First Game

So a month and change shy of my forty-fifth birthday, I play my first hockey game.

It. Was. Awesome.

I haven’t had so much fun in a long time.  But, damn, having the clinic and game on the same night makes for a long night.  Six-plus hours.

6:00	30-minutes of yoga to stretch and warm-up, because my balance sucks and I’m not as limber as I used to be
6:30	A quick shower, make sure all the gear’s in the bag, fill the water bottle, take an Ibuprofen as a pro-active solution to the coming pain
7:00	Leave for the rink
7:30-7:45	Arrive at the rink, depending on traffic
7:45	Gear up and bullshit in the locker room (particularly nasty story from the other rink about a guy’s earlobe getting sliced off – yay, hockey!)
8:00-8:15	Wait for the kids to finish up their practice and the Zamboni to cut the ice
8:15-9:15	Clinic
9:15-9:30	Wait for the ice to be cut again
9:30-11:00	Game: 12-minute periods, 5-minutes between periods
11:15	Leave the rink
11:45	Stop at Friday’s, because, damn it, I just played a hockey game and I deserve a sandwich and a drink
12:30	Home

And that would be an optimal night where the kids don’t run long and the Zamboni doesn’t drop a ton of water on the ice that we have to wait on.

The rookie game at this rink is sort of a formalized pick-up game.  It’s not a league with set teams.  The rink manager sets the team each night, depending on who shows up and lets you know if you’re Red or Blue.  Tonight I was on Blue.

Fifteen skaters showed up, so Red had seven players and Blue had eight … well, seven and me.

A quick conference before the game starts and we decide on three defensemen and five forwards.  I’m one of the forwards, but not starting.

The puck drops and before I know it one of our guys is skating for the bench yelling “Right wing!”.  Shit … I’m next on the bench, so I go over the boards and start my first shift … which I don’t remember at all …

It’s all a blur, and I couldn’t recount what happened in any kind of order to save my life, but certain events stand out.

I was surprised at how tired I was when I got to the bench at the end of a shift.  For the most part, I didn’t notice it on the ice, but then I’d sit down on the bench and start gasping for breath.

I made all of my shifts except one.  With about 7:00 minutes left in the third, I returned to the bench and it hit me hard.  Out of breath, feeling like I’d vomit, scrabbling at my facemask to open it up and get some air (because a metal cage stops airflow?). 

By the time I was up again, I just hadn’t recovered enough and someone else had to take that shift, but I did recover my breath and managed one more before the end of the game – unfortunately, as we’ll get to later.

The coach from the clinic referees the game and provides feedback to the teams between periods.  I listened … I really did … and today I don’t remember a word he said.  Something about the D not pinching so much and maybe not letting one guy carry the puck behind their net and get mobbed by the entire other team without any help. 

I cannot count the number of times I fell, but it was easier to avoid flat-out running into anyone than I expected it to be.  Falling I don’t mind – it’s usually the result of pushing my skating skills a bit too far, which is the way to improvement, and it doesn’t hurt with the pads.  Running into the boards does hurt, which I have now managed to do three weeks in a row.  At least this time it wasn’t my left side, so the ribs there got a break.

So on one shift we were in our own zone and the puck went behind the goal-line.  One of the opposing players got to it and one of our guys went after him, but there was a tangle and ours went down.  I was on the other side of the net and went behind it toward them.  I got there before the opposing player got control of the puck and whacked at it.  I actually connected and got it away from him.

The puck went more to the center than I’d have preferred – it would have been better to send it back along the boards, but I managed to get there and keep the opposing player from making a controlled pass, so I’m happy with that.

Later I wound up at center … which means face-offs … which I’ve never done before and it showed.  Lost both of them.  I need to read up on how to take a face-off and find some drills to practice.

My best effort of the night was again in our zone.  I was at right-wing and got to the puck, turned to cut off the opposing player and had open ice to clear it to the other wing.  He was hanging at the blue-line and picked up the puck for a breakaway.  Didn’t score, but it was still nice to be a part of.

I even managed a shot on goal.  Coming in at left-wing, the right-wing carried the puck into the zone, got stood up by the defense and the puck came across the slot to me.  Unfortunately, it came to my backhand and the shot was slow and pathetic, but it was on net.

The last shift of the game was the worst.  We started the third period with the score 4-4 (I think, tied at least).  Near the end it was 4-7 … we’d had a bad third period.

