Tales from the beer league part 2

[beedee]

I used to "flop" my tongue but didn't like the look. Maybe 5 years ago or so I started putting my shins over the tongue and liked it better. Not sure if the shins pushing down on a flopped tongue might contribute to the loosening up of your laces or not? One thing is for certain, do not over tighten wax laces like you would with the regular ones. They won't budge at all, and your feet will hate you. Also, I used to double knot my laces with the old ones, last night went with a single knot with the waxed and was fine all game long.

 

[xLAxKingsx]

Thanks i think ill try tucking in for once. Also only thing that saves me is my skates having that lace lock and it doesnt give much way as my old skates without it did. This is the year of skating better and progressing as embarrassing as it is during public skate im taking my time to learn instead of just skating around forward and being happy with that.

 

[beedee]

About to head out to my 10:35pm game.

 

[beedee]

Our unbeaten streak came to an end last night, complements of the other unbeaten team. We lost 4-2, and only had 8 skaters. Im surprised the score wasn't 10-2, they had so many chances that they failed to convert on, and our goalie actually played his ass off and came up huge time and time again. I picked up one assist, nothing fancy, just a pass out of our zone to a forward who wristed it in. I also had quite a few SOG, so that was fun. One shift I probably had 3 or 4 shots from the point, some wristers and some clappers. All made it through, but no luck beating the goalie.

Had we had two extra subs (to make it two even lines) I have a feeling the outcome would have been different, I know we were pretty gassed on the defensive side of things. Next week we play on Monday at 9pm, these 10:35pm games suck, usually they start late and then I'm not home until after midnight (and I'm only 10 minutes from the rink). The worst part about them to me is the deep sense of tiredness I have on Monday morning, really dragging ass this morning. /

 

[LetTigerIn]

After more than a month off due to multiple bye weeks and a prolonged illness, I finally re-joined my team yesterday for a fun and hard-fought 3-2 victory.

Surprisingly, I had a pretty good skate (for me, anyway), especially for such a prolonged layoff. It was probably the most locked into the flow of the game I've ever felt. Unfortunately, it will be three weeks until my next league game. Going to try to get some good ice time before then, though. I was an encouraging win, especially proud of my backchecking, takeaways and blocks.

 

[beedee]

Good things happen when the Long Beach State goalie subs for your team, we won 6-0.

The team we played was in the upper level of our division, with half of them being at the upper level, the other half not so much. Our first period was pretty bad, we gave up a lot of shots, but then we got it together for the remainder of the game. I had a couple shots, nothing spectacular, it was one of those games where I just felt a little off, partial whiffs on passes and stuff like that. I ended up switching from my very light Bauer Vapor APX stick to my not quite as light Warrior stick at the beginning of the second period. This helped me a little bit in regards to keeping my stick down a bit more, or maybe it was placebo?

Thats about it to report, nothing super exciting happened, I believe we are back at it on Sunday at 8:40pm, finally a game before 10:30pm!!!

 

[Luc SkyBomba]

I finally got on the stat sheet this season! Two for tripping, two for roughing! The bright side though, the last three games have all been one goal losses as opposed to five goal losses. Two of those were in OT.

 

[LetTigerIn]

I had a couple shots, nothing spectacular, it was one of those games where I just felt a little off, partial whiffs on passes and stuff like that. I ended up switching from my very light Bauer Vapor APX stick to my not quite as light Warrior stick at the beginning of the second period. This helped me a little bit in regards to keeping my stick down a bit more, or maybe it was placebo?

Sending yourself a message? Like changing goalies to wake up a team?

 

[jammer06]

He coulda chucked it into the penalty box to let it cool off

 

[xLAxKingsx]

Have my first game in awhile this saturday. New team names are rather random but ill be a crossbar cronie. Season seems good 4 teams and all have a goalie! Thats a step up from last season.

 

[beedee]

Have my first game in awhile this saturday. New team names are rather random but ill be a crossbar cronie. Season seems good 4 teams and all have a goalie! Thats a step up from last season.

Are you and Peggy on the same team again this season? He mentioned he has an 11:10pm game tonight!!!!

 

[xLAxKingsx]

Are you and Peggy on the same team again this season? He mentioned he has an 11:10pm game tonight!!!!

No he went up to Copper! No way i can play that schedule. Hey question about sticks since you mentioned your dilemma above. I have the same problem but i use a 75 flex thats light and i whiff on hard passes since i dont keep my stick down. When i use my 87 flex i can catch passes and dish much better but my shooting lacks cause i cant get a good flex on it. Should i use a higher end 87 flex thats lighter yet stronger? Or would a higher end 75 flex be stronger? Or is there a in between maybe i just suck at shooting.

 

[Luc SkyBomba]

No he went up to Copper! No way i can play that schedule. Hey question about sticks since you mentioned your dilemma above. I have the same problem but i use a 75 flex thats light and i whiff on hard passes since i dont keep my stick down. When i use my 87 flex i can catch passes and dish much better but my shooting lacks cause i cant get a good flex on it. Should i use a higher end 87 flex thats lighter yet stronger? Or would a higher end 75 flex be stronger? Or is there a in between maybe i just suck at shooting.

