A Year in Hockey... I hope. Part Eighteen,

The incredible experience of the SDOHL camp came to an end last night.  The drills we did were almost completely beyond my skill- lots of pivots and backwards skating stuff.  I have cracked that though!  I can skate backwards!  I even did a passing drill while skating backwards.  I say I cracked it, because I figured out how to do the C cuts with both feet and can move down the ice with some confidence.  I need to continue to work on it- and get the transitions and crossovers, but I'm closer than ever before.  Like I said after the DU camp- I can do this.  There's a slight difference than how I see that statement now though.  Before it was the realization that I have the passion and can develop the skills to play.  Now I see that I need to get into some games to improve.  I'm going to continue skating a couple of times a week and try to get to a stick and puck or two- and then I sign up as a free agent at Big Bear.

As an aside- I grabbed a Champion athletic shirt from Target for about $10- it really did make playing more comfortable.  At the end of the night, I wasn't left with a soaking wet t-shirt.  

A Year in Hockey... I hope. Part Seventeen.

The team I was invited to join has seemingly fallen through.  I never received an email from the guys who were arranging it, and I didn't go to Big Bear last week.  I'm not terribly upset.  The league was playing at a rink pretty far from my house, was really expensive, and was at a level I thought was to high for me- a complete beginner.  I'm going to sign up as a solo player in the Big Bear league instead.  I'm not sure how that all works, but I've got an email into the rink to get some information.  I'm sort of hoping that there's a skills draft, because I'd like to see how that kind of thing works.  I've got a friend who may want to join me, and I went for beers with some of the guys who I skated with way back when all this started back in January, and they're all really excited about playing some pond hockey this winter.

The SDOHL hockey camp is still going great.  One more session.  I'm really learning a lot and think I'm really improving.  I've gotten loads of tips and encouragement from everyone.  It sort of makes me wish I didn't live so far from the rink (about 17 miles with a 45 minute drive)- I'd defiantly join that league.  I'm also trying an experiment with my skates, because of some of the drills we've been doing.  We've been doing a lot of edge work, and I found that I slide all over the ice, so I'm going with a slightly deeper hollow to add a little bite.  We'll see how that goes. 

To add a little bit of visual fun to this- I've made some equipment changes. 

I replaced my old JOFA shin guards with a nicer JOFA set.  I found them at the used sports store for a whopping $10.  They are more comfortable, easier to secure and sturdier.

I've also gotten a new sweater and socks.  It seems that there's a sort of unwritten rule that says newer players go with dark sweaters and more advanced players wear light colors.  Not hard and fast, but just the way it seems- so I went with a dark green, but got grey socks.  I look like a member of Slytherin.

Finally, I've found a brilliant stick with a curve I really like.  It's the Sher-wood LE PP10 stick.  It's got a lie of 4.5 with a mid-heel curve of about a 1/2 inch, a rounded toe and is slightly open.  It's a great passing and puck handling stick.   The only problem is that they only make the stick in the 5030 line, which are wooden sticks, so if I ever decide to make the move to a modern composite, I'll need to find something else- I may do that once I've played a season.   It is lighter than the Easton stick, though.  I only got one, to try it out, so I'll need to pick up another one before I join a team.  I've also been experimenting with wax, but I don't think I'm good enough to notice a difference.