, they'll be fantastic (yawn).  Until then, I have a soft spot for the Jets and if they make the playoffs they'll be who I follow.

Today (Saturday) I drove the hippy van to Gawler to watch the Semi Final between the Shufflers and the Rockers.  To my surprise, the Rockers with only four skaters came out clear winners over the full strength Shufflers.  Paul scored 5 of the Rockers 8 goals against the Shufflers only getting 3.  The Pfeiffers were there also to scout it out.  I think we are agreed that we are playing the preferable opponent next week, but we'll have to be on our A game again.  Should be good.

When I got home this evening I had the house to myself so started to watch a bit of A League soccer (Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory) when realised the third Mighty Ducks movie was on another channel.  So I've just watched the third Mighty Ducks movie.  A bit of an eye opener.  I did like the philosophy of the D presented as the team's core - being confident without the puck, not too careful, not too careless.  A bit disturbing to see the portrayal of juvenile hockey concussions (meant as comedy when filmed, with what we know about head injuries twenty years later it has becoming horrible viewing), or the romanticism of the 'Bash Brothers' as the way to deal with physical opponents.  Anyways, a good film.

Finally, United drew 2-2 against the Victory.

Thursday 19 March 2015

My game against the Sharks

This is a bit late, but I did say a week and a half ago that I would (eventually) get around to posting up my own game experience in the Knights' 5-1 final round victory against the Sharks.  Sadly, the details tend to blur when it's been over a week, so what follows will be even more subjective than is usual, as well as less comprehensive.

The most significant feature of the game for me was my time on the ice.  We ran with only three defence for the whole game, played as evenly between ourselves as we could, resulting in me being on the ice for over half an hour.  That's a lot of time, even with the clock continuing to run though most game stoppages.  My leg power dropped off markedly in the first half of the third period, but had found itself again for the end.

We had to dig deep to keep the changes happening through the latter part of the game, sometimes being drawing deep breaths when it was time to go out again, sometimes pleading with a gasping team mate to get ready to come out.  Sometimes the skater just had to stick it out a minute more than they possibly thought they could until his team mate was able to come out again.  The pleasures of C Grade!

The game was physical, without descending into violence at any point.  Highlights on this front for me included several contested races towards the boards to secure an icing or control of the puck, at least three 'swooping challenges' along the boards where I carried the puck away, at least one board battle in the corner to tie down the game and stop my opponent disposing of the puck until a team mate could plunder from up the boards.

Keeping the crease clear was a challenge at times, especially when a fairly feisty six footer planted himself there.  Never the less, I managed to harrass him (without moving him) in the first period at one point so that he couldn't do anything useful with the puck when it did come in, and to push him out entirely on two occasions in the third.

Perhaps another 'physical' angle is the backchecking move where one either rides a flanking forward into the boards behind or grind them to a halt by closing the gap and holding central ice, often against considerable pressure as they attempt to drive around or through.

I deflected at least three hard shots away from goal, stick checked, took a puck on the face cage.  Collected quite a few face off passes, started several breakouts.  In my last play of the game, and therefore of my season, I started by passing through to a breaking forward who was on the rush.  I had a lot of momentum and followed through, so that he and I both crossed the offensive blue line together.  I raced towards net to give him an option, he took the shot which deflected to the corner, I chased it down against a swarming Shark and forced it up the board to our player on point, at which time one of the Sharks touched it and the whistle sounded.  The ref called a hooking penalty for the tall defender who had tried to immobilise me to the board in the corner.  Chuffed with my first and last offensive play for the season, I went back to the bench for the final minute of the game.

I'd been on ice for four of our goals as well as their solitary goal.

Great Game!

Monday 16 March 2015

New Bearings, tape and pucks as playoffs start

The summer ice hockey season has entered its final stages, with the second game of playoffs this afternoon.  As I wasn't playing and had nothing better to do (!) I went down the rink for a gander.  Deciding to make the most of a glorious early autumn afternoon, I also visited the skate shop at the Ice Arena to get some needed consumables for my inline finals campaign.

It's a bit scary to think that if the Knights had made it to the playoffs I might not have been playing in the Wheelers Prelim Final victory the night before (the first round of ice playoffs were on at the same time).  Another reason to forego summer season inline hockey next season.  It'll be hard, but I'll probably be due a break around then anyway.

For the record, I picked up some Mission Abec 7 bearings, another trio of 'green biscuit' practice pucks, and some hockey tape.  While watching telly tonight I retaped my Vapour 'inline' stick and replaced the original bearings on my skates with the new ones.  The wheels seem to roll easier.  I don't know that I exactly need ABEC 7 bearings (a rididulous level of precision in manufacture, way beyond what would be needed by a rotating inline wheel) but it will be nice to have wheels that roll as easily as other skaters' seem to.

As I regularly shatter the neon green practice pucks, I only got one this time around and will limit its use to stickhandling practice.  I got two dark green shooting pucks to add to the two survivors that I have, should speed up my practice and allow a better rhythm to develop.  Looking forward to sharpening my game before the Grand Final.

Anyways...

