badger_14

Have recently taken a couple of mild ringers to the head, and I'm not sure if it's the helmet or just the way I'm getting hit. Two have been to the chin/jaw area, and one to the forehead. The mask does not seem to be visibly compromised in any way, nor does the cage. A dose of extra padding, maybe?

Isn't it always fun to knock down the team that always slaughters everyone else?

I did find the headband I got to be very effective and I did think it had some cooling properties. The sham ones stick inside the helmet, then, vs. being worn bandana-style? This would require having friends, unfortunately. (specifically: friends who aren't playing hockey and are also willing to come to the rink.)

I saw the no-sweats on goalie monkey, but I think I'd go through them too fast to make it worth it. At least the terrycloth bands I can wash.

Not exactly an equipment review, but seeing as how I sweat like a pack of Finnish players celebrating in a sauna, I should try an adjunct to my stock sweatband. I got one of those cooling headbands - the specific brand is Arctic Cool, and I'm not sure if that's a store brand of where I bought it or not. It's all one long strip so when I tie it on it makes me look like a pirate or Kelly Hrudey having an off day. I don't know that it cooled "immediately to 30F below body temperature" like the tag said, but it was actually nicely cool and I think I ended up sweating a lot less. None of that accidental eye-burn. Thin fabric, flexible, very low-profile - even the knot didn't get in the way of my mask or anything. It seems like a good option for those of us more furnace-esque types.

While down at the pool today, I ran into one of the kids I coached for a couple of years. I hadn't seen him in about a year and a half, but he recognized me immediately, swam over, and we talked for a good half-hour. He introduced me proudly to the friend he was with as his former hockey coach. Makes me feel like I have definitely done something very, very right in my life.

Outstanding work, beedee!

This may not be quite recent enough for your purposes:

Skated with the nerd hockey again after a long hiatus (while the rink was closed for maintenance). Two hours of ice, plenty of shots, good defense. One difference that I'm noticing more with them is that not only do they pass amongst each other more than most skates, but they're very good at moving without the puck as well. This makes it even more difficult for me, which is fantastic for awareness of myself in the crease and awareness of the puck in general. (It's also frustrating since I'm not very good and holy %@*(!! where did the puck go??) My teammate gave me a warm-up that was essentially a mini-drill while the other players were sorting themselves out (we were on the ice early and it takes about 5 or 10 minutes for everyone to get on the ice). He actually lines up pucks and very precisely shoots them at me - glove, legs, blocker, five-hole - while giving me pointers. He does this often. I am basically spoiled for every other pickup or game ever. YMMV, of course, but for me, I appreciate it. I wouldn't think it would hinder you. Batting gloves are pretty snug and thin anyway. Or, as BeeDee suggests, a golf glove.

I don't see why not. If it fits and helps you feel more comfortable with it. Is it for padding? Look at some photos from goalies in the 80s/90s - half of them have some kind of gloves on under both their blocker and trapper.

I decided since I've been working hard as an EMT, I should reward myself with a goalie lesson. Because the appropriate reward for difficult, physically demanding, sweaty work is of course difficult, physically demanding, sweaty sport. As I'd been despairing over my play and feeling off-kilter it seemed like a good choice. I didn't get a great deal of feedback, per se, but it was a great opportunity for some controlled practice and movement work, which makes me feel overall a lot better. Lessons at my local rink are done on synthetic ice, which was a new experience. Increased friction, tricky to get the hang of at first - I felt like I couldn't move at all for the first five minutes. We did some lunges to warm up, then stretched out, and did body position and shuffling, and body position in the crease - first in the butterfly, then going from butterfly and driving to the post. Quite a workout. A lot of fun - basic stuff but it gave me a re-set button of sorts. I start a new pick-up session tomorrow and hopefully will not be a mess of knots in the morning. Slightly irksome: my gear is now covered in tiny plastic shavings from the synthetic ice.

That would be more like management messing with my FTO, which seems profoundly unwise.

My partners and I were late getting in-service this morning because our ambulance was boxed in by no fewer than five other ambulances, and as a probie I had to wait for one of my partners to show up to move the other trucks (not allowed to drive yet) so we could even check the truck out. Then, of course, the truck needed supplies and the supervisor was like WHY ARE YOU NOT ON THE ROAD. Well, maybe if someone hadn't parked our ambulance behind five others with about 2 inches clearance on either side we'd have been in-service on time...

