Tonight was the first Freeze practice of the season, and it was GREAT. I feel like a wet lasagna noodle with overcooked fusili arms at this point, but as Al noted when I got home, it's only by pushing past the point where you think you can't go any further that you build stamina and skill. (This is true with weightlifting, so it's not surprising that it'd be true with training in general).

After warmups (suicides, circles, and a passing drill), we did the Czechoslovakian drill, and amazingly I did it correctly the first time and with only slight delays to ponder in which direction to skate next on subsequent tries. We then did a couple variations on a drill designed to (a) get us to shoot from farther out, and (b) get us to consider our options when skating into the zone with the puck.

On one of the later variations, Billy challenged the puck carrier as she skated along the boards and behind the net. I got by him the first time I carried the puck, but by the second time, we were into the last 20 minutes of practice, and I was getting tired. I totally let him knock me off the puck without him even trying that hard, and I blamed my noodle arms for not being able to control my stick (and therefore the puck) with enough authority. It was totally like every game I played with the Barons this summer, where I'd have the puck taken away from me the second after I got it.

The third time Billy challenged me, I knew my arms weren't up to the task of fighting him off *and* controlling the puck, so when he came on I stiffened my arms and picked up my speed a bit. I actually ended up picking it up a bit too much, and I didn't make the turn around the net as sharply as I'd intended, so I lost the puck as I tried to pass to the girl in front—but by then I'd left Billy in the dust. Not that he couldn't have caught me if he'd really tried, but that was the "aha!" moment:

It's not my arms, noodle or strong, that make the most difference in maintaining possession of the puck when challenged. It's my legs.

That would have been the game to bring my camera to, since I'd have had enough time between shifts to shoot some clips, but of course I forgot. Instead I only remembered to bring my (new) camera to our last game of the season, when we had only 9 skaters.

Despite the fact that the Barons take waaaay longer shifts than we do on the Freeze, I still only got one clip because I didn't want to be filming when the Winger on my side finally decided to come off. Better to plan for 45 second shifts and be wrong than plan for 2 minute shifts and be wrong.

The clip is from the very start of the game, the other line's first shift out. I wish it were easier to see how efficiently the Coaches break out of their own zone, but you can infer it from seeing one guy with the puck back at the goal line and then the Left Wing with it up at the red line about a second later.

Not only did that Winger body check Tony when Tony tried to poke check him, but he also nearly checked his own teammate when they both went for the puck right after that.

I didn't have any trouble (if you don't count having noodle arms and dull skate blades as trouble), but the check in the video wasn't the only one in the game. There were at least two that resulted in penalties on the Coaches, and one that resulted in a fist fight (and two five minute penalties; I'm not sure why both players weren't ejected, as they would have been at any rink in Northern California).

The Barons will be playing at the Igloo in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey this fall (I think the season starts in late September), and I'll be subbing on the nights that Al can't or doesn't want to play (provided the games don't conflict with my Freeze practices, which I've totally come to look forward to—me, look forward to drills! I know!). I think it'll be a bit closer to my—and the rest of the Barons'—level than this summer's "C30" league, which felt more like the Bay Area over-35 leagues that hosted former pro, semi-pro, and college players. The guys who played in those called them the "old and slow" leagues, but that's only compared to the speeds they reached when they were in their early 20s. Their skills were still far beyond anything in our C/D and mixed-level leagues.

In other hockey news, we're having our Freeze pre-season get-together tomorrow night at Cafe Intermezzo (leave a comment if you're interested in playing on the Indy D team or our C+ former MAWHL team, and I'll hook you up with the team captains), and we'll have our first practice at UPenn on September 22. I can't wait!

Al has been playing on this team at the Igloo in Mt. Laurel, NJ for a few seasons now (one of which coincided, and often conflicted, with my Freeze practices during the fall and winter). Most of the guys from that team decided to join an over-30 league with an abbreviated late-summer season in between spring league and the main fall/winter season, and I asked if I could share a spot with Al. (We can play in the same games and pay a $20 sub fee if we want to, but I'm not sure we will; sub fee + sitter is expensive.)

