Hockey :: Cookie Monsters
August 26, 2006 / Saturday
Whoo, Good Finish!
After a season of playing-hard-but-not-winning-much, the Cookie Monsters pulled off a fine win to close out the season. Finally! Hooray!
The timing of our goals ruled. We scored on the first shift of each period. Great way to open. And open. And open again. :)
2 games into my decision to play all out every shift, I got to see results. The puck glided toward me at the opening faceoff, and I skated it in for a shot. The shot sailed wide, but one of my teammates picked it up and sent it to the front of the crease, where I was waiting. Goal! Yeah! Less than half a minute into the game. Wahoo!
Final score: 4-1. One from the opening faceoff, two more from me-to-Gina-to-Christy plays at the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd periods, and one from Liz busting through three defenders to get the puck to Elissa for the finish.
The game was not without pain, though. For one thing, the outside of my left ankle is still disagreeing with my skates. I got into a tangle with a player on the other team in the 2nd period and wound up with the inside of my elbow pad imprinted on my forearm. In the 3rd period, I skated for the puck, forgot to stop, ran out of rink, and landed really, really hard on my right knee, which is stilllll healing from (1) the parking lot incident and (2) falling out of bed four months ago. It's now swollen again, stings when I touch it, and bears an imprint of the inside of my shinguards. Also in the 3rd, I blocked one of Nancy's shots with my skate. What was I thinking? That's what goalie pads are for!
Despite the injuries, I'm quite happy with the results. Plus, I scored 4 minty brownie corners (thanks Malinda!) and a personalized Cookie Monster towel (thanks Shosh!) afterward. Whoo.
It's been fun, Cookie Monsters.
01:16 AM | Cookie Monsters:Injuries| Comments (0)
August 20, 2006 / Sunday
Hooray, Parents Plus Hockey!
Yay, another Cookie Monsters game. My parents were in town for this one, and they finally got to see me play. My dad hasn't been to California since I started playing over four (!) years ago.
There was a Green session before ours, and it was cool to see some of my friends from that division, too. Too bad I finished dressing so late; I got to talk to them for only a few minutes, and even then missed half the warmup.
Lost again, had fun as usual. Final score: 2-5.
So here's my problem: I can carry the puck down, but I can't score. I seem to run out of ideas when I reach the hashmark. I think it's because I rely on charging down the ice and deking people at high speed. I need to learn some fancy low speed moves.
My dad seemed to have fun watching. He says he wants to play too. I don't want him to. What if he hurts himself? Nope, not allowed.
The 'rents and the auntie got to meet Liz, Andrea, and Val tonight. Val somehow prompted my mom to tell Andrea that when I was a baby I used to wake up laughing. Why didn't she ever tell me that? Anyhow, that explains that morning a couple months ago when I woke up laughing. I knew I was laughing in my dream, but didn't realize I was laughing out loud until Aaron asked me what I was doing. Laughing in my sleep, duh!
New max heartrate today: 203 bpm. Yikes.
Post-game brownie corners. Yesh.
11:20 PM | Cookie Monsters| Comments (5)
August 13, 2006 / Sunday
Five Goals, But No Cigar
No cigar, no win, and no cookies. What a sad, sad game.
Okay, not really. I had fun, as always. I was just happy to be playing with this team again. One month is much too long to go without a Cookie Monsters game.
We gave up a bunch of early goals, and had to dig ourselves out of a huge hole. Despite scoring many times in the 3rd period, we weren't able to overcome the deficit, and lost 5-6.
Krista pushed one over in the 2nd period that didn't get ruled a goal. The goalie pulled it back over the line before the ref made it over for a closer look. IMNSHO, that 5-6 loss was really a 7-6 overtime win. ;-)
I learned something about myself tonight. Actually no, I already knew this about myself, but I don't always remember it. I held back most of the game because I didn't want to tire myself out and bonk on D. Then, with four minutes left and my team still down by two goals, I got pissed when I realized we were going to lose to a goalie that we should have been destroying. "Leave it all on the ice," I told myself, "play this shift like it's your last." After all, there was nothing to lose but the game. On my next two shifts I took the puck down the ice twice and finally scored a (pretty!) goal off a pass from Gina with 1.6 seconds left. Too little, too late. And I wasn't even tired by the end of the game.