That's good advice, I'll try to remember it. Even as a player I always tried to get to the rink early (and perils of public transit, I am often forced to arrive at least an hour beforehand). Less hectic that way. Unfortunately it's not always feasible to rent a zipcar (a short term car-rental service in the US) for that long. Funny thing, I had a terrible game last time I drove myself, too... I need more practice at driving and goaltending, obviously.

I've had two rather awful (or at least mediocre) games in a row and feeling down on myself for it. Last night - defence was perfectly fine, no major breakaways or anything, I was just off-kilter and felt out of position constantly. Going down too soon, not soon enough. Out of 'zen' with the posts and crease and where I am in the net. I actually tipped two into my own goal - one off the blocker and one off the glove, and I know I was too far back in the crease most of the time. It took me to about 45 minutes in to feel like I was hitting a stride. I could blame it on driving out to an unfamiliar place at night, getting slightly lost, and having to get dressed in 15 minutes and having no warm-up whatsoever, but that seems like a cop-out. Oof. I wish I could find some practice time - the local clinics don't start up again til the fall, although if I wanted to I could drop $65 on a lesson at the rink down the street. Starting with an AM pickup group next week. Looking forward to that if I can put a little confidence back into my skate.

Ah, they're in 4-H, they have no time to get into trouble. EJB, congrats to the munchkin.

My orientation group got our ambulance keys today. One more day of orientation, and my first training shift is Monday.

The only annoyance knee-pads present right now is that they cost money. Currently I'm using Bauer Reactor 5K pads and Bauer Classic pants. The pads are a few weeks into use and fit much better than my old pads overall. The pants are fairly minimal in size and padding, not overly bulky by my estimation. I suspect that you're right - I think I do tend to kind of squash my arms to my sides instead of holding my arms out front. Next time I play I'll try and wrangle someone into taking video/photo of me in goal.

After reading the post on pad-rotation, I decided to take some of the advice into account, and played with the boot strap a few holes looser than usual, along with the two calf straps. Felt a bit weird at first- floppy, like I might actually have more trouble with having to knock them back into place, but as I got into the game I actually felt more mobile. No trouble with the twisting. There's still some of what the thread called forward tilt, and I think part of this is my technique, and some of it might be the thigh boards getting crumpled along the hem of my pants. Overall, felt good, equipment-wise. Game-wise... I felt like I was doing pretty terribly but I think the guy at the other end was actually doing about the same. For whatever reason I was catching a lot of pucks on the top of my pads, like between my elbow and pads. I missed a couple by simply not being fast enough. A couple more because I couldn't see or that ricocheted off someone's stick. (yes, this is a very high-scoring skate - it's allegedly a "low intermediate league", but it only has two teams and they're inconsistent enough that it's functionally a C-level pickup skate, as the score is not kept.) Better defence than I usually see in pickup, but I miss skating with the Saturday group. That rink is closed til August, sadly.

Is that an oryx I see in the logo, or a generic antelope?

Got my uniforms today! Orientation starts on Monday and I am way excited.

Your logo and team name are delightful on many levels!

I dunno, Mr. Plank is pretty good. He deflected a shot over the netting this morning. Nothing gets by him down low, either. The guys I skate with have been generally very (surprisingly) supportive of my rocky transformation from 'panicked lump of padding' to 'possibly desirable goaltender'. The defenceman's kids (10 and 15, something like?) used to complain about playing in front of me but their dad apparently set them straight on that. At least on 'don't complain about the goalie when the goalie can hear you'.

Took a while for people to trickle in this morning, so my favorite defenceman was directing a few players in warming me up with a variety of shots. I still feel like I let in about a thousand goals during the skate (way more than last week), but at the same time I was trying hard to move and stay square with the shooter and follow the puck. Win some, lose some. I complained to the defenceman that I was losing to a plank and some orange cones [there wasn't another goalie, and they do this set-up where they prop cones on a stand and a "goal" is knocking one off], and he just patted me on the shoulder and told me not to worry so much.

I don't think you look all that bad. You're pretty much square to the shooter at all times, it looks like. That goal at around 1:15 had to suck - the guy rolls over your head, and then thinks he can just jam the puck in?