This particular league is so small (originally 3 teams, now 4) that I ended up playing the same team in the second game of the season that Al played in the first game. There were apparently some differences between the two games, however; while the opposing team was just as fast and experienced as in the first game, they had fewer players, and we had a few more ringers. As a consequence, we won the second game by an overtime goal, where as the first game was a loss.

This was my first game since a tournament in April, and my second time on the ice since then, and as was to be expected, I was rusty. I thought I improved over the course of the game, spazzing less (DUDE, SKATE WITH THE PUCK INSTEAD OF DUMPING IT FORWARD!), making and catching a couple decent passes, and mixing it up with my check, but the first period was kind of awful. I was reminded of how slow I seem when playing with mixed-level men.

If I did nothing to help the team except provide a rest for the ringers, playing last night did make me want to play again. I didn't find it nearly as angst-inducing as I might once have to know that I was among the weakest players on the ice, and I'm eager to get back out there just to get in a comfortable groove, build my confidence back up, and mabye even make a move or two. I know from playing at pickups and the aforementioned tournament that I can beat goalies if I can just get in there and get a shot off. I did also wish that I were already back practicing with the Freeze, though, because I could use some reminders about what to do in certain situations, and practice doing it.

Here's a brief clip of the St. Louis drill, which we ran for several weeks in a row. It involves two lines starting on opposite sides of the ice at each blue line. When Billy blows the whistle, the first skater in each line takes off, skating around the neutral zone faceoff dot, down the far blue line, and up the opposite-side boards. As she does this, the second skater in each line makes a pass off the boards and then takes off after the first skater (who at this point has just passed her and picked up the puck), and they go into the zone together (although slightly staggered). The first skater is then supposed to come to a hard stop along the boards and pass to the second skater, who shoots.

Once we've done this a few times, Billy adds defensemen, who try to break up the inside-the-offensive-zone pass. At this point the first skater can either hard stop or not (we discovered that if we did, the D just came right at us and broke up the pass every time, because they knew what we were up to—and the whole point of stopping is to shake *off* the D), whatever she thinks will be most effective in confusing the D. If I can find a clip of the drill with D, I'll add it to this post later—though I doubt I have one. Once we add D the forwards are skating almost continuously, and there's no time for videoing!

Directly after our game, the Indy team played *their* last game of the season. They were a bit short, so a few of our players helped out. I didn't because I'd arranged for Al to drop the Beaner off after my game was finished; we were planning a Freeze-wide cookout after both games were over, and since it was a large time commitment for me, I wanted to make sure I shouldered my share of the childcare.

The Beaner actually watched the game with me fairly actively. I've learned that the secrets to keeping him interested for three whole periods are (1) bring at least two drinks (vanilla and chocolate soy milk this time) and lots of different snacks (dried apricots, pretzels, fruit gummis, tangelos, baby carrots); (2) bring the camera and shoot video (he likes to sing and/or commentate); (3) cover his ears when the end-of-period buzzer goes off; and (4) tell him which players are which, and then cheer actively. He'll join in.

Speaking of video, I got a couple fun clips, including this one:

...which ended with this:

There are more photos from the game in the Philadelphia Freeze Pool on Flickr, and I'll be uploading videos to Vimeo over the next couple days. (One of Molly on O and Katrin on D is already posted.)

We also talked about Tiff's goal; like me, she couldn't remember how it happened, exactly, but the rest of us remembered it being a one-timer. What's funny is that she clearly remembered my goal being a one-timer, but couldn't remember how her own went down, while I clearly remembered her goal being a one-timer, but couldn't remember how *my* own went down. Guess we've cleared that up now.

I got a bit more video of the drills last night for an upcoming post, but other than that (and the warm-up one-timer practice with Meghan), it wasn't that great a practice for me. I'm getting over bronchitis, and I spent the entire practice coughing, soaking through the two Kleenex tissues I'd brought to the bench almost immediately, sniffling, and coughing some more. Consequently, I didn't get as good a workout as I'm used to. Hopefully I'll still be able to play effectively in our game against Queenston on Saturday...

