“Would I like to play?…”

A routine I have at the end of each class is to simply sit on the bench and cool down.

When I did this at first it was really about enjoying sitting on the bench and getting a little more hockey out of my evenings.

It then became something that added some convenience as it allowed the dressing room to clear out a little bit.

But about three weeks ago it started to become a more calculated measure. You see, it was three weeks ago when the group that has the ice after the class was short a few players and needed an extra body. Spotting me on the bench as the Zamboni flooded the ice, one of them asked if I wanted to play.

Play! You mean me? Play? Really?

The excitement lasted about 5 seconds until I realized that I drove my neighbour to the course that night and couldn’t really bail on him.

No worries, the guy said. The group is often short. Next time maybe.

Well, next time was last week. But the numbers were good.

Last night though…

As I sat on the bench I was making a mental note of the players that had come in and I was counting the sticks outside the dressing room.

The numbers on both counts seemed low.

Maybe, just maybe…but as the players took the ice no one approached me. Jst as I was leaving the bench though, the clarion call of ‘hey, would you like to play?” was sounded!

More on my first game in the next post…

Class #7

This was the first class in which I had not skated during the week prior.

Oh don’t worry, it wasn’t due to lack of enthusiasm, just some traveling last week that cut down greatly on my available time.

So I was curious to see how the skates felt and all, but everything seemed fined. In fact, my first stride out on the ice put my small worries to fear as I took a couple of running strides out on the ice. You know, just like you see on Hockey Night in Canada.

The highlight last night was a 1 v 1 drill. Or to put it another way,  the lowlight was trying to gather enough speed going backwards from a standing stop.

Man! Talk about a pretty fundamental skill being pretty tough!

Although by the end of the drill I was at the least able to get some momentum going, it wasn’t nearly enough to cover somebody skating towards me.

But I will take solace in a couple of poke checks I made!

Class #6

As some as you know, I can get a bit emotional about things.

So believe me when I tell you that after 40 minutes of haulin’ ass and having the adrenalin pumping, when the clock turned 9:41 last evening and the lead instructor was too busy talking to another coach at centre ice to stop the drill, gather the pucks and get the scrimmage going, I was ready to say my piece.

So we didn’t actually get going until 9:43. So there was one less shift to take.

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What was the highlight last night? Easily the unseen evolution into somebody who has now skated enough to wonder if buddy who sharpened my blades knew what the hell he was doing. Although, I didn’t lose an edge all night (despite a couple of crashes into the boards as I was perfecting my Marty Havlat turn away ) I just felt my right inside-edge wasn’t catching the ice like it should.

More hockey!

I forgot to post that I signed up the take the City of Ottawa’s Hockey for Beginners Course again!

Starting January I will be taking the course all over again. My thinking was that ice time is ice time, so why not take it again?

There will be a slightly different twist though: I will be taking the ‘Hockey PowerSkate’ couse that is run the hour before the Beginners Course.

So Monday nights will be two hours of skating and hockey.

Man!

More livin’ on the edge(s)

Just to repeat my last post: I am blown away how every time I go skating I see an improvement. Everytime out I am able to do something with a more confidence and strength.

Before I get into more detail a word about myself: I love practicing and doing drills. So when I go out skating I take a very methodical approach. I construct a lose practice schedule of things I want to practice and try. So I am not just doing laps around the rink. I probably spend more time in the centre ice working on things as I do skating laps.

Anyways, yesterday afternoon was a great practice session. The highlight was my being able to do one-foot stops (using the outside foot) with both feet! It was just an awesome feeling! This is something I simply could not have done a month ago.

After a few reps of doing the outside foot I thought I would give the inside foot a try. Well! I still have some work to do, but I managed to start to turn either inside foot just a little bit and  I can feel I will be able to do this sooner than later!

I don’t know if I will be able to get out skating today, but tomorrow night for Class #6 will mark the fourth day in five that I will have been on my skates.

Livin’ on the edge(s)

Most weeks now I am able to get out skating three times a week. And after each time, I feel just a little bit more comfortable. Whether it is my stopping, crossover, or going backwards, things just some a bit more assured.