When I'd satisfied my consumption urge I went up to the stands to watch the final two periods of the Redwings v Kings game.  The Kings had won the night before, so it was an elimination final for the Redwings.  It was good to watch, the standard of the game has improved massively over the season as the teams and players have developed.  In the end result, the Redwings won 3-1.

I'll try and get to the series decider on Thursday night.

Sunday 15 March 2015

Game Day - Wheelers (4) d Shufflers (3) in Shootout

Last night was Preliminary Finals Night in the Div II competition at the North Vikings Inline Hockey Club.  We played the first game against the Shufflers, who had dominated the regulation season with only one loss and one tie to their ten wins.  The winner of the game would go straight through to the Grand Final in a fortnight's time, the loser would play next week against the winner of the Elimination Final between Rockers and Bumpers.  The Shufflers had beaten us in our last three meetings with a combined goal differential of 19-5.  They were the obvious favorites.

We, however, went in quite optimistically.  We'd played a ripper game last week against the Bumpers and knew how good we can be.  The Shufflers had beaten us three times in a row, true, but on the first we'd had a short roster, in the second we played our worst ever game as a team, and in the third we'd only had two regulars and three U14 reserves.  So they didn't know us at our best.  We knew that, if we played at our best, we would give them a run for their money.

We had all six of our skaters and an increasingly comfortable Jye in the goals.  Rick was starting to find his scoring mojo (despite a cracked rib), Krystal and Natasha had both proven their reliability, Merrilyn and Brenton were in an upbeat mood, and I had done the numbers to prove that things weren't quite as bad as they seemed (and was coming off a good end to my ice hockey season).  The Shufflers started with their full regular line up.  I don't know what they were expecting from the game, but we thought it was going to be a cracker.  And it was!

I was on the opening line with Brenton and Merrilyn. we won the face off and both teams mounted one strong attack in that first shift.  We changed lines at the whistle.  Rick scored not long afterwards on his first unassisted rush up the wing, deking and protecting the puck as he progressed into range for a strong shot (he has a quick release shot that is somewhere between a slapshot and a pass).  We were up 1-0.  They responded a minute later with a beautiful goal by Nikoletta (my smiling Shuffler nemesis), turning around me to come in low from the board and snap a strong rising shot into the top far corner off a pass of one of their gun skaters.  One all.  Game on.

Rick repeated his scoring feat on the next shift, maneuvering around all three of their skaters on his approach run before charging the net and slamming it in low.  2-1.  There then followed ten minutes of unrelenting hockey, with desperate plays and individual feats on both sides.  We were skating with a bench of five for much of this time as Rick had to get his skates retied and that took awhile.  Finally, at about the 15 minute mark, they finally scored again on a snapshot from close in.  Jye had it covered with his lower chest plate, only to have the puck 'tumble' up and over his shoulder and fall onto the ice the wrong side of the goal line a foot behind him.  That left the scoreline at 2-2, which is what it remained until the half time siren five minutes later.

During the intermission the mood on our bench was interesting.  Most of us were regaining our breath and composure, getting fluids in.  Brenton was examining one of his boots with a concerned look, announced that he would probably still be good in defence but that his boot was pulling loose from the chasis (I actually thought he'd cracked his chasis, which would have been worse).  Jye brought out the interesting observation that, when the Shufflers changed lines there was a period of about thirty seconds when their two gun skaters were out at the same time, and they were trying to time it so that the one who came out of the gate could enter a rush or otherwise get behind us unobserved from the bench.

Unusually for us there was very little chatter along the lines of 'we're doing good at [x]', or 'we need to do more [y]'.  I think it was because we were all saving our breath, and like to think that it was also because we knew what we had to do (afterall, we play a very 'fluid' game, mixing lines and roles with no outward plan, rhyme or reason - perhaps due not having a coach).  Then, Jye (I think) came up with the directive of 'sticking' on a player and going 'man to man' as what we 'needed to do'.  I think we agreed to do it, and then the second half was upon us.

Again, I was on the opening line, this time with Krystal and Tasha.  We'd changed after a short shift when again Rick scored an unassisted goal, this time from close in.  I didn't see the play as I was still grabbing a drink but gather it was one of those 'fluky' goals that you love/hate when they happen.  Either way, it was nice to have the puck god smiling on us for a change, and it's not everyday a Wheeler scores a hat trick (first time this season).

Ten minutes of increasingly desperate play ensued. For much of it we seemed 'disjointed', although playing well as individuals and displaying good team skills we were not achieving anything, playing 'pointless' hockey.  It was subtle, but unusual enough to draw comment from Brenton on the bench at one point.  We seemed to relax and picked up our game after that.  Unusual.  Sadly, this didn't stop them eventually putting in a close in shot from a crisp pass to tie the game again at 3-3.  Which is how it remained for the remaining six minutes of regular time.  The game would go to a shootout!

I'd raised the possibility of a shootout with my teammates before the game, suggesting that our first three shooters be Rick, Merrilyn and Brenton (being our three strongest shots).  When the referee came to get the names of our first three, there being no other plan, these were the names we nominated.  Rick, being still badly out of breath, would go third.  I nominated Merrilyn first.  She looked surprised.  I explained it was due to her experience.  That seemed to keep her happy.  Everyone else agreed.

