Learning to skate

[jammer06]

I third the stick times, I think it's imperative to have a taste of the fun as a reward for all the hard work you're doing now. Keep it up!

 

[Peggy_GKG]

^^^what beedee said...keep going, Peggy!! you can do it! but it is good to have the solid skating foundation, because it is a million times harder when you get the stick in your hand. I figure skated my whole life, started playing hockey at 28, and it was the hardest thing I had ever done, even with the solid skating skills (although had to make some transitions from figure skating, too....I probably still skate wrong as I never actually took a hockey skating class).

I'm not giving up!! Coach basically said if you have to think about making turns, stopping, crossing over, transitioning, etc with a stick in your hand, it's not going to go well. Which makes sense. I'd rather be excellent at skating than jump into stickhandling-playing and have people staking circles around me, ya know?

Just gotta keep grinding...

 

[jammer06]

I'm not giving up!! Coach basically said if you have to think about making turns, stopping, crossing over, transitioning, etc with a stick in your hand, it's not going to go well. Which makes sense. I'd rather be excellent at skating than jump into stickhandling-playing and have people staking circles around me, ya know?

Just gotta keep grinding...

Nyssa makes a good point though, skating with a stick in your hand is entirely different than without. Be sure you get used to it cause your balance will be all over the place.

 

[Peggy_GKG]

Nyssa makes a good point though, skating with a stick in your hand is entirely different than without. Be sure you get used to it cause your balance will be all over the place.

I think you guys are all making good points and I appreciate being able to talk about what a n00b I am and get some realistic, usable advice from everyone.

 

[WingHater]

I think you guys are all making good points and I appreciate being able to talk about what a n00b I am and get some realistic, usable advice from everyone.

Tried to send you a PM but your inbox is full. What day of the week is your class? Looking for the exact same type of class as I would be a 40 year old beginner.

 

[Peggy_GKG]

Tried to send you a PM but your inbox is full. What day of the week is your class? Looking for the exact same type of class as I would be a 40 year old beginner.

PM sent.

In unrelated news, last night was some kind of publicity event for the Ducks. Place was over run with Quacks, and they dyed the ice orange. I wanted to vomit profusely, everywhere.

 

[beedee]

Nyssa makes a good point though, skating with a stick in your hand is entirely different than without. Be sure you get used to it cause your balance will be all over the place.

I am in a similar boat, I will be experiencing that Monday night with my first skate as a goalie!!! I am going public skating this Sunday to start the break-in process for my new goalie skates.

 

[Peggy_GKG]

I am in a similar boat, I will be experiencing that Monday night with my first skate as a goalie!!! I am going public skating this Sunday to start the break-in process for my new goalie skates.

Could probably bring this up in your goalie thread, but since you're here...

How long have you been skating before deciding to play goalie?
Are you currently in, or planning to join a league as goalie, or just playing pickup?
In your experience is there a shortage of goalies? What made you decide to make the switch?

 

[Peggy_GKG]

So who was at the 3:10 stick time at KHS this past Saturday? I know there were some LGKers there...HAD to be.

 

[beedee]

Could probably bring this up in your goalie thread, but since you're here...

How long have you been skating before deciding to play goalie?

I started playing ice hockey when I was 14, played Bantams (15years old) through Juniors (20years old). Then played beer league off and on for last 15 years or so.

Are you currently in, or planning to join a league as goalie, or just playing pickup?

The plan is to join a league for sure (most likely start off in rookie). Pick-up is fun, but from playing it as a skater, most every just tries to deke the goalies. I can see that getting very old now that I have played goalie a couple times. Sure it is great practice, but I'd rather do clinics with drills and then the scrimmage at the end over pick-up.

In your experience is there a shortage of goalies? What made you decide to make the switch?

It does seem like many times people are scrambling to find a goalie because theirs couldn't make it to the game. Countless times after our game a player who has a game after ours has poked his head in asking if our goalie wants to play for them.

The switch, well I have always wanted to play goalie on ice. I was taking a break from beer league this season and my wife casually said, you should play goalie, there will be no shortage of ice time. What she meant by that was that I would complain to her about getting dicked over during our games regarding ice time. If we had a full roster (13-14 players) the wingers would get screwed over. Meaning, we always had 4 defensemen no matter what, we always had 2 centers no matter what. The wingers were left to rotate through themselves which led to getting to skate every third shift or so....which got old, QUICKLY!!! Many times we would rotate someone through the line in the first period, then they would go to the next line in the second period, then back for the third period. It got messy that way too, and if someone took a penalty, forget about it, it was bedlam. So in a nutshell, that is what prompted me to make the switch sooner than later, as I'm not getting any younger.

