So game number two for me, after skipping last week due to taking an ass to the groin.
Even strength teams tonight and we lost 3-4 in overtime. I wasn’t on the ice for any goals against and was out there for one of our goals, so I feel better about my performance than I did last time.
The goal I was on the ice for was a nice little wrap-around. I was left wing and I think I was in good position to take a pass from him when he was back there or pick up the rebound. Maybe a little too close to the goal, though.
I think I played my positions better – tonight I was mostly at wing, with one shift on defense. After the first game I found a site that lays out the proper position in different situations, something I probably should have learned before the first game.
One confusing situation that kept occurring was in our zone, where, as I understand it, I’m supposed to keep an eye on their defenseman at the point on my side.
But he was never there, he was more down in the slot, so I spent a lot of time in this big box of open ice.
My instinct is to head down their too and keep him off the puck, but our center said, no. Let our defense clear him out and stay where I should be to take the puck for a breakout.
One thing about the boy-child, who’s still on a bit of a hiatus from hockey, is that he plays his position well. Having been in a game, now, and felt the temptation to get down there into the play, I have a lot of respect for him doing that.
As in the first game, I think my best shift of the night was a clear that set up a breakaway. I got the puck in our zone and saw a clear lane out to our center at the blue-line and the other wing almost there. My pass was on target to the center and I wasn’t too far behind them down the ice. No goal, but it was a decent play on my part.
I think I was also able to put more pressure on the other team than last game. I was still behind people a lot, but rather than trying to catch up and touch the puck, I lifted a lot of sticks and kept them in mind that I was back there.
I fell less in this game. All but one the result of being bumped off balance by other players – it’s no-checking, but you can’t avoid all contact. The one was rather spectacular, as it involved my leg giving out while I was trying to climb over the boards to the bench – pancaked onto my back right there. My goal now is to make it through a game without the ref having to say: “You okay, man?”
With about 5:00 left in the third, my right thigh started aching on top. Twinging from moderate to muttered-obscenity. Weak and worse when I put weight on the leg, I made it through a last shift in the period – they scored 0:30 into overtime, so I didn’t have to see if it would handle that.
It was an unpleasant ride home, with lots of grunts and mutterings, but the pain subsided after a stop at Friday’s, so all it needed was a bit of rest. Or vodka. Rest or vodka, one.
The late end to these games is unfortunate, because there’re no massage places open on my drive home (well, no legitimate massage places). I would so pay for a massage after these games.
