bunnyman666

LOL Yes, I have had to threaten to skate out of the net if I got three shots at a time or shooting at my head or crotch. I have skated out of the crease after stern warnings, and some have had the nerve to have their parents yell at the rink staff, who simply reply with "what did the demonic lagomorph goalie say about not waiting your turn, shooting at his head or his crotch?" Some people are ignorant of the fact that most, if not nearly ALL of our protection is on the front of us, optimised for PUCKS, not bodies. We are woefully unprotected if someone runs us into the goal. My favourite is when a commentator will say "the most padded player on the ice", when it is clear that we may be padded, but can't move all that well in comparison to a player. What it comes down to is sheer ignorance. Thankfully, none of the shots whilst turned have hit my back.

@badger_14 Warm up? Ha!!!! They usually just start winding up, then skate super-slow penalty shots!!!! One guy will occasionally warm me up properly with glove, blocker, then each pad and even the body. But a proper warm up rarely happens in these parts. I hate when they shoot when my back is turned. I have often wanted to jumpout to do my Hextall impersonation, but I just keep my cool.

Yes. Get yourself better, okay? :)

Listen to your uncle bunnydevildude and get some rest, then.

Ding! Ding! Ding!!! Thank you!!!! Unless I am bound by USA Hockey rules, I will NEVER use a retail masque, and would even go so far to try and mock up the stickers if I HAD to use one of those masques that pass that test.

I am also on the "it doesn't have to cost $500" wagon, as well. But I also feel that helmets are better than masques. Yes, you have the jiggle factor IF you don't fit it properly. Yes, you don't have some lower jaw protection. But I have taken HARD shots to the noggin, and none made me feel sick and not much ear ringing, either. I admit there is some space between my head and my helmet with foam. i have been run twice and having the extra security of a solid shell has been worth it for me. I digress, it could just be that Shawn Shroeder designs a superior helmet. He takes everything into account, and he KNOWS composite material; there are a few bad designs out there. @badger_14 You probably DID have a flukey accident. I seriously hope you are okay.

I always tend to make cage saves, LOL. I have had a few pucks bounce off of the top of my helmet, which is always weird. It is embarassing when the puck bounces off of my helmet and in behind me. At least pucks shot straight onto the stick aren't going in any more. I do hope that you rest. It sounds like you need it.

Monday Drop-In Report: The stupid tossers didn't bother to announce that Stick and Puck was CANCELLED!!!! Drove 40 minutes to find that out. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

Yeah, that's the positive part.

Sorry to read that. Maybe the knee will be right as rain in that short amount of time.

Well, they (and the players) all went bye bye, as evidenced in the... SUNDAY STICK AND PUCK REPORT: Nobody was there. I had the ice to myself. I worked on drops, slides, recoveries, two pad stacks, positioning, gathering pucks into my glove, T-pushes, C-cuts, and clearing the puck. Ugh.

Saturday Stick and Puck Report- Five f***ing goalies showed up!!!! Fack me!!!!! But it didn't turn out that bad; in fact- it was okay. We had enough show up for a four on four half ice scrimmage. We each played five minutes each with what ended up as a 15 minute break. I would sit for ten minutes, then warm back up with slides and recoveries for five minutes. I shut out the first five minutes. I let in one goal on a rebound I gave up in my second five minutes. I then went to the other half of the ice and let a few try break aways on me. After two days of lacklustre sessions, this wasn't terrible. In all, I didn't even let in too many. Note that I didn't use the word "ugh" once in this report. ?

Shoulda Worn the "Kaholik" Sweater (subtitle- Thursday and Friday Drop-In Report): Thursday was good turnout, but three goalies. Three is NOT a magic number, unlike the ABC Schoolhouse Rocks number says. Someone is always coming in cold, not being able to get into a rhythm. I got hit on my mastoid bone from a clearing pass as I was relieving the goalie. Yes, it hurt, but it would have hurt much more if the puck would have hit a masque back plate. I think I will stay with my SK2000 clone, thank you very much. I let in some really stupid goals. I made a couple of good saves, but bungled a LOT. Of course the only defense I got was from this tree top bender-pylon who saw fit to stand DIRECTLY in my line of sight so I saw ZERO shots. Ugh. I wore the Kaholik sweater, btw. Today (Friday) was another Klustertruck- three goalies AGAIN!!!! None of the other goalies bothered to talk to me on how we were switching it up. One was trying to get more time than the others of us. I have to say I would rather it be FOUR goalies than three. Ugh. This was at normally my FAVOURITE skate, but there were a LOT of noobies (as the youngin's are out of school now, ugh) and the scrimmage became a chip fest. The noobies shot head-high shots. It got silly physical. My play was meh. I felt like a heel shoving this 5'2" girl out of my crease, but she was in my grille!!! I had to do a fair bit of shoving to get these people out of the blue paint. Ugh. I took a shot DIRECTLY in the dangler, which only made noise (wearing an Itech N9 made of composite by Kustom Composites). I wore my Hasek sweater, which the only thing Hasek-like I did was be a bit unconventional; the athletic movements were not present. Should've worn the Kaholik sweater... Ugh.

