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Author: sutherland
Back on the Ice – Finally (and with Flat-Bottom V)
In looking back in this blog, I see, depressingly, that the last post about me and not T was January 24. And, yes, that was the last time I was on the ice at all – nearly two months. But today I finally got out to skate today – and with the Flat-bottom V sharpening I got for T a few weeks ago.
Because I normally get a 1/2” hollow, they started me out with the 100/50 to try.
All I can say is … wow …
Literally, the first step onto the ice with this sharpening is a noticeable difference. There’s a distinct change in the “feel” of the skate against the ice – it’s smoother with significantly less drag.
A few strides to the blue line and then coasting makes the change even more noticeable, as there seems to be virtually no loss in momentum compared to a traditional sharpening.
In the turn, the edges bite and there’s no sense of slipping or scraping at all. Doing crossovers I’ve always had a feeling of losing my inside edge a bit as I put my outside foot down, but that doesn’t seem to happen with this.
Stopping takes some getting used to, as there’s a much different feel to it. It seems like the edges bite more, but less deeply, if that makes any sense. I was able to stop in the same distance, but with less effort and a feeling of still being on top of the ice instead of digging into it.
T’s Game
So, again, I haven’t even been on the ice due to money and time. 🙁 Hopefully that’ll change starting next week and I can get back to at least skating and maybe some skate & shoots, if not the weekly clinic.
T had a good warm up, for him, at least. He caught both passes to him during the warm up and kept control of the second one the whole time instead of over skating and having to go back. His passes to others were right on target, if a bit underpowered, but that’s conditioning, not skill.
His shots were on target, but were slow, week and telegraphed. He doesn’t have a lot of power on his shot, so he needs to learn to be sneaky instead.
This was a 4-1 win and the coach was happy with the team. He has a parent counting passes each period and counted 20-9-10 passes today. Curiously, the scoring really came together in the third, as it was 1-1 at the end of two.
I question the count a bit, or at least its effect on team-play, as I was really disappointed in the first two periods. It seemed like they were drifting back to the I’ve-got-the-puck-and-have-to-keep-it attitude with a lot of guys skating it in and taking shots regardless of what the ice looked like.
Weak shots from the top of the circle through three defenders aren’t going to go well. And taking weak shots from the goal-line instead of waiting a bit for the rest of the team to catch up isn’t going to work either.
As for T, well, I wouldn’t say it was his best game, but he had some moments.
Period 1 – shift 1
On this shift he flubbed a bit. Got the puck in the offensive zone near the top of the right circle and started skating to the blue line. Had a teammate right at the blue-line and another at the right point, with three defenders between him and the goal. Instead of passing, he hesitated and that led to a turnover and a breakaway.
Period 1 – shift 2
Not much from T on this shirt, but the ref did something I found odd. Offsetting penalties and he sent them to the box, but kept five skaters from each team on the ice. I’d have preferred 4-on-4 and some more open ice for the kids to move in.
Period 2 – shift 1
He’s becoming really good at keeping his head when knocked down. In this shift he went down on his knees, but kept trying for the puck and batted it away. Maybe it’s all the practice he gets falling down …
Period 2 – shift 2
Here he misread a play badly and entirely missed a pass – sad, because he doesn’t get passed to often enough to give any up. 🙁
He needs to get better at predicting where the play’s going to go, so he doesn’t waste energy and can be in the right place. An example of this is on the power play when the other team dumps the puck. If two of his teammates are in his zone getting it, he should stay at center ice to take the pass (or at least because he’s so damn slow and can get a head start going the other way).
Period 3 – shirt 1
He stepped up here and challenged another player, making him shoot the puck to the boards and go around – that slowed the guy up enough for teammates to get on him.
He also ran into a teammate and went down and then skated into an opposing stick and went flying … I thought that one would draw a penalty, but maybe the refs are just used to seeing him face down on the ice …
Period 3 – shift 2
Again he managed to tie up an opposing player until a teammate could get there.
Period 3 – shift 3
With the play in the neutral zone, T was in his own zone near the blue-line. He stopped the puck cleared it from the zone quickly. It didn’t make a difference in the game with a three goal lead and less than a minute remaining, but it was a big play for him. He reacted well, controlled the puck and did the right thing quickly.