So what did I learn? (1) That I can skate hard for longer than I think and, more importantly, (2) that it's all in my head. I just need to figure out how to get worked up enough to play that hard all game.
I can do it, dammit.
But just to make sure, someone piss me off (not at you, but at the other team) before next week's game, okay?
10:41 PM | Cookie Monsters| Comments (0)
July 17, 2006 / Monday
Waah!
Thanks to scheduling, travel, and school, my next Cookie Monsters game won't be until mid-August. That's one month from now.
*#$&@(*&%@!!!
10:35 PM | Cookie Monsters| Comments (0)
July 16, 2006 / Sunday
Cookie Monsters vs. That Other Team
I have no idea who we played today. It feels like the same people game after game. And I still haven't figured out how to stop Lindsay. I did borrow a move from her, though, and tested it successfully. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?
As always, the game was fun. Becky beat everyone to the puck in the 2nd period and scored. That was totally sweet. Unfortunately for us, that would be our only goal of the game. The other team tied it on a power play in the 3rd period, then went on to score another in a scramble, and finally a third on an empty net.
I don't have much I want to say about how I played. I didn't suck, but I wasn't stellar. I got moved up to offense for the final 3 minutes, and despite a decent chance at the end of the game, it was too late to really do anything. Oh well.
Final score: 1-3. I wore my new heart rate monitor today. Max heart rate: 200 bpm.
More brownie corners. Yesh.
04:34 PM | Cookie Monsters| Comments (5)
July 09, 2006 / Sunday
Damn Those Boards Again!
Today's game hurt. Every time I tried to breathe beyond half lung capacity my rib would ache. That, and I'd randomly cough from the somewhat cold rink air. Ow. And ow. And ow ow ow.
We got shut out today, but not for lack of trying. We played strong most of the game, and put some good shots on net. Things just weren't going our way. Bummer.
Also a bummer is that all the other team needed was Lindsay, who scored four, yes, four goals in the last two periods of the game. Hats off to her, but darnit, that's frustrating. Final score: 0-4.
On the upside, Malinda made brownies and gave me all the corner. She rules.
I hope my ribs stop hurting by Thursday. I'm not sure I want to play if every breathe makes me ow.
10:06 PM | Cookie Monsters| Comments (0)
June 30, 2006 / Friday
Guess Who's Back?
Back again ...
Liz made her triumphant return to hockey tonight. She did well out there, making some great passes and launching several excellent shots.
Our team did well out there, too, putting 50+ shots on net and winning the game 5-2. It's about time!
I arrived at the rink early tonight so I could get my skates sharpened before the game. Turns out that was a bad idea. My edges came back sharp and wobbly. I tried to "fix" them on the concrete, but it wasn't enough to keep me from falling all over the place. Ow. And ow. And ow again. Fortunately, no goals were scored due to my going splat on the ice. Or against the boards. Actually, someone on the other team got called for a penalty on that one, even though she had nothing to do with it. Sorry!
Despite the wobbly catchy edges, I managed to score a goal. I rushed in for a mid-zone puck, pulled it right, skated it around a couple defenders on my forehand, and somehow lifted it over the goalie's left shoulder. Yesh.
And if all that wasn't enough, Gina let me geek out with her heart rate monitor tonight. Max heart rate: 198 bpm. I think I hit that on the shift where Karen wore me out playing keep-away with the puck.
But wait, there's more! Andrea and Val came to watch Liz's triumphant return, which meant that we all got to watch Val, who, in turn, decided to watch, flirt with, and make smiley faces at Lucinda. Sooo cute!
The cookies were super tasty tonight. Especially the M&M ones. They had more M&M's than cookie! Chunky choc-o-late-o-rama. Yum.
