synesthete's Personal Thread

[synesthete]

Haha! Sounds good, man!

[Big Red]

Syn, I am like you, in that I demand solid play around; however I absolutely love to make sprawling saves. That is my game, I can respect your style, and I even coach much closer to your style of play. I agree though, a low shot game with minimal defensive mistakes is much better than a high shot game with defensemen trip over the hash-marks. The only spectacular saves I want to make are caused by risks I take or a stellar play by the forwards, not because of the mistake of a blueliner.

[ArcherBTP]

Syn, I just read the beginning of this thread. I think your next set of gear should be all Ottered out! I saw a few games years back and was a huge fan of Voth. That dude was murder on ice. There's an Otters jersey on the wall at Brentwood and its really close to getting boosted by me. That's really cool you were on the Otters.

[caveman27]

Hmm, screens are tough. Screens by your own teammate, not good.
Breakaways, if you didn't let an easy one in, then hats off to the shooter for putting some mustard on the hot dog.
The other team's offense just talking a cake-walk to the crease, not good.

Free-agency in a beer-league. Funny.

[synesthete]

Syn, I am like you, in that I demand solid play around; however I absolutely love to make sprawling saves. That is my game, I can respect your style, and I even coach much closer to your style of play. I agree though, a low shot game with minimal defensive mistakes is much better than a high shot game with defensemen trip over the hash-marks. The only spectacular saves I want to make are caused by risks I take or a stellar play by the forwards, not because of the mistake of a blueliner.

I used to be much more of the Hasek-type goalie, really looking for those fantastic saves. I don't know if it's because I learned sound positioning or if I'm just too lazy to do that anymore, but I just don't make those saves anymore. Occasionally I'll whip out something nasty, but it was, like you said, a risk on my part or a mistake.

Syn, I just read the beginning of this thread. I think your next set of gear should be all Ottered out! I saw a few games years back and was a huge fan of Voth. That dude was murder on ice. There's an Otters jersey on the wall at Brentwood and its really close to getting boosted by me. That's really cool you were on the Otters.

Hahaha.. oh, man.. I can just imagine getting out there in some green, silver, and navy pads. Actually, those were some pretty classy colors. Unfortunately I never got to wear them, as I just practiced with them and was their "unofficially official" third goalie (i.e. emergency backup). Wish I could say I got to play in some games or at least sit the bench, but, alas, I cannot. I think had I stayed in Juniors longer I would have had a chance to make it to the U or E, but I don't think I ever had the potential for the A or the show.

I do have new pads coming, but they aren't Otters colors. You'll have to wait and see. It's going back to my roots...

Hmm, screens are tough. Screens by your own teammate, not good.
Breakaways, if you didn't let an easy one in, then hats off to the shooter for putting some mustard on the hot dog.
The other team's offense just talking a cake-walk to the crease, not good.

Free-agency in a beer-league. Funny.

That's really it: the other team is simply getting too good of opportunities and they're taking advantage of them. I'm really doing my best.. and I admit when I make mistakes or should have had one. I almost wish that was the case here so I could fix it myself.

And, funny enough, there is kind of a free agency in my one beer league. HNA -- Hockey North America -- is rather stringent with their roster rules. To move teams you have to be released unless it's an unusual circumstance. Like, oddly enough, last season I played as a LW on a B4 team. I had to be released from the B4 team to move to B1 to play goal, and then I registered separately as a C/LW for a B3 team.

Complicating the issue is that goalies can't sub lower than the division in which they play. That means since I play B1, I can only sub for B1 and A teams, and because I play against all of those teams, it really doesn't benefit me in any way to sub for a competitor.

Anyway, it's a weird league, but a fun one. It's nice to get out there in home and away jerseys and act like it matters again. Well.. would be nice if we were winning, haha.

[caveman27]

... and I really hate that defenseman...

Can he be coached to better playing?
Is his skating and skills up to B-level players?
Is he C-level but has connections to get into B?
Did he used to play elite-level hockey but was probably a slug?
Are you going to poop in his glove?

[synesthete]

I am considering pooping in his glove. Really, he has the skill. When I started playing out again I played in a novice league to get my bearings back and he was on my team, and was way above the skill level. Smooth skating, dominating stickhandling, and an absolute blast for a shot. But something has happened. In this league he's slow, makes terrible passes, is lazy covering his man, and has very few points, if any. Not really sure what his true problem is. He's trying to lose weight -- which is great -- but I think it's laziness that's the main problem. He's still playing his novice game in a reasonably advanced level, and it's not working.

[synesthete]

Haven't had any non-sub games in a little while, so here's a "fun" post...