She took the shot.  It went through a few inches above the floor.  Beautiful.  Especially as it turned out to be the only shot from either side that wasn't either saved or deflected from goal post.  We didn't need to send out Natasha for her first ever shootout.  We'd won.  What a game!

Rick was the game changer, closely followed by Jye for saving 34 out of 37 shots.  We'd put 20 shots on their net.  Not bad for us, but an amazing differential considering the result.  There were no penalties awarded through the game, despite some hard but clean clashes, high but unintentional sticks, and some very close borderline play regarding tripping, hooking, goalie interference and so forth.  It was a hard fought clean game.

Their coach said later that it had been the best Div II game he's yet seen.  With the possible exception of our Grand Final shootout loss a year ago, I'd agree.

*

My game was good but not exceptional.  I was on the rink for their first two goals and none of ours.  For the first of their goals, I had been defending a little out and forward from our goal post when Nikoletta worked her way around me and snapped a backhand (?) in a rising shot from an impossible angle to beat Jye.  In retrospect, almost a mirror image goal as far as my positioning and play as the Sharks scored against us last Sunday.

For their second, I was cutting off the pass to centre from the rushing gun on the boards, perhaps forcing the gun to instead elect to a take a shot, which hit Jye and trickled over his shoulder to score.  As it did so I was almost in stick range, could possibly have swatted it away if had been willing to swing at my goalie.  I actually had time to think about this in 'live time', so my decision making process is getting quicker (if not quite there yet).

My game was (again) spent more in a defensive mode than outright attack.  And by 'defence' I don't mean just hanging back and catching my breath but containing the rush or their breakout, forechecking the backstop when they passed back from offence to reset, blocking, directing, retreiving pucks or cutting off options.  In other words, very active.  It got to 'overload' when on several occasions I'd pass it from our zone to a forward, who would then need support to make something of our opportunity but who's companion forward was too slow get there in time (due less skating skill, or wandering attention, or being out of energy, as the case may be), resulting in me skating end to end circuits.  I double shifted several times, so probably played closer to thirty than twenty minutes.  Loved it.

I took the butt end of a stick to my lower ribcage at some point in the first half.  It think it was their hulking forward, but don't know.  Although it grazed it didn't bruise or break so I'll forgive.  Had a couple clashes with Nikoletta, the funniest being in the goal front in the final period where Jye was down over the puck and she was teetering over him jamming at it and I was teetering behind her trying to hold us both up and get her out of there or the puck safe at the same time.  We both had a chuckle at that.  I also wore a strongly swung hit in the face cage, around that point in the game, from a highly apologetic Carol.  I knew it was an accident and these things happen, which I told her (pretty abruptly, in retrospect).  No pain.

Not that I was totally 'innocent' in terms of 'clean' play, having on several occasions used my strength to try and shove a lurking forward out of the slot, or block his attempts to get into a screening or deflecting position, or jam up a stick to tie up the offence as a puck came in.  Quite physical.

The most dramatic physical clash of the game, however, was a mid floor collision at moderate speed between Krystal and Nikoletta.  Neither had seen it coming, their helmet cages bounced off each other, and they both fell in a heap.  Both got up after the shock of the fall, neither seemed harmed, there was no bad blood.

I won most of my faceoffs (maybe four out of six), deflected perhaps four shots off goal with late moving stick or skates.  Won all my serious defensive races against their best skater, where my five stride overspeed drills from the day before came in useful, using my body or boots to prevent his desired actions if not actually seize control of the dumped puck.

My favourite play resulted in my physically forcing their star onto an outside track as he tried to muscle inwards from the boards on a fast rush (my low posture gave me the required traction against his superior mass and momentum), turning on him as he tried to loop around me in the end zone to use my hips to gently park him near the boards.  After this incident I noticed that he didn't try and take me on again, instead passing to a (less dangerous, from our point of view) player.  Mission success.

At the end of the game, smiles all round on our side.  And about half of theirs.  We get the week off before the Grand Final, when we'll meet the winner of the qualifying final between the Shufflers and the Rockers next week.

Inline 15

Saturday 14 March 2015

Friday Evening shoot

With the Prelim Final at Gawler only one day away I went down to the primary school for another round or two of shooting practice in my inlines on the netball court.  I didn't do a great deal of other drills, limiting to a few figure eights with transitions each way and a bit of deking with the hockey ball while I skated circuits of the court between rounds of shots.

The shooting was pretty standard, being four sets of 25 shots each from the edge of the netball goal circle at the goal post, each set being a different species of shot (wrist snap, wrist shot, forward snap, backhand).  I again felt that my shooting has moved up a notch, not reflected so much in the numbers as in the power and ease of the shots, and the number of narrow misses.

I did two rounds of my four shot circuit, results were reasonable: 5/4/9/3 and 6/9/7/4.

