We had two games this weekend. The first, on Saturday, was against the Concord Flames, and we won handily. I had no goals, but I did have an assist (at least, I should have; I didn't actually check to see if it was scored), and I had a close-in shot that went under the goalie and came out a couple inches to the outside of the post. I'm assuming it deflected off a leg pad or something, because the shot was straight on. We had 15 people on our bench to their 9, which made the third period somewhat of a cakewalk. It became easy for me to chase down even their best skater and knock her off the puck. I only got one video clip of the game, but it gives a pretty good idea of how slow the pace was.

Alison (#11), Donna (#7), Tracey (solid teal), and Angie (#50)
getting back on D and then turning around to go on O

The most notable thing about the game for me was that I didn't get to play with Meghan, as I had the previous three games; Meghan started at Left Wing on the first line, and then moved back to D when Billy realized we had enough players for three complete lines. Instead I played with Tiffany, who's used to playing Left Wing but who agreed to play Right. There were a few moments of confusion with that where we both ended up on the left side, but when that happened I usually just went over to the right.

Alison in the locker room at NE Skatezone

On Sunday the tables were completely turned. We played a non-league game against the Lady Senators C team at the Flyers NE Skatezone, and this time we were the ones with only 10 skaters (9 to start, since Shelly had a skate problem) to their 15 or 16. We only had one person who regularly plays D (Laura), so we sent three forwards—Laurie N., Meghan, and Alison—back. Luckily I think all three of them had played D on Saturday, so it wasn't a complete shock to the system, but as the Senators were FAST and had good puck-control skills, it was still an enormous challenge.

The plan was for me and Little Angie (so-called because she's small and 15 years old and I don't know her last name; if she happens to read this and objects to the moniker, we'll settle on a new one) to play on a line with Shelly, and for Angie W. and Tiffany to play on a line with Donna. Since Shelly was still getting her skate fixed, Donna's line went out first. When Shelly still wasn't out two minutes into the game, Donna stayed on the ice while the wings changed... and Little Angie and I became her wings. It's only occurring to me now, but if we'd wanted to keep the lines as originally arranged, it probably would have been better to have me and Little Angie start so that when Shelly was ready, we could go on again as a line. Of course, we would have had to know when Shelly was coming for that to work, and we didn't. So anyway, Donna was the Center on my line until the third period, when we were all so tired that we started coming off out of order, and I ended up on the ice with Shelly.

The line arrangements are only tangentially related to the point of this post, which is really to explain what it was like for me to be playing Right Wing instead of my usual Left (Little Angie preferred Left, so I took Right). I've done it tons of times before, but this time I happened to notice something significant about it—namely, the reason I'm more comfortable at Left. As a lefty Left Wing coming into the offensive zone I'm at a slight disadvantage for shooting on net if I stay to the outside (which is why I've started making a point of skating to the middle), but on breakouts being a lefty on the lefthand side is perfect because I can take a pass up the boards on my forehand. (During a breakout drill at practice last week I usually took the pass with my skate if it was Angie W. making it, since she whacks the puck *hard*, but I could then easily kick the puck to my stick.) Not only is the puck on my forehand when I'm on the left side, but I can also see *who's with me to receive a pass*. This is absolutely key to breaking out; you have to be able to see that one of your teammates is coming up the middle with a full head of steam so you can pass to her.