Tales from the beer league part 2

First game of our new BHL season is tonight. We didnt even get a week off, pfffft!
Aaaaand, our goalie has to leave early, this should be interesting!
 
We won last night, first game of the new season, 10-4.....without a goalie for the entire 3rd period. :101smile:

It was 5-0 after two periods, then our goalie had to leave (he plays in a band). The other team wasted no time taking long range shots, they were taking hard shots from way outside. I get it, but at the same time its kind of douchey to rip elevated shots from just inside the blue line when we only have a "regular" player standing in front of the goal. It felt good to smash them after one guy really ripped a hard shot that went bar down and celebrated. Our "goalie" literally ducked and got out of the way, no one could blame him.

Our team is really gelling, great passing all around and we finally are clicking on all fronts. Lots of shots from the points last night, with many redirections and deflections in front. There were a handful of nice one-time goals from our forwards too, it was awesome! No goals for me last night but had a bunch of SOG from the point at least 3 or 4 apples. We only had 3 D, so lots of ice time and I (and the other two D) played the entire 3rd period. We were rotating our 3 D more or less into the goalie spot, although I never stayed back, always stayed on the left side D. I also switched back to my CCM JetSpeed FT3pro P90tm curve stick from my most recent stick purchase, the Warrior Covert QR5T W02 "Lidstrom". The CCM is just so much lighter and really makes a big difference when using one hand for pokes, etc..

Thanks for reading. :yo:
 
Good **** [MENTION=15088]beedee[/MENTION]! Glad you stomped them even though they were being dicks. What stick flex do you use? I moved down to a 75 from 85 and felt i had a easier time getting a flex. If i go down to 70 on a higher end stick would it be to whippy for my size? 6'2 230. Always read the bigger you are the higher flex you should use. But i dont knee bend down enough to get a good flex on stick so i was struggling.

Ive also gone and got myself some skating lessons! No more let me see a youtube video and see if i can replicate it LOL. Small group too 5 skaters so got plenty of help and 1 on 1 instruction. I struggled a bit with some skating drills (crossovers, skating backwards and backwards crossovers) but i actually went ahead and tried to learn. I can barely move backwards but got a mini crossover by the end of first lesson. Got me pumped up to continue taking lessons and actually work on my skating seriously. Im gonna be a BHL lifer but want to atleast move on from Rookie eventually.

Team is 5-3 lost last weekend and season is coming to a end. We have a good rivalry going on with a few teams so its been fun. I do have 4 points this season so better than 0.
 
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Yo I'm motha f'in back! The commish was nice enough to put me on a team I already have a jersey for haha. Only 4 showed up for the 1st game though so we borrowed a sub from the game before ours. Then the captain blew his knee in the 3rd... Iron man the rest of the way. One of our guys scored freakin 7 goals though (he's prob gonna get moved up a division). I definitely gotta get some cardio in. It's been 3 years since I played haha.
 
Next week they might let me go to a stick time to try things out. I've been on the half balance ball doing squats. I can't get real low yet but I'm not wobbling too bad. I'm almost in control stepping down a 4" step, next week they let me try a 6" one. Mostly out of my brace except for big walking days. July target date is coming for camp, hoping I'm ready for it.
 
After starting the season 1-5, we've now won two straight! The last couple losses in that streak were both close games and we were just starting to click. I think now the click is fully on! Helps when eight players show up instead of four. Hope this group can stay together for at least a couple seasons.
 
I'm in our league championship game tonight. It's roller with no icing and no offside, and a lower division game. Should be lots of hacking, slashing, and terrible passes. So a normal game. If we win I will get yet another championship beer mug to add to my collection. If we lose we get the consolation prize, a shot glass. I have a collection of those as well. This reminds me... I need to wash my gear...
 
^ Those prizes are what Glacial Gardens (now The Rinks) used to give out. I have a few mugs and shot glasses from over the years stacked away somewhere in our cupboards.
 
Where do you play daxx. I play roller in NoHo.
Blew out a tire last night
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We finished the regular season in 2nd place, 1 point behind first. Our first playoff game is tomorrow night, 9:30. Why couldn't they have given us the other early slot and had both consolation games in the late slots?!?!
 
Semi-final game went down last night, here is what happened...

Last nights game was a barn burner, the other team got out to an early 1-0 lead on a shot from the top of the circles in the 1st. I was tying up their center in the high slot and didnt see the shot, guess it beat our goalie far side? We then tied it up in the 2nd period, which was the only goal of the period. This takes us to the 3rd period where they scored around the 9:00 minute mark, one of their guys basically walked in, splitting our D (I was on the bench) and put a nice move on our goalie, was patient and wrapped it around our tendy, tucked it just inside the post, it was a great play by him. Time was winding down and we had a face-off in their end on my sie. Prior to the face-off I was talking to our forwards, saying that I hadn't even had a SOG all game, sometimes it just goes like that. He was like; well, lets change that! He won the draw and passed it diagonally back to our right D, who swung it over to me on the left point. I got off a quick snap-shot about 2' off the ice and beat the goalie blocker side, the game was now tied with 2:47 left in the 3rd!!! Wow, that was crazy! Not even a minute later we scored again on a beauty of a goal (three bang-bang-bang passes) from the same forwards that I just scored with, 1:55 left in the third. We were now up 3-2 and they pulled their goalie. A few long range empty net attempts netted in a couple icings, and on the 4th attempt it was barely inching its way down, icing was waived off, and as their player went to play the puck he tapped it into their goal, d'oh!

