Hockey :: Bandits
July 28, 2006 / Friday
That Thursday Team
I played my first Bandits game in a month last night. Happy to be back, especially since my Maroon team didn't have a game last weekend. We played well and went into the 3rd period up 1-0, but then we got killed by "penalties" and the other team came back to beat us. Final score: 1-4. I'm missing next week's game again. Don't think I'm gonna play next season. Can't really balance midweek hockey with school. Siiigh.
10:49 PM | Bandits| Comments (0)
June 29, 2006 / Thursday
Skate Skate Skate
A change of pace from pedal pedal pedal. Played with the Bandits tonight and had a blast. I managed a respectable game, despite feeling crazy hungry the whole time. I don't know why I thought my roommate's vegetarian soup would be a good pre-game snack. Not many calories in mushrooms and tomatoes. D'oh.
Poked the puck, stole the puck, passed some, received some, skated with it some, shot some, and had a lot of fun. Susi was back, Red was in net, and Peter subbed for us. Huzzah!
Final score: 3-1. :)
11:59 PM | Bandits| Comments (0)
June 23, 2006 / Friday
Game Recaps Are A Chore
Played last night.
First time in a month there.
I think that was my 3rd game total in a month.
I need to play more.
We won.
Hooray.
Final score: 4-2.
12:10 PM | Bandits| Comments (2)
May 25, 2006 / Thursday
Bandits Game 11: Halloween vs. Sunshine
So, um, we played the yellow team today, and they had this one speedy guy. He'd get the puck and we'd all watch him. And then he'd score. After a while he'd get the puck and I'd wonder what he was doing playing on Thursday nights. Doesn't playing down get boring after a while?
Perhaps he seemed extra speedy to me because I had a slow night. All my carbs today came from ice cream and fatty fried foods. That made for major suckage on the skating front. Ow, my quads. Ow, my glutes. Ow, ow, waaah.
Final score: 1-5. Google Joe saved us from getting shutout. Hooray.
10:51 PM | Bandits| Comments (1)
May 18, 2006 / Thursday
Bandits Game 10: Eeek, A Giant!
There was this huge guy on the other team tonight. He must have been 6'3" and 250 pounds (for reference, that's 2 of me). And not very nice. Well, at least not to me, given that he sent my flying mid-ice during the game. And what could I do in return? Nothing, except bounce off of him. Poopie.
But whatever, we won. Getting launched didn't hurt, landing didn't either, and I had a good scrappy game. I can live fairly happily with that.
I can also live fairly happily with the final score: 6-2. Yesh.
10:34 PM | Bandits| Comments (0)
May 11, 2006 / Thursday
Bandits Game 9: Meh
Well, that kinda sucked.
Or maybe I kinda sucked.
I played like ass tonight. Was I tired? Maybe. But I think it's something else.
When I played on Saturday nights, I was willing to try anything, because I believed that I had a chance of pulling it off. On Thursdays, I feel like I don't have time. And maybe I don't. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't try just the same. Right?
It's so easy to think about it objectively when I'm sitting at my desk typing away.
Anyway, we lost the game 2-6. And not simply because I sucked. It felt like our whole team kinda sucked. I thought I was watching last night's Sharks game all over again.
Well, except that we're slower. And smaller. And less skilled. And stuff.
For the second Bandits game in a row, I forgot to bring socks. I played barefoot in my skate again, and did not fare so well this time around. Something on the inside of my skate rubbed against my foot, and by the end of the game it was all I could think about. Fortunately, it didn't blister. It did, however, rub off all the skin in that area. Accelerated sloughing, fun. Not.
I put a few extra pairs of socks in my bag when I got home.
09:06 PM | Bandits| Comments (0)
April 27, 2006 / Thursday
Bandits Game 7: Hooray!
We won! Finally, another win! WahoO!
We led the entire game, but it got pretty close toward the end. We were up 4-2 with 2 minutes to go, but other team then scored and pulled their goalie. Fortunately, we capitalized on the open net, and finished the game 5-3.
I had a decent game tonight, finishing with an assist, a steal, a few trips down the ice with the puck, and some not-too-terrible shots on net. I figure I must have been doing something right, because one of the guys on the other team felt the need to crosscheck me into the boards and hold me there. The good news: it didn't hurt. The even better news: I have larger teammates who are willing to retaliate when stuff like that happens.