The other perhaps significant thing I noticed was the relative ease with which I maintained a good hockey posture while skating to and from the school (ie. chin over knee over toe, back is upright and knees have a bend).  It felt very natural.  If this is an evolution in my skating it will be welcome after over a year because it leads to better balance and power, tighter turns and stronger strides.  On the trip up the hill home, for instance, I did it in equivalent to record low number of paces.  I also didn't feel too stretched when hit overspeed at various times off of five strides from a moving start.

Will see if this comes out against the Shufflers in the final.

Inline: 14

Friday 13 March 2015

Quick Shoot

With Ice Season over and the inline finals about to begin, I thought it important to start getting out in the last evenings of daylight savings time while I still have the chance.  So, down to the school on Thursday night for a quick hour or so.

Seeing as I've mashed the last of my neon lime green biscuit hardcourt pucks, I am down to two 'sniper' pucks for use in my drills (and a hockey ball, and an inline puck that is no use on slightly undulating outdoor surfaces).  I seemed to have a fair bit of power in the usual shooting drill, and it seemed that the large majority of 'missed' shots missed my target by an inch or less.  And the numbers were pretty good, basically - 7/8/8/4.

Got back up the hill with a little more ease from my slightly lowered stance (memories of Toronto street skater reiterating that one of his secrets is that 'you need to be the lowest thing on the street').

Inline 13

Wednesday Night falls

Went to the Ice Arena with Jess and Craig on Wednesday night.  Not too many other players there, though did catch up with Lachy and Phil (Sharks).  Swapped notes about our game on Sunday.  Clarified how Lachy's goal came about, and what Phil did (or rather, tried to do) to me that earned him a penalty in my last shift of the season (notes on these events to be posted when I finally post up a summary of my game).

Jess kept working on her backwards technique, Craig intermittently so.  I gave a few pointers to her.  She's come quite a ways and the 'c cut' technique is now evident.  She was showing this to me in the end zone on one occasion, with Craig doing the same from the opposite direction and neither of them looking behind them, when I realised there was going to be a collision.  Which there was, bum to bum and they both went down hard.  Jess was a bit shook up and managed to resprain her netball injured finger on landing.  Hopefully won't put either of them off.

I kept to my usual routine in a social skate, holding moderate to high pace throughout, concentrating on backwards skating and changes of direction.  Not to be out done with Jess and Craig's collision I managed to tumble myself to the ice while practicing my stops, had to control my fall at risk of ramming my head into the boards.  This later shook me more than the fall itself.  Good lesson.

A bit of leg tiredness the next day, but as always was good fun.  Not too many of these Wednesday sessions left now before the A Graders take over the rink.

Ice 21

Wednesday 11 March 2015

The Knights - 2014/15

Back Row: Henry, Mike, Baden, Jonesy, Cam
Kneeling: Henry, Christian, Lachy, Me, Tom, Foxy, Beau
Goalie: Tommy
(Photo - Lachy's friend)


Tuesday 10 March 2015

Game Day - Knights (5) d Sharks (1)

Will publish a post on my own game later this week, hopefully will have got my hands on a bit of video by then.

We played our final game of the Summer Season on Sunday night, skating out 5-1 victors over the Sharks.  It was a good upbeat way for us to end an outwardly mediocre season, one where ended up sixth on a ladder of seven and almost three games out of the playoffs.  The only team we didn't beat in our three meetings with them was the Redwings, the only teams we beat twice were the Flyers and the Rangers.  We ended up second in penalty minutes, fourth on goals-for, third best on goals-against.  In losing this game the Sharks remained in fourth position heading into the playoffs.  If they'd won they'd be second.

We had twelve skaters to their eight.  Twelve is a very big number for us, it allowed us to run three lines with three D (Tom playing Centre on the third line, rather than as my usual D partner).  The rest of the team and the coaches (Justine and, on Sunday and one other occasion during the season when she couldn't be there, Christian) seem content to repose faith in a three D set up when opportunity or need dictate.  On this occasion it was opportunity knocking, as we had a surfeit of wingers and only needed Tom to play centre to make the third line.

The alternative would have been to play with two wing positions rotating and four D.  This conservative option would have given the senior players more ice time (but exhausted them more), and allowed us to recatch our breath in defence.  It would also have meant that Lachy and Beau would have been playing short minutes in the final game of their rookie seasons.  The fact that we were playing for the fun of it and even had agreed a number of half formed plans to swap positions and try new roles in the third period (which we only decided not to do in the second intermission) made it even more inviting to go the whole hog and run maximum lines.  I'm glad we did it, for all of the above reasons.

In the first period I was on the ice for over ten minutes, and the same in the periods following.  Our average ice time as defenders was twice that of the forwards.  Fair enough, theirs might be more 'active' than defensively 'reactive', but it's still one of the great benefits of playing defence - more ice time.  It takes a noticeable toll by third period, however, what with recovery periods between shifts being less than half that of the shifts themselves.  I noticed that I was using whistled stops of play for an aerobic recharge from the second period, and that my muscles had gone into 'slow' mode by about half way through the third.  There was muscle tiredness almost straight away, and fatigued and mildly sore muscles the day following.  It would be unsustainable to keep going like that long term, but boy was it fun on the night!

