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Category: game
Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall.–Sir Walter Raleigh
4/4/2013 – 4/7/2013 Miles MPG Average Speed Raleigh-Durham, NC 1416 44 56 
Driving listening:
4/4/2013 – 4/7/2013
Priceline Retail $ Savings % Savings Radisson Hotel Research Triangle Park (3.5 star) $51.96 (inc. tax & fees)
Bid: $41 + $10 bonus cash$108.11 (inc. tax) $56.15 52%
Thursday
It was raining at 4:00 AM when I rolled out of bed. Raining at 5:00 AM when I got in the car for the drive to Raleigh. And raining nine hours and six hundred miles later when I pulled into the hotel. A nasty, drizzly rain that came with a temperature drop to the low forties in North Carolina.
Yes, a disgustingly early start, but I had a ticket to the hockey game at 7:00 that night and didn’t want to be late.
I checked into the hotel and settled into the room for a brief rest before the game. I don’t usually say much about the hotels unless there’s a problem, so consider this foreshadowing.
The hotel’s older and used to be The Governor’s Inn, hence the suite next to my room.
I actually doubt that he stayed there, considering the rather nice house he has about twenty minutes away.
In the room I found the typical flyers and handouts waiting for me, along with a rather stern pamphlet warning me not to steal the towels and giving the price of virtually everything in the room should it turn up missing after checkout. Now, a lot of hotels have such a price list, but they typically phrase it as “if you wish to purchase”, not “housekeeping counts everything”.
So right from the start this left a bad taste in my mouth. It’s the hotel equivalent of showing your receipt on the way out of some retailers: “Thank you for shopping with us. Please prove you’re not a thieving bastard. Have a nice day!”
Anyway, I used the Urbanspoon app to find a random BBQ place and headed for Backyard Barbeque Pit. It was close and had really good reviews on Urbanspoon.
Now … here’s where I have to admit some culpability for my experience at the
restaurant: I was in North Carolina. I knew I was in North Carolina. I am not a stranger to BBQ in North Carolina. And … I ordered brisket in North Carolina.
I know, I know. North Carolina BBQ is about the pig, only about the pig, and all about the pig. But I ordered brisket.
So on a future trip, I feel that I owe Backyard Barbeque Pit a second visit, but for this visit I had the brisket. It came covered in gravy, which greatly confused me. Brisket shouldn’t come with gravy … brisket with gravy is … pot roast?
But, brisket or pot roast, it still wasn’t very good. Fatty and some pieces so veined with fat that hadn’t cooked out that it was chewy. The gravy, or sauce, was good neither as gravy nor sauce, but did manage to cover the meat and preclude me from getting any of the other sauces to stick. So not good.
The sweet potatoes were very good, though, and clearly homemade. I’m not sure if the beans were entirely homemade, but they didn’t taste of a can and were good as well. The hushpuppies, which were more what I’d call corn fritters, not as grainy and sweeter than what I’d call a hushpuppy, were very good.
It was still raining when I finished dinner and headed for the game at PNC Arena.
Carolina was playing Tampa and I am not a Tampa fan, so I was hoping to see the Lightning get trounced. Unfortunately, other than a first period goal disallowed for the Hurricane player kicking it (which I didn’t see a kick), it was all Tampa Bay.
It was raining when I left the game.
Friday
No rain or clouds in the morning, just a beautiful spring day.
After sleeping in a bit I headed for the North Carolina Museum of Art for the afternoon. Quite a few of the exhibits don’t allow photographs, so none of those.
The museum’s made up of two buildings. One (West) for their permanent collection and the other (East) for special exhibits. Most of the museum is free admission, but there’s a charge for some special exhibits – I sprang the $10 for the two that were currently there and started in the East Building.
The upstairs was mostly contemporary art, mostly an exhibit of pieces by two artists, a photographer and a painter. They each did normal, household still-lifes, but were exhibited alternating: a photograph and a painting next to each other.
What would have made this exhibit really interesting would be if they’d each done the same scenes and been displayed together. A photograph and a painting of the same thing would have been intriguing. But that wasn’t the case. Mostly I preferred the painter’s work.
There was an interesting video exhibit. I don’t normally care for video as art, but this was intriguing. It was five actors reacting emotionally – different emotions for each one – and it was sixty seconds of video slowed down to fifteen minutes. Bill Viola, Quintet of Remembrance. Most interesting if you see it from the beginning, not coming in halfway through.