One thing that helped me was a Hockey Canada coaching manual a friend lent me. Specifically a chapter about how players need to be able master and utilize all ‘four edges’ of their skates. When I first read it, I was intrigued. Four edges? Man, I thought I had just two blades. Now though, knowing I have four edges that I need to use for different turns and strides has really helped me on focusing on what I what I am feeling underneath my feet.

A couple of more skating thoughts:

1. Since the course began I have skated 14 times. In other words, I have skated more in five weeks than I have probably skated the past 15 years.
2. On the way home from skating tonite I realized that hell! I can’t remember when my feet stopped aching! I am sure it is combination of skates and my feet getting used to skating, but if I consider the absolute torture I had put me feet through in previous winters whenever I did manage to lace up the skates, I can only consider this some sort of divine intervention.

Class #5

For two reasons, this was the most disappointing classes in the course so far.

First, the 50 minutes went by like 30 minutes. After a week of waiting to get back on the ice in full equipment it just seemed to go by too, too fast.

Secondly, I don’t think I took one good shot during the drills we ran.  Hell, I even had a couple of fluffs in there. It was brutal.

Still there were three highlights:

1. I had my first real parallel stop. By this I mean my first stop that was on instinct rather than practicing stopping. It happened during a shooting a drill. As I drove to the net with my head down, I took my shot, lifted my head to watch the puck flutter along the ice only to see somebody a couple of strides right front of me. Christ! Full stop! A good amount of snow, and I avoided creaming this guy.
2. During the 10-minute scrimmage at the end of class I back checked nicely and took the puck from a player after deftly lifting his stick. A veteran move!
3. And I received my first complement! A nice cross-ice pass into space drew a ‘nice pass’ from one of the coaches.

Watching a new game

One of the reasons behind taking the Adult Hockey for Beginners Course was that I simply wanted to learn more about the hockey I watch.

And last night during the Rangers-Leafs game on HNIC, there was a great instance of me being able to ’see’ something that would have escaped my attention a few weeks ago.

Check out Sean Avery’s assist on the Rangers first goal in the second period:

http://www.nhl.tv/team/launch.htm?hlg=20072008,2,236

Notice his little ’scoot’ stride as he heads towards the back of the net? By just using his left leg to go forward (rather than a normal stride) he shields the puck and keeps the defender right on his hip while. Then a quick two-foot stop and pivot sets up the backhand pass to Shanahan and it’s 1-0 New York.

I was watching that and I literally jumped from couch in excitement!

End note:Yes, I know that is Pavel Kubina that is burned

Visor vision

One.

That was the number of guys I counted in this week’s class who were wearing visors.

And that one person is me.

One.

That’s how many guys scrimmaging at a local rink last night were wearing visors.

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So the question is: should I be wearing a full cage? Am I taking an abnormally high risk?

My decision to wear a visor came from three factors.

1. My neighbour Frank who was one of the main motivators in getting me to take the course wears a visor.
2. I don’t want to look like Hayley Wickenhieser.
   
3. I want to wipe my visor like Alfie does.
   

So the question is, am I being stupid and taking a risk that may ultimately leave me blinded and with huge dental bills?

How far does one take safety precautions? Afterall, I could stumble and fall on the street and end up in a vegetable state. But I wouldn’t consider wearing a helmet to walk to the corner store.

What do you think? Half-Visor or Full Cage

Class #4

I would never have thought that taking a bunch of shots against the side boards should take so much effort!

Last night’s course was highlighted by the class getting pointers on the slap shot and wrist shot. And let me tell you, afterward practicing by taking shots against the boards, my back was breaking and I had a nice little blister on my right-hand index finger.

While every tip given in the class is new to me, I was really surprised by one of the fundamental aspects of shooting: keeping/turning and following through with your blade down, even your wrist shot. I had always just assumed that on the wrist shot you flicked your wrist (and thus blade) upwards. Again, I guess shooting a tennis ball is a bit of a different act.

I was pleased with my slap shot though. I had a nice weight transfer going and my final position seemed to replicate a little bit (just to a small degree) the classic pose of knee bent and back leg straight.

As with the week before, class also ended with a ten-minute scrimmage. My three-shifts were highlighted by a couple of good crashes into the boards, a nice back-handed centering pass, and one blocked shot.