Starting in Goal as an Adult

[IPv6Freely 2093]

Hahaha have fun man!

[badger_14 601]

I'm sure it will be fine, as long as the other guy just stays at his end of the ice. I wish he wouldn't yell at our teammates, though. I mean, it's just not worth it to get that frothed up over a pickup game. And it's not their fault if he's playing badly that day...

[IPv6Freely 2093]

It's just pickup? That takes it to a whole new level.

[badger_14 601]

Seriously. The core is a bunch of physics guys from Harvard and MIT, plus assorted friends, colleagues and anyone else that can be dragged into playing, including one guy's 10 and 15 year old kids. Competitive, but when the buzzer sounds life goes on, yannow? No need for screaming or stick-throwing.

[bunnyman666 445]

Remember this, badger_14 :

Some people treat pick up like it's game 7. That attitude has made me want to paint a 5 gallon paint bucket gold, and award it once per week to those types.

[IPv6Freely 2093]

Reminds me of Captain Asshat you may have seen in my videos. Now I just skate out of the net when he pulls his antics, or just stand there. If him scoring on an empty net in pickup makes him feel good about himself, why not let him.

[badger_14 601]

The other goalie is a screamer when he skates out, too, just somewhat less so. I think everyone else was kind of done with his BS last week, though. I mean, he threatened to leave over losing in a pickup game. Dude needs to borrow some of my ativan.

[IPv6Freely 2093]

Haha I yell a lot too but usually instruction or warning for my D. I've had more than one come up to me and thank me for communicating.

Usually my angry yelling is limited to "F*CKING HELL" and then a squirt of water to the face after I let in a bad goal. :)

[badger_14 601]

Like you said, though, raising your voice to be heard isn't the same as screaming at your teammates for not playing up to your standards. Like if I'm being screened and need to be heard in Russian or English, I can speak up, but I'm not going to excoriate a 10 year old kid for not blocking a shot.

[IPv6Freely 2093]

The most I'll ever do is yell at my guys to get the damn puck out after they've coughed it up multiple times trying to be fancy on the breakout.

[badger_14 601]

In my mind, all allowed goals are ultimately my fault, so I have no particular reason to yell at people. And I know what it feels like to be screamed at for something you don't understand or that wasn't your fault. I'd rather just hang in my crease/net, play the best I can, try not to feel despair (getting better at this), and enjoy whatever good hockey is being played in front of me.

[magnets 98]

I figure that the day I stop taking goals against personally is the day I hang up the pads, but I try not to dwell.

Usually a frustrated noise, rethink what happened, a thought on how I could do it better, and move on. Holding onto that bad goal for too long won't change its result, but dwelling on it might affect the next.

[Thinkingjack 51]

people who take being scored on as a personal insult drive me nuts, i just played in a tournament where our goalie acted like that until we told him to figure it out and enjoy the tournament. The guy i gave a whack to in my video is one of my buddies so i will handle him on purpose.

I figure that the day I stop taking goals against personally is the day I hang up the pads, but I try not to dwell.

Usually a frustrated noise, rethink what happened, a thought on how I could do it better, and move on. Holding onto that bad goal for too long won't change its result, but dwelling on it might affect the next.

This is exactly how you get better at hockey. Play with people better than you and catch up mentally and then your body will follow.

[IPv6Freely 2093]

Exactly right. Every goal is followed by a squirt of water to the face and then it's "next shot is MINE."

I think I've said it before in this thread, playing goal is so zen for me compared to the total hothead I am when skating out.

Like I usually tell people, there's just no time to be angry when playing goal. You don't sit and stew on the bench. You have to be prepared for the next rush.

[badger_14 601]

We play on small ice (3/4 maybe? More than half) so no one really even has the time to think about the last goal before the puck is gone. One of the reasons it's my favorite skate is because of how fast it is, and when we have enough players, things are always moving, so it forces me (and everyone) to focus and think and react. In fact I'm not even sure where this guy finds time to berate people. No wonder he lets in goals ...

(the despair is my own personal issue, not per se directly related to how well or poorly I play goal)

[IPv6Freely 2093]

You do make a good point though. He probably lets half his goals in just because he's lost his focus.

