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So much for us being the complete underdogs of this tournament! As the headline says, we ended up taking it all in the end - and it was a blast!

Saturday morning found us taking on the home-rink team, the Walpole ICE. I’ve seen them skate before, and was expecting that we’d have a tough game on our hands. It was pretty even, although I think they were just a little weaker overall than we were; perhaps they’ve got new players this year. We ended up winning that game 5-3.

In the afternoon we played Raising Kane, a team comprised of a lot of people that many of us know. We knew right out of the gate that we’d have a challenge on our hands. Sure enough, it went right down to the wire and they put in the winning goal late in the third period, winning 3-2. We weren’t too sad to lose to them, though, as we knew we’d have a rematch the next day for the championship. (There was an attempt to cancel that game since we’d have to contend with Patriots game-day traffic, but fortunately that never came to fruition.)

So we entered Sunday at 2-1 in the tournament, playing the 3-0 team (Raising Kane) for the championship and high honors. About 1/3 of our team had played a league game on Saturday night (that’s 3 games in one day, for those of you counting) so we knew we’d have some tired skaters on our hands on Sunday - not that the rest of us were in much better shape. Minus one person, we had the same team on Sunday as we did Saturday, as did Raising Kane. And we got out on the ice and BAM popped in two quick goals. They rallied a bit, but we were never behind. With 4 minutes to go in the third period we were up 5-2 (and still nervous, since they had some good players). Bridget, one of our stronger skaters, decided during the timeout that we were going to get two more goals. And lo and behold, we did! Final score was 7-2, and we ended up with a trophy and medals.

Went home for a couple of hours, and headed back out again to a league game against the Bulldogs. Rather than writing up a recap of THAT game, it should suffice to say that we lost 3-1 and Libby, Mich, and I were all pretty much dead by the end of the game. Gah.

But yay! We won! And we thought we weren’t even contenders for getting to the championship! Wooo!

Game 1: HOTSHOTS vs. Cape Cod Hurricanes, W 3-1

I played left wing for this game - what a hoot! Libby was my partner and was incredibly patient with me as I didn’t know where the hell I was supposed to be about 3/4 of the time out on the ice. Only once did I completely (and I mean COMPLETELY) take out our center in the neutral zone. Whoopsy!

First goal was in the first period and was our line - Bridget (B-level player) was centering me and Lib (D-level players). Bridget drove around the back of the net and tried to stuff the puck in; the goalie stopped it but it bounced out a few feet and Libby shoved it in behind the goalie’s left skate. Score Libby!
Their first goal we were on the ice for. Since I wasn’t playing D, I really don’t know what exactly happened other than the fact that the woman who scored got around several of us. Bummer.

Second goal was in the second period. Libby and I were out there with Bridget again. We’d recently had a power play (maybe we were still on it? I’m not sure - playing such a different position befuddled me). At any rate, I got the puck around the hash marks in front of the net and took a shot on goal; it bounced out pretty far this time and Bridget picked it up and put it in the goal. Emphatically. With gusto. In the sort of way that had I been in net I’d have been huddled in a corner and whimpering in fear. Assist Megan!

The third goal was in the third period while Libby and I were on the bench. Bridget (are you sensing a theme here?) had the puck and since she was such a good player - better than most everyone else on the ice - she kept possession of it for a while in the offensive zone. Eventually she found a really nice shot to take and blammo! Goal three.

That was enough to seal the game. It’s funny - going into this tournament I was convinced we were going to get creamed. Our team is made up of half D-level players, several C-level players, and 3 B-level players. Our goalie’s a C-level goalie, which is really the most important position out there. Since we are playing in the C division of this tournament, I figured we’d end up playing a lot of stacked teams - mostly C-level players with several B-level players on each team. We’re most likely the only team with so many lower-level players on it, but we really held our own against the team tonight and I think we’ll do well tomorrow against the two teams we’re scheduled to play. Will we make it to Sunday’s championship game? It’s possible, although I can’t tell yet if it’s probable.

Hope to get to see some of the Philadelphia Freeze B team tomorrow since they’re in the tournament too. It’d be nice to say hi to the few of them I know.

Okay, time to grab my stuff out of the washing machine, throw it in the dryer, and head to bed. Tomorrow’s first game is at 9:20 a.m. which means I’ve got to be on the road by 8:00 at the latest. It’s after midnight now - time for my beauty rest!

