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

I took a HUGE step forward in this hockey scheme.  I now have a skating /hockey instructor.  He got a hold of me after I emailed Big Bear, my local ice arena, asking about adult lessons.  They didn't have enough interest to fill a class, so they sent my name around.  He's called Mike and he's about 12.

Last night was our first session and I was destroyed when it was over.  We met at the rink for one of their Puck and Stick sessions.  Those are crazy.  There were about 12 skaters on the ice- with 5 or 6 nets set up.  It was the first one I'd been to.  It looked like there were a couple of kids working together on passing drills and then a few other kids working with coaches and dads.  The kids under 18 were in full gear, and us adults were in helmets and gloves.  I was the only raw beginner.  Being the self-conscious type I am, I was nervous for just that reason.  I don't think I really needed to be.  I got into my skates- which feel better every day- and gloves and helmet. 

We did a run down of the things that he wanted to work on in the course of the next few weeks.  We did some skating drills, which I found really difficult.  Mike said that since I want to get to the point of not having to think about my feet at all, I'd have to think about them a lot in the beginning.  We did single foot push drills, which I couldn't really seem to master.  Nor was I able to do the drill where I was attempting forward motion by only using my feet in a fish tail like motion- although I was able to use the same motion to a better effect when I was going in circles- using only one foot to accelerate.  The plus side of all this is that I have something to work on when I go to public skate on my own.

The stick skills were a little easier to handle, since I've been practicing puck handling and  shooting at home for a long time.  The hardest part with those drills was having a solid platform.. aka, my skates.  Passing and puck handling went pretty well, and I think I have a good feel for how it's supposed to work.  Practice needed though.  Shooting was the most fun of the night, although it includes a lot more elements than I ever realized.  The transfer of weight from the back foot to the right foot threw me, again because of the instability I have on my skates.  Mike does think I have the beginnings of a decent snap shoot though, which is pretty encouraging.  Now I know what specifics to work on at home though.

He also told me that he has a good idea what we need to work on for me to play in the social league, as he works as a score keeper and watches the games. I'm looking forward to the next lesson!

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

I spent an hour at the rink this weekend and my new skates are amazing!  There was a little discomfort to begin with- I know it's going to take another couple trips to break them in completely- and I have to get used to having really sharp blades, but the night was great.  Now if I could find some ice time where I'm not dodging little kids and figure skaters... 

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

It's been awhile since I wrote, but things are going pretty well in this whole hockey playing thing.  I've been trying to skate at least once a week, and had been doing pretty well- until we went to Mexico for vacation in mid-March.  Haven't been since then.  Right before we left for vacation though, the rink I skate at replaced all their skates.  Instead of offering hockey or figure skates, they went with a hybrid type skate.  They looked pretty neat, and comfortable, but it turned out they were much narrower than the big clunky Euro rental hockey skates that they had.  The last time I skated I was lucky to be able to grab an old pair of Euro skates, but I knew it was time to think about getting a pair of my own.  I did that yesterday.

Instead of getting a pair of clearance skates online, I decided to get the best beginner/recreational skates I could. Luckily, the price point for this level of skate is in the $150-$200 range.  It's a bit much for one piece of gear, but I'm probably only going to have to buy one pair of skates ever, and being in skates that don't really fit, really sucks.  I decided to go for the full service- and get recommendations and professionally sized and fitted.

There are two shops that specialize in hockey gear in the Denver metro area.  One is Player's Bench, which is close to where I do my quiz- they had a recommendation from a friend who got skates there.  The other is a rink shop in Lakewood- which is pretty close to where I used to live.   I went into Player's Bench when I decided to start this whole thing months ago.  It's a huge place that sells everything hockey and lacrosse.  I need to bring Sam someday. Unfortunately, they are not open on weekends.  Anyway- I went in months ago to try on skates to decide what to look for online.  There were only 4 employees when I went in.  One guy was stringing lacrosse stick heads, one guy was fitting a kid for a hockey stick and a couple of kids were hanging out at the register.  I wandered around and was pretty blown away by all the gear.  I tried on a few gloves, shin guards and looked at goalie masks.  Then I went to loiter at the skates.  I checked out what they had and waited for someone to help me.  And I waited… and waited… and waited.  I finally left without talking to anyone.

I went back to Player's Bench sort of expecting the same thing- and I fully intended to wait for about 15 minutes, and then head to Lakewood.  Luckily my experience was a full 180 degrees from the first time.  I went into the store and wandered around a bit, then headed over to the skates.  I was there for about 3 minutes before someone came over to help.  His name is CJ, and if you need skates- see this kid.  He's brilliant.  He measured my foot and explained what I needed.  Then he grabbed three different skates for me to try- CCM RBZ 60s, Bauer Nexus 600s and Graf Supra G3035s.  I have sort of odd feet- they are like duck feet- narrow heel that splays out to really wide toes.  I really like the RBZ skates and from my research thought that would be the skates I'd end up with. The Nexus was second on my list.  The Graf was on the list, but not something I knew much about.  The RBZ fit my foot pretty well, but the heel was too wide and I kept slipping out of it.  The Nexus was the opposite- the heel was good but the toe box was too tight.  The Grafs though… they could have been made for me!  There was only one small part of the skate that was tight, and baking them helped that.  Interesting experience... getting skates baked- just sitting still for 10 minutes in hot boots.  Then they sharpened them- I am pretty ignorant about sharpening, so I went with the standard 1/2" as recommended.  I also got a set of soakers.  It was all a brilliant experience and the only thing I have any problem with are the bright yellow laces the Grafs come with.  Luckily they come with a set of white ones too.  I'll be changing those out ASAP.   Time to get onto the ice!