Sorry to hear that. Maybe a break would do you good. Hope things steady for you.

Thanks for the advice. It is advice that needs re-iterating for any of us trying to shed a few pounds. I have done this before, as after I quit hockey and was married very young, we could only afford crap food and I ballooned to 15 stone in a year's time. I was 9 stone. Okay- 215# from 127-ish. It took me two years of diet and exercise to get back down, then I became a competitive cyclist and duathlete. I learnt after a few fails in diet that it is a marathon, not a race as far as weight loss goes. I also now have to learn that I can't creep back into bad eating habits and recover like I used to, as I am pretty ancient. This is as close as I have ever been to being as heavy as I was in my late teens/early twenties. We're also trying smoothies and stuff because of my wife's ongoing medical problems. We have come to the conclusion that food you eat has a direct correlation to health, and some deficiencies can be relieved by food rather than supplements. She definitely has been making a slow, steady turn, as she FINALLY(!) quit smoking.I definitely know about the cheat days, as if you deprive yourself for too long, you end up with a cheat YEAR!!!! I will try the Herbalife shakes. Thanks for the suggestion.

There was not a Friday drop-in (as I had other pressing matters), nor was there a Monday drop-in (needed to make money whilst possible). But I have decided to work on my temple. Right now, my body is more like a house trailer. So I am trying something new. With my wife's ongoing medical problems, it was about time we try something new. I gained about forty unanswered pounds because of my foot problems, and it just isn't coming off like it used to. I have surmised that my goaltending would improve IMMENSELY if I were a little less fluffy. So, we're trying smoothies. I spend a crap load of money on fruit and veg on Sunday. So far, not having that starving feeling like I used to about fifteen minutes after eating fruit or veg, mainly because of adding yoghurt or protein powder to the mix. Trying to get more stuff into my smoothies. If anyone has suggested mixes, please give them.

Crumbs! Keep your pecker up and have a speedy recovery.

Sounds like a cracking time!!!!!

Princess goalies, full drop-ins, and other annoyances/grievances report: Monday was a weird drop-in, because this princess goalie who would go to the bench and mess about with his phone would demand that ONLY his friend shoots against him. This was grinding my reliable, funny, and overall good guy sidekick, Dwayne. Princess only would let his buddy shoot on him, talks to nobody, and generally thinks he is ALL THAT. If he wanted a private session, he should pony the $$$ and rent the sheet for himself and his buddies. Monday drop-in was just WEIRD, FACKING WEIRD!!!!! I ended up in a useless scrimmage that had zero emphasis on defense. You can only defend against three on zeros for so long before you want to bash your stick on the goal and hang yourself by your toe ties. I think I understand why some goalies HATE drop-in and stick and puck... Ended up in another 3-on-3 scrimmage that wasn't as bad and I played somewhat better. But the vibe was weird on Monday. Fast forward to today- my favourite drop-in was full, meaning four goalies. Guess who's car I see? Princess goalie. Good thing I wasn't there playing opposite that tosser... I was directed to a different rink. I kinda couldn't follow the vague directions given to me, so I plugged it into my phone. DENIED!!!! There are THREE bloody rinks in this particular town, and my phone lead me to the WRONG BLOODY RINK!!!! Arrrrrrrgh!!!!! I finally find it- not a bad little drop in. I was half an hour into the session by the time I got dressed. It took me ten minutes to get my first bit in goal. I let in a couple softies, but found my groove. The great thing is that whilst having a frustrating morning, I found another nice group to play with. Good defense? Check. Good passing? Check. Skill? In spades. Hopefully, Friday is better than the sh** show of the last couple of days. But the silver lining is the new drop in group for an off Tuesday.

@tedpenguins all they have to do is pass the ten footer test, and it looks like they pass the ten footer test to me! Looking good, matey! ??