Tom opened the scoring within the first five minutes and we proceeded to attack vigorously for the remainder.  We got caught out on a one man rush in the final seconds and one of their guns skated around a sluggish me and placed a beautiful shot in the top far corner.  I was on for both of these goals.

The second period was marked by three penalties against them and a mighty goal by Lachy.  His joy was triumphant and very open, one of the best celebrations I've seen for its honest exuberance.  We led 2-1.

In the third period we overran them, scoring another three goals.  The third goal came within two minutes, the fourth from the following centre faceoff, and the third eleven minutes later.  I was on for all of them.  Also drew a penalty on Phil with ninety seconds on the clock, though I wasn't aware of it at the time.  5-1 Knights.

There were quite a few features of our game which seemed to click in this game.  We won most of the faceoffs, Tommy was seeing things really good in goal, everyone was playing their role and covering their position, or their team mate's when needed, no confusion when changing on the fly, everyone was keeping their heads up and the passes were connecting.  It felt like we were playing as a team.  I was told by a friend and by family in the stands that it had looked like a good team game.  Even, our best ever.  It showed what we are capable of.

The official shot clock was 18-14, but I think we had more on net than that and might have even doubled their tally.  Shannon was in their goal and stopped some very good shots.  A number hit the post also.  Offensively, very good.

It was good feelings in the change rooms afterwards, and a good core intends returning next season.  A great way to end our season!
 
GP 17 G 0 A 0 Pts 0 -9 7/9/1

Ice 20
 

Monday 9 March 2015

Seasonal Thoughts

The Knights' summer season ended tonight with a 5-1 victory against the Sharks.  I will write the traditional Game Day post in a day or two when I have more time.  Suffice to say that we had twelve skaters show up, ran three lines and three D, I played D all game, it felt nice to win again.  Our game was good, a real team-ness happening with lots of talking, support and crisp passes.  Being the last game of the season it was also very exhausting.  Exhausting and exhilerating.

That sort of stands for the experience of the whole season, exhausting but exhilerating.  At a personal level, the pre-season was my first ever taste of serious preparation (strength, agility, quickness, conditioning).  The results were evident in the first period of the first game.  And then, a PCL injury with only minutes to go, which kept me off skates for a week and set my physique back to pre-pre-season levels.  I limped into the Christmas break, quite literally.

Through the silly season, went for a week without skating, the longest break I've had since September 2013.  The knee was coming good in itself, full motion and mobility and no discomfort, and I had a new set of skates (Bauer 160s).  I was still breaking in the skates when the season got underway in January.  I celebrated by getting a new Easton stick to mark the occasion.

The back end of the season has been very enjoyable.  The team seems to have morphed into something far more organic than it has been since I joined.  We have stuck it out, returned when it would have been easier not to, changed our lives to get as many games in as we could.  Most of the time it meant that we could run nine or ten skaters, which is tough minutes for all.  Tonight we ran twelve, and showed what we are capable of.

And now we say good bye to at least two Knights.  Christian has been drafted by the Blackhawks and Lachy 'traded' to the Kings.  I have a horrible feeling we might lose one or two to Division One.  Which means we need to get some more guys (or gals) in.

Joy.

It's been a great year.  On to the next!
 

Sunday 8 March 2015

Game Day - Wheelers (3) d Bumpers (2)

On Saturday night we played the final regular season game in the North Vikings Inline Hockey Club's Division II competition.  We fielded five skaters (Rick, the three Pfeiffers and me) and had Jordyn in goals.  We had a random dude play 'coach' which was really helpful to add a bit of perspective and manage the bench.  The Bumpers had their regular coach, six regular skaters and Matt the Goalie in goals (Div I goalie who played with us last season).  Our having one less skater was partly made up for by the fact that their sixth skater, Craig, was coming back short off an injury and couldn't go full throttle.

The Bumpers were already locked into last place on the ladder. We on the other hand could snavel second spot, and thus the second chance in the playoffs, if we won in regulation time and the Rockers had a regulation loss in the game following (against the top ranked Shufflers).  This despite despite their having won more games than us.  This due our having one more point (due our having tied three games to their none).  So, we had something to play for.  The Bumpers were playing for pride.

The game was pretty exciting.  We scored two goals in the first, which was our lead at half time.  For the first, I held the pass in centre while Natasha maneuvered into free space off to the side of their goal.  The goalie covered me, so exposed his goal for her shot off my pass.  It was a very sweet goal.  Our second goal was scored by Rick, carrying the puck up the flank before cutting a bit towards the middle and putting in yet another of his hard snaps from mid range.  The previous three similar bombs he'd let go had been deflected by Matt the Goalie.  This one wasn't.  We went into half time with a 2-0 lead.