I’d sat out one shift with 7:00 left, but figured I had one more in me.  Everyone on the bench was exhausted, but I’d been there the longest, so when a defenseman came in and no one else moved, I went out. 

So one of them gets the puck on my side and gets around me.  I chased him up the ice and it was incredibly frustrating, because the fucking puck was right there. Two feet.  I needed two more feet of reach to poke it away from him and I couldn’t pump my legs enough to get them.  We hit the top of the circles and I had to let up a bit, because I know I’m not going to be able to turn or stop in time to avoid the boards if I don’t, and he scores.

Just a little more speed and I’d have been able to do something.  I managed to stay with him, but just couldn’t make up those two feet.  Also he was inside of me, so I think if I’d managed to move to his other side, I could have interfered with his shot, at least.  My mistake there was that I was playing the puck and not the man – if I’d been inside, I could have lifted his stick or something.

Next I just got out of position.  The puck was deep in our zone and went back and forth between the net and the boards a couple times – I played more wing than defense and wound up outside the puck and they scored again.

So a couple of decent plays, a couple bonehead mistakes, and a hell of a lot of fun.

Monday Clinic

This week’s clinic got off to a rocky start.  The regular goalie was out of town, but no one at the rink knew to find a replacement and the Zamboni dumped a lake of water on the ice – so we got a late start waiting for the water to freeze and spent half the clinic without a goalie.

Skating drill was forward only, goal-line to blue-line, center, and far blue-line and back.  We followed that with end-to-end puck carries, first side to side, then forward and back.

Then shot practice – wrist, snap, and shot.  In general, the discernable difference in my attempts at these is the progressively greater degree by which I miss the net. 

Once a replacement goalie arrived, we spent the rest of the time on two-man dump recoveries.

Sunday Clinic

Yes, Sunday.  I’ve added a second clinic to my week, this one at the other ice rink in town.  Conveniently, I live about the same distance from each, so can take advantage of both.  This rink is more crowded, though, with about two dozen skaters on in the clinic, and it isn’t week-to-week.  This is an upfront fee for all ten lessons in the current “season”.

Skating drill was through all the faceoff circles – forward crossice and backward down the ice:

Three reps of this and then once forward only.  We were started on this drill in groups of three and, of course, I got passed a lot.  But having to do the drill in-line, instead of line-abreast like we typically do at the other rink, changed things up for me.  I had to concentrate more on what was going on around me and what I was doing, rather than on what I was about to do – if that makes any sense. 

In the line-abreast drills, I find myself preparing to do what’s next, whether it’s stopping at the blue-line to reverse direction or whatever.  In this drill, because I had to watch out for other skaters, including those passing me, I did less thinking and simply reacted.  Oh … there’s a dot already, time to change direction. 

I’m not claiming I was any better at it, but it was definitely different.

The first puck drill was more complex than we’ve been doing at the other rink.  Three skaters start at the goal line – they start forward, with the center carrying the puck.  He passes to either wing, his choice, and then follows the puck to switch places with the receiver.  This continues down the ice and ends with a shot.

I think everyone got two or three reps at each position, before we moved on to something else.  Next was much simpler, just skate the puck down the ice and take a shot.  Then they split us up into two groups – beginners and not-beginners.  I was not a not-beginner.

The guys running this clinic take a more rapid approach than at the rink I’m used to.  Two or three reps of something, then move on to different drill.  I think both formats have their uses and going to both will help my game. 

Next up we did a one-handed carry of the puck around a cone, and then back for a shot on goal.  I’ve never had to carry the puck one-handed in a drill before … and given that it’s only useful if you’re in front of everyone else and can stay there, I don’t anticipate needing it any time soon.

Next up we added defense to the mix, with the person in line behind the next puck carrier skating as a defenseman.  First to a nearer cone than the puck carrier and then pivot to skate backwards and defend.

Pivot, of course, meaning that still magical foot thing whereby a skater moving forward at speed is suddenly moving in the opposite direction with seemingly no loss of momentum and clearly in violation of Newton’s Second Law.  I cannot pivot and still don’t understand it, no matter how often I’ve watched the move in slow motion.  I am convinced there’s a magic pivot potion I’m supposed to drink before a game, just no one’s clued me in where to get it yet.