From the beginning, the actors aren’t very expressive, so there’s a sense of discovery as they begin reacting and you realize that they’re each doing something very different. Pretty cool, all in all.
Last upstairs was a gallery of high school work. Framed and displayed with as much care as everything else. The assignment had been to create artwork based on a word or phrase, and some of the pieces were very well done – others were clearly high school, but some I would have been happy to see there on their own merits.
Quite unlike the first of the special exhibits, 0 to 60: The experience of time through contemporary art.
This is one I paid for. Schmuck.
So first is a piece where someone took several clocks, cut them into pieces and glued them back together. Meh, but not painful.
Next were two clocks, side-by-side, but showing different times. Okay, I said to myself, there could be something here, but I’m not sure what it is.
So I read the card and found that the clocks had been installed set to the same time, but went out of synch as the batteries wound down. It’s entitled Perfect Lovers. Ooookaaaayy … could have been something there … but … I shouldn’t have to read the damn thing to understand what the artist is getting at.
Now, next, was a board.
Wait, wait … it’s an unfinished 1”x4”, just like you get from Home Depot and, wait for it … the artist has cut out one of the knots and attached it to a clockwork motor so that the knot rotates like clock hands.
We’ll pause while you catch your breath from that one.
Next: Clock motor with a rotten banana peel attached.
No comment.
There was a hundred foot roll of paper with a line made out of hair down the middle.
An air compressor attached to about thirty feet of hose that inflated and deflated a paper bag attached to the end of the hose.
An artist who saved all of his receipts for a year and then duplicated them on to a roll of paper, by hand, with colored pencils. This was interesting … especially the checks he duplicated complete with MICR routing and account numbers … and signatures.
An exhibit that consisted of a letter from the artist stating that he intended to do a performance art piece consisting of punching a time clock in his studio every day and taking a picture of himself. And a letter from someone stating that he would sign the artists timecards to ensure there was no “cheating”. Along with the timecards and a timelapse video of the artist standing next to the time clock for a year.
Punching a time clock every day for a year is not art. It’s called a job. Get one.
My favorite, though, was the pile of candy. Big pile of cellophane wrapped candy in the corner. The “art” is interactive, in that the viewer decides whether or not to take a piece and staff refreshes the pile from the 175-pounds supplied by the artist.
Apparently there’s “art” at the cash register of every diner in America.
From there I went to the other special exhibit, Object of Devotion, which was a collection of 13th-14th century British alabaster. All religious works, so not thrilling to me, but I guaran-damn-tee that nothing in the other exhibit will be touring museums 800 years from now … so there.
Then over to the other building for the museum’s permanent collection, which spans virtually everything from African folk art to Egyptian to Classical Roman statutes (sans penii, thanks to time and chisel-wielding Popes) – all the way through 19th century painters. Something for everyone, really.
But mostly I was there to see the Rodins – one of the largest collections of Rodins in the country.
The Rodins took up the rest of the time I had for the museum. I left there and headed for the Duke University campus, stopping for dinner at another random BBQ place on the way.
Bullock’s does not take credit cards, but there’s an ATM in their lobby. The lobby walls are decorated with celebrity photos, all of whom seemed to have been happy with the food. The menu is huge – much larger than I’d
expected, including such BBQ classics as quesadillas. That made me a little hesitant, but the place was packed at 2:00 in the afternoon, so I stayed to give it a shot.
Bullock’s does not appear to engage in any pretense that BBQ means anything but pig. Specifically pulled pork. The menu doesn’t even say pulled pork, it just says “BBQ”. BBQ with other things, maybe, like BBQ with catfish, BBQ with Brunswick Stew … but, ultimately, the BBQ part all means the same thing.
There is “sliced BBQ”, if you don’t want pulled, and “ribs”, but it’s clear that the focus is on the pulled pork. I got the BBQ with Brunswick Stew, which came with coleslaw and hushpuppies.
There were no sauces on the table, so I asked if they had any when my food was served. Apparently Bullock’s believes that their BBQ is perfectly sauced as-served, and I got a “look” for my heresy. The server was still smiling and pleasant, but there was still a look … sort of like the look a Borgia Pope might give Martin Luther at a dinner party.
She did bring me a small bowl of a sweet, vinegar-based sauce, though.
The hushpuppies were very good and the Brunswick Stew was excellent, but the BBQ was possibly the best I’ve had since I started these trips. As-is it was flavorful and spicy, tender without being fatty. The sweet sauce was good, vinegar-based as well, and added a nice contrast, so I alternated between the two.
