About Last Night... Mostly

I knew if I didn't write about last week's game before this week's, I'd forget what happened. That's pretty much the case, though there are a couple highlights that stuck with me. First is that my line had a lovely breakout on one shift. This is significant, Baldwin told me on the bench during the game (and Hoche later in an e-mail), because Hoche usually complains that we don't have any. Apparently, "...and we didn't even have ONE DECENT BREAKOUT" is a familiar refrain in the post-game locker room. I can understand why Hoche was so excited when we executed on one—it *is* pretty thrilling when you just click, when you come out of your own end in an organized manner and turn defense into offense.

The other thing that sticks out in my mind is how physical the Red Army guys were. I'm not sure whether it was just testosterone or lack of skill, but they tended to go for the body first and the puck second. After getting hit a couple of times in the first period, I noticed that I started bracing for the hit instead of looking for the puck. Annoying, but safe. By the third period I think I had the right balance of safety and go-gettiveness, and I managed to keep track of the puck and avoid getting knocked on my butt too much. Well, except for the final seconds of the game, when I went behind the net to grab a rebound, turned with it to shoot, and was promptly smacked in the face cage by another face cage. Bam! Cagebut! Luckily, I was already back-against-the-boards, because the it saved me from rebounding off the glass with my head. As it was, I just crumpled straight down as the buzzer rang. Special dibs to Phil, who came within about 6 feet of us and said loudly, "LORI, ARE YOU OK?" He so had my back if I'd wanted to drop the gloves on this guy. :)

OK, and now, About Last Night. The main thing I remember (I can't believe I'm already forgetting!) is that it was funfunfun. My line didn't score any goals, but we had so many chances and so many things that we did right that we are bound to become the Scoring Line eventually. There were many triangle situations that I didn't execute very well, even though I recognized them as triangle situations (as Hoche says, "there's a difference between knowing what a triangle is and actually doing it correctly in a game"), but overall I was pretty proud of myself for a number of Things Done Right. My proudest moment was probably when I picked the puck off an opponent's stick and dashed into the zone. Just the picking and the dashing would have been enough to make my chest (and my head) swell, but I also managed to get a shot off *on net* and pick up my own rebound. Woo hoo!

I think the play that nearly gave everyone else a heart attack (in a good way) was the almost-tip-in during the second period. I am a net-crasher by trade, so when I wasn't actively chasing the puck in the corners, I was camped out on the goalie's back door. In this case I was SO READY for a rebound that I felt like I could see the shot coming before the puck even got to the shooter. Unfortunately, I didn't *actually* see the shot after it left (Baldwin's? Wilson's? I can't remember) stick, because I was being screened by an opponent. However, the puck did hit my stick as it came through the crease. The only problem was that my stick was pointed just the teeniest bit too far to the left, and the puck slid just outside the post instead of just inside it. Gotta work on that stick angle for the tip-in -- maybe Al & I can do that next practice.

We had Dangerous Dan in nets for us, but since we out-shot the Y Guys 44 to 7, he didn't have much to do. I think he was starting to wonder why we'd made him drive all the way down from Redwood City. (Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, the Y Guys' goalie was on FIRE, as attested to by the score, which was only 3-0.) Jim scored goals one and three, and Lisa and Inga hooked up for the second one. I must admit, even though Hoche shook his head and laughed, "man, that was some ugly garbage" after the second goal, it was my favorite. I believe Inga had gone in for a shot on goal on the left side and then skated around the back of the net to the right while Lisa picked up the rebound. Lisa then threw the puck at the net, and Inga had the entire right side open. She didn't have to go high—the slightest tip would have done it—but it added an extra bit of flair.

felicia al's line 98 al al again jim looks for a shot kerry covers a man inga karen no hockey players phil al whizzes by wilson fights off the poke check a typical Y Guys scene al fights for the puck

Posted by Lori in Gang Green ~ Summer 2003 | April 28, 2003·04:47 PM