The second half got off to a dramatic beginning, with the result that after five minutes the game was tied 2-2.  This came about through an unfortunate set of circumstances, but that's hockey!  It went something like this:  Matt the Bumper skated a puck in from the boards and tried to shove it through the interposed stick of Brenton's as Jordyn realigned herself from having deflected the previous shot a moment before.  Brenton was holding him out until the whistle went, when it sounds like Matt shoved it over against the decreased resistance from Brenton's stick (I couldn't see the fine detail of the action as I was on the bench and various bodies shielded my view).  The puck was adjudged to have crossed the line before or as the whistle had blown and the goal counted.  Then, Brenton vociferously disputed the call, picking up a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike behaviour for his pains.  On the subsequent powerplay, Craig slapped one in as he steamed down the centre, narrowly missed me and Jordyn (who was partially unsighted due my position between her and the puck).  Two all, and fifteen minutes to go.

There followed ten minutes of fairly even play, almost lulling us in its nature as we grew steadily more exhausted (so were they, but with an extra skater they could probably be certain of coming home stronger).  Then, all of a sudden, there was the sound of raised voices.  A sight to brighten my night, Merrilyn and Donna having a verbal go at each other in front of the scorer's box.  Neither was very happy, even less so when they each got two minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour.  We stayed three on three (me and Rick went out to join with Tasha).  Two and a half minutes later I was again out there, chasing the puck to the back boards and looking for someone in the slot and instead wheeling it into the goalie's pad up against the goal post and shoving it hard as I went by at speed, to see the goalie curse as he looked behind him after the whistle for a puck that must have just snuck over the line.

This was the game winning goal.  It happened on a play where earlier Craig had crashed over Tasha in the corner resulting in a delayed call on the interference penalty.  I was off the rink for the resulting power play, during which no goal was scored before full time.  We'd won 3-2.

The most noticeable feature of our game was our deliberate passing, often under pressure, and perhaps more significantly the increasing habit of the receiver making the pass available by trying to set up the passing lane.  It certainly wasn't as conscious as this in the game, but is beginning to emerge as a feature of our game.  Still a lot of dump and chase, so things haven't yet changed all that much.

It was a bit strange to see three unsportsmanlike behaviour penalties handed out in the one short stretch of time.  Also, I'm not aware of previously having seen a delayed penalty, though perhaps that's because I don't tend to question the 'why' of the umpires and therefore haven't paid heed to the delay, which couldn't happen on this occasion because the play ended in a goal before the commencement of the penalty.  They outshot us 12-9 in the first and 10-9 in the second.  Jordyn shone in our goals, making some great glove saves in particular.  Probably my player of the match.

*
I was pretty pleased with my game.  I scored two points for the second week in a row.  I was particularly happy with my assist on Tasha's goal though it was also very satisfying to finally get a goal in what was akin to a wrap around attempt!  

I took three shots on my protective 'box', I don't think I'll ever play without one again (have done this once, no harm but extremely foolish in retrospect).  In one play I skated the puck up the rink, around behind their goal after collecting the rebound, out across the top of the slot and then got a pass in to a team mate on the goal (which Matt saved).  Feet were also an active feature in this game, both on the boards and in the centre of the rink.  I used mine once very deliberately on the face off, a couple times on the boards, and at least a couple times in the centre of the neutral zone.

I did a fair bit of stick checking, quite a few times delaying or plundering a marauding Bumper with harassment by stick on stick work.  With my blade I managed to.deflect at least three pucks off of goal and another one in (which Jordyn caught).  I wore one swing to my face cage, hard enough to shake me but not enough to knock me down.  Incidental to the play and no malice, no penalty either.

It all came together quite actively during a board battle with Amanda, where I perhaps could have legally driven her either down or out but instead I aimed more at skill and reaching stick and blocking boot, with hand on her shoulder initially to keep tighter tabs on her and subsequently almost to ensure she didn't fall as she fought for the puck.  On another occasion I helped dig out the puck from a board battle in which Merrilyn did the hard work. 

My skating felt adequate to the task.  Needless to say, very pleasing when I heard someone say I looked 'so graceful' as I recovered after a long and desperate defensive shift,  gasping for oxygen!  Generally good positioning, cutting off their passes across the slot on a number of occasions, driving them towards the outside, covering their player in the crease or the goal post.  Didn't need to push and shove in our goal crease against this team.

I was outskated in close by Mel who perhaps displays some of her roller derby background through her tight co-ordinated turns.  More of a worry, though, was that I felt truly knackered midway through the second half.  I think much of this was due to my relatively poor eating over the last couple of days, but not all.  I wasn't the only one on our team that was running out of legs by the end of the game.  It will be good to 'wind down' on hockey intensity through the finals, and then into some fitness and conditioning work in a serious way! 

Hopefully we'll have six skaters next week for the first Preliminary Final against the Shufflers.  If we can play as tight defensively on their star forwards as we did tonight, and have the added oxygen that a sixth skater will give us, we'll be in with an outside chance.

Worth fighting for, anyways...

Inline 12

Saturday 7 March 2015

XYZ on a Wednesday Night

On Wednesday night me, Jess, Craig and B all went down the Ice Arena for about eighty minutes' skating (B's school had a 'pupil free day' on the Thursday, so he could make the most of a Wednesday night during term).  Three generations of us, all in our own skates, all competent for where we're at.  How cool.

