Went to a fight, and saw a hockey game break out.

Last night was one of those games where you just sit on the bench and wonder why you bother.  Ok, that is an exaggeration.  I bother because I love to play, regardless of how out of control things get.

We had a full bench last night- 4 offensive lines and 3 defense pairings.  We played Realty Source, who we’ve been battling for first place all season.  Before the game they led us by a point in the standings.  Now they lead by 3 points.  Beh...  We lost 1-3, although we should have tied and the game should have gone to overtime, but after a non-call on a crushing hit on Justin, things just spiraled. 

I think I played pretty well, but was only on the ice for about 5 shifts.  I also banged my elbow early on, and had a few spills on the ice.  I only played one full shift in the third.  My second shift was about 3 seconds.  That kind of sucked.  I went onto the ice after Tony, the left wing I was following.  The play was blown dead pretty much as soon as I got into it.  Tony was on the ice after a penalty, so the lines were sort of messed up.  The guy who was playing with the line that was out jumped on the ice before the play was set, so I ended up being the 6^th man.  I told him I’d just came out, but he ignored me and skated to the face off.  I jumped off the ice to prevent a penalty, and was never on the ice again.  Beh, again…

The last couple of minutes of the game were pretty intense.  We were down 1-2, so we took a time out with 3 minutes left, and planned on who was going to be on the ice when we pulled Tyler at 1.30.  We got that sorted and even though Justin was going to be the center on the ice when we went to 6 on 5, he stayed on the ice.  Right off the faceoff, he headed up the ice and was crushed by two Realty Source players.  Neither made any move for the puck.  It should have been a penalty.  Justin stayed on the ice for a long time, but he refs didn’t call it, and played continued and Realty Source scored again.  Our bench went ape.  It went downhill from there.  With about a minute left, we went on 6 on 5 and put on loads of pressure.  There was loads of hacking, slashing, and pushing in front of the net, but we couldn’t put the puck in the net.  With 16 seconds left, shoving turned into a full on fight involving everyone on the ice.  The game was called but the anger didn’t stop.  We gathered our gear and skipped the handshake line- another first- and there was almost another fight.  Insanity.

Vickie spoke to the refs, since they screwed up so badly, and was told that it was our fault the game got out of control.  For those playing at home- the refs job is keeping the game in control.  I’m pretty sure we’ll meet Realty Source in the finals, which will be damn fun.   

Biff.. Bang... Pow

A tough loss tonight, against last place Free Birds- 1-2.  I think it would be safe to say we outplayed them, getting about 60 shots on goal- I had a couple- but their goalie was incredible. They had one great goal and one trash goal.  The game was also filled with penalties.  Some good calls and some real crap.  At one point, Free Birds had 3 men in the box.    It was probably the most physical game I've played in.  It would be hard for a spectator to believe we were playing in a non-check league.  I even got into a few scrums along the wall. 

Realty Source beat Here For Beer in the early game, so I think we dropped into second place.  

I think I’m about where I was before I got hurt.  I played on a line with Tony and an incredible player called Bry, pretty much the best forwards on our team.  They played the puck into the zone, while I played clean up and made a pest of myself in front of the net.  I even got a shove from the goalie and a talking too when I drifted into the crease.  Pest!  I love it.  

So a bad loss and a brutal game… but at least there was beer.

BACK IN... powder blue, white and royal blue... not the same ring.

Holey crap, I’m sore.  But it’s a good sore.  A ‘I did something’ sore.  

I went and saw a specialist at the CU Sports Medicine department, and after a couple of examinations,  being twisted like a pretzel, x-rays and more twisting- it was deemed  that I only had a really bad strain on the cluster of muscles that sit in under the stomach and above the thigh.  I’m going to start some PT soon.  But after three weeks off, I was feeling pain free and decided to play last night.  It was great to be back!

We played Here For Beer.   I missed the last game we played them.  It was a fun, tough game all around, and we got the victory again 3-1.  

I played somewhat tenuously- always a little afraid of re-injuring myself, and I’m also really out of shape and practice.  I felt like I was nearly starting over.  I need to sharpen my skates too.  That being said, I did help out and nearly had a couple of goals.  I say nearly…  The first was an incredible pass from Jim that landed right on my tape while I was to the far right of the net.  I shot it just wide of the goal.  A better shot and it would have gone in, since the goalie and the Here For Beer defense was wholly focused on the left.  The other goal was a knock in of a puck just sitting on the goal line.  The Left Winger got there a skosh before I did and got it done.  I made a couple defensive gaffs, but nothing that allowed them to score.

Again, the guys I go out with after the game suited up for Free Birds, so I went home, and now I’m feeling all the soreness that I’d gotten used to.  It feels great! 

A bit of a break... and probably a tear.

I didn't play in our last game- which we won 3-0.  The Icemen are now solidly in first place.  I probably wouldn't have played because of my injury, but we had a vacation planned, so knew I was going to miss in advance. 

The kids had Spring Break last week- March 30 to April 3, so we took them to Sayulita.  Sayulita is a little ex-pat surf village in Nayarit Mexico- about 40 miles north of Puerto Vallarta.  We went there last year with friends and spent a lot of our time saying how much the kids would love it- so we took them on their first international vacation there.  It was amazing!  It was Easter holy week, which was an experience.  The town was filled with vacationers from Mexico, and the beaches were packed.  We had some great days sitting on the both the incredibly busy main beach and the much less crowded Muertos beach.  It was a lot of great food, beer, swimming, snorkeling, and sitting on the beach.  And more pain.

See, I decided I was feeling much better and thought it would be a great idea to go surfing.  I've talked about my love of all things surf.  Sam and I went to a recommended surf school- Tigre (http://www.tigresurfschool.com/about-us.html) and signed up for an hour lesson- an incredible deal at only $1000 pesos! (less than $100 for both of us, which included 20 minutes of on land instruction, about 45 minutes in the water with our instructor, Phillipe, and an additional hour time with the boards) In the initial land lesson, I realized it could be a mistake beause popping up caused me dull pain.  I ignored it and we headed to the water.

Sam picked it up right away.  He was up immediately and was riding wave after wave to the beach.  I managed to ride a few waves, but the pain in my leg kept getting worse and worse, and in a few wipeouts I think I may have done more damage, when my right leg would hit the ocean bottom while my left leg continued to the beach on the board.  I'm pretty badly bruised and have an appointment to see a sports doctor to see how bad it is.  I'll probably miss the next couple of games.  Regardless- it was brilliant and I can't wait to do it again! 

Oh, and to be a bit of a jerk- I sent this to the boys, when I told them I'd be missing the game.