The other two goals were scored in the third period. The first was by Tiffany, in an almost identical setup to mine with A.T. again shooting from the point, and then Steph had a satisfying empty-netter at the end. (It was satisfying mostly because she skated around several opponents before taking the shot.)

Our last game of the regular season is next Saturday, when we will play the Black Widows (to whom we lost 7-0 in Harrisburg back in December, when Laurie volunteered to play goalie; she actually stopped way more shots than the score indicates, while we couldn't get our act together on offense AT ALL). Meanwhile, the Senators will face Queenston—which means all 4 playoff teams will be playing each other on the 8th as well as on the 15th & 16th. Can't wait to see how it all shakes out!

I didn't play *that* badly, and at another game I might have just thought, "bummer, didn't score" and moved on. In this game, though, I felt like I was not only not living up to my own expectations, but everyone else's, too. It's probably mostly (or even completely) my imagination, but it seemed like I could feel, and sometimes hear, the disappointment oozing from the bench. Result? Confidence = gone. I wasn't completely useless with the pall of disappointment hanging over me, which is a huge improvement over past seasons. But I was edgy and defensive and mad at myself for most of the night... and a bit depressed and annoyed at myself in the morning for being edgy and defensive and mad. Reminds me of morning-after-drinking-to-excess remorse, when you feel a little under the weather, a little depressed that all your buddies are gone, and a little mad that you did that to yourself.

I was hoping to find some joy in practice tonight (though, honestly, it *is* a little frustrating to see improvement in my shot, my skating, and my team play at practice, and yet still make STUPID moves and have no goals during games), but now I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to stay home and sleep. I've managed to contract the Beaner's cold, and I'm exhausted. Then again, it might be less taxing to go to practice than to stay home and single-parent the Beaner. Hmmm.

Whether I go or not, I plan to write about some drills we've been doing at practice that have seemed helpful. I'm still occasionally a "drill killer", as Megan says, but I've gotten the hang of more drills than I would've thought possible when I started with the Freeze, and Billy's been coming up with a few to address specific issues he's noticed during games lately. Look for video of Billy explaining the drills (and of the drills themselves) coming soon.

I think the reason is twofold: (1) I've been working on not panic-shooting from the top of the faceoff circle for years (probably unwarrantedly at this point), and (2) I've gotten faster. This means that by the time I decide I'm close enough to shoot, I've tripped over the goalie. (This is precisely what happened on my last breakaway; I decided too late to cut in and try for a backhander.)

Nielle's suggestion was that if I'm coming down the left side, don't bother to try to cut in for a backhander—just shoot from the goalie's blocker side, which is usually weaker. (She actually suggested that I fake a shot first, then shoot, but I think that's probably a recipe for whiffing in my case.) My idea of how to solve the problem was to practice with a cone in the net—or rather, at the top of the crease, where the goalie is likely to be. (Am I alone in practicing most of my shots when the net is empty? I'm assuming not, because goalies are often hard to come by, and when they're around, they want a real warmup, not some goofball sending weak wristers their way.)

I started out writing this before practice, but now that it's after practice, I can tell you what I actually did: Upon entering the ice, I got out two cones and set one near the top of the left faceoff circle, and the other at the top of the crease. (The first cone was designed to remind me to cut a bit to the inside rather than staying out along the boards.) I then practiced skating in and shooting both forehand and backhand. The very first time I executed an amazing top-shelf backhander; the rest of the time I split among lifting it ever-so-slightly into the net, missing the net entirely, and hitting the cone. However, I ALSO got the chance to practice on a real live goalie (namely, Nielle), as several of the drills involved taking the puck in and shooting. I worked on shooting from farther back, with more success than I'd anticipated. Occasionally my shots were weak or wide, but I also had some interesting scores from shots that had never been in my reperatoire before. (My favorite was a backhander that flew through the five hole; on that one, I just let fly when I was the right distance from the crease rather than waiting until I'd cut across to the far post, and I happened to be right in front when that moment arrived.)

