I arrive at the arena early, after a wrong turn mind you, and get my skates and pants on. Im feelin really good! A tad bit nervous but extremely excited to get back in the net! I take a few laps on the practice rink, and skates seem to be on right! Im so stoked! Being 90 mins early for the drop in game, I get my stuff on early, skate around, and everything seems great! everything fits well (never wore all my gear at the same time, except for a pic in another thread, so I was happy about that. Had to wear my glasses under my mask because my contacts had expired 2 years ago lol, yeah I don't wear them much. So it took some adjustments to get them in there right!
After a little bit, a few guys arrive for drop in. They get their stuff on and ask i wanna warm up! I jump at the opportunity. Now let me preface the rest of this post by saying right now I made 3 key mistakes.
1. Way too much warm up time.
2. Needed a structured game...
3. I Vastly over estimated my own conditioning.
Why did all these suck? 1. I warmed up WAY too much!!!! by the time the game started I was already whipped. 2. The drop in game had no refs, no face offs, no whistles etc. Also my team had NO DEFENSE, which meant a TON of work on an already beat goalie. 3. Didnt run enough, didnt do any training in my pads, didnt have the wind needed for a fast paced game with a lot of shots.
But heres how it went anyways.
Now this was a DROP IN GAME! We didnt keep score, no refs, no face offs, no whistles, it was basically street hockey on sport court lol.
I get out on the court and realize that the team of guys I had were not as good as the other guys. Had 10 shots or so in the first 90 secs of play and was going up and down, up and down, and had no Defense to help me out! IT KICKED MY ASS!!!! Had several great saves though! Here are a few high lights!
1. A break away about 2 mins in! Forward fakes to my blocker side, goes glove and I slide the pad out and stoned him!
2. A pass from a one timer in the slot, forward rips one and I snag it with my glove and he says "Great save goalie"
3. One time in the slot again (there were WAY to many lol) stoned him with a well timed pad stack and covered it up (wish there was a whistle)
4. Blocker save up close,
5. Kick save through a screen
6. New cup works good lol
I was very surprised with how I played early in the game, before I was to beat to stand! I didnt have to think about saves, I just reacted! I lost very little in my reaction time, which actually shocked me! Still had that good glove I used to have! Which made me happy! By the time I was about 45 mins into the game, I was DONE! I mean literally I was done! Had to leave the court lol I could barely stand due to fatigue! I was so cashed out That I spent time when the puck wasnt in my zone (Which was rare) on one knee, or leaned against the net. I never had any time to gain back my strength! Constant shots KILLED ME! Near the end is when I gave up most of my goals! 7 in all, but many were 2 on 0, unguarded one timers or breakaways. I was probably 4-6 on breakaways. WHich was cool! the ones that beat me BARELY trickled through. Overall It was a good game. Next time I wont kill my self in way ore game warm ups! And hopefully a little Defense lol. I am super excited though! I showed flashes of how I used to be! But im not 22 anymore! I need to condition! then Ill be a lot better with my wind and can hopefully go back to winning tons of games, and maybe actually make it through one lol