@tedpenguins I have found that on knee guards, you have to go spendy to get good ones. That being said, I spent plenty on my Factory Mad knee guards and they are fantastic.I have had them for well over six months. Dennis does not show them on his website nor is he keen on pix being shown of them, but I have only had one shot that was a real stinger (as in go to the bench for a minute from a MacInnis-style clapper), but the only thing that is wearing thus far is the elastics. I think I would have ended up off of the ice and work for a few weeks had I been wearing my Bauer Supreme knee guards when I faced that shooter. I didn't even get a raspberry on that shot! The only drawback? It will cost as much as a pro blocker for these. But you will see how good they really are if you buy them. I would suggest nearly any of the major SMALL manufacturers (like Brown, PAW, Passau, Maltese or Factory Mad are who I have in mind) OVER the big five manufacturers for knee guards,as the ones from the small guys seem to be built better and some are much lower profile (Brown probably isn't) than offerings from Bauer, CCM, Brian's, Vaughn, or Warrior. The drawback is that they are built one at a time, so you have to wait. This is my opinion, but a growing number share it. What is with beginner league teams bringing in a ringer or two? That kills the spirit of the opposing teams. I always think that ringers that are brought in are not that good when they are in an appropriate league. I am going to keep my trap shut and not comment further... I never thought all of the slides across would hurt that much after a game or for days after. One would think all of that energy expenditure would make me thin, but I am still big as a bloody house. I guess I need to trim back on the beer. Maria Mountain is your friend in regards to exercises to get your muscles up to speed. The poke check is your friend, as so many people don't expect it these days. I hope Corey Hirsch doesn't get his way and have the stick shrunk (I am thinking it's breezers and chesties that get the trimming in the off-season), as the stick saves so many goals. The poke check would be so much harder if the stick were smaller.

Sit in front of the tele with those skates on, that will help break them in considerably. That's what I do for every new skate.

Drop-in Report: Went to my favourite drop-in session and tried my new Wilcox blocker. First, a little info on my blocker and Dave Wilcox: Dave Wilcox was the designer and builder of some of the greatest goal gear in the last 12 of 15 years, having designed and built TPS pro stuff from 2001-13 and Sher-Wood from '11-13. None the less, he built me one HELL of a blocker, and it is only going to get better with use. I have player glove fingers, which was a HUGE improvement over the wallowy, one-size fits a few palms I was having trouble with in my Vaughn blocker. My hands are too big for intermediate, but too small for some of the other palms. I will put it this way- a blocker is NOT just a blocker, as evidenced by the fact that I have been trying different ones. This one is the baby bear blocker- just right! Now, to drop-in: My warm up was pretty lacklustre- I let in EVERYTHING. I thought it was going to be one of those days. It wasn't. Did I have a shut out? No. Did I let in a few softies? Yes. Do I feel better about my game? Yes. Here is where I feel better about my choice in head gear: I got whacked in the head by a high stick in a scrum. Just a bit of noise, that's all. I got my revenge, as the offender skated in too close through my crease. I upended him with a stick on his skates. Of course he skated through my crease again and ended up with my stick in his gut. He stopped cutting into my crease after that. My poke check is getting better, as well. My aggressive play lit a fire under everybody's bum, as fack me the game got fiery! Every time I let in a goal, my team would skate it back and would go either top shelf or back door. The opposing team would start taking huge risks in the neutral zone and my team would make them pay! They were getting frustrated that the formerly easy goalie was getting harder to penetrate. Playing the puck is something I am still not comfortable with. Break aways are getting better, but I am far from confident on them. Back to the blocker- this thing has some curve to it, and it will easily deflect a puck into the next zip code! I am aware of shots on the back of my hand, but no stingers, thus far. I had my concerns with a lack of "air pillows" (really, just soft foam) on the side board and the back of the hand, but I was pleasantly surprised with no stingers. I guess Dave knows what he's doing. My blocker pix are on my instagram @bunnydevildude

@OptimusReim You weren't that bad. You had a LOT of odd man rushes against you. Bloody fackin hell- you defended a fair few 2 and 3 on 0 situations with D men who should wear orange cone-shaped helmets. Stop being so bleedin' hard on yourself; you are better than I.

You need to step back, take a breather, then go back in having fun. I have let loose and have been surprised with how much better I am playing. If I let in one 5 hole whilst standing, I laugh. You're not depending on playing goal to feed your family, right? Keep your pecker (nose) up.