I got in on a pick up style of game with a couple of the guys on my team last night. It was a lot of fun! It was a bit of a long drive, and since my car sucks in the snow, I nearly spent the evening in a ditch- thanks dark downhill S curve covered in ice and snow! The game was set up by the other Paul on my team and it was only $10 for 90 minutes of ice time. We basically played the entire time, with players swapping as needed- sliding down the bench- so I got a shift about every 5 minutes or so, with a decent mix of time on the wing and on defense. I really really need to get much better at backwards skating- especially transitions- it's really affecting my play.
I played on the dark team, and as it always seems to be- the light team was the better. I think we were playing with a couple college or semi pro players. Both the scheduled goalies cancelled at the last minute, so we played by what I'm going to call 'clank rules'- a goal was scored if the puck hit either the goal post or crossbar before going into the net. I think the final score was about 7-3. I wasn't really part of the play all that often- but did make a few decent passes and had quite a few good defensive plays.. i.e., I got in the way of everything.
On a related note- I've always sort of thought that the inch or so padding on the top of hockey gloves seemed a bit excessive. I no longer feel that is true. While I was in the defensive zone, I crouched down to block a shot and the guy taking the shot smacked me right in the hand with his stick. My right index finger went numb for a second and then hurt so bad, I was afraid it might have been broken. Of course it wasn't, and a few rigorous shakes of my hand, and I was out again. It's sore today, but not too bad. The player who clipped me immediately stopped his play and asked if I was ok, which is why I love this game, at this level- we can beat the crap out of each other for an hour and a half, but everyone is looking out for everyone else and having a great time.
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