 

[beedee]

So who was at the 3:10 stick time at KHS this past Saturday? I know there were some LGKers there...HAD to be.

I was at the Lakewood one this past Saturday. Does KHS have an online schedule of stick times?

 

[jammer06]

The switch, well I have always wanted to play goalie on ice. I was taking a break from beer league this season and my wife casually said, you should play goalie, there will be no shortage of ice time. What she meant by that was that I would complain to her about getting dicked over during our games regarding ice time. If we had a full roster (13-14 players) the wingers would get screwed over. Meaning, we always had 4 defensemen no matter what, we always had 2 centers no matter what. The wingers were left to rotate through themselves which led to getting to skate every third shift or so....which got old, QUICKLY!!! Many times we would rotate someone through the line in the first period, then they would go to the next line in the second period, then back for the third period. It got messy that way too, and if someone took a penalty, forget about it, it was bedlam. So in a nutshell, that is what prompted me to make the switch sooner than later, as I'm not getting any younger.

Yet you don't make the move to D

 

[Peggy_GKG]

I was at the Lakewood one this past Saturday. Does KHS have an online schedule of stick times?

KHS usually has several stick times during the day, and some of them are actually outside of normal working hours. I don't really understand the weekday noon and 2:00 pm sticktimes, as who can make those?! But I guess the later hours are filled up with games and clinics.

Here's the link to the KHS schedule, and looking at it, I see a clinic titled "THE COMPLETE HOCKEY GOALTENDER" which is definitely something I've never seen there before. Could be right up your alley. Also, that clinic that I posted about in the other thread (adult hockey clinic), says goalies are free!

http://www.khsice.com/#!facility-schedule-/cle6

Appreciate your responses to my other questions. I think I've always had the "goalie mentality", played goalie in soccer as a kid, always wanted to play safety in football even though I never did. We had a floor hockey tourney in college that I played goalie in but wasn't particularly good (might have had something to do with having to use pillows as leg pads and the cutout from a case of beer as a blocker). But it's definitely something I think I'd like to pursue once I get a little better (and hopefully a lot more flexible). I've seen stories about guys in their 50's and 60's deciding to start playing goalie, granted those are probably rare cases, but I figure why not?!

 

[Peggy_GKG]

Yet you don't make the move to D

As far as league teams, my hunch is that forwards are generally the better skaters and more skilled than defensemen (or defense-persons, since we're co-ed here!) Is this correct? In my learning of skating I'm getting better at going backwards but it's still a bit of a challenge as I have a hard time keeping momentum and seem to come to a stop after a few strides. I'm sure that's something I can improve on with a bit of work but I'm guessing that's a major emphasis when playing D.

Sound about right?

 

[jammer06]

As far as league teams, my hunch is that forwards are generally the better skaters and more skilled than defensemen (or defense-persons, since we're co-ed here!) Is this correct? In my learning of skating I'm getting better at going backwards but it's still a bit of a challenge as I have a hard time keeping momentum and seem to come to a stop after a few strides. I'm sure that's something I can improve on with a bit of work but I'm guessing that's a major emphasis when playing D.

Sound about right?

At the lower levels the best players are most likely D-men and centers. If you're on a team that puts all their crappiest players in the back you're gonna have a bad time.

Usually if a guy is playing below his level he'll probably line up at D since it's no fun for anyone when a guy goes out and scores 5 goals by himself.

Wing is generally considered the easiest position and least liable position on a team. It's also great fun since it's about 80% offense at the bottom end.

Higher levels everyone plays their positions correctly and there's loads of fun for everyone because passes go everywhere and it's not a 1-2 man show.

 

[Peggy_GKG]

At the lower levels the best players are most likely D-men and centers. If you're on a team that puts all their crappiest players in the back you're gonna have a bad time.

Usually if a guy is playing below his level he'll probably line up at D since it's no fun for anyone when a guy goes out and scores 5 goals by himself.

Wing is generally considered the easiest position and least liable position on a team. It's also great fun since it's about 80% offense at the bottom end.

Higher levels everyone plays their positions correctly and there's loads of fun for everyone because passes go everywhere and it's not a 1-2 man show.

 

[beedee]

Yet you don't make the move to D

I thought about it, but the D on that team have been there since before I joined the team. :2smile:

 

[beedee]

Man, thanks for that KHS link! Its a bummer the COMPLETE GOALTENDER starts at 6:10pm, as I work until 6, in Irvine. It would be too hard to leave here at 5 to get over to Anaheim, geared up by 6:10.

 

[jammer06]

I thought about it, but the D on that team have been there since before I joined the team. :2smile:

Its one of the few perks of playing D on a team. Nobody wants to volunteer, but we get all the ice.