Second Game of the Weekend
It’s a two-game weekend for T’s team and both were league games. After yesterday’s win, I was curious to see if their level of play would stay consistent.
Today’s game was a 3-3 tie at the end, but T’s team really dominated the first period. Even though there was no scoring, they controlled the puck well and kept possession for most of the period.
Their team-play was still there from yesterday and it they showed a lot more discipline than they did earlier in the season. Players stayed in their positions more and you could tell that they were thinking things through before beginning a play or passing – well, not always, but often enough to notice.
This was really noticeable and very interesting to watch when the other team didn’t play a disciplined game. It showed most on a couple plays where there were turnovers in the neutral zone and T’s team got the puck. They’d pass back to one of their defensemen who were just inside their blue-line.
At that point, whether by design or just a result of that defenseman taking a moment to think about what he was going to do, the other team would converge on him like flies to honey … at which point he’d make a cross-ice pass to the other defenseman who had almost the entire neutral zone to choose from for passing it up.
T’s own game stayed consistent as well. He worked hard and challenged the other team.
One big improvement I saw was that he ran into another player and stayed on his feet – the other kid went down, but T maintained his balance and stayed in the play.
Money and time have kept me from getting him extra ice-time like we did in December and January – that’s impacting me, as well, since I haven’t been to a clinic or skating since I last blogged about it. Hopefully, I’ll be able to start getting him (and me) back on the ice more this month – it’s clear that one practice and one game a week aren’t enough for him to improve as much as he should to really be competitive.
The Pro shop at his rink now has the Flat Bottom V sharpener now and I had T’s skates done this way after yesterday’s game. The way this sharpening is described is that the flat-bottom, instead of curved, allows the skate to glide better without having to sacrifice control:
Logically, it makes sense – with a curved hollow, the skate’s cutting into the ice more, but this has a flat surface to ride the ice and edges to gain control.
So I had T’s done at 90/75, which the brochure said was a good place to start. He didn’t notice a difference that stood out enough to mention, but I thought he was better able to control his turns. There weren’t really enough rushes for me to gauge his speed this game, but I’m going to keep an eye on it.
I’ll also be trying this on my skates to see if I feel a difference myself. I’d really like to be able to gain some speed without reducing what little control I have.
In other equipment news, I think it’s time to get T better shoulder/chest pads. This is one of those times that I wish I didn’t live in Florida, because I really want to make this sort of purchase “hands-on” and there’s just no store that really carries wide-range of hockey gear.
I’m leaning toward the Bauer Vapor line – probably because I like my skates so much. The Vapor line of products seems to be of pretty good quality and I’ve been happy with all of the Bauer equipment I’ve purchased.
Right now he has the Bauer ONE35 pads, but the Vapor line seems to be made of lighter/stronger materials. Since he’s going to be doing this for a while, I can get him something good. The Vapor X:60 looks pretty good:
Blowout!
T’s team had a massive blowout today, winning 7-1 in a league game.
The team itself played awesomely and as a team. Remember a few games ago the coach was complaining because they’d only had five decent passes in a game – well, today they had five passes on a single rush up the ice.
One of the goals was really surprising – keeping in mind that this is PeeWee (11- and 12-year olds). It’s a bit jaw-dropping to see a top-shelf goal from the point at this age.
As for T, he had his best game yet, I think – and I like that I’m saying that often, because it means he’s really improving as time goes by.
On his first shift he actually caught somebody with the puck. He started chasing the kid in the neutral zone and caught him at the blue line – he says he didn’t touch the puck, but from my angle it looked like he did. At the very least he managed to take the other kid off the play and a teammate was able to get the puck and take it out of their zone.
On every shift, though, he worked really hard, which was good to see. He was even sweating at the end of the game, something the coach has been trying to get out of him for a while.
T’s Game
No updates for a couple weeks – here’s what happened:
T was sick twice over the last two weeks, so he missed two practices and last weekend’s game. I was moving last weekend, so skipped last Monday’s clinic. Likely going to skip the clinic tomorrow, too – it cuts into my time with my daughter, so I’ll likely only be going every other week.