We won! We won! And we played well. The quick recap (because I’m tired and want to get to bed by 11 p.m.) follows.

About halfway through the first period they were throwing some stuff around on the my side of the boards in our defensive end. Someone flung it at the net and it went waaaaaaay up in the air. Lynn tried valiantly to knock it back behind the net, but instead it ended up in the net. Bummer. A few minutes later, we were in our offensive end. They weren’t covering us points at all. I like it when they don’t do that. With about 25 seconds left in the period, either Jonesy or LisaO passed the puck up the boards to me. I took a few steps towards the net and let off a shot that went through about 3 red jerseys. Libby was set up right in front of the net and DOINK tipped it in! That was a great way to end the period - up, pumped, and ready to go for the next one. We scored twice in the second period - the first on a pass from Libby to Lisa O, and the second on a wicked breakout from WES to Marcia. In the locker room after the game, WES characterized Marcia’s goal as “a hockey goal.” Now that might not make a lot of sense if you consider that we were playing hockey. Aren’t they all hockey goals? Nope, they’re not. Some of them are garbage goals, some of them are lucky goals, and some of them are just plain goals. This one was a hockey goal, in that she drove hard to the net and lifted a really nice shot from the hash marks that finessed and powered its way past the goalie. THAT is a hockey goal.

We got a couple of penalties in the third period; one for hooking and one for too many players on the ice. That second one? COMPLETELY my fault. I thought I saw the other left defender coming towards the boards so I got ready to go over. When she was about 6 feet away I flung myself over - and right then the puck ended up right in front of the boards and the other left defender played it (as she SHOULD have) while I frantically tried to fling myself back over the boards. Too late - the ref was standing right there. Sigh… But I’ll say this - we killed both of those penalties quite nicely, if I do say so myself.

The last time we played this team, we lost. We shouldn’t have, but we didn’t mentally show up. The time before - and this time - we dominated them on both ends of the ice and it felt good. I’ll also say this: it was actually fun to play them now that their crazy scary teammate got suspended for 10 games this season, and 2 into next season. I hope no other team takes her on come the fall because y’all: She. Is. Nuts. And not having her out there on the ice is a good thing.

Tomorrow: practice (assuming the snowstorm isn’t too bad)
Tuesday: skills session in Walpole
Wednesday: practice with the Phantoms
Thursday: no hockey!
Friday: tourney game vs. Cape Cod Hurricanes
Saturday: tourney games vs. ICE and Raising Kane
Sunday: tourney game (if we win 2 of 3) and league game vs. Bulldogs

If you count that up, it totals 8 games/practices in the next 7 days, assuming we have practice tomorrow and we are in the championship game next Sunday. I may keel over on MLK Jr. Day. Thank goodness I don’t have to work.

Tonight was week one of the weekly women’s skills sessions I’ve signed up for at the Walpole Iorio Arena, offered through Rob Bartlett Hockey. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I got there, so I’m not sure why I was surprised at what did happen.

See, the session is called “Women’s Total Skills.” Imagine my confusion upon arriving and wandering into both of the posted locker rooms only to see U14 girls. And one adult. Finally dropped my bag in one of the rooms and headed up to check the locker room assignments again. Hmmm… it seemed I was in the right place. Fortunately upon coming down the stairs I ran into a couple of players I knew from other contexts (one is on the team the Black Ice shares practice ice with, and the other is a friend of a friend and has skated on at least one tournament team I’ve been on.) And yes, I was in the right place and yes, there were lots of U14 girls at this session.

Once the ice was resurfaced we headed out. Laura (the second woman in the previous paragraph) told me that I should forget bringing my water bottle in, as there wouldn’t be time to get to it. !!! Then she gave me the scoop on what normally happened. Three to four stations, groups split up so that the U14s got their own groups and the adults and girls over 14 got a group. Whew!

What we did, so I remember:

Full-ice skating - counterclockwise with sprints between whistles and sprints between blue lines. Then we grabbed pucks and skated clockwise with them until the whistle. At the first whistle, we skated full-out, and at the second whistle we made a power turn towards the boards, took three quick steps, and started skating counterclockwise. Needless to say, with 45 people on the ice, it was a bit of a mess!

Then we split into 3 stations - shooting, puck-handling, and conditioning (gack).

At the shooting station we came from the low corner up and around the circle and took a wrist shot on net. Second set of shooting - same thing except that we skated backwards up the circle, opened up, and drove towards the net and took a wrister. Third set of shooting was the same as the second, only we received a pass at the top of the circle rather than carrying the puck ourselves.