Because of how we wound up back in line, both my reps of this were on offense, so I didn’t have to demonstrate my non-pivot.  The first rep resulted in the puck being knocked away by the defenseman, but the second had better results – after rounding cone, I went to the defender’s left as I had before, but then I cut hard to my left and got by him. 

The next drill had more cones.

Damn cones. 

My first rep of this was bad – I kept trying to skate through the turns and that clearly wouldn’t work, so it was awkward.  Second rep was better, I leaned more and cut harder in the turns, despite my legs feeling weaker this late in the clinic, and made a better showing.

I can say that my passing was spot-on today.  Both in this drill and earlier ones, nobody had to reach for my passes.

The last drill of the day had us skating a puck in from center ice, then cutting hard across the slot before taking a shot.  They ran this with two skaters simultaneously from either side, so we also got to play don’t-run-into-the-other-guy-who-just-turned-straight-for-you.

Monday Clinic

Tonight’s clinic was a lot of fun and I’m happy with my performance, despite a number of falls.  Since the falls were because I was pushing things, I’m good with that.

Skating drill started with coach putting us on the goal-line and having us crouch as low as we could – then skate to the other goal-line in that position.  And back.  His point being that everyone is typically standing too straight while they skate.  Then down and back at speed, followed by sprints from goal-line to blue-line and goal-line to center ice.  His point after the sprints that what we’d just done took a little less than a minute and that’s how long shifts should be in the game – not the two or three minute shifts that are typical.

The regular drill was three skaters on the attack, this time with one of us dumping the puck in, rather than relying on the coach to do it.

So each rep was both different, based on how well whoever had the puck could dump it in, and more realistic to our level of play.  Especially since some of us, including myself, simply don’t have the oomph to wrap the puck with any kind of power.  For us, the dump in was cross ice

This was because the goalie had been instructed to play the puck if it was piddling along the boards from a sucky attempt to wrap it, and our rep would stop if he was able to. 

The other thing he stressed was to form a triangle, not a straight line, on the attack.  With the straight line, a defender can move out to the center man and with two players there a pass likely won’t make it to the player in the far circle.  With a triangle there are more options.

My first rep at left-wing was very successful.  I got the puck off the boards and made a nice backhand pass that was right on target to the right-wing and he scored with it.  Yay!

My second rep at right-wing was less so.  After I dumped the puck in and headed for the net, the left-wing passed it behind me.

I don’t turn to the right so good still, so this had the predictable result of me hitting the boards at speed.  Much like last week and with much the same result – some ribs that are still tender.

A bit later, the coach upped the ante and announced that he’d be playing D for the rest of the reps to put pressure on us.  “You all know who I am.  If you shoot the puck through me … I will kill you.”

So on my first rep at left-wing for this change I got to the puck in the corner and the blade of my stick went right through the slot in the Zamboni doors.  Before I could back up a bit to pull it out, the coach was on me with some gentle jostling and crosscheck or two.  I got my stick out, but went down on the ice, but was able to whack the puck back to the high slot area.  Of course, the guy I thought would be there had moved to the point along the boards, so the puck sailed out of the zone.

What I should have done is left off with trying to free the stick and protected the puck with my skates until I could see a teammate along the boards and just kick it free to him.  Or at least looked up to see where someone was before I whacked it.

For the final instance of my ass hitting the ice, I was again at left-wing and dump in was cross ice.   The puck rebounded from the boards to the goal-line and rather than trying to pass from there, I decided to scoop it up as I went by, take it behind the net, and pass from there.  Good idea, poor execution.  My skates hit a rut behind the net and I went down, but managed to scramble back to the puck and pass it.

Monday Clinic

I skipped blogging about the clinic the last two weeks, but might make the posts later.  Tonight’s clinic was lightly attended with only nine skaters.  Coach went easy on us for the skating drill, just a couple times up and down the ice and then on to shooting.

So we started by simply skating into the slot at the hash-marks and taking a shot off a pass from the coach.

Next we changed it up into two lines.  Coach dumps the puck around the boards while one skater heads for the slot and the other gets the puck along the boards, then centers it for the shot.

And the final drill split us up into three groups.

The new skater carries the puck behind the net, passes to the wing, who then centers it for the shot.

This was a good night for me – I made it through the whole clinic and actually felt pretty good at the end of it.  I even considered staying to play in the game after, but it’s probably best I didn’t.