Heart rate monitor. Want.
11:58 PM | Cookie Monsters| Comments (3)
June 18, 2006 / Sunday
Whoo, Cookies
I don't really feel like writing about my games much anymore. I wonder how many more of these I'll write before I stop. I've been unmotivated to write after games for a while now.
On the other hand, it's a nice way to track progress.
But there isn't always progress. Especially when I haven't played in two weeks. If anything, I've regressed. Like when I couldn't figure out how to shoot the puck. At least I remembered how to play D. Mostly.
Final score: 1-3. Meh.
One thing I noticed, though, is that I'm not dying to get off the ice after 30 seconds anymore. That's mostly a good thing, but now the problem is I don't know how long a shift to take. I'm not in the habit of looking at the clock because my legs have in the past been really good shift timers. Now, thanks to mountain biking, I can skate for unreasonably long shifts, and the person who's supposed to replace me on the ice ends up sitting on the bench, cold, and probably grumbling.
I guess I'll have to learn to look at the clock from now on.
09:54 PM | Cookie Monsters| Comments (0)
June 04, 2006 / Sunday
Short, Short, Always Short
Another game at Fremont with a short bench. Last minute no-shows hurt. :(
Especially against a team with several very strong forwards. Some of them were quite literally strong, too, and did a lot of pushing and shoving -- which I actually kind of liked because it gave me license to push and shove back (Back? That sounds wrong. I get to initiate the pushing and shoving as D. Even better!) to my heart's content. Yet another thing I like about playing D. Take that! And that! POW! BAM! BOOM!
That would be POW! BAM! and BOOM! in bold comic book font, in those spikey POW! BAM! BOOM! dialogue bubble looking things.
As much as I enjoy pushing and shoving my opponents, I enjoy skating by them with the puck even more, so I took the puck from end to end a few times. I got some shots off, but none of them made it in. Oh well. Better than no shots, I suppose.
That reminds me, running full speed into your own teammate who's standing at the blue line is kinda dumb. I was scanning to avoid dark jerseys and forgot to watch out for white ones. Woops.
We had a new-to-the-league goalie in net today. She played a great game for us. The other team scored twice, but they were both beautiful shots, the first sailing over the stickside shoulder and the second hitting the crossbar, both from about 3 feet away.
I thought we played a decent game, but in the end we just couldn't score, finishing the game 0-2. It was still fun, though, and given the opponent, there's not much to be grumpy about.
Afterward, a couple of us hung around to watch the new green goalies in action. Elissa vs. Chris C. in net! Their first and second games, respectively. We stayed for a period to cheer them on. Fun fun.
05:30 PM | Cookie Monsters| Comments (0)
May 21, 2006 / Sunday
Hooray, A Cookie Monsters Game!
After missing the last two games with this team due to an unfortunate Tuesday hockey-and-school schedule clash, we finally had a game I could attend. I've really missed playing with this team, and I was totally stoked to be back.
Plus, we won! Final score: 2-1. WahoO!
I was tired at the beginning of the game, but once my legs warmed up I was good to go. I think all the biking lately has helped with endurance; I had enough gas left to skate the puck from end to end late in the 3rd period ... through traffic!
I played what I hope was a decent game of D, although the one goal against us did go in on my watch. There was one of me and two of them, and darnit, I still haven't figured out instantaneous cloning.
In happier D news, I've been trying to figure out how not to get deked by a certain player on the other team, and I actually finished an entire game without being deked by said player. I have no idea whether she actually tried to pull the deke-that-beats-me-every-time in today's game, but in any case I'm happy that I didn't finish the game a dekee ... and that I got the puck from her. Bwahahaha! ;)
In a somewhat amusing move, I put one of my season one skills to use today. I skated toward a loose puck, lost my balance as I tried to change direction upon reaching it, spun as I fell, kept spinning after I fell, and while spinning horizontally swept the puck into the other team's zone with my stick. I used to do that all the time 'cause I couldn't stay on my feet. I think I even scored that way a few times. Glad my sideways sweeping skillz are still good. ;)
06:29 PM | Cookie Monsters| Comments (3)
April 30, 2006 / Sunday
M&M Cookies, YuM!