Edited November 14, 2015 by OptimusReim

[badger_14 601]

He actually was not there today either as skater or goalie. I asked my ride/teammate and he made some vague grumblings about him maybe not wanting to come back. Which is even dumber, honestly.

[magnets 98]

Not my best weekend here. Played C1, lost 8-4 yesterday, then today filled in at C2 for another team, went down 5-2, the finally picked up a W playing for my C2 team, going 7 rounds in a shootout to win 3-2.

[badger_14 601]

Seven rounds! Mercy. Nicely done!

[bunnyman666 445]

He actually was not there today either as skater or goalie. I asked my ride/teammate and he made some vague grumblings about him maybe not wanting to come back. Which is even dumber, honestly.

Let him not come back. Games will be a LOT more enjoyable without him.

[badger_14 601]

I'm sure. It just seems stupid of him - he's skated with these guys much longer, I've only been skating with them (and playing goal at all!) for less than a year, and he's going to f*ck off because I happened to have one very good game against him? Short-sighted and bullheaded. And not fair to our friends, who (if he's decided to sulk) are now left with one reliable goalie (me). (it's apparently hard to scrape up a goalie who wants to play at 9am on a Saturday). Who wants to shoot against milk crates stacked on a wooden bench?

[bunnyman666 445]

I'm sure. It just seems stupid of him - he's skated with these guys much longer, I've only been skating with them (and playing goal at all!) for less than a year, and he's going to f*ck off because I happened to have one very good game against him? Short-sighted and bullheaded. And not fair to our friends, who (if he's decided to sulk) are now left with one reliable goalie (me). (it's apparently hard to scrape up a goalie who wants to play at 9am on a Saturday). Who wants to shoot against milk crates stacked on a wooden bench?

G'd knows- maybe he is realises how poorly he plays and needs to take a break. Sure- he is going to publicly blame EVERYBODY but himself, but inside he knows that he is getting worse and worse. I know that I would rather play against a shooter tutor than a whiner.

[badger_14 601]

I don't understand why he wouldn't at least come back as a skater, then. But I suppose I'm not complaining. I'd rather he be an angry goalie far away from me, than an angry skater on the opposing side.

[bunnyman666 445]

I have found that I am more vocal as a goalie than as a skater. Usually, I am shouting positive reinforcement, such as "Good Defense!" or "Great play!". I haven't found myself needing to tell the people I have been playing with lately to clear my vision or anything like that; but I will yell "coming in hot" or "feet!" Especially in pick up, there is no place for screaming at people, but as I have said before- there are always those guys who think that there is an off chance that a scout is in the stands and also thinks that he's gonna get laid by a hot rink bunny who is otherwise invisible at the rink.

Weirdly enough, I have been enjoying playing goal a LOT more than trying to learn D (I was a third/fourth line winger who tried to draw penalties back in the day) and trying to play like I did 25+ years ago. Digging pucks off of the boards was fun enough, but having Paul Bunyan trying to chop me down or some smelly, ring worm infested, Mersa-carrying jerk pawing me like his prison lover on the boards kinda got old. I haven't been run into the net (yet), but feel amply protected against that possibility.

The best thing I have learnt, however, is that goalie is a VERY difficult position to learn and play. Now I also understand why the goalies let in seemingly "soft" goals.

[badger_14 601]

My teammates have described the screamer as 'intense' about games. That is not the word I would use.

I feel like, in the grand scheme of things, if I plot out the skates I've been to in terms of crazy people, when the skate skews toward both 'older' and 'more skilled', the crazy level mostly goes down. 'Younger' and 'more skilled' seems frequently populated by jerks, though. My Saturday skate is mixed age and level, but most of them have also known each other forever and, as mentioned above, also work together. (actually, now that I think about it, that's the case of the two B-level skates I've been to - both were company skates where most of the guys worked together.)

I do kind of miss the possibility of scoring a goal, but I really enjoy goaltending, and I think I might ultimately be better at it than skating out. (not that I'm fantastic at either one).

On Saturday, one of my teammates asked if I minded if the teams swapped ends (so the other guys had a chance to shoot on a live goalie), and I said no, and he said, "You won't get as much defence - will you be like [screaming goalie]?" I pointed out I've never been like screaming goalie, and I am fundamentally kind of a marshmallow. (which is why I would rather coach house/LTP than travel.)