During the last drill I was coming along the boards to get the first pass and it looked like the guy behind the net was going to pass more into the circle, so I angled that way.  Then he passed along the boards, so I had to turn to get the puck.

Unfortunately, that’s a turn to the right and I still don’t do that well, so I ran into the boards.  Still got the puck and made the centering pass, but something hit my upper ribs.  Not sure if it was just my arm or if the stick was between me and the boards, but it’s tender today.

Monday Clinic

I made it all the way through tonight’s clinic, missing no reps; but it was a light crowd, so the coach went pretty easy on us – no end-to-end after the skating drill.  I’m still happy I made it through the whole thing and I learned why we wear our facemask.

So skating drill started with one rep of “suicides”:

Start at the goal-line, then forward to the blue-line, stop and return backward.  Repeat for the red-line, far blue-line, and far goal-line.  Very glad there was only one rep of this.  Then we moved on to puck carrying drill, thankfully not backwards.

This drill was goal-line to goal-line, carrying the puck … but carrying it in specific ways.

First, side to side in front of you – and very specifically the puck should be moving far outside your feet.  I’m right handed, so this meant when the puck was to my right it should be so far that my left (top) hand is all the way across my body and past my right hip.  Theory of this is that doing so will make the goalie move more side-to-side as well as you close on him.

Second was carrying it in front.  Instruction was to avoid drawing the puck back toward you … after all, you’re skating forward.  So push the puck forward, stop it with the stick, then put the stick down again behind the puck, by which time you’ll have caught up and can push it forward again.

Finally was dragging the puck.  Just dragging the stick a couple feet behind you with the puck on it, all the way up the ice.  And back.

So two reps each (up-back-up-back) of each of these. 

Next was some shooting/deflection drills:

Okay, so line of players at the blue-line.  One player in front of the goal, screening the goalie, and a third in the faceoff circle, waiting to move in on net.

Coach dumps the puck around the boards and next in line moves up to stop it, then takes a shot, with the guy in front of the net moving to screen/deflect.

Then shooter moves to the faceoff circle, faceoff circle moves in front of net, and the guy who was in front of the net moves to the end of the line.

After some reps of this, coach changed it up, and formed two lines:

Basically the same, except that the second line is having to skate into the zone and get into position instead of starting there.  This is when I learned the value of the face mask.

In one rep, I went in a bit to the left of the goal.  The goalie came out to block the shot, so I wound up behind him:

The shot came hard and he blocked it with his stick, so it came up past his shoulder and ping into my mask.  To which coach commented: “And that’s why we wear the facemask.”

Didn’t hurt a bit – and I hardly noticed it except for the rather loud ping right next to my face.  I have, though, now officially abandoned any contemplation of wearing a half-shield.

And one last changeup to the drill:

This time stopping the puck deeper in the zone and passing to the teammate by the goal instead of shooting.

Why Write This Blog

Especially after my latest clinic experience, a friend or two has questioned why I write this blog.  After all, it’s not like my kayaking blog, where I actually know what I’m doing; or my programming blog, where I’m writing about a field I have some expertise in.  No, with regard to playing hockey … or, rather, even preparing to play hockey, I’m pretty much at the level of general incompetence.

Which is entirely the point and precisely why I started this blog.

When I decided to try playing, I had a lot of questions.  What would the equipment cost? How good a skater would I have to be to take hockey lessons?  How much would lessons cost?  Was I in good enough shape?  What would a hockey clinic be like?  What would a skate and shoot be like?  Were the guys in the locker room likely to be assholes to a complete newbie? Was it even possible for someone to start playing at forty-something?

I found a lot of information about kids starting to play, but very little about adults, especially middle-aged adults, just starting to learn. 

I would have liked to have read something about the aerobic and anaerobic muscle as it relates to hockey before I started this – if I had, I’d be much further along than I am now. 

So I’m writing this to provide some of the information that I wish I’d been able to find before I started.  And writing this post, I see that I haven’t covered some of those questions I had, so at least I’ll be able to write some new posts that don’t involve me falling down or puking … that’ll be a nice change of pace.

Another reason is precisely because of my difficulties and stutter-steps in doing this.

I very much doubt that there are many people who could go to their first hockey clinic and do worse than I did tonight – they might suck, they might be the worst skater/player at their clinic, but they’d be hard-pressed to do worse than I just did, so there’s clearly hope and they’re not alone.