Bruise from my glove.
J: "Your protective equipment is injuring you . . . scary!"

Chin bruise, also from protective equipment (I think).

11 July 2000
Did my third beginner clinic at Ice Oasis last night. Wasn't as fun as the last two times—there were a bunch of guys who were more interested in showing off than learning anything, and they were really loud and disruptive. One guy was downright dangerous, doing every drill at top speed but rarely under control. I tried to ignore him and just have a good time, but I had about as much control over my irritation as he did over his skating. <sigh> One of those personality flaws I need to work on.

I had resolved to participate in the drills but not the scrimmage, just in case I'd done more damage to my head in Sunday's pickup game than I originally thought. One of the show-offs ran me over during the backwards crossovers drill, however ("LOOK OUT!" didn't induce him to look over his shoulder), so I'm not sure I saved myself anything but a good sweat. I still have a headache (probably leftover from the migraine), but the doctor said that she didn't see any signs of neurological dysfunction. Whew!

Speaking of injuries, I finally figured out where the bruise on my left forearm came from: my glove. I *thought* it was weird that I got a bruise in the exact same place twice. Since I played two nights in a row this time around, I had the opportunity to feel the glove rubbing against the bruise—and I put 2 and 2 together. I mentioned it to another hockey beginner named Jenny, and she said, "do you shoot left?" Apparently she had the same problem when she started, but a wrap around her arm solved it. Found a new bruise this morning on the underside of my chin; since it's a weird shape, I think it came from my chin strap when I whacked my head on the ice Sunday.

Anyway, back to hockey... I really like how Shaun varies the drills we do each week. We always work on fundamentals, like stopping, backwards skating, and falling, but the specific hockey skill we focus on each time is different. This week it was shooting: we learned the difference between a wrist shot, a snap shot, and a slap shot.

When Shaun demonstrated, the shots were very distinct, but I fear mine were less so. Some folks seemed only to have wrist shots in their repertoire, though I'm sure they thought they were doing something different each time. That's probably what my shots looked like to everyone else, too. The fact that I didn't fall over while doing the slap shot means either that (a) I finally got the mechanics right, or (b) I wasn't really doing a slap shot.

Since I'm working at home today, I've thought about running down to the garage to practice shooting against the wall. The only things stopping me are the bruise on my arm and the fact that I have actual work to do. I suppose a bandage would help the bruise, and I can always stay up late working...

12 July 2000
I did end up going down to the garage to practice my shooting last night. (Since slap shots are kinda loud, I went down at around 6:30pm instead of waiting until I was done working—didn't want to keep the neighbors up.) I tried putting a reflective shockwave.com ankle cuff over the bruise on my arm, and it worked like a charm. No pain from the glove.

It took less than 30 seconds (two shots) to break a sweat...and to figure out where the muscle soreness in my sides had come from. When I'm doing drills or playing, there's so much going on that it's hard to figure out which movements are going to cause which aches and pains a day or two later. Since I was doing only one thing this time, and since it was after two days in a row of hockey activities, it quickly became obvious which muscles were doing what. I stopped to stretch my sides, back, and arms after every 4 or 5 shots.

Shaun had said that how high you point your stick on the follow-through determines how high the puck goes, but I found that all my shots stayed really low. Either I'm not varying my stick height as much as I think I am, or practicing on cement is different than practicing on ice (the puck rolls a heck of a lot more on cement, that's for sure).

I stayed in the garage for about 15 minutes; that's about all the shooting I could handle at one go. I can already feel the muscles in my arms getting stronger (and I can see them, too!). On a purely vain note, I'm particularly thrilled to feel the strain in the backs of my upper arms. If I keep playing hockey, I may be covered in bruises, but I won't be saggy! Practically speaking, strong arms mean that maybe next time I'll be able to last 20 minutes, then 25, then 30...

My stick. The black tape is new; Jason at East West said it's good for hiding the puck. Of course, half the time it hides the puck from *me*, and I don't notice I lost it back at the red line...