I asked for a desert recommendation and wound up with the “lemon icebox”. Homemade and delicious, it was a good end to the meal.
From dinner I headed onto the Duke University campus, a beautiful place, for a lacrosse game.
Lacrosse is much higher scoring than hockey and, as near as I can tell, the goalie is just there to take up space. Shots seemed to either miss the net entirely or score. Duke won handily, 17-6, and I froze my ass off on the aluminum stadium bench. 40-degrees in April.
Saturday
I started the morning on a sour note, because I discovered that the hotel had charged my credit card over $200. This was a prepaid, Priceline room, so there should have been only a $50 authorization for incidentals, if that. Instead there was a $150 authorization and one for $52.16.
I spoke to the front desk about it and apparently the hotel has a policy of charging $50 per day instead of the $50 per stay that most properties authorize. They couldn’t explain the $52.16 and said they have no record of it.
I then spoke to the manager, because even though this isn’t a charge, it’s quite a large authorization. I really didn’t like the justifications he tried to make. First, that some people smoke in the room … well, fine, but I can smoke in a room on one night just as well as three, so why a per night authorization?
Then he made a comment about prepaid guests and not having any recourse against them. Again, I can clean out everything in a room in one night just as easily as three. And it was another example, like the “don’t steal the towels”-note, of being asked to prove I’m not a thief. Not the experience I want from a hotel.
Around noon I arrived in downtown Raleigh. I’d scheduled a walking, tasting tour with Taste Carolina for the afternoon. While I was waiting for the tour meeting time, there was a Lebanese festival going on, so I watched some performances.
And some halawat el-jibim … I think. It was a sweet-cheese and semolina topped with pistachio.
Served cold, it was sweet, nutty, cheesy and chewy.
Also a sweet Arabian coffee – both very good, and I would have tried some other things from the food booths, but it was time to head for the Raleigh City Museum and meet the tasting tour.
The tour was several miles walking, with a little bit of history mixed in with stops at five different restaurants.
The first stop was Centro, a Mexican restaurant downtown. Like several other places on the tour, this is not a place I would have chosen for myself and, also like the other places, it’s someplace I’d now like to return to for a full dinner. 
Our tasting here was Chilaquiles Verdes … I have no idea what that is. It was a creamy sauce that started sweet and then became a little spicy, finishing with the rich taste of the beef. This dish was tied for my favorite of the tour and I heartily recommend it.
We also got an interesting drink – “hamicha”, I think it was called – a sweet, flowery tea made from hibiscus. I recommend that as well.
Gravy is an Italian place that served us the best gnocchi I’ve ever had. The individual pieces were larger than I expected and perfectly cooked. So often gnocchi can be gummy, but these little tidbits melted under the least pressure and
melded with the sauce beautifully.
The sauce was cream, garlic, spring onions, and spring artichokes, with a hint of parmesan on top. It was sweet and creamy, but the parmesan brought just the right amount of saltiness to each bite. Tied with Centro for my favorite dish of the tasting.
Gravy paired this with a really nice white wine from Italy that I don’t remember the name of.
PieBird sells pies. I like pie. The make both sweet and savory pies, but the tasting was all sweet.
I sat down and looked at the slice in front of me to find lemon icebox … which I’d
I’d just had a pretty good one at Bullock’s. But one of the other tourers suggested we cut each slice into bites and all try each kind, which went over well.
So we each wound up getting a bite or two of: lemon icebox, peanut butter cream, honey (local honey), something that was all nuts, and one that was made completely from sugar. All of them were good, but I think the sugar and honey ones were the best.
Tyler’s Tap Room is a lot about beer. I don’t care for beer at all … it seems like a waste of good grain. Things were on their way to becoming a perfectly good whiskey but went horribly awry … The tasting was in their bottle store, which sells
the regional brews they feature.
I tried the beers they had for us to sample, including one that they infused with other flavors. They take a featured beer and then enhance some of the flavors already present by running it through an infuser system – this week they featured one that they infused with chili, basil, lemongrass, lime, and ginger. We tasted both the before and after versions and I could understand what they were doing. The before-version definitely had the flavors they mentioned and the after-version was much bolder.
I still don’t like beer.
The food tasting was pretzel nachos and pork sliders, both of which were good renditions of typical American pub fare. My pork could have been pulled a little more, as there were a couple large chunks, but it was very tasty. The pretzels were fresh, hot, and tender, and the nacho cheese had just the right amount of heat.
