Skate Date

Tonight Al and I are going to the public skate at the Bridgepointe Ice Center. This is turning into a regular gig for us, part date night, part hockey training. We've noticed that it's not so much that the exercise gets us in shape (sometimes we barely skate above a mosey), but rather the feeling of constant motion that prepares us for games. Constant motion is what hockey is all about—something that's too easy to forget. I often catch myself standing around on the ice when I should be shadowing an opponent or getting open for a pass.

That's the other thing about the public skating/constant motion thing: to keep going around the same circle over and over from getting boring, I sometimes break into a sprint or practice skating around the other patrons as if they were orange cones (i.e., not letting myself pass more than one person at a time on the same side). This helps me in games because going from slow glide to top speed and skating in traffic become intuitive. I actually think it would be more helpful if the other patrons skated *at* me, but I don't want to be a jerk or scare anyone who can barely stand on skates by going in the opposite direction.

Posted by Lori in | March 5, 2003·06:35 PM