My parents were, by far, the biggest supporters of my hockey "career." Really, it made my siblings (all half) rather jealous about the attention I got. And it's probably for good reason, as you're about to see. When they built their new house, they decorated a nice sized wall as an ode of sorts to my hockey career (compared to my brothers and sisters who maybe have a few pictures strewn about the house). Honestly, if you didn't know any better, you would think I must've died, and this was their dedication to me. But, no, I'm still alive.

So here's the main wall (complete with the top of my kiddos' train set sitting on a table beneath it):


Top left is a picture taken from the first high school at which I played, and it ended up getting in the paper. Those were Battram pads. Worst pads and experience I've ever had, and that's all I'll say about them. Next picture to the right was when we took second place in the nation in the college roller championships. Middle picture is just me playing for UMSL (pads were 35"+1" RBK P1s). To the right of that is when we won the DII college roller championships. And then on the top right is a game picture from when we won the national championship. Those were my favorite pads.. my old 35" Koho 560s black on white I got after the Battram experience. I still have fond memories of those pads.

Then separating the top section from the bottom is a game used Sher-wood 530 SOP stick, my favorite stick of all time. All wood, baby.

In the middle section on the left is obviously another game photo from the national championships. You can see the puck in my glove.. it's a great picture. Then there are two of my game worn college jerseys. I actually have every jersey I ever wore on a "real" team with the exception of one: my sister managed a bar and they put up one of my travel team jerseys. So it's hanging around somewhere in Columbia, MO, I guess. Really, I wish they would have put up just one of those jerseys and then maybe the jersey from my last college year, though the jerseys up there now are the classiest ones we ever wore (hot, but classy). Then on the right side of the jerseys is a photo from my inline traveling days playing on the St. Louis Snipers. Back then I had more of a Khabi legs/Potvin glove stance. Those pads are 34" Heaton Helite IVs with the Bauer Reactor 6 blocker (the weird, rounded one filled with deer hair), and Vaughn T5500 glove. Had Vaughn pants, Vaughn T5500 chesty, the original NXi Phantom helmet, and I believe that's the Koho... 400 (?) Potvin stick. Now that I think about it, THAT was my favorite stick of all time.

Outside of the picture to the right is, yes, my very own life-size fathead.


It's kind of funny because it's right in front of the stairs, and so when my kiddos come downstairs they always say, "That's daddy!" That jersey I'm wearing is the one that I'd like up on the wall.. really sharp jersey. The fathead was made by a local company and does web orders, so if you want something similar, just go to their website at Jumbo Sticky Pics - Custom Fathead © - Style Wall Graphics, Wall Stickers Similar to Custom Fatheads © . I have these two cute-as-hell pictures of my oldest two in their little street hockey gear, so we're thinking of getting them made as fatheads to go next to mine. It would be cute. Moving on...

Speaking of game-used sticks...


This is my parents' bar. I had kept every single stick I had EVER used (including that stupid wood shaft/plastic paddle and blade Franklin street hockey stick I first used), and they brought them over to their new house just for this project. It annoys me every time I look at it, though, because you see that tan/brown Sher-wood? I never used that one. That was my backup's stick, and I brought it home to cut it down for knee hockey. Unfortunately that one slipped in there, and it drives me nuts to this day that there's one stick there that I never used. Sticks included in the bar are Koho 500s, Koho 550s, and Sher-wood 560s.

Last but not least, a blast from the past...


Ah, my beloved 560s. Also, back then I was like... 5'10" and maybe 150 lbs at the time. I remember going to tryouts before I had moved to Canada (which is mentioned in the article) I would lie on the tryout forms and say I was 5'10" and 155 lbs when I was really 139 lbs. Anyway, the article is about how I came back from Juniors in Canada after the 9/11 attacks and rejoined the high school league. At the time I wasn't sure if I was going to try to go back to Canada (the league ended up folding after that year, I believe) or just go to college (which is what I ended up doing).

Anyway, just thought I'd share something a bit different.

[hildy39]

nice stuff man..love the bar. Good on ya for all your achievements listed.

[synesthete]

Thanks, man!

So I finally had a good game in the HNA league. We played a team we originally beat 8-4, tied 3-3, and then lost a game 7-6 where at one point we were up 5-2. So I knew it would be tough. We were missing a couple really good guys, too, so I knew it'd be even tougher.

Long story short I ended up making over 30 saves (scorekeeper only recorded 27, but that's way low) in a 3-2 that felt really good. One goal against was my own guy batting the puck out of the air into the net, and the second, about 10 seconds after the first one, was a partial 2-on-1 and I probably should have had it. Oh well.. we pulled out the win, and finally I felt pretty nice.

Going to get to playing more often again since I'm gaining weight again. Lined up a couple more games as a player this week to fill in the time between games as a goalie.