Rob dons his hockey jock

20 February 2001
Played Inktomi in Consolation Game #1 last night. I always have fun when I'm on the ice with Inktomi, whether I'm playing against them or subbing for them. They play hard, but with a sense of humor that's palpable. Nice.

I think this was the second week in a row that I played on the same line with Negin, which I really like. We're at similar levels, so it's easy to skate with her. As I said to Al after his game, "I always know what she's going to do because she's me." We can criss-cross without stress and manage to get good coverage in front of the net, and she makes a good passing target because she's often open just across the ice from me.

Putting us on the same line also makes it possible to assemble a power line (last night it was Kyle, Colin, and Matt) that can make all kinds of tricky Tuesday night moves. That line was really fun to watch last night. Maybe someday I'll be able to make some of those moves myself, or at least be ready for them.

Rob was saying in the locker room before the game that he was a bit burned out on playing goalie, and it was showing—he hadn't been playing well lately. Last night he was excellent, though, stopping all kinds of crazy shit. I can't believe he ever thought that we might not want him back for next season! Rob rocks.

The new Thursday night season starts this week, and I'm going to be captain of White this time. Basically all that means is that I'm responsible for making sure that we have a goalie each game, for telling everyone to clean up their shit from the bench and the locker room, and for acting as a single point of contact. I'll probably also get headcounts before the games each week as Gary did last season, and help organize the lines. I don't think I know anyone on my team except for the goalie (Jimmy, my goalie from Yellow), though I might know them by sight and just not by name. I'm going to help John hand out jerseys on Thursday so I can meet everyone as they come in.

John has given each of the teams desert-oriented names (because we play at Ice Oasis), and next season (Summer) we'll be getting new jerseys with team logos on them. My team this season is called the Camels. Al's team (he's captain of Yellow) is called the Suns. One feature of the new jerseys is that they'll have stripes down the arms that indicate whether they're for Tuesday night or Thursday night. This will hopefully prevent Thursday teams from grabbing subs from Tuesday teams.

Oh, and I can't remember if I mentioned that I signed up for the 5-week intermediate clinic on Wednesday nights. I missed the first night of the series (last Wednesday) because I was driving up to the house in Tahoe, but I plan to be there this Wednesday. I expect it to be a challenging series of skating and puckhandling drills. =:o