What *did* hurt, however, was getting hit in the calf with the puck. Why not the front, where there's armor? Whyyy? Whyyyyy?
Ahh ... that was a satisfying Nancy Kerrigan moment.
11:40 PM | Bandits| Comments (0)
April 21, 2006 / Friday
Bandits Game 6: Same Old, Same Old
Another close game tonight, similar to last week's game. We scored, they answered. We scored again, they answered. We scored one last time, and our goalie pretty much came out of the net and gave them the puck. Oops.
They then scored a fourth goal, but we weren't able to answer. Might have had something to do with the 5 or 6 penalties we had tonight. Ouch!
Final score: 3-4. Bummer to lose, but fun nonetheless.
12:48 AM | Bandits| Comments (0)
April 14, 2006 / Friday
Bandits Game 5: Ow, My Bicep
We played a really fun game this week, against a much more evenly matched team than we played the week before. We went up 3-0 early, they tied it up, they went up one, we tied it up, they went up one again, we tied it up, we went into overtime, and, siiigh, they won.
Final score: 5-6. The other team had a guy who was really fast. I think he scored 2 or 3 on breakaways. Oh well.
They also had a guy who was fairly big, and he knew how to translate that bigness into puck speed. He nailed my right bicep with the puck trying to clear it in the 1st period. It hurrrt, and now it's a bump.
That's gonna look really pretty tomorrow. It's just below the T-shirt line, too.
Great.
01:03 AM | Bandits| Comments (1)
April 06, 2006 / Thursday
Bandits Game 4: Wall of Tuna
Note to self: try to play against other adults when possible. They're slower and tire more easily.
Not like the three 15 year olds we faced tonight. Holy crap. They scored 7 goals on their first 10 shots, all taken in the first 10 minutes of the game. They were pretty goals, too.
After the 7th goal, one of them told the other two to stop shooting. He meant it too, because when one of the other ones wanted to keep scoring, he stole the puck from him.
So, thanks to fifteen year old number one (I don't actually know that all three of them are 15, but let's just go with that for now), the other team finished the game with 7 goals total.
We finished with 1 goal, but not for lack of trying. Red was just a wall tonight.
A big wall of tuna, actually.
A 12" Subway sandwich wall of tuna, to be exact.
Tuna, the new goalie food. Nice game, Red.
10:19 PM | Bandits| Comments (6)
March 30, 2006 / Thursday
Bandits Game 3: Phew, I Made It!
After missing last week's game thanks to a pulled groin and a school meeting, I was looking forward to playing again this week. I left Sunnyvale at 6, thinking I'd have a reasonable amount of time to get to RWC for my 7 PM game. Boy, did I screw that one up! I got to the rink at 7, and ran to the locker room as the Zamboni made its final pass down the center of the ice.
Amazingly, I made it onto the bench before the puck dropped. Who knew I could dress so quickly?
The game was fun. We won 7-4, and I had 3 assists. Wahoo.
I remembered to keep my feet moving, and it felt really good. It felt less tiring than my usual method of sprinting, coasting, stopping, and sprinting again from a stop. I'll try to remember that for this Sunday's Maroon game.
Just keep skating, just keep skating ...
08:59 PM | Bandits| Comments (0)
March 16, 2006 / Thursday
Bandits Game 1: We Look Like Halloween
Played my first ever Thursday night league game tonight. I wasn't sure how well I'd fit in, but it looks like I don't have too much to worry about. It's definitely faster, but I like it more than Saturday night, mainly 'cause the skill level is higher and more consistent. I don't feel I improved much playing on Saturday nights, but playing on Thursdays will definitely force me to skate harder and play smarter.
I'm on a team with Susi, Google Joe (as opposed to all the other Joes we had on Saturday nights last season), and three other people from my company. It's nice to have people I know, or should know, on my team.
In any case, I played a decent game, and had a few not-too-terrible shots on goal. They weren't totally pretty, but at least a couple of them stood a chance of going in. Unfortunately, when I started getting tired in the 3rd period, my stickhandling disappeared and I missed what would have been some excellent scoring and playmaking opportunities. Maybe that just means I need to skate more ...
Final score: 3-5. The other team was younger and faster overall, and we didn't have our usual goalie, who I hear is really good. He should be back next week, though, so we'll have no excuse not to win. ;)
Regularly scheduled midweek hockey. I diggit.
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Woops, I forgot to explain the title. We have black jerseys with an orange arm/shoulder stripe. BOO!