Last week’s game, without T, was a 5-2 loss, making his team 1-1 to start the season.
Warm-up
T needs to learn that when he misses the puck during warm-ups he should not chase it all the way down to the other team’s goal-line. Bad form.
Period 1 – Shift 1
His whole team was playing poorly today – very sluggish and lackadaisical. T did have one nice play where he caught an opposing player coming into his zone – he put his body on him and forced him to turn, then managed to get a stick on the puck and knock it away.
Period 1 – shift 2
In his own zone he skated hard at an opposing player along the boards and took a good whack at the puck – he missed it entirely, but if he’d connected it would have scooted quite nicely out of the zone. He did still manage to keep the other player from doing anything with it.
On offense, he’s got a bad habit of lagging behind the play. In once instance today, he was keeping an eye on his left-wing who had the puck and he kept pace, but he was twenty feet behind the puck and not skating to catch up. I need to get it through his head that he should try to be even with the player who has the puck so they can cross the blue-line together – that way he’ll be at the net for a rebound or a pass.
In this shift and a later one, he got possession of the puck in his own zone and made a good decision. He’s not fast and doesn’t handle the puck well, so skating it out would be hard for him, so I’ve told him to pass when this happens. In both instances, he saw that passing out of the zone would be blocked by too many bodies, so he turned back, kept the puck and got it to a teammate to take out.
Period 2 – shift 1
He’s doing better on face-offs – paying attention to the puck and moving toward it if necessary. Unfortunately, the other team scored on this shift, so he’s back to –1.
Period 2 – shift 2
This is the other shift where he got control of the puck in his zone and made a smart decision about where to pass it.
The rest of the game was mostly uneventful for T, though not for the opposing team who won 2-0, making T’s team 1-2 for the season so far. Coach had some comments in the locker room – mostly centering around the number of penalties and lack of passing. Although he didn’t make the comparison, I did note that the number of good passes (5) was the same as the number of penalties (5) – I’m pretty sure this should be a different ratio …
T, though, is still doing well, I think. Last season I kept telling him that his goal should be to just try and touch the puck every shift – this season he’s been doing that. If not actually touching the puck, then touching the other player or challenging him enough to alter the play.
Monday Clinic
So … yeah … not my most impressive showing at the clinic …
On the plus-side, I have a new stick. The old one was wood, no flex at all and cost $19.99. New one’s composite, has some flex which may help my shot and was $69 – which is still on the cheap side, but it’s much lighter.
Skating drill was goal to goal pretty fast five times – we were divided into two groups. Fourth time coach sent the twos off quicker and told them to catch the ones – I was a one and didn’t get caught. Fifth was the reverse – I also didn’t catch anyone. Then backwards to the far goal line.
Then we paired up for some passing drills. Two of us skate to the far end, trying to stay even with about two stick-lengths between us, passing the whole way.
First time down, I flubbed my first pass and put it behind him. Second time we did well and made all our passes except the last one – that was almost at the goal line and he wasn’t expecting me to send it back to him. I think I did okay the rest of the times we did this – we weren’t trying to skate at full speed, so that helped me a lot.
For the rest of the clinic, we did a three man breakout drill. Two goalies, coach along the boards with a pile of pucks and us in three lines at the red-line.
Coach dumps the puck in and we’re supposed to chase it – the goalie goes behind the net to stop it, but might miss, so the theory is whoever’s fastest gets behind the net, where the puck should be, and the other two head for the boards.
If the goalie’s missed the puck behind the net, we’re supposed to send it back to the player behind the net and start a breakout – down the ice to the far goal, passing, and then shoot on the far net.
Well, two things happened to me in this drill:
First, it just killed me. I wound up on the bench about ten minutes before the clinic was over. See, I’m still pretty much slower than everyone else, so where they might go half- or three-quarter-speed into the zone and down the ice, I have to go full speed just to keep up. After a few repetitions of this, I was wiped out and had to sit for a while.
Second, and this happened on, I think, my first time, I had a bit of an impact.
