It's a New Season!
I am so NERVOUS and EXCITED about the prospect of playing in my first hockey game in a month tonight.
Al and I practiced with our new team for the first time on Friday night (which was cool, since our old team at Ice Oasis didn't practice at all). We met up at Hockey Workout, a scary place in a scary neighborhood, at 10pm to do drills on the tiny sheet of ice that they have. I fell down on one of the horshoe drills (rather dramatically, I thought), but other than that I don't think I embarrassed myself *too* much. The good news is that I had two significant epiphanies during the hour we had the ice.
- My strong hand is on top. This is something I've known since the day Jason and Louis handed me a stick and told me I'd be shooting left (despite the fact that I swing right in both softball and golf), but I'd never actually used this information to advantage. That is, I knew theoretically that I was supposed to yank my top hand toward me and just steer with my bottom hand, but I'd never done it... untill Friday night. And when I did—wow! Suddenly, I have a decent shot.
- If I can shovel snow, I can score a goal. After doing straight-ahead horseshoe drills, Fuz said, "now I want you to do the same thing, only stickhandle a little, make a move, and shoot a backhander." I panicked; I have very few moves, if any, and I certainly have no backhander. I tried anyway, but I either ran into the goalpost trying to make the move, or I hit it with the puck (though without much force). When Fuz told us to take a minute before moving on to the next drill, I approached him and asked if he could show me how to shoot backhand. He demonstrated a few times, but when I tried it myself, I couldn't lift the puck or whack it with anything resembling force.
Hoche noticed my dilemma and skated over to say, "it's just like shoveling snow." I know how to shovel snow!, I thought. I shoveled snow all the time in Truckee! And the good news is, snow shoveling also involves having your strong hand on top, so I was already in the right configuration. I gave it a try, and VIOLA! Backhander! I can't lift the puck as much as Fuz does yet, but I can put it in the net a foot or more off the ice, which is enough to be proud of, I'd say.
Now, if I can just use my new shooting skills in a game... Guess we'll see tonight. Wish me luck, and cross your fingers that I don't completely embarrass myself or my new team!
Posted by Lori in Gang Green ~ Summer 2003
| April 7, 2003·06:54 PM