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Played pickup versus college and ex-college players along with high level high schoolers. Got lit up like a Christmas tree with the first few plays. Donny McDangles, Wheely VonSniper and Celly O' Shooter all were there. Three goalies. We never figured out a system, but I let the better goalies stay on longer. Didn't have a good warm up, felt out of sorts until the third time I got out in the crease. Not depressing, but there were a few I'd like to have back. I was firmly the third best goalie dressed out.

As BeeDee and Optimus become more experienced goalies, the chance increases that the two will wind up playing against each other at a pickup, and I eagerly await the resulting inevitable posts.

Had a very fun 2 hour skate yesterday morning with my old team that I used to play left wing on in Gold division at Lakewood. We had three goalies so we rotated every 10 minutes. This was cool because you were on for 20 and then off for 10. It was really cool to play against these guys as it was the fastest and highest level I have played against as a goalie. Some of the guys were really good and had very fast hands. I got beat on a couple breakaways...bad. I simply am not used to facing quality players that have good moves! Everything else was fine, gave up a couple backdoor goals on 2 on 0 attacks. Overall it was cool to play against these types of skaters and having a third goalie really helped from fatigue being able to set in. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

The new rink in AC has 1:30 open hockey sessions, essentially everyday. With work obligations and financial limitations I'll be able to get between 5 to 8 hours of ice time weekly.

Skill wise you can become really good, age really isn't the issue but time, time that you can commit to the game and quality practices. The hardest part to accept is your engine, as you get older you can't go as hard or as quick or as aggressively and then everyone starts to beat you so you start doing dirty things to try and make up for it or playing deeper to create a 1/2 second or so more of reaction time for yourself (which just gives the opposition player more room to beat you with!) As to your backward skating you have come along really well but I'd be asking you to do a lot more one foot balance work. As you skate your knees are well bent but you are folding them inwards to much and splaying your feet out to wide. This means you are skating heavily on your inside edge so every time you go to cross over you have to roll your foot over the top of the blade to take the step. There is a drill I get my learners to do where they skate backwards in a circle and take really small 1/4 cross over steps, almost like running backwards on the spot and making the feet move as fast as they can. By rapidly repeating the weight transfer from one foot to the other your muscle memory improves much faster, you reinforce the balance point on the toes for backward skating and you very quickly start to get your feet under your shoulders and hips and therefore more upright on the blade. If you want an example I could do a vid next week. Backward bubble c cuts, bubbles in a circle, one foot slaloms and edges, these are the basics that you can never do enough of - keep it up you going well.

Are you me? I ordered VH's because toe boxes were always an issue with this callus/bone spur on my big toe being wider than my forefoot. The toe box in other skates for my second toe over to the point it's basically 90 degrees at the last joint.

Alright folks. I've skated with them 5 times since I posted last and it is very correct that what you might take as "too snug" while just testing them out at home becomes just right on the ice. It did in my case for sure. I used all three of the pads that were provided for my Bauer MX3's and they now feel just right. I use the thinnest sock that Bauer makes just because I hate the skank factor that goes along with skating barefoot. My 8 year old daughter is a figure skater and she's convinced that you cannot skate with socks on. How smelly could any 8 year old's skates get right?! Imagine a swamp full of corpses straight from the Walking Dead set and you'll be close. Whatever. Performance claims would not be fair coming from me because I'm a 44 year old who has played for 30 years on and off. My best days are long since gone in terms of skating but it is definitely a more comfortable feel inside the boot and I think I feel a little less foot fatigue after an hour of chasing 20 somethings around the puck. For as little as they cost, these are a no brainer to try out. I have custom Bauers now which could not fit my feet any better but there is nothing to do up in the toe cap area beyond adding these. Once that is done, that is is good as it is ever going to get for your feet beyond staying home and watching hockey in front of the fire while sipping cognac. Do your feet a favor, go through your wife's coat pockets hanging in the closet because there is ALWAYS at least $30 bones in cash stuffed in those coats she hasn't worn in years.

MT, I actually had several friends who were hockey fans back in elementary school, which got me into the sport. I was a huge fan of the Kariya/Selanne tandem. However, playing was out of the question due to finances. I could have started playing early in my adult life when I had my own money, but I had long ago lost interest in the sport and was far too busy partying and chasing women. I've been studying hockey and have found out it's very much a young man's game at the NHL level (particularly in recent years.) An NHL player my age generally will have already played his best hockey, which is disheartening. However there are guy's who've played their best hockey in their 30s (Charra, Datsyuk) and ironmen who contribute well into their 40s (Chelios, Jagr)

I really have not noticed any night and day improvements with this product. I will admit that my skates are a lot more comfortable with no negative space. I have always skated barefoot because I felt like I could feel the ice better. So when I got new skates, I put these things in my toe box, I got the same feeling but this time wearing socks. Its like wearing running shoes when the tops of your toes have cushion. I wear with shims also too. I also purchased 3 of these inserts and gave them to my friends. Great product.

had a game yesterday. Because both benches had so many people cancel out we voted on 4vs4 play. Wide open, lots of creativity on some guys' part. TONS of fun.

