me in my Sabres jersey

24 September 2001
We had our first Spitfire practice on Friday night. I felt like such a gimp—making bad passes, skating slowly, mishandling the puck, etc. I think it was just the strangeness of doing actual drills with my line, and not really understanding what we were doing and why. I've been to clinics and classes before, but I've never done a team practice. It was definitely a different experience. I found that because I wasn't sure that what I was doing was correct, I slowed down quite a bit, and I think that slowed down the rest of the line. And for some reason, the slower I go, the worse my skills get. :(

Now that I understand that the practices are about learning new systems for specific situations, maybe I'll do better next time. I guess it makes sense that there would be different plans and techniques for different situations, but it honestly didn't occur to me that what we were being shown weren't hard-and-fast hockey rules. I couldn't quite believe that I was not only being asked to go down low, but also to *stand behind the net*! This, after all my Monday teammates keep telling me to stay higher in the slot...

By the end of the night, I'd finally understood that "getting in a triangle" and "rotating" didn't necessarily mean being out of position, even though they felt that way. They were part of a system designed to draw the defense in deep, either behind the net or into the corner, in order to leave one of my teammates open in the slot. And this was only *one* system, *one* technique. I'm sure my confusion must seem silly to those who practice regularly, but really, this was a new one on me.

In other news, I scored my second goal in the women's league a couple weeks ago, off a pass from Crissy, I think. It was in a game that we won 13-1, so scoring wasn't exactly the thrill it should have been. I think mine was goal #5 or 6. Last week John decreed that if Crissy and Cathy were on the ice at the same time, they both had to play wrong-handed. While their skating was not impaired by this restriction—they can stop, change direction, and skate backwards better than anyone I know—it did affect their passing and shooting, basically just bringing them down to the average level of the league. Must've been frustrating for them.

Speaking of handicapping, Ice Oasis has also indicated on their website that starting in the fall season, Monday night teams must have at least 5 beginners on their roster. This won't affect Hoffman at all, since we already have several people of Thursday night level (myself included). It *will* affect the Toasters and Sony, I expect, and possibly Inktomi. We're playing the Toasters tonight at 8:55; I hope it's more fun than the last time we went up against them, when I felt like there wasn't any point in challenging the better players. I want to skate with people who are better than I am, but not so much better that I can't make a difference.