We enter the offensive zone and the guy with the puck passes it to me, but I miss it and it heads to the goal-line, left of the net. So I skate after it at full-speed and I’m about to the goal-line when I realize I have a problem.
I’m going full-speed, the pucks right there, the boards are in front of me, the plays to the right and I can’t stop on my left foot. So I could turn left and stop on my right foot, but that’s away from the play – I’m on the puck and I’ve got two guys crashing the net, so I should get it to them. Or I can try to stop on my left foot and get the puck into play. What did I do?
I muttered a copulative-verb and skated full-tilt into the boards, missing the puck entirely.
I bounced off the boards and landed on my hands and knees staring straight down at the stationary puck with my stick flat on the ice in my left hand.
Now, I don’t know how this looked to the other guys, but here’s what I was thinking at this point: I need to get the puck to somebody. So I reached for it with my right hand, dimly realized that would be a hand-pass, and then shuffle the shaft of my stick into it to knock it toward the net.
As I’m doing this, one of the other guys skates over and asks if I’m okay, to which I reply: “Ib tieing ‘oo ‘it ‘oo ‘uh ‘ucking ‘uck.”
I have yet to master speaking with the mouthpiece in, so translate that yourself.
Why didn’t I turn right instead of thinking about stopping, take the puck behind the net with me and pop it out in front to a teammate? Because I’m an ‘ucking ‘oron.
The rest of the drill went better for me, though.
I’d say I was about 50/50 for passes I made being on target or reasonably so. I made my share that were off target, but everyone did. On receiving passes, mostly they were too far ahead of me – which is reasonable and expected when you consider my speed. They’re passing where they think I’ll be, but they’re expecting me to be moving faster than I do.
This was actually a fun drill and I wish I’d been able to finish it, but the repetition of full-speed from center ice into the zone then pushing it all the way down wore me out. Especially when I had to push even harder when a pass was ahead of me.
Some of those I got, though, even though I had to skate hard and stretch off-balance to reach them. It was good to have to push myself that hard – now I just have to push myself into better shape.
T’s Second Game
This morning’s game for T was a league game, the first league game of the new season.
Period 1 – Shift 1
It looks like he took what his coach and I told him about skating harder to heart, because he really did pick up the pace today. He skated hard on all his shifts and in this shift he not only skated hard in general, but chased the puck hard to the boards and helped get the puck away from the other team.
Period 1 – Shift 2
Much more aggressive today, he went after the puck more often. He mostly missed it, but was able to block the opposing player from getting it, so that’s still a win.
On one play, he and another member of his team got the puck at the right point of the defensive zone and it got sent down the ice. Everyone took off after it, of course, but I was amazed that T was the first one from his team to cross the opposing blue line. He’s usually last and this is a huge accomplishment for him.
Period 2 – shift 2
This shift started with a goal for T’s team. HIs league doesn’t track +/- for the players, but I’m going to start tracking it for him, so he develops an idea of how that works. He was –1 yesterday, so he’s back to 0 now.
Later, in the offensive zone, the puck wrapped around the boards and T was able to stop it. No one was near him, so he had a bit of time and he controlled the puck, checked where everyone was and made a decent pass to center ice. I was really proud to see him react intelligently and do just what he should have.
Near the end of this shift he missed an opportunity just because he’s still pretty slow. His center took the puck and got pushed to the left of the net. He sent the puck right across the top of the crease while the goalie was locked against the pipe. If T had been faster and been able to just get to the side of the net, the puck would have bounced right off him into the goal.
Period 3 – Shift 1
The little runt really does have some strength on him. The other team had the puck, so T got next to the opposing player and bodied him off the puck.
After his team took a penalty, T was out there for the penalty kill. Here’s where we see that he needs to understand the game better, on top of just playing it … see, he played his position at right wing.
So in his own zone on the penalty kill he’s over at the right-wing boards instead of in front of the net.
Then, after his team ices the puck, one of the other team’s players set up behind his own net to start the play and damned if T wasn’t all the way in there putting pressure on him. I did mention to him that if you’re going to forecheck on the penalty kill you need to have enough speed to get back to your own zone.