NOW, if I can just remember to shoot from farther back in Saturday's game, stay more mobile when crashing the net (I'm usually in too close in this case, too), and visualize myself skating on an Olympic-sized rink (because I seem to be much more aggressive when I feel like I have more room to maneuver), maybe I'll finally have a point in the G column.

I thought when my blogging mojo returned on avocado8, it'd return here too, but that has not been the case. I think it's partly that I have an audience now, and I'm all too aware of it. The pressure to write something that others will not only appreciate but agree with (as to facts; it seems my game recall isn't always up to snuff) is sometimes—ok, nearly always—suffocating. I also feel like if I go back to writing about my PERSONAL hockey experiences (and this is somewhat related to the previous point about game recall), I'll end up disappointing my readers. And yet, that's how this blog started, and from whence springs the most enjoyment. I want to write about hockey the way I experience it, whether it's entirely factually accurate or not. It's about perception: perception of progress, of setbacks, of accomplishments, of annoyances.

Does this mean I should stop writing game summaries? That I should turn the focus back solely on ME, ME, ME? (I'm not sure that's even possible anymore, since my hockey experiences are all in a team environment now.) Should I try to turn this into a shared blog, where other beginners are invited to write about their hockey experiences as well? (This might take the pressure off of all of us to maintain our hockey blogs, actually.)

I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. All I know is that this blog needs a new mission statement and a new design. I think the former should come before the latter, but maybe in tackling the latter, I might decide on the former. If you'd be interested in contributing to a group blog about beginner hockey experiences, let me know in the comments or via e-mail (lori at avocado8 dot com). I might end up just discontinuing regular posting (already the default mode, it seems) and cleaning up the design to make the archives more readable.

It's now been about a month since our first game of the season against the Delaware Phoenix at home. Here's what I remember about that game:

• I skated well, but I didn't do anything spectacular.
• Shelly scored a goal.
• Our opponents had two lines, and we had four. It always seemed to work out that I was facing off against the same girl.
• I hardly sweated at all (see: 4 lines).
• We won rather easily.
• Their goalie was quite good. We had lots of chances, but the final score was only 4-0.

I have two videos from the game; the first shows Tiff, Laurie, Ruthann, and Laura noodling around in the offensive zone (sorry, couldn't see who the other D was).

The second video shows Cassidy, Carol, Laurie (I think we only had 3 Centers, so she was rotating), A.T., and Haley breaking out and going on O.

Final score.

Despite walking/running in the mornings for over a month and feeling like I was in decent shape cardiovascularly, I found myself out of hockey shape when I took the ice for our first practice on September 24. I felt a big sluggish, and the quickness I'd started to see the first signs of at the end of last season was completely absent. I could get a bit of speed going now and then, however, which was nice.

It was great to see so many women come out to play, several for the first time. We'll be having two squads this year—a UWHL C team, which will consist mostly of players from last year's UWHL D team, and a non-league developmental team—and we're sharing the practice ice to save a little dosh. We did a few drills all together, and then we split up roughly into our squads (which weren't actually decided at that point; the split was based more on whether you wanted to work on basic skating and hockey skills or slightly more advanced team drills).

I actually missed the second practice because I had to fly to Chicago for MAX (and I'm missing the fourth practice tonight because I'm in Chicago again at the moment, on my way to San Francisco), but I was there for a UWHL C/MAWHL C scrimmage on Saturday the 6th (my 5th wedding anniversary, as it happens). I was still in a bit of a fog mentally after a rough week, but that sort of fit with the ice conditions, as you can see:

I don't think I've ever been so hot in my life while on the ice. Since we only had 7 players on one bench and 8 on the other (we mixed up to the teams), we took breaks every 10-15 minutes or so to get a little extra air. Some women laid down on the ice to cool off; I skated in slow circles just to keep the cool air circulating through my gear. It was nuts (of course, the weather outside was the reason; it was in the the high 80s, which is insane.)