We all played really well, unfortunately our first line left winger was out of town on vacation, so we had that going against us, but it didnt hold us back! I had a handful of blocked shots, including one clapper straight to my nuts. Fortunately my cup did its job and I don't feel any pain today. Another one went off the outside of the tongue of my left skate, but the Bauer Supreme Machs have great protection on the tongue and really worked well to reduce what could have been very painful. The area is sore today, but not unbearable. I wish I had more SOG's, but the one I had went in, so that is good.

For two consecutive seasons, we are in the Finals! We won the Winter League, hoping to repeat as Spring League champs! Best part is, other teams complained about our "ringer" last season, so he got booted and wasnt allowed to play this season (and of course other teams picked up ringers that are equally as good as ours was), yet here we are again in the Finals, without him.
 
You'll get em next time Beedee!

Im still playing with same team as last season. We are on a little slump 2 game losing streak. Im back to playing D! I know rookies like playing forward because they think you'll get better chances at scoring and playing with the puck. But damn did I forget how much time you get with the puck playing D.

Ive been working on my backwards skating in game. Just last season i couldn't skate backwards for crap. Players blow past me but if i dont try doing it whats the point? Its Rookie so who cares. Ive also had more shots on net then i did playing wing. One thing im loving and im sure its because its rookie is blocking shots. Man does it feel good to block shots and demoralize the other team when they cant get shots thru. Im lame and have been keeping count :LOL: im avg about 4-5 blocks a game.

Can i get some input from any D players here on something though. One thing im decent at when playing D is batting pucks out of the air with my stick or getting my stick in their shooting lane and blocking it. Buttttttttt ive had 2 shots deflect and go in on our own goalie.

Should i avoid blocking shots with my stick and let my goalie make the stop? Am I not holding my stick hard enough to stop the puck and instead its deflecting and continuing its path towards net?
 
We did it....again! Back-to-Back "Bronze South" League Champions! After being down 2-0 early, we scored 6 unanswered goals to take the win! I probably played the best game I have in a long time, ended up with an apple and the last goal of the game. I'll spare y'all the details. It was extra special having my wife and two daughters there, my folks also came to to watch! I don't think they'll move us up, as we finished one point out of first on the season, and its not like we were smoking teams all season long.
 
xLAxKingsx said:
You'll get em next time Beedee!

Im still playing with same team as last season. We are on a little slump 2 game losing streak. Im back to playing D! I know rookies like playing forward because they think you'll get better chances at scoring and playing with the puck. But damn did I forget how much time you get with the puck playing D.

Ive been working on my backwards skating in game. Just last season i couldn't skate backwards for crap. Players blow past me but if i dont try doing it whats the point? Its Rookie so who cares. Ive also had more shots on net then i did playing wing. One thing im loving and im sure its because its rookie is blocking shots. Man does it feel good to block shots and demoralize the other team when they cant get shots thru. Im lame and have been keeping count :LOL: im avg about 4-5 blocks a game.

Can i get some input from any D players here on something though. One thing im decent at when playing D is batting pucks out of the air with my stick or getting my stick in their shooting lane and blocking it. Buttttttttt ive had 2 shots deflect and go in on our own goalie.

Should i avoid blocking shots with my stick and let my goalie make the stop? Am I not holding my stick hard enough to stop the puck and instead its deflecting and continuing its path towards net?
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Nice job on sticking with it, and pushing your personal boundaries with backwards skating! Keep at it, I'm glad you are enjoying the D! (hehe)

Regarding your questions. In my personal experience I do not trying to knock pucks out of the air with my stick. Not too much good can really come out of it. Definitely keep getting your stick in the shooting lane while keeping your angle that forces them wide. Take note if they are left handed or right handed, as you climb up the ranks you will see guys trying to toe drag. Mentally noting if they are left or right handed can help you prepare for which way they'll try to dangle you, if you have the notes in your head, you can shut it down rather easily. Blocking shots with your stick is a slipper yslope, sometimes no matter how tight of a grip you have on it, the puck can still deflect off of the stick, and go in the net. There are many factors that come into play with this. Last night in our game, I stopped maybe 3 or 4 SOG that were in the mid to lower slot, as they were flat on the ice and I was confident in stopping them since I had TWO hands on my stick. Thats not to say the puck still can't do some sorcery type crap and deflect off it and in, but yeah. Another instance I was further out, near the top of the circles and went to break up a long pass. I got a piece of it on my backhand, but it still managed to get through.

We are lucky that our goalie is good, and is very vocal. As D, we tend to play the angle very similar to how a goalie would, naturally this can cause us to inadvertently screen the goalie. He is really good about telling me when to step up to really close the gap, and will shout if he is screened. As a general rule of thumb, I try to tighten the gap just inside the top of the face-off circle. 9 times out of 10, the offensive player will cut to the middle when carrying the puck along the boards if there is space to make the move. That is my cue to step up and tighten the gap. They are much more of a threat to score from the middle of the ice rather than from the perimeter if you force them wide.

Thats my beer league two cents.
 
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