Junior Hockey
After T’s game today there was a Metropolitan Junior Hockey League game between the Florida Eels and the Space Coast Hurricanes.
I saw the Eels play a couple weeks ago at the Kissimmee rink, but I couldn’t stay for the entire game. This afternoon I was able to watch the game from the start and it was awesome!
These are fifteen- to twenty-year old kids who clearly love the game of hockey. They’re fast, skilled and they play hard! In both games that I saw there were some fantastic goals, some great saves and a lot of hard checks. In today’s game, there was even a bit of a brawl that included the entirety of both lines on the ice.
It started the way that sort of thing typically does, with a breakaway and the defenseman taking the offense off-balance and into the goalie. So, of course, someone has to shove the guy who knocked the goalie down. So someone has to shove the guy who shoved his teammate. And on from there until there’s ten guys pummeling each other in the crease.
As I watched this game, I started comparing it to the last two Lightning games I attended and, frankly, the Lightning come up short.
So let’s talk price. Today’s game cost me nothing to attend, but that was because we got three free tickets as part of T’s game. If I’d had to pay, it would have cost me $5 – the last two Lightning games I went to were only $10, but that’s because they were with groups. Going alone would have cost a minimum of $20-$30 per ticket.
Today I had a slice of pizza and a Coke during the game. At the Tampa games I told my son “no” when he wanted cotton candy, because it was $7. A cheesesteak was $9. Fries were $6. My slice and a coke? Three bucks. I can’t get just the Coke for three bucks in Tampa.
So, sure, there’s a difference in the level of play between the two, but what these kids lack in experience, they make up for with enthusiasm. And some of these kids will be moving on the NHL, not all of them with a stop at college, so make your own guess at how many levels there are between their play.
And what did I get for my $5 seat vs. the $25 ($10) NHL seat?
Well, here’s my view at the last Lightning game:
It wasn’t quite the last row of the upper-bowl:
See? There were worse seats I could have been in.
Here’s my view of the ice this afternoon:
And I could have gone down and walked around right on the glass to watch the game.
Um … no, those aren’t the players, they’re the cheerleaders/ice-dancers. That’s another plus, the cheerleaders at the Lightning games don’t skate.
These cheerleaders were one bad part about the game, though. I was enjoying them right up until the point that I realized they were probably in the same age group as the players … then it became icky … and a little depressing that I’m old enough for it to be icky.
Damn it.
Anyway, I had a much better hockey experience at this game than at a Lightning game. I think I got a much better value from this game than any NHL arena.
Another big difference was the crowd. No, there weren’t 10,000 people there, but those that were had an interest in the game beyond just being a fan. I was surrounded by a couple hundred people who were the friends and family of the players. When they cheered or clapped, it was because they felt it, not because the jumbotron told them to.
There’s something awesome about watching a game where the lady next to you is yelling a player’s name, not because she memorized the roster, but because she cooked him breakfast that morning.
This was the most fun I’ve had at a hockey game in a long time. If you have one of the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League teams near you, or really any of the junior leagues, you should check out a game.
This was good hockey.
T’s First Game of the New Season
So T had his first game of the new season this afternoon and we got to see whether the extra skating he’s done over the last month and a half has really improved his skills or not. It wasn’t a league game at the rink his team’s at – one thing I like about his coach is that he arranges a couple extra games each season. This one was at the Iceplex in Rockledge and, I think, they were playing that rink’s squirt/mite travel team – at least that’s what I heard.
It looked a little one-sided at the first face-off, since T’s team is pee-wee. His team’s starting lineup seemed to be twice as big as the other team and I think the weight-ratio on the centers was 3-to-1. Then the puck dropped.
Those little buggers can skate.
So T’s team lost, shut-out in fact, but T himself had an awesome game. I think he touched the puck more in this game than he did all last season and he was definitely more aggressive and his skills had improved.
Pregame
He stretched. Not everyone on his team does and this is the first time he’s done it. I think it’s an indication he’s taking this thing a bit more seriously.