I'm living the dream. The Monday-Friday job is behind a desk in my own home, so as sedentary as you could possibly imagine.

Due to scheduling, my softball league is regularly double-headers with occasionally triple-headers and once a four-game day. As a catcher, this is ... less than desirable. I've played 3 hours of goal before, and I remember regretting it the next day, but I did have a break between the first two hours and the third. Still, good job holding down the 4x6 metal fort. Hope your job is a sedentary one.

We have an issue - 9 teams in the league, 6 goalies. 1 was unavailable, another injured, and four games on. Doubling up on games is fairly regular, but not normally three.

What a big day of hockey! Played three games back to back (just an ice surfacing between games). First one was my team, won 7-3, first goal against was a great top blocker corner snipe. Other two came from rebounds after two saves. Second game was filling in for the bottom team in the league. Finished off 2-1, getting their first regulation win of the season. The only one getting in was a rebound that got through a gap with about half an inch to spare after my flailing kick. Third game was tough. 7 total skaters on my team, the other team had 6 on the bench. My team were outskated, but they needed to be - they were playing incredibly intelligent hockey, but they only had so much energy to give. After 36 shots on me to 16 on them, lost 5-3 (including an empty netter in the last minute). Had a highlight reel to heartbreak moment in this game, with a shot from just left of the point, dropped down and saved, where it popped out to my right with a wide open net to the centre. They took the shot and I dived at it, pushing the stick as far forward as I could and saved it again, the puck dribbling behind the goal line to the right. As I landed, lost my grip on my stick, where they played the puck to push it back in front, it hit the blade of my stick on the ice, followed the stick around, and deflected into the goal. I just wasn't meant to get that one. Felt great all the way through, but the moment I sat down after game three, my legs and feet decided they'd had enough. It's now Monday morning here, and I can barely move! Got until Thursday to recover for my next game.

Did not play well today. Also not feeling well, so I think I can chalk it up to trying to play too much before being fully recovered from illness. At any rate, my teammates are all very good about reassuring me that I am not an awful goalie. Not in a patronising way (as in, they don't tell me I made a good try for a goal when it was clearly one I should have had), but nicely. They are looking for a second regular goalie and teasing about how they'll have to find one that can compete with me, and that I have possibly "set a world record for fastest time between starting to play and being paid by the Bruins". (last spring, the B's alumni were missing a goalie, and wrangled me and another guy to split the game.) Makes me feel better about having an off day. I am told that Screaming Goalie refuses to play unless a certain number of people sign up (at least 12 skaters, the max is 14 usually, since we play 4v4 on small ice), but also that my ride/teammate has deliberately not asked him to come back, even when it's just me signed up. (see? my teammates, they are nice.) There is probably no Saturday pickup next week, something about some sort of important holiday that a lot of people in the US celebrate at the end of November. (no, in all seriousness, while I don't like Thanksgiving on several levels, I don't begrudge other people wanting to spend time with family and all that jazz.)

I swear, I play my worst hockey with/against my ambulance company. Granted, two is not a fair sample, and both times I have either been getting sick or recovering from sick. Still, I feel disappointed that I am not giving a good showing, and nervous about players I don't know, and that leads to mini-feedback loops of despair where I decide that I don't deserve a drink of water because I made a poor play. On the brighter side, I am not quite as traumatized by highway driving these days, after several back-and-forth trips to ambulance and hockey. The nice B-level guys from a couple of weeks ago asked me to play this Saturday morning, but I had already committed to my usual Saturday guys. (my hockey is getting in the way of my hockey!) I feel flattered that I've been asked at all, considering they are very strong players who skate well together, and playing against them was a challenge.

Did drop in yesterday. It ended up being 4-on-4, one goalie (me) and shooter tutor. Got scored on with my back turned (drinking water). Yeah- that took skill. Dealt with Donnie McDangles. With the team I had playing against him (roller guys who played ice the first time and a couple were on rental skates), McDangles scored 8/10x against me. Oh, well. When three guys left, it became 3-on-3 half ice. I didn't do too terribly, but nobody in the NHL has to worry about their jobs for certain. People who haven't seen my "Screw U" sweater (pic on Instagram @bunnydevildude #sillyhockeysweaters ) got a giggle. I let in a couple of weird ones that I probably should have had. But I haven't started playing goal until this past year and have had zero coaching. I don't beat myself up as that is pointless.