The last stop on the tasting tour was Kimbap, a Korean restaurant almost across the street from Tyler’s. I liked Kimbap immediately, just because of their beverages – any place that goes out of their way to advertise soda with cane sugar instead of
corn syrup gets points from me right up front.
Our tasting here was some sesame greens (which I ate before the photo) and a shrimp fresh roll.
The greens were really good, with just the right amount of oil, which is why I ate them before taking the photo. The roll had a bit too much lettuce for me, but after I took a bit out it was quite good. The sauce wasn’t too spicy and added a lot of flavor.
Also on the tour, we saw the Governor’s Mansion. Nice place.
And a pair of racing Trolley Pubs.
As near as I can understand this, your group pays to rent the trolley, brings its own booze, and then has to pedal around town … drunks are weird.
After the tour, the operators provided rickshaws back to the starting point, with a rather interesting restaurant ad on the back.
From downtown I was back on my way to the PNC Arena for the second hockey game, this one against the Rangers. I got there a little after 5:00, almost two hours before the game, the parking lot was half full and the grassy areas were covered with awnings and grills.
For the Tampa game, the arena had been a sea of red and black, Carolina’s colors, but the crowd pulled out the blue for the Rangers.
There were so many Rangers fans that they managed several “Let’s go Rangers!” chants during the game – they were drowned out by “Let’s go ‘Canes!” after the first few verses, but they didn’t give up. The Rangers’ goals, and there were many of them, got as much applause as Carolina’s one goal did.
After the game I hurried back to my room to catch a few hours sleep before heading home at 5:00 AM, but the manager of the hotel had left a gift for me in the room.
I’d Drive an Hour to Avoid That–Denver Results
At first blush, flying seemed like the best choice. A 29-hour drive would have been excessive. But while the return flight was mostly okay, the results of the I’d Drive an Hour to Avoid That game on the flight to Denver were very close.
Flying Driving Actual Time 12 hours 29 hours Game Results 12 Totals 24 hours 29 hours Now, let’s look at the cash – because I like to feel I’ve received value for my time and money. We’ll compare the total costs of flying vs. driving for this trip, including the seat upgrades that kept flying from being a painful experience. Keeping in mind that the Prius’ driver’s seat has more legroom than even the “preferred” airline seating.
Flying Driving Ticket $280 Gas $350 Rental Car $59 Hotel (extra nights) $120 Rental Car Insurance $44 Seat Upgrades $108 Rental Car Gas $40 Total: $531 Total: $470 Flying actually cost me more when all was said and done. Even if I hadn’t upgraded my seats, the cost savings would have been under $100. So it really comes down to time versus comfort and flexibility.
Flying saved me two days of travel time, and a lot of the hassle of flying could have been avoided if I’d been willing to spend more ($150) for a direct flight out of Orlando to Denver.
On the other hand, I like driving to places. I like the process of the roadtrip, and the flexibility. So next time I go to Denver, which will not be in February, I’ll probably drive.
It’ll be a longer trip, but I’ll have options. Maybe I’ll stay overnight in Atlanta on one of the legs and see a show at Shakespeare Tavern. I’m sure there’s something worth seeing in Kansas or Missouri …
Game 2
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.
First Game
So a month and change shy of my forty-fifth birthday, I play my first hockey game.
It. Was. Awesome.
I haven’t had so much fun in a long time. But, damn, having the clinic and game on the same night makes for a long night. Six-plus hours.
6:00 30-minutes of yoga to stretch and warm-up, because my balance sucks and I’m not as limber as I used to be 6:30 A quick shower, make sure all the gear’s in the bag, fill the water bottle, take an Ibuprofen as a pro-active solution to the coming pain 7:00 Leave for the rink 7:30-7:45 Arrive at the rink, depending on traffic 7:45 Gear up and bullshit in the locker room (particularly nasty story from the other rink about a guy’s earlobe getting sliced off – yay, hockey!) 8:00-8:15 Wait for the kids to finish up their practice and the Zamboni to cut the ice 8:15-9:15 Clinic 9:15-9:30 Wait for the ice to be cut again 9:30-11:00 Game: 12-minute periods, 5-minutes between periods 11:15 Leave the rink 11:45 Stop at Friday’s, because, damn it, I just played a hockey game and I deserve a sandwich and a drink 12:30 Home And that would be an optimal night where the kids don’t run long and the Zamboni doesn’t drop a ton of water on the ice that we have to wait on.