Puck-handling involved little orange cones, weaving in and around, etc. etc. This weaving drill had me dizzy, which tells me that I’m skating with my head down. (I know I do this and damn it’s a hard habit to break!) We did a few other puck-handling drills and then moved to (gack) conditioning.

Conditioning involved sprints; sprints and stops; sprints and stops and skating backwards and stops and sprints; and sprints and stops and quick steps to the side and skating backwards and sprints and stops and quick steps and skating forward. Then we did several relay races. My group came in second twice and first once. Losers had to do one or two sprints depending on second or last place. Did I mention gack?

Then we were done. I’m pleased with the session and really look forward to next week.

Now, a note on my skill development this year just for posterity.

I now have one of the best wrist shots on the team (so said the coach the other night). Last season no one would have even looked at my shot other than to cringe a little bit. This year’s improvement coincided some with the gift of a new stick from Amy in mid-November, and some with all of our defenders’ decisions to score a goal this year. Shooting feels different now - I was trying to explain to someone on the team last season that I need to feel the movement of shooting; that spoken direction really wasn’t going to help me; that I was a kinesthetic learner in this regard. This summer we did the shooting challenge and that definitely helped me feel the motion, although it was off-ice. Then a couple of months ago on the ice I let loose a shot that was strong, hard, and several inches off the ice. And then another. And then I made a bunch of wimpy shots, and then another few good ones. Slowly, every time I’m on the ice, the number of good shots gets higher and the wimpy ones decrease, and I can feel the difference between the two. Last year I wouldn’t have been able to feel the difference at all - it was all awkward then. Being able to feel this is awesome! Of course, I need to couple that with learning how to a.) avoid the goalie’s pads and b.) skate and shoot at the same time. In time, in time!

Other skills that I notice getting better include:

- Being stronger on the ice. In some of my game write-ups I’ve mentioned standing opponents up as they were trying to go past me. I feel physically stronger than many other players on the other teams we play, and have gotten better at stopping their forward progress.

- Not panicking when I get the puck. Yeah, sometimes I still play whack-a-mole. Who doesn’t? But this year in more than a few games I’ve actually been able to gain possession of the puck in the defensive zone and make wise decisions about what to do with it. (In a few I’ve done completely BONEHEADED things too. Sue me. It’s my third season playing.) I can often find the weak side winger and get the puck to her. If I can’t find her, I am getting better at making room for myself and skating the puck out of the zone. This is HUGE for me - not simply freaking and throwing the puck all the time, but thinking-without-thinking about what to do with the puck.

Some things that I still need to work on vigorously:

- Stop freaking icing the puck during those times when I *do* panic with the puck. Argh. Argh. Argh.

- Be more confident in D-to-D passing when we’re regrouping and heading back into the offensive zone.

- Better passing and pass receiving. As one of the few lefties on the team, I often get to receive passes that come to the right side of my body since almost everyone else is a righty. Sometimes I’m okay with it, but more often than not I bobble the puck a bit. I also need to keep diligently working on my passing.

- Puck-handling skills. ‘Nuff said.

Time to pull all my gear out of the bag to let it dry, and then to take this poor, tired body to bed.

One of my favorite Christmas presents this year (besides the awesome hockey stick Amy got me!) was from my folks - the Mr. Bento lunch jar.

I’ve been perusing the Flickr photo pool of Mr. Bento lunches for the past few months, realizing that my standard fall 2007 lunch of yogurt, string cheese, crackers, Luna bar and a piece of fruit just wasn’t cutting it any longer. I was bored with my lunches (and usually hungry around 4:15 anyway - which often meant a trip to the vending machine), ready to start bringing more varied foods, and completely in the right place to welcome Mr. Bento into my life.

The first two days back to work I found myself slipping into old habits even with Mr. Bento - mostly because we hadn’t shopped for groceries after being gone for almost 11 days over the holidays. Cut veggies, cheeses, clementines, and trail mix - ho-hum (although colorful…)

Yesterday, though, we had leftovers in the house and I was so excited to pack up my Mr. Bento and bring in a real lunch for once! Guacamole, vegetarian enchilada casserole, chips, and bulgar/feta/grape salad - YUM!

I’m excited to keep bringing varied lunches to work this semester, and hope to take a photo of lunch every day so that I don’t get back into a rut.