Getting the skates heat fitted (baked).

Need to replace these laces.

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

Today was a bit discouraging.  We went to the ice rink, and I found that the new skates I got had crazy arch support that really dug in to my somewhat flat feet- making it really painful to skate- and not having to break them in painful, but can't move painful.  I'm going to send them back and just do rentals until I can get a really good pair of skates- probably in April or May.     On the plus side- I got out there and did it!  The kids really enjoyed skating as well, so maybe we'll make this all a family affair.

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

Hey, hey!  I got my skates!  I'm really excited about this.  I kind of feel locked into this crazy scheme now, and my enthusiasm is still high.  I know the first few times on the ice with these skates is going to be torture though- both to break them in and because of my out of shape-ness.  I have a feeling the first few weeks are going to be the hardest part of getting started.  My ankle is still sore, but I've been to the doctor's and had x-rays, so I know it's nothing more than a bad sprain.  Advil, ice, and elevation- rinse, repeat.   

I've also made something of a decision.  I want to be a Winger- probably a Right Winger.  I'm going to keep an open mind and follow the recommendations of those who will teach me the game, so I may not end up on the wing, but I think I may be suited to it.  I'm a right shot for starters- which according to the stats I've read is a minority of players.  When I was in really good shape, I was not only fast, but explosively so- perfect for breakouts.  I'm also pretty big (or at least wide) and strong for my short stature- probably not big enough to be a defenseman, but big enough to fight in the corners.  Obviously, not having played in a real game, I hope I can see the way play develops from the point in the defensive zone.   And, finally, to revert back to a childhood reason- two of my favorite players ever were Right Wingers- Milan Hejduk and Ian Laperrièr (besides, one of the best 'short and stout' players around- Phil Kessel... right wing.).  I know this is all speculation- I might never be able to skate well enough to play, or I might be better suited to another position, but that's 'the dream'… now to get out onto the ice!

Update- my ankle is as close to feeling normal as it has in 20 days!  My tentative first skate will be Saturday the 25th! 

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

So, not too much progress.  My ankle is still on the mend, so I'm still waiting to buy skates- I think I know what I'm going to get, but have to try a few pair on first.  Being the obsessive I am, I've already sort of planned out the way I'm going to buy equipment, so I'm doing a lot of research about what's available.  After I get the skates, and have skated for a couple of months I'm going to look at sticks and gloves.  Then I'll give it a few more months to see how it all goes, and then start buying a piece of equipment a month or so.  I plan on visiting the local used sports equipment shops for the majority of my gear, but have decided on new gloves, a new helmet and probably new sticks.  Here's the thing though.  I'm short and stout, and will probably end up as a stay at home style defenseman.  I may have the potential to be quick.  I was a sprinter in high school, but that was nearly 30 years ago, and I may never get any speed back.  According to all the research I've done, I'll need a pretty specific blade- slight curve, probably a very slightly open face and a lie of about 4 or 4.5.  All the sticks I've found, though, are for either shit hot forwards or monster defensemen.  Huge curves, open faces and lies for guys who are 6'2" and bigger.  Man... And there's no online selector tool I can find.  You'd think that one of the big hockey equipment sites would have a tool to help narrow down what you should be looking for.  You know.. enter height, weight, level of play, position, type of stick and price... go buy these!  Nope.  There seems to be an in store system that you can use, but nothing online.  I guess I can only hope that when I go to look at skates, I find that they have the stick I'm looking for at the store.  Until then... I have a bunch of thrift store sticks I can mess around with.

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

This isn't necessarily a geek subject, but if you've seen the pics of the 'record room' you know I've been a huge fan of hockey for a long long time.

On New Year's Day, 2014 I went to Evergreen Lake with Alisha and a bunch of friends.  It was the first time I'd ever been to Evergreen in winter and the first time I'd visited Evergreen Lake.  When the lake is iced over during the winter, the 'swimming pond' is open for public ice skating.  In front of the lake house, the majority of the pond is cleared as a huge rink for all skaters.  To the North of the large rink there are 8 or so smaller rinks, used for pick up hockey.  I used to skate on occasion when I was in college, and my memory was that I wasn't all that bad.  I was excited to get some skates and see if my memory was true.  It wasn't.  Right off the bat, I fell in the slush in front of the rink.  

I would say my skating ability is just below competent.  I made it around the big rink a couple of times and then went into the lake house to sit for a bit.  Eventually I went back out and found that some of my friends had gotten one of the small rinks all to themselves.  I didn't bring a hockey stick with me (I have several, that I've collected from thrift shops over the years, hoping that I'd be able to use them), but got ahold of a spare that a friend had brought.  There were four of us and we just passed the puck around.  It was amazing!  I wasn't really skating around much, because the rental skates I had were pretty uncomfortable, but I still had the most fun.  Until I twisted my ankle.  I limped off the ice, turned in my skates and changed.  Then, I had a couple of beers.  I decided over the first beer to see if I could finally do what I'd been hoping to do for ages, but had just never gotten to-  I decided to start ice skating on a regular basis and, if possible, to play a season in a beer league. 

I am currently waiting impatiently to get a pair of skates.  My ankle is still sore.  There is a large public rink less than a mile from my house, and they not only have public skating, they have an organized recreational league and an 8 week course to learn the game.   I plan on skating as often as possible and then see if I have reached a level of comfort that I think will be necessary to play (ie- not embarrass myself to much), starting next October or so.  Besides, I need to lose weight and get into shape.  I have a long way to go, but I'm really excited to do this!