Short bench on Fremont ice. Ouch.
Thanks to illness, injuries, and a two-sub miscommunication, we wound up with 8 skaters vs. the other team's 13. Fortunately for us, Betsie was there from the game before, and she put her gear back on to give us a hand.
9-13 skaters. 27-42 shots on net. 1-6 goals.
Bummer to lose, but a fun game nonetheless. Malinda came and dropped off cookies for us, even though she wasn't playing. That was super rad of her. :)
I was a little frustrated on a couple occasions where I felt I should have done more to prevent the goal. Should I have hung a little closer, shoved a little harder, pressured a little more? Yes? Maybe? Yes. Of course, yes.
I think I knocked one of my own teammates over in front of the net. I saw 2 dark jerseys, shoved, and saw a white one go down. Woops.
On the upside, I finished with an assist on our only goal. Christy fed me a sweet pass at point, I shot it, and she swooped in to send the rebound into the net. The goal was nice, but even nicer was how well it was executed. Totally satisfying.
Our next two games are on Tuesday nights. I have school Tuesday nights. When will I get to skate as a Cookie Monster again? :-((
Waah.
09:50 PM | Cookie Monsters| Comments (2)
April 21, 2006 / Friday
Cookie Monsters!
We have a team name! Huzzah!
Unfortunately, having a name did nothing for our game. We were so out of sorts tonight our lines couldn't even change properly. Kind of embarrassing for a Maroon team, no?
I had fun nonetheless. I played D, and somehow managed an unwimpy goal from near the blue line. I didn't realize how far back I was until people told me afterward. I think they were surprised. I would have been, too, had I registered it as it happened. Shooting is definitely not one of my strengths.
Anyway ...
Final score: 2-5. Better luck next time, eh?
Tonight's cookies were super tasty, by the way.
COOOOOKIEEEEE!
10:57 PM | Cookie Monsters| Comments (2)
April 09, 2006 / Sunday
Punkass TURRRDS!
Er, I mean, Punkass Bitches, which may or may not end up being our team name, but I like it enough to stick it in a blog entry, partly because I think it'd be fun to yell "Punkass Bitcheaaaas!", and mainly because I'd get to yell "Punkass TURRRDs!", which is even more fun than just "TURRRD!", which I made sure to yell many times during today's game, because, well, it's fun.
I was a little worried heading into today's game, since I haven't eaten much all weekend. Christy came through with some pre-game GU (thank yoU!), and that seemed to help quite a bit. I hung back a lot more than I do normally, but I didn't bonk, and I didn't get totally outplayed all game.
I did, however, get sent flying into the boards at some point, right as a whistle blew for something else. The launcher (I being the launchee) then came up to me and said that she could have launched me farther, but chose not to. Well, not exactly in those words, but no matter how many times I think about the actual words, that's the interpretation I end up with. So, um, thank you for choosing not to launch me farther?
We played hard, but were out of sorts at times, and ended up losing 1-2.
No hockey next week because it's Easter. What are we non-egg hunters supposed to do?
Maybe it'll be nice out, and I can go for a ride.
09:09 PM | Cookie Monsters| Comments (0)
April 02, 2006 / Sunday
TURRRD!
My new Maroon team doesn't officially have a name yet, but I've taken to randomly yelling "TURRRD!" from the bench during faceoffs. Thus, the title of this post, which makes a lot more sense to me than "Misfits", which we yelled during a team cheer between periods. *scratches head*
In any case, we have a sweet team. Good people and good hockey. We won today's game 6-(something between 2 and 4). I can't remember the final score, actually. Shot count was 38-21.
I played D, and finished with an assist. Wahoo.
After the game, Krista walked up from behind and squirted me with water. I ran after her to squirt back, and promptly tweaked my right ankle. D'oh!
The cookies made it all better, though. :)