The rookie game at this rink is sort of a formalized pick-up game. It’s not a league with set teams. The rink manager sets the team each night, depending on who shows up and lets you know if you’re Red or Blue. Tonight I was on Blue.
Fifteen skaters showed up, so Red had seven players and Blue had eight … well, seven and me.
A quick conference before the game starts and we decide on three defensemen and five forwards. I’m one of the forwards, but not starting.
The puck drops and before I know it one of our guys is skating for the bench yelling “Right wing!”. Shit … I’m next on the bench, so I go over the boards and start my first shift … which I don’t remember at all …
It’s all a blur, and I couldn’t recount what happened in any kind of order to save my life, but certain events stand out.
I was surprised at how tired I was when I got to the bench at the end of a shift. For the most part, I didn’t notice it on the ice, but then I’d sit down on the bench and start gasping for breath.
I made all of my shifts except one. With about 7:00 minutes left in the third, I returned to the bench and it hit me hard. Out of breath, feeling like I’d vomit, scrabbling at my facemask to open it up and get some air (because a metal cage stops airflow?).
By the time I was up again, I just hadn’t recovered enough and someone else had to take that shift, but I did recover my breath and managed one more before the end of the game – unfortunately, as we’ll get to later.
The coach from the clinic referees the game and provides feedback to the teams between periods. I listened … I really did … and today I don’t remember a word he said. Something about the D not pinching so much and maybe not letting one guy carry the puck behind their net and get mobbed by the entire other team without any help.
I cannot count the number of times I fell, but it was easier to avoid flat-out running into anyone than I expected it to be. Falling I don’t mind – it’s usually the result of pushing my skating skills a bit too far, which is the way to improvement, and it doesn’t hurt with the pads. Running into the boards does hurt, which I have now managed to do three weeks in a row. At least this time it wasn’t my left side, so the ribs there got a break.
So on one shift we were in our own zone and the puck went behind the goal-line. One of the opposing players got to it and one of our guys went after him, but there was a tangle and ours went down. I was on the other side of the net and went behind it toward them. I got there before the opposing player got control of the puck and whacked at it. I actually connected and got it away from him.
The puck went more to the center than I’d have preferred – it would have been better to send it back along the boards, but I managed to get there and keep the opposing player from making a controlled pass, so I’m happy with that.
Later I wound up at center … which means face-offs … which I’ve never done before and it showed. Lost both of them. I need to read up on how to take a face-off and find some drills to practice.
My best effort of the night was again in our zone. I was at right-wing and got to the puck, turned to cut off the opposing player and had open ice to clear it to the other wing. He was hanging at the blue-line and picked up the puck for a breakaway. Didn’t score, but it was still nice to be a part of.
I even managed a shot on goal. Coming in at left-wing, the right-wing carried the puck into the zone, got stood up by the defense and the puck came across the slot to me. Unfortunately, it came to my backhand and the shot was slow and pathetic, but it was on net.
The last shift of the game was the worst. We started the third period with the score 4-4 (I think, tied at least). Near the end it was 4-7 … we’d had a bad third period.
I’d sat out one shift with 7:00 left, but figured I had one more in me. Everyone on the bench was exhausted, but I’d been there the longest, so when a defenseman came in and no one else moved, I went out.
So one of them gets the puck on my side and gets around me. I chased him up the ice and it was incredibly frustrating, because the fucking puck was right there. Two feet. I needed two more feet of reach to poke it away from him and I couldn’t pump my legs enough to get them. We hit the top of the circles and I had to let up a bit, because I know I’m not going to be able to turn or stop in time to avoid the boards if I don’t, and he scores.
Just a little more speed and I’d have been able to do something. I managed to stay with him, but just couldn’t make up those two feet. Also he was inside of me, so I think if I’d managed to move to his other side, I could have interfered with his shot, at least. My mistake there was that I was playing the puck and not the man – if I’d been inside, I could have lifted his stick or something.
Next I just got out of position. The puck was deep in our zone and went back and forth between the net and the boards a couple times – I played more wing than defense and wound up outside the puck and they scored again.
So a couple of decent plays, a couple bonehead mistakes, and a hell of a lot of fun.
T’s Championship Game
The game was a disappointment for T and his team as they lost 3-1. Would have been 3-0 if not for a last-second goal that was flipped to the top shelf on a backhand as the buzzer sounded.