There weren't many at the Arena (I think C Grade was having its association meeting at the time, amongst other things (this being 'Mad March' in Adelaide - when heaps of stuff is happening)).  I didn't really exhaust myself on anything, but made the most of the sparseness of skaters to get a few minutes practice with backwards figure eights at speed to work on edges and my cross behinds both ways.

A bit of drama when B 'faceplanted' on the point of a transition, resulting in a few tears and a much appreciated cup of hot chocolate before he was back into it.  It's amazing how a break of about a month from the ice was overcome within five minutes by this ten year old, and his buzzy bee nature that followed.  He had a bruise starting to form on his knee this morning (what ten year old boy doesn't have a few of those every now and again?).

A good night.  Not many more to go before Ice Hockey takes over the main rink on a Wednesday evening.  Must make the most of them.

Ice 19

Wednesday 4 March 2015

Evening on the Inlines

I've been sadly deficient of inline Puck'n'Skate time, so I took the opportunity this evening to head down the school with stick and pucks.  Was gone just on an hour.

Opened with two strong shots from 30', with both hitting.  That left me 2 for 25 at the end of the series.  Then shot 8/8/7/2 from 15'.  Closed with another 25 from30' for 1.  Ended with a bit of backwards skating in central figure eight, deking the puck 'before' me as I went.

Only 67 strides to make it up the hill, so there's more power than am used to this season.

Good session.

Inline 11

Monday 2 March 2015

Game Day - Kings (4) d Knights (1)

Last night was the penultimate game of the Knights' 14/15 regular season.  We couldn't make the playoffs.  The Kings are in a scrap with the Sharks for third spot.  They had the highest scoring player in the Division (he cut us apart on our last game).  We didn't have Andy, but Henry, Tom and Beau were there so we fielded ten skaters (there were eleven Kings).  We had Shannon in goal (Tommy being at the Clipsal for his first ever time).  We were 1-1 in our previous two engagements.  Was always going to be interesting. 

When I was driving to the Arena I thought that me and Mike were going to be the defensive corps, with Jonesy or Christian to make three.  It was a pleasant surprise to learn that Tom was coming and that Jonesy would make four.  We mixed it up a bit across our lines as the game progressed, but this wasn't too much of a problem as I saw myself as the fourth defender and thus built my presence around my partner's absence (that will make sense to all the defenders out there).

We spent most of the first period in their zone, scoring the only goal of the period when Henry marked his return to the team by slotting it after about ten minutes.  We outshot them ten to three.  I wonder if this wasn't a reaction to my reminder to the team before we started that this team had got the jump on us last game, that we'd proven we were equal to them in the last period but by then it was too late?  In any event, we were dominating in almost all aspects of the game at the first break.  I spent over eight minutes on the ice and was present for our goal.

The second period was marred by a reversal on the shot clock (11-3), a penalty against tom (cross checking), a gimme goal to them five minutes in (a couple of plays after Shannon had appeared to faint) and a power play goal six minutes later.  The comment on the bench I heard several times was that it was like we had switched ourselves 'off', or had fallen asleep.  I was on the ice for their first goal, and was on for probably another eight minutes (including most of the penalty kill, they scored after I had got off).

The final period was reminiscent of the second, though we were perhaps a bit more resolute.  They outshot us again, 10-6.  They scored at about the seven minute mark, and then again on an empty net in the closing minute.  I probably played only six minutes this period and was on for their third goal.

*

My game was the best I've played in D so far.  Odd to say, considering the scoreline, but I suspect it could have been a lot worse if I hadn't been so active.  I blocked at least four shots, three of these being in one long shift in the second, and deflected another three with my stick in the final period.  I covered an empty net on one occasion, swatted the puck out from a goal front melee on another (chasing it into the corner and winning it in a battle before passing it to my supporting winger and following up ice to their blue line).  Had a great extended battle in our left corner against a larger opponent in the dying minutes, moved from that battle to another immediately afterwards before hussling the puck on its way.  I kept the puck in their zone several occasions in the first and second, only iced it once (in the first).  I made several good clearing passes, collected the puck off the end boards and skated it around to the offside before passing it up twice (third), cut out their breaking forwards through the centre several times, cut off passes in our zone and pushed it up if not out across the blue line at least three times.

Unusually for me, I also kicked the puck out of a scrap at least twice.  I didn't lose my feet at all, felt no foot pain during or after the game (yay, skates finally broken in!).  I was outskated only when at a disadvantage, and managed to hold them out of the centre throughout.  I managed to pass it across our net again, though again it was a deliberate move (I was alone on the end board, with Kings coming at my from left, right and up ice, with another in front of the net and the fifth out of the play, so I adjudged it safe to pass it to a swooping left winger).  The one time I was properly beaten was when puck was on board and raced their star for it.  He took possession as I extended my stick to the board further up.  He just brushed past it as he powered on (though our body contact took enough speed out of him as he pushed through that our centre was able to make up distance and stop him swooping forward).

One more game to go, against the Sharks next Sunday.  The pressure is definitely off and we'll be playing more for the helluvit than anything more serious.  We'll be chopping and changing a bit, I've already arranged to swap positions for a period with one of our wingers.  Should be fun.

GP 16 G 0 A 0 -12 6/9/1

Ice 18

Sunday 1 March 2015

Age doth not weary him...

