GoalieInGlasses

I had two games this week, one on Monday and one earlier this evening. Both resulted in losses for my team, but the way we lost was very different. I consider the one on Monday an absolute beating and very demoralizing, but the one on Tuesday was a solid game and fun (for me anyway lol).

I don't want to dwell too much on the Monday game, but suffice to say it was horrible. As usual, we only had 1 sub while the other team had a full roster. This team we faced was in an entirely different level from us. We're playing in Div B, our team is probably Div C quality with what we have, and our opponents felt like a Div A team. Within the first 10 minutes, we were already down 5-0. We were getting out-played in all fronts, I was having a hard time stopping their shots, and we were exhausted by the second half. Our team basically gave up, and at around 8-0 I was absolutely miserable and not having fun at all. At this point, we were only playing to not get shut out. We did manage to score, but it was a pretty sketchy goal with two players digging at the ball at the goalie's pads and it somehow got in. Final score that game was 13-1...yuck. We were all feeling pretty crappy after that game.

Tuesday's game had a lot of interesting quirks. We had a new guy show up to sub in, but he left shortly after the game started because there was some guy on the other team he absolutely hated. Looking at the bench was pretty funny too...our bench was empty (i.e. 0 subs) while the other team seemed to have 10 guys squished together on their bench in addition to the 5 already out. Looks like they got their entire team and some extra players. It was a little daunting, but somehow my team played fantastic in the first half. We got the first goal, the defense was solid, and I was making some pretty good saves. At one point though, some large dude somehow ended up tumbling onto me, and I felt my ankle twist a little. Luckilly I was able to shake it off and continue to play. The score at the half was 2-1 for them, which is our second best showing this season so far. Unfortunately, as what usually happens, with the lack of subs my team was already exhausted. The other team managed to score 5 more to bring the final score to 7-1. But I was still making some nice saves...especially in the final 2 minutes when they were in a frenzy to score one more and I brickwalled them to the end. My favorite save of the night was when I literally pounced on a stray ball that was a few feet away from my crease...like a cat to a ball of yarn :) Worst goal of the night: a light shot that bounced off the post, I turned to look for it, and I kicked it in with my heel. Oops lol.

I think the biggest difference between the two games was I had a terrible time on Monday which caused me to play like crap, but I was having a lot of fun on the Tuesday game and I was playing way better. Plus my team did great the first half of the Tuesday game, and we all had a good time. Now if we could get 5 more people to show up for a second line, maybe we can pick up at least 1 win this season :)