T himself played a solid game, but nothing like the awesome shift he had last weekend.
He had a lot of activity along the boards and in the corners today, at one point trapping the puck along the boards while surrounded by four opposing players.
His reaction time is still very slow and that hurt him today. He doesn’t react quickly enough when the puck is near him and that gives the other team the opportunity to take it.
T’s Game (playoff)
After starting the season with some losses and poor play, T’s team has gone 4-0-1 in their last five games to finish the season (including today’s “playoff” game) with 11 points and leading the four team league. So they go into next weekend’s championship game with home-ice advantage – of course, all four teams play on the same ice all the time, so the other guys have that too, but it’s all good.
He’ll actually have no break between seasons this time as the Spring season starts April 5th – so he’ll play his championship game, then go the next weekend for his draft skate into the next season. This has two downsides: A) I won’t be able to get him extra ice time between seasons like I did in December/January, and 2) I had to come up with $370 rather unexpectedly today.
Both of these things suck.
But on to more fun and interesting things:
Period 1 – Shift 1
T was bragging before the game about how he was going to put forth more effort than he ever had before out there today … and he actually did. He had a good first shift, worked hard, positioned himself well … at one point, he was really well-positioned in the neutral zone and one of his teammates actually passed the puck to him. He missed it, but it was still a deliberate pass to T and not just a dump out of the defensive zone.
Period 1 – Shift 2
Again in the defensive zone, the left-wing passed to him. He was able to stop this one, but wasn’t quick enough about doing something with it and the other team took the puck.
Puck handling is something he needs to work on, as he skated hard to get to the puck later in this shift, but couldn’t keep it or pass it quickly enough. Another turnover.
Since most of these kids can’t jump over the boards yet, T needs to learn to give way to the players coming onto the ice during a line-change – bit of a muddle as he was coming off and blocked his replacement at the door.
Period 2 – Shift 1
Offensive zone along the boards, he’s able to get his body in front of a defender and keep him away from the puck.
Later in the defensive zone, there’re three of the other team in the high slot with the puck … T skates right through the center without doing a thing. The words: “What the fuck are you doing?!” were almost yelled.
Period 2 – Shift 2I have no words for this shift. He was simply awesome.
Face-off in the defensive zone, puck goes behind the net to the other side and the opposing team comes out with it … T’s there and puts a body on the kid to take him off the puck and into the boards. Puck’s loose because of him.
Other team gets the puck back and to the high slot … T’s coming across the center as fast as he can, stick on the ice and outstretched to block anything that comes.
Player’s hanging around the net looking to cherry-pick … T’s there and all over him like a latex bodysuit … okay, unfortunate metaphor, but you get the idea. A little shoving and this kid can’t concentrate on where the puck is to do any good.
Other team gets the puck to the point and try to skate it into the slot … T comes out of nowhere and leans into the puck carrier. They both go down and the puck’s loose.
And something else he did that I actually can’t remember because there was so much.
And, to top it off, after all that mucking about on defense, his team got the puck on a breakaway and scored.
I think I can honestly say that without T’s work in the defensive zone that wouldn’t have happened and, in fact, the other team might have scored. That he contributed so much on a shift with a goal is awesome … that it happened to be the game-winning goal is icing (not the bad kind of icing).
Period 2 – Shift 3
Puck carrier crosses the blue-line and T’s on him, turning tight with him and really stretching to reach the puck … who the hell is this kid and what did he do with my son?
Period 3 – Shift 1
Still working hard, still aggressive. Came up on the puck-carrier and took the ice away from him. Puck’s loose.
And then, he’s behind and to one side of his own goal … teammate behind the goal, teammate toward the boards. He gets the puck and makes the best pass I’ve ever seen from him … right on the tape … of the opposing player in front of his net …
Oh, well. Not the end of the world, but I keep telling him: “It takes a lot of atta-boys to make up for one oh-shit.”Period 3 – Shift 2
Still aggressive and skating hard all the time. I’m really proud of him.
Then #7 on the other team gets the puck at the blue-line and he’s nearby. He seems to hesitate … he doesn’t go after her.
Yes, her. #7 is a girl (hockey-chicks are so cool) and I think it’s the girl who played on his team last season. I think he gave her a pass because he likes her. Got to talk to him about that … I don’t care if it’s his girlfriend out there, he needs to stand her up.
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:
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.
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.
