Efe

Well, its been almost 3 months since my last post about my season. Things have been hectic at work but that's not the reason. After 3 games in as many weeks, we have had no games for three months now (!!!) thanks to our federation who feels that every other league (pro, ladies and youth) is more important than ours. Not only have we not been playing, our season of 8 games (home and away against 4 opponents) has been reduced to only 4. That means a whole season of practicing goes towards four games to prove you are playoff material, or go home and play NHL on the playstation.

But who am I to complain? I play for a team that didn't practice till after its first game, essentially losing a game that would've secured playoffs for us halfway through the season. On the positive side, rules here prohibit teams from playing players in playoffs unless they've been playing in 51% of regular season games or they have been with the club for at least 2 seasons... meaning the other goalie is done for the season after his four game suspension from the last game of the previous season. If we make it, I get to play the playoffs!!!

Tomorrow will be our final regular season game, the night before I have to leave town for a week-long event that I am responsible for. The last three weeks have been filled with anticipation as to when our last game will be...and I had guessed that my luck combined with the federation's disregard for our league would probably mean that the game would be the weekend I had to leave town. To give credit where its due, I was expecting a Sunday game to make it impossible for me to play without serious consequences in regards to work. I love hockey and I would hate to leave the team without a goalie in such an important game but when it comes down to it, priority unfortunately has to always be with how you make a living.

Why is it such an important game? Three reasons...

1. Playoffs are on the line...
The way I understand it, this is a 'win or go home' game with playoffs on the line. The winner will guarantee the final playoff spot. My team was in a similar situation last season against the same team (I was on the other team back then, but more on that later) and the game got really ugly, which is also the reason the starting goalie was suspended all those games along with some other players. In the end, my old team won and advanced to the playoffs. Hopefully, things will be different this time around.

2. Tensions are high...
If the fact that it is such an important game in regards to the playoffs isn't enough, add to that the fact that these two teams don't have a lot of appreciation for each other and the games are usually very rough and charged. This whole week in practices (ever since the season was reduced to 4 games, the team has increased practices to twice a week) our coach and captains have been emphasizing self-control for this game, especially to the guys that usually rack up penalty minutes and get game misconducts.

3. I've got a chip on my shoulder...
I need to give you a short summary of how I left my previous team. After joining the team late in the season, I played my first two games for the team in the playoffs. We eventually ended up finishing 4th (our position going into the playoffs) and we were all talking about what to do for next season, how we could help the team, sponsorships, etc. I have a masters degree in sports administration so I was keen on getting a new project to work on the side.

Anyway, two of our male players including the alternate told me that they were going to leave for another team. We have a pretty absent (honorary) captain and don't even get me started on the club administration... this alternate basically did everything from coaching to getting jerseys made to arranging transportation. So I immediately said "Let's talk about this, see if we can resolve the problems. If we can't, we can all leave and play together somewhere else." It turns out the coach was doing a lot of things behind our backs (and the club gave him run of the mill) and the more we spoke with other players the more stuff that we found out. Lying, making money off players, etc. etc. So four of us went to the club president and told him everything we had found out. After numerous meetings (most of which I learned about third hand, due to work) with the captain and the president, the club offered to let us have the senior male and female teams with a coach of our choosing while keeping the old coach with the youth, midget and mite teams.

And then somehow that fell through and we were released from the club with all but four players (including me) allowed to forego the release fee of $250. I went and explained to the president how I had only been with the club for 2 months and less than 10 practices, bought all my own equipment and even had money owed to me by the coach for other players' hotel fees at an away game. However, in the end he insisted I pay the money and I promised him that this was not the end of it. Payback time!!!

On to more general things...

Tuesday after practice one of the older players and I had a go at it. This guy says he has been playing hockey for over twenty years and he sure is old enough, and he used to play goalie way back in the day. During practice, we're doing the first drill and this guy is second in line. After the captain makes a point to tell the players that the drill encompasses shots on goal and no dekes, this guy comes out and tries to deke me. Of course I just stand up and skate forward for the next player, but I also turn to him skating away and spread my arms wide as if to say "what the f$%^?". Later on, we're doing a drill and I'm the only goalie (of course... the other goalie has been to one practice all season) and occasionally this guy comes behind the net to send some of the pucks I push to the side to the players on the red line. So he starts saying 'cover your blocker side' and 'cover your catcher side' over and over again while I'm trying to concentrate on the drill. So finally I've had enough so I shout "dude shut the f$%^ up" and spin around to give him a long hard look before skating to the bench for some Gatorade. This is not usual for me (I have a water bottle on the goal that I take to the corner when I want to rest) so the coach anticipates something and calls for a water break.

This guy skates over and tells me that he is just trying to help me out. So I tell him that I can appreciate that, but that he needs to do it when there is a stop in play/drill or during a water break because I can't concentrate on the drill if he's talking to me from behind my goal. He just reiterates that he was trying to help and we part on good terms.

After practice, we're in the locker room changing and the usual locker room practice of making fun of teammates is going on. At one point, I tell someone across the room something about this guy but I call him oral instead of his name, Arol. This is something I do occasionally to push his buttons and he doesn't seem to mind to much. Anyway, one of the other players corrects me about his name and I reply "I know, but I keep forgetting Arol... but I'll never forget oral" and we all laugh. At this point, probably since everyone was laughing at him, he decided that he had to make a stand and be the tough guy to save face. So he starts mouthing off at me about the age difference, and how I have to respect him, he won't take any s%^& from me, etc. etc. etc. As he's talking he walks over to where I'm sitting down and starts to motion at me with the blade of his stick. I lean down and pick up my stick which was lying at my feet and suddenly some people jump in and get him out of the room while he continues mouthing off.

Now I'm not a fighter and I'm definitely not going to fight the week of a big game and the week before a big event at work so I leave it at that but I also decide that the next thing this guy does I'm going to be all over him. You see, I know that what I did isn't cool but out of all the ways to handle the situation, this guys picks the most extreme one perhaps due to the public nature of the incident. Anyway, fast forward to yesterday's practice and I decide to be a prick and see how much I can annoy him. First drill, his turn comes up and I skate off to the side and leave the net empty and then skate back after he's gone. His next turn, once again I skate off. His third turn, I skate off and this time he takes a shot at me when I'm near the boards off the faceoff circle, so nowhere near the goal and he actually turns 90 degrees to do so. The puck is coming at my right pad so I just move my leg and let it hit the boards, which pisses him off even more. As I skate back, he skates by and says "get in goal goalie" and I just ignore him. After that the club president asks me to lay off the guy and it ends there... for now :)

continued in Part II