No place like hockey

 ..for the holidays.

Or at least December in general

It all began Saturday, December 16th - we frequently play pickup hockey on Saturday nights, and this was no exception. It was our first game at RIM Park in quite awhile, and my bottle ended up spilling most of its contents just as it began (leaving me with barely any water for an 80min game - keeping in mind the average temperature inside my equipment is about 32c/90f), but it was pretty fun!

Game video here

Sunday we played our last league game of the year - the season continues after a 2-week holiday break - and I tried to make it a bit fun with an addition to my usual kit, but I played like trash and it resulted in a pretty nasty loss.

I don't recommend watching this game video

I didn't play Monday, but come Tuesday a goalie friend of mine needed someone to cover two games as his knee was bothering him, in a rather unique league at The Zone in Guelph: 2 on 2, on a 95' x 45' rink - basically a quarter of an NHL-size rink, with no markings on the ice around the net for me to use and landmarks for angles. 

I definitely struggled with positioning, as you can see

I faced 47 shots in the two 22-min halves of the first game, and 55 shots in the second game...and allowed 29 goals between the two matches!

It was lots of fun though! Second game video here

Wednesday night, another goalie was unable to make his BLHP shinny game, so I covered that game as well.

..and gave Tank's new stick a custom tape job

I decided - with it being December the 20th - I'd go peak Christmas hockey for this one.

Unfortunately the beard was SO HOT to wear, and I played like junk again!

Thursday was a night off, but we'd signed up to go to stick & puck - basically an open skills and drills practice session - on Friday night. We also had a pickup game booked for Saturday, and I knew if I played in goal at stick & puck (which basically turns into non-stop breakaways and hundreds of shots in the hour of ice time) I would be too beat up to play well on Saturday. So, I improvised.

The first time I'd played out since August!

Come Saturday, it looked like we might not have enough people for the pickup game to happen - the cancel if not enough folks sign up - but there was another stick & puck at the same rink in the timeslot before that, so I decided to register for that to make sure I'd get a skate in.

Tank came along, too

Now here's the thing: at the last minute, a bunch of people signed up for the pickup game...but it was too late for us to cancel out of either the stick & puck or the game without losing our registration fees, so we ended up playing both. I took it a little easy for the first hour in the stick & puck session, but didn't have that luxury in the 80min shinny that followed, as I faced no less than 80 shots!

I survived, but just barely! See it here

Rinks were closed for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day (Sun-Tue), so I got a reprieve, but come Wednesday the 27th BLHP was in need of a goalie again, so back to the net I went. I couldn't get myself together out there, though: it almost felt like my legs weren't even my own, and I was trying to control them like some sort of weird sofa-cushion-clad marionette.

Still a good time, but not a good look

We'd signed up for an 80min pickup game on Thursday as well, and I even went to the trouble of re-taping one of my goal sticks in hopes of playing a bit better. I also took the Santa hat off my mask - can you believe that it stayed on for 7 skates with just a few bits of sock tape? - to see if maybe that might help.

It was time

It was probably my worst game yet: just couldn't stop a bloody beach ball. Seriously, I've seen dollar store coupons save more.

You can see the carnage here

Nonetheless, I went into Friday's pickup game hopeful for better things, and actually played a decent game for once!

Back at RIM Park, but this time my bottle stayed intact!

I was definitely feeling a bit weary by the time Saturday's pickup game in Baden rolled around: not only was it a lot of hockey, the game didn't start until 10pm, and it had been a long day. It was only a 50min game, but with a bunch of hotshot kids on the ice - whose speed and skill were a pleasure to watch, but a little difficult to defend against - I got lit up pretty badly again, and tweaked my groin a little in the process.

But my jersey was fly as heck, so I had that going for me

I did some stretching and massage when I got off the ice, hoping I'd feel better in the morning. We rolled straight out of bed on New Year's Eve and into the car with bags full of still-wet gear for one last skate with less than 12hrs remaining in 2023.

Surprisingly, it was probably my best game of the bunch!

When all was said and done, I'd played 13 times in 16 days - 12 of those in goal, and two of the days had multiple skates - ending with 5 straight games in 5 days. 

I'd survived!

It was a total of 13h3m on the ice - 12h13m in goal - with 5h40m of that in the final 5-day stretch. Oh, and did I mention I ended up in a run streak while all this was happening? I ran every day from Saturday, December 22nd until yesterday: Thursday, January 4th, with double runs on December 24th and 27th. 

I forgot that the 29th was a Friday, so just went out for a run as usual

Distance wasn't much - only a total of 70.5km from Dec 22-31, and another 23.6km since, so less than 100km total - but still a fair bit of stress on my poor, beat-up body. The longest run was only 12.75km, but it was right before the back-to-back stick & puck and pickup game!

There may also have been some shenanigans on the trails

So I've taken this week off of hockey to let things heal - though I did keep running - and will be back to regular league play on Sunday. Will I be able to channel all of this work into better performance on the ice for my team? I have my doubts - I'm kind of awful, as the linked videos amply demonstrate - but at least I can have some fun!

..and have the world's cutest bodyguard for my gear

Happy new year, friends! Hope the holidays were kind to you, and 2024 brings you all that you desire!