He didn’t wear his cup. His excuse was that he doesn’t have the underwear to hold it over at his mom’s, but he also doesn’t really like to wear it. I swear, I’m going to spend a few hours at skate and shoots just to learn how to lift the puck, then I’m going to nail the boy-child in the ‘nads just to teach him an important lesson.
Period 1 – Shift 1
In his own zone with the puck in the center about at the top of the circles, he challenged another player pretty good. He missed the puck, but he took his man off it and kept him out of the play. A teammate got the puck and cleared the zone.
Period 1 – shift 2
He wasn’t ready on the faceoff – he was just sort of standing there and not prepared to react. So when the puck came his way, he didn’t move and the other team got it.
Even in the stands I could hear his coach yelling at him to skate harder. This is a serious problem – he just doesn’t put his all into it on his shifts. I’ve noticed it, his coach has noticed it … and I’m not sure how to address it. I’m going to have a talk with his coach tomorrow and let him know that I have no issue with him sitting the boy if he doesn’t put in enough effort.
In the offensive zone the puck went around the boards. He got there on the right-wing and kept it in, which is pretty good for him. He went down on this play, but he kept his eye on the puck and waved his stick at it enough to keep the other team off and move it back to the boards. The puck finally went to the point, where his team kept it in the zone.
Period 2 – Shift 1
Again he went down (he’s falling a lot, but is skating harder, so that may be why) and again he used his stick and his body to keep the puck away from the other team. This is a big change from last season – when he fell then, he’d usually just lie there for a while.
One of his teammates took the puck up the right boards with T following behind. As they crossed the blue-line, T slowed up and let his teammate take it in for a shot. He should have kept going so he’d be available to pick up a rebound or a drop-pass – or even pushed harder and gone to the slot even with the other guy so there’d be a passing opportunity.
Period 2 – Shift 2
I noticed still that he’s not skating as hard as he can, but he is more aggressive and he’s touching the puck more.
His team took a penalty on his shift so he wound up out there for the first part of the penalty kill. He not only touched the puck in his zone, but he cleared it. This is the first time that’s he’s gotten enough on the puck to clear it – I think that’s an awesome accomplishment.
He did one thing on this shift that I see a lot of the kids in his league doing: They’ll touch the puck, do something with it and then turn away from where the puck is rather casually without really keeping track of it.
Period 3 – Shift 1
I noticed him reaching for the puck a couple times. He didn’t get it, but he stretched a lot to try. Last season, if the puck wasn’t right near him, maybe a couple feet from his feet, he wouldn’t try for it. Today he started reaching out with his stick and this is going to really increase the radius where he can have some impact on the game.
Period 3 – Shift 2
He did skate hard in this shift – at least once he really dug in to get to the puck and keep it in the zone.
Period 3 – Shift 3
In his zone, he got into it along the boards and really dug in there to get the puck. He got it out and passed it … there was no one where he passed to, but still …
So that was the game. And as I look at what I wrote about it, I can honestly say that he was involved in this one game more than he was in all the games last season – even the things he did wrong are kind of good, because at least he’s getting in there.
Friday Skate & Shoot
A simple skate & shoot last night and I practiced some of the things I need to work on.
First I worked on something I noticed at Monday’s clinic. From a standing start, I can start moving forward or backward pretty well, but at Monday’s clinic I was trying to step side-to-side if the passes weren’t right to me.
So I spent some time, off and on, going from standing to skating short distances right and left. I still don’t think I have it right, I think – it takes me too much time to start and I’m quite off-balance.
I also spent some time working on my shooting, which has little force behind it yet, but is starting to stay on target and I think my form’s better. And I did some passing with one of the guys from the Monday clinic.
At this rink, they have the kids on one end and adults on the other with cones along the center line, so I spent some time weaving through the cones with a puck. I was having a lot of trouble with this to start with and then realized what was wrong when my inner-retard spoke up:
“Where’s the puck, dumb ass?”
“It’s behind me … oh …”
Yeah, I’d been practicing my shot and dragging the puck behind me and that carried over into skating for some reason. I was trying to skate through the cones with the puck a foot or more behind my feet. I still don’t know why I did that little bit of nonsense, but things went much better after I started skating with the puck where it should be.