Sounds mental. They tell me to keep my stick down too (well pass the puck dickheads!). I'd stick to the 75 flex until you build up the strength to flex that 87.

 

[beedee]

I agree with Luc. Some nights I'm just off my game a bit. My 67 flex is rad when I get a good snap/wrister off, but sometimes it sucks when receiving hard passes because of how whippy it is. My problem with the 75 flex is that I have to cut two-three inches off it and it becomes closer to a 90 flex. Its not the end of the world, but now that I am playing defense full time, the slightly stiffer stick is good for slap shots from the point.

 

[Luc SkyBomba]

I agree with Luc. Some nights I'm just off my game a bit. My 67 flex is rad when I get a good snap/wrister off, but sometimes it sucks when receiving hard passes because of how whippy it is. My problem with the 75 flex is that I have to cut two-three inches off it and it becomes closer to a 90 flex. Its not the end of the world, but now that I am playing defense full time, the slightly stiffer stick is good for slap shots from the point.

Ah yeah, I forgot about the change when you cut your stick. That's actually why I moved to a 75 from 85 because I cut my stick down a little.

 

[beedee]

We won last night, 9-7.

That being said, we only had 6 skaters, yes 6, one of which was a sub. So only 5 of our rostered 14 players showed up...talk about aggravating. Im tired AF this morning! At one point in the game we were down 7-3, and then we ended up scoring 6 unanswered goals, it was nuts. I had over 10 SOG from the point, so that was fun, my first one hit the inside corner of where the post meets the crossbar and unfortunately bounced away towards the slot. Later in the second period I had one go off the far post and clank away from the net as well. I did manage what turned out to be a shot-pass for a nice deflection in for a goal, so that was cool. I paced myself really well throughout the game and never got to the point of exhaustion, but as I'm sure a few of you know, with only one sub, you don't get much time to suck wind on the bench.

First period: I skated the entire period
Second period: Two breaks (and our goalie called a timeout)
Third period: Two breaks.

I'm too tired to write any more, oh yeah, screw this time change too!

**Forgot to add, I went back to using my lighter stick for this game, didn't have any issues.

 

[xLAxKingsx]

We had our first game Saturday. It was 11-0 at the end but they stopped once we hit 8-0 in the 2nd period. I skated fairly good have been going to public sessions at least 1-2 times a week. Its improved to the point my old team mates said WHAT THE FVCK you are a 100% changed skater from last season. So that was encouraging and even more was i got a goal! So it was a fun start to the season. It wasnt a fun game in the sense that by 3rd period we coasted and felt bad for other team. Its also kinda boring when you yell to each other let them skate and play the puck. But as soon as they crossed the red line they would dump the puck and not even chase.

Hope the rest of the teams are good.

 

[beedee]

Nice job on the goal, and the improved skating. I feel very awkward when i go public skating since I am used to having my gear on.

Was the other team true, brand new rookies? That is whats tough about rookie, is you have people that are truly brand brand new, and other teams that have people that are first through 4th season rookies...those teams are the ones that usually dominate for the obvious reasons.

 

[xLAxKingsx]

Nice job on the goal, and the improved skating. I feel very awkward when i go public skating since I am used to having my gear on.

Was the other team true, brand new rookies? That is whats tough about rookie, is you have people that are truly brand brand new, and other teams that have people that are first through 4th season rookies...those teams are the ones that usually dominate for the obvious reasons.

I feel awkward as hell also but i cant get to stick times often so i must do with that.

They had a few that maybe where in their 2nd or 3rd season. But most of them i think where new to a extent they knew how skate just not very well. Our team is made up of 8 skaters from my previous 2 teams so we have some chemistry playing together and we have quite a few seasons in. 1 of our players we did ask him to play nothing but D cause he really doesnt belong in Rookie.

 

[Nyssa42]

I'm on a new, all-chicks team. I have never played with only women before....it is beginner level, and some of the people are brand new. I feel like frickin' Jagr out there....it is kind of fun to be one of the best players for once! The games are like in super slow motion. I'm playing D, and it is so easy. I had a chance to go grab the puck sitting right in the slot where I probably would have scored last night, but I didn't take the chance because I am so used to the speed of my other team. Had a great rush up the ice another time, but one of the newbies went offside.
The most interesting part of it is how much I notice my arm strength compared to the other "girls". I have to remember when I play against the guys on my other team that I must use ALL my arm strength in a board battle or even just poking the puck off a player's stick. Because I barely have to use any force against most of the girls. I can keep playing till I am 80 in this league! Actually, I hope people stick with it and get better so that the competition is a little better next season. I can tell the other teams have improved, and we have only had a 10 week season. Playoffs are next week and the week after. (only 4 teams in the league).