31 July 2001
Once again, lots of hockey things have happened since the last installment. I've given up beating myself up over not writing regularly and am just going with the flow, writing when I get around to it.

Last night I had an awesome game—the first game I felt *really* good about in a while. I didn't score any goals, but I had three good shots, I skated hard as hell, and I stole the puck from Darren (aka Ray Bourque). I also poked it away from someone else (Scott?) at the blueline, and got a breakaway. Too bad my shot isn't that strong from far away. :-I

My goal for next game: skate as hard as I did last night. It felt *so good*! I also need to work on getting a harder shot. Hopefully I'll have a chance to practice my skills during the women's league games on Wednesday nights (my first of which is tomorrow night). I've really missed playing twice a week.

Meanwhile, we had our first Spitfire team meeting on July 20. I think from our Vancouver team it's just me, Michele, Leslie, Lisa, and Karen. Michele and Leslie also recruited a couple friends from various other women's leagues. We voted on which tournaments we wanted to go to (L.A. in October, Las Vegas in February, and Vancouver in May) and tried to pick jersey designs (we're still working on that). Michele's also going to try to get us some ice time for a couple practices between now and our first tournament. We may also go to one in Provo in September, so there's not much time.

Al raises the Stanley Keg while Brian celebrates

Lisa and Karen are playing in the women's league, so I should see them tomorrow night, and Pauline, another of the Spitfires, is apparently on my team. I'm not sure whether Leslie is also playing.

In other news (and now that we're about 6 weeks into the summer season), Al's team won the Stanley Keg last season. It was Al's fourth Keg game and his first win, so I took a photo of him hoisting the thing above his head.