I've got a lot of experience and there's a lot of young guys. It's even making me excited a little more. It's kind of a new life. At my age, I feel like I know a lot of things what to do, but I just cannot do it anymore. It's a lot easier to tell them what to do because they've still got the legs and hands to do it. I just know things, but I cannot do them anymore.
— Jaromir Jagr after making his Panthers debut in a win against the Sabres on Saturday

NHL.com likes its quote for the day.  Today, the above was the quote (it'll probably be different by the time you look at it).  I think it shows the value of continuing to play the grizzled veterans, for them as well as the organisation.

Not that I'm kidding myself, being a few years senior to Jaromir.  With my combined total of 60 ice and inline hockey games (as of tonight) I am only now beginning to experience the sense of 'play' on the ice, and only now feeling a sense of comfort within my body and its abilities.  But there are still things us older players can show some of the younger guys.

So, as long as we can hold our spot on the basis of our ability, we should be able to keep on playing.  And so should Jaromir.

Game Day - Bumpers (7) d Rockers (2)

After playing for the Wheelers in last night's early game I had an hour's rest and then kitted up as a reserve for the Bumpers in the late game against the Rockers.  It was a game that I certainly wanted to win as this would keep the Wheelers in the hunt for second spot on the ladder next week, final matches of regular season.  A Rockers win would have locked them into second.  The Bumpers were stuck at the bottom, regardless of the result.

I played a reasonable game, holding my own against the star Rockers and plundering off their weaker players when appropriate.  I got on the rush a couple times, once hitting the post and another being snavelled (just) under the pads.  Didn't make any significant mistakes, though did leave the puck behind once in the defensive zone when trying to pick it up from the boards with a stick at an awkward angle.  I think I won about three of four faceoffs, mainly through the use of my feet to coral the puck for subsequent tap backwards.  I was on the rink for one of their goals and two of ours.  It was nice to be part of this team as all the 'original' Bumpers got to score and they got their second win for the season.

We had the luxury of a coach/bench boss which meant lines changes were regular and frequent.  This allowed a fairly even division of game time which meant that everyone got a chance to recover and finish the game pretty strong.  Added to the earlier game I had about forty minutes of playing time, which is a lot.  Could feel the muscles in my core, neck and forearms stiffening up after the game, hopefully something I can work off before tonight's game with the Knights.

Probably the most significant thing I'll take away from the game is the experience of having closely watched one of the other Reserves, one of the Shufflers stars, play perhaps the best defence game I've seen this season.  His most valuable ability was that of turning tight and quick, as well as using his skates to block shots and trap the puck.  His positioning was fairly tight, but with his tight turn he can get away with this, and with his large size generally stop larger opponents pushing through him.  Combined with Laura's ability to read the play in our game, quite a bit for me to take away and think about for my last two games on the ice this season.

Inline 10

Game Day - Shufflers (6) d Wheelers (2)

I played both early and late Div II games tonight in the North Vikings Inline Hockey Club at Gawler.

In the first game there was only me and Krystal of the regular Wheelers team, and Jye in goal for the third game running.  We had three 'U17's,' who were actually U14's; Lauren, Rachel and Leslie.  The Shufflers ran regular full lines.  They have clinched top spot on the ladder, we were one point off of second spot (which we would not get even if we are equal on points due less wins in regulation time).  This was the penultimate round of the regular season.

The kids played brilliantly, couldn't ask for anything more from them.  Young Rachel got player of the match in my eyes, very resilient and determined lassie.  Krystal bothered me by staying out for the entire second half, but once I learned that her mum was watching for the first time ever it all made sense.

It was, in fact, Krystal and me that combined for both of our team's goals, in both instances she held it up in the corner and then passed it in from the boards once I had found a passing lane in the mid slot region.  It was nice to be on the scoring ledger again, for the second week in a row.

Me and Nikoletta didn't have our usual battle royale this game, several times racing for the puck.  We did have one funny moment, however, when we were racing along an oblique angle to the boards when all of a sudden she started to fall backwards.  I was right behind her, caught her in my arms and steadied us both (the puck had bounced away somewhere else by now).  I asked if she was alright, she asked me, and we both raced off again.  The people in the stands in front of whom it happened had a good laugh and there were even a few 'blue' comments.  Could only happen in 'C Grade'!

I had a couple good shots on goal from wraparound attempts, much more dangerous than my one last week, but both were snaffled by their goalie (beneath whom pucks couldn't seemingly go).  A couple times we were very unlucky, with the puck loose between their goalie's legs an inch from the line when the whistle went, or jammed between pad and post and not fully across the line, etc.  A couple posters, also.

I had no hard battles on the boards, blocked or deflected a couple shots, won probably four of five faceoffs, sticklifted and checked, sweeping it away a couple times, swooped onto loose pucks numerous occasions.  I dumped it in too much when faced with close defensive pressure, a couple times in the second half playing chip and run in this situation however.  I used the boards a fair bit.  Was on for two of the Shufflers goals (and both of ours, obviously).

A fun game, despite the scoreline.

Inline 9