Anyway, in addition to fog, the video features Shelly carrying the puck into the zone, passing, and then forechecking; and Nielle, our goalie, skating out. Here's the proof that the skater in the red socks at the end really was Nielle:

I'm hoping that (a) I'll have some photos and videos to post from our first league game shortly, and (b) that the trip to San Francisco helped clear my head enough that I'll be back to my old self both on and off the ice by Monday. Stay tuned.

Of course, some women don't need a stinkin' holiday to bake. The last pickup session of the summer is reason enough to share the sugar. Evidence: Not one but TWO women brought cupcakes to last night's pickup at NE Skatezone. (And Barabara brought "beverages. Adult beverages" to share, too.) Angela's offerings even came in a specially-designed delivery system:

I left early (because I'd neglected to set expectations about when I'd be home when I left the house, and Al was having trouble getting the Beaner to bed), so I missed the Beer and Cupcakes in the Parking Lot after-party. I did, however, lift the cover of the delivery system to get a closeup of the decorations (verdict: amazing) on my way out, and they smelled yummy.

First practice for the Freeze Fall/Winter '07-08 season is on September 24. I can't wait! If you're in the Philly/South Jersey/Delaware Valley area and need a team, e-mail the team captains for more info. Beginners are welcome!

Edited to add: No slight intended to the male bakers out there—and the Macromedia Contribute team had several, to the extent that they had to draw up a schedule for when folks could bring in goodies to share. It just hasn't been my experience with coed/men's hockey teams that there've ever been baked goods brought to the locker room. It's happened several times with my women's tournament team, though.

I'd planned to wear the ankle brace under my skate, but I forgot to bring it. To be safe, I taped my skate and my shinpad tightly for extra support... and then started to wonder if I'd cut off the circulation to my toes. Oops.

I found I was a bit tentative at first (and also slow, because I'm out of shape), but as we started playing 4-on-4, my confidence went up and I skated normally. I sucked at D as usual, but since we didn't have any goalies and it didn't really matter if our opponents scored on us, I didn't sweat it too much. I managed to hang onto the puck most of the time, which is great, and my backhand shot was quite good—I feel confident I'll be able to score with it in an actual game. (With the nets down and a decidedly smaller and lower target in the offing, however, my shots tended to go over the net instead of into the little trapezoidal scoring area. A forehand shot would have served me better in this case.)

I only lasted for about 45 minutes, but that was mostly because Al had asked me to be home by 9, not because I couldn't have skated longer. In the end it was probably good I stopped when I did, though, because my ankle has been decidedly sore ever since. My hands are, too, so maybe it's not so suprising that my ankle would be, but it was so achy yesterday that I ended up having to wear the brace all day. It's a little bit of a bummer, honestly. I thought I was making such progress!

If the soreness is gone by next Monday, I'll go again—and wear the brace under my skate this time to see if it helps. If it's sore again after that, then I'll wait until the pre-season practices start before I get on the ice again. :-/

Unfortunately on Friday I did the office-chair scootch, on Saturday I attempted both a kneel and a cross-legged sit, and this morning I did the stoller-out-the-door pivot. As a consequence, my ankle is now BURNING. It's at least a 4 on the pain scale, and it'd probably be a 5 if I didn't have an ice pack wrapped around it right now. It seems to be VERY UNHAPPY with me and my routine, ankle-abusing ways.

Al said he sprained his ankle like this once, and although he got over the worst of the injury fairly quickly, he remembers feeling this constant ache-that-sometimes-escalated-to-pain for months... and then, like a canker sore that turns the healing corner and disappears without a trace, it just wasn't there anymore. He couldn't say when it went away, exactly; it just occurred to him one day that he hadn't felt any ankle pain in a while.

I suspect the story will be much the same for me. There will be lots of walking and normal activity and probably even hockey (well, for sure in September and possibly earlier), but there will also be regular re-tweaks and Advil and icing. And then, if I'm lucky, one day my ankle will just be normal again. I can't wait.