Was an inch away from ending this blog

Oh man. I feel 100 years old today, but playing hockey is a blast.

If I'm being honest, I have to admit that I was really nervous all day yesterday. Once the puck dropped, those nerves went away.

So our team is relatively new, we're a division 3 team in the Pasadena league. Division 3 is supposed to be the beginner division. I would say our team definitely fits that description, every forward line had someone who either hadn't played before or is coming back after a long layoff. The team we played last night did not fit that description. I'll leave it at that.

So we lost 5-1, but I almost made it 5-2 with about a minute to play.

The first two periods, I was kind of lost in the offensive zone. I wasnt sure if I should go to the corner or set up in front of the net. Our team captain told me to forget about the corner, since I was usually the last one to get down low, (damn these slow feet!) just go to the net. Once I did that, things started to make sense. With about a minute to go, my center went to the net and got a shot on goal, which rebounded right to me with a wide open net. Unfortunately I was turned sideways and had to corral it with my back had, and just swept it toward the goal. Missing the right post by an inch. I'll get the next one.

I think with a little bit more experience, I wont freak out when the puck gets close to me. I iced the puck twice, once was on purpose because the D-men were out of gas. The second one I tried to bank off the boards, but messed up the angle. I need to get more comfortable skating with the puck, especially skating it out of my zone. I think 2 of the 5 goals were scored while I was out there.

My stamina was okay, I get more gassed in my classes on Sundays, but I really need to skate more. Just getting to full speed quickly and stopping with confidence. Only tried skating backwards once, and I almost fell down. So I may not do that for a while.

As a whole, there is a boatload of room for improvement, but I think I did alright.

First Game Tonight

Looks like I'll be playing Right Wing.



Wish me luck.

Lots to talk about

Ok, I know it's been a while, but I finally have something interesting to blog about.

Ive been taking my Sunday night classes in Culver City, did some stick time/pick-up over the holidays, blah blah blah....

Last night I attended tryouts for the Pasadena League and I think I'll be playing in my first real hockey game on Monday, maybe Thursday. We got a group together to form a new team, mostly guys I know or guys I've met before. Pretty excited. Glad I'm playing with friends, so I dont have to pretend I know what I'm doing. Hope to have some video in the next few posts. Thinking about using my helmet cam, but don't want to look like a huge nerd out there.

One more thing...


For Christmas I got signed up for Kings Fantasy Camp.

Heres the info on it

Looks like fun, its kind of nerdy, but Im somewhat nervous about being able to play with those guys. Hopefully I'll get some good tips to improve my game a bit. I definitely need to work on my conditioning, I want to be able get the most out of it as possible. I was totally gassed last night during tryouts, but to be honest I was skating harder than I ever had before.I think I might drop the gloves against McSorley.

First Hockey 3-4 class

Last night was my first class in full gear. So much fun, but I am out of shape. I don't think I was the worst one out there. My skating was fine, even skating with the puck I did okay. I have to get used to passing the puck, especially off the backhand. Catching I can do, but I felt bad for my passing drill partner because I never ever got it back on their tape. I did score on the goaltender during one of the drills. I would say ability-wise Im around the middle of the class, and this is at least the second session for most of them. So I'm pretty sure I'll be ready for a beginner division in a league by the end of this 10-weeks.

My conditioning is a concern, especially since the instructor said he would skate us harder next week. My head felt like it was going to burst at the end of the hour last night. Gonna try to ride the bike twice a week, and I'll really try to push it, instead of going for a leisurely ride like I usually do.

Im gonna try to get a camera out there one of these practices, I have a helmet cam, but I'll feel like a huge nerd with that on my helmet. Im not sure how, but Ill supply some video of my progress.

Last Class = Graduation

So last night was my last class of my Hockey 1-2 skating classes.

12 weeks ago, I could skate forward relatively well, and sort of snowplow stop with just my right foot. Thats about it.

Now, I'm just more comfortable and confident on skates. I can cross over both left and right sides, I can hockey stop really well with my right foot, and getting better with my left. I can transition from forward to backwards to forward in both directions. Backwards C-cuts pretty well, just starting to get crossovers backwards.

So at the end of practice, the instructor kind of told everyone where they go for the next class. Half the class got put into the same class again. The other half, myself included got to go ahead to Hockey 3-4.

Hockey 3-4 is a full hour, full ice instead of 45 mins on 1/4 of the ice. Full gear, pucks, sticks, helmets. Like a hour long stick time with instruction. So it should be cool. Starts next Sunday. I'm really excited.

Class #5 plus a video!

I'm finally starting to feel like I'm making progress.

Our instructor is trying out with the Las Vegas ECHL team, the Wranglers. Unfortunately that means we'll lose him for the rest of the classes. He said, "I'm not sure who will be teaching this class from now on, so I'm gonna try to get through as many things as I can tonight."

We did our normal drills, C-Cuts, Inside Edge Rotation, Tight Turns, Cross-Overs, Hockey Stops and a few other odds and ends. Then we got to backwards skating, backward C-Cuts might be the least coordinated I've felt in a long time, but I kind of got the hang of it. Then after a few backs and forths we did forward to backward transitions. I'm pretty far from nailing it, but I'm not as completely out of control as I thought I would be. Backwards stopping, not too bad. For some reason I nailed the backward to forward transitions.

I think my general concern is that I'm standing up too tall when I do pretty much anything. I need to get into the "Taking a shit in the woods" stance.

I look forward to trying all these things in full pads at a stick-time or something, maybe even a pick-up game.

Here is proof that I can stop.  I hope to have some more video next time.

1st Class

It was a group of six of us. Four guys two girls.

There seemed to be a lot of no-shows, so maybe more will show up next week.

Not a lot of instruction really, just drills pretty much, so hopefully repetition is the answer. Of the six in the class, I can honestly say I'm not the worst, although I was one of the only people to fall tonight. I got a little cocky whilst snowplow stopping and just fell backwards onto my arse.

The instructor seems good, maybe a little bored.

The good thing is that I'm not running into things or people anymore. I have enough control to stop when I where I want to.

No pics or video, maybe next time.