Archive for the 'hockey' Category

Provincials coming up!

Published on February 27, 2004 in hockey. 0 Comments

Provincials are this weekend.

I haven’t played in almost two weeks, so I feel pretty rusty. I sure wish we could have got some ice time over the last two weeks to get a practice or two in. That would have been nice.

We play Durham West tomorrow afternoon at 1:15, then the London Sharks at 8:45. Saturday we play the Belleville Bearcats at 1:15 and if we make it into first or second out of our pool, we’ll be playing again Saturday night.

All the teams we’re playing are AA teams. We’ve never played Durham or Belleville (at least, not this year) but we’ve tied and lost to the Sharks this year.

I’m nervous, but definitely looking forward to it. Finally, a tournament!

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Only two games left.

Published on February 11, 2004 in hockey. 0 Comments

My team only has two games left in the regular season. Wah! I can’t believe hockey season is already coming to an end. We still have playoffs and provincials, but still…it’s almost over.

We’re 13-4-7 and sitting in third (or maybe fourth) place in our league.

We had a sweet victory against Kitchener Wild on Sunday. We won 2-1, woohoo! I particularly like to win against their team, for various reasons. One being that the politics on that team caused two of my very dear friends to seriously re-evaluate their want to play hockey; one has quit and the other is playing. Second, the goalie on their team is a snob. She has made some particularly disparaging remarks that irk me. Third, and not really a good reason but I’ll throw it in anyway, their goalie thinks she’s hot-shit and does this split-save thing after she’s made a save and is sitting on the ice. Uh, yeah. It just bugs me because I know she’s just trying to show off. There are a few other reasons too, but I don’t really need to go into them.

I’m just glad we won.

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Waterloo Eagles vs. London Aces

Published on February 3, 2004 in hockey. 0 Comments

We played the London Aces last night on our home ice. We tied them a couple of weeks ago 1-1, and it was a really good game. Last night we lost 3-0. It’s our first loss this season to a team other than Sarnia. The Sarnia team is the provincial champs and they kick everyone’s asses, so it’s not all that farfetched for us to lose to them. Last night’s game though, wasn’t a good one for us. The first goal I probably could have had, but I was partially screened and it was a really good shot. The second goal was stupid. There was a penalty at the other end of the ice, but I wasn’t sure which team got the penalty so I didn’t start for the bench but my coach started yelling for me to come in, so I assumed he was right that it was the other team that got the penalty. It wasn’t, and they scored. That sucked. The last goal was a really good one too.

The Aces are a good team, and they’ve only lost two games this season — the same number of losses as our team going into last night’s game. So I guess that game puts us third in the standings below the Sarnia team (don’t know what their name is) and the Aces. I look forward to playing them again, probably in the playoffs.

All in all, I felt like I played a really good game. I made one really awesome save, the kind that makes you swell up with ecstasy, and I made another 3 or so great stops. So I felt pretty good about the game. I still think I probably could have had the two goals, but they were good shots so I don’t feel too bad about them.

Provincials are at the end of the month. I can’t believe the hockey season is almost over.

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Winter hockey rules.

Published on January 13, 2004 in hockey. 0 Comments

Wayde and I took a half-day off today to go see the new LOTR movie. It turns out it’s not playing anywhere within an hour of us, so we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous day to go skate at the local outdoor rink. Now, I’ve been wanting to do this since I moved to Ontario. I’ve never played hockey outside and thought that it would just be the coolest thing ever. And it was. It was so, so, so awesome. And the rink is really close to us, within walking distance.

We got there and it was covered in snow, so we helped shovel a bit off. Then we put our skates on and when I went out on the ice I immediately decided I needed to put my pads on. It just feels too weird skating in my goalie skates without my pads.

Here are some pics from the afternoon:

hockey1.jpg

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hockey4.jpg

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Is it Sunday already?

Published on November 18, 2003 in family, geekiness and hockey. 0 Comments

Wayde and I watched Vanilla Sky yesterday. I really liked it. I love those surreal-like movies that keep you guessing. I coulda done without the d r a w n out ending. It was probably about 5 minutes too long, at least, but I still liked the movie.

We also rented Mechassault and the new X-Men fighting game for the weekend. I’m not normally a “mech” kinda girl, the PC mech games are usually a little to much for me (all those keyboard controls, agh!) but the X-box game is just arcadish enough for me to handle. The game looks great too — it reminds me of Halo. The X-Men fighting game is kinda neat too. As usual, I kick Wayde’s butt when we first start playing, and he gets a little frustrated. Hehe. If we owned the game, he’d eventually get good enough to be some real competition for me. :)

I’m going to my team’s game this morning. I was pleasantly surprised last week when they asked me to join the team as part of the staff since I can’t be on the ice. Of course I said yes! It makes me feel like part of the team and also lets me know that they are serious about keeping me around so I can play again for them next season, when I’m not pregnant. Whew! I don’t know what I’d do without hockey! I suppose I could play on the Rec League, or hope that another OWHA team needs a goalie…not too comforting. The Rec League might not take me since I play at a “too high” level (the reason they gave me two years ago).

Breakfast and a hockey game…what a great way to start the day! I’m off!

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Waterloo Eagles vs. Port Stanley Whatevers

Published on October 28, 2003 in hockey. 0 Comments

We tied yesterday 3-3. Two of the goals on me were on breakouts. One of them shoudld NOT have been a goal, but the ref was a dumbass. Typically they blow the whistle when the team that has a delayed penalty call on them touches the puck. But I guess this ref didn’t know that and let the opposing team get two shots on goal. Hrmph. The last goal was a power play goal for them.

It was a good game though. It’s really nice to be on a team with so many talented players.

Next week we’re playing in Sarnia. Sarnia has one of the best teams in the league and usually it really sucks to drive 2 1/2 hours one way to get your ass kicked. But I’m hoping it won’t be an ass-kicking this time. I wish it was a little later in the season so I’d have a few games under my belt, but I’ll manage. We’ll manage.

Oh yeah, I made the AA team. But I’m sure you guessed that already. Yay!!

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Tried out for an AA team!

Published on October 21, 2003 in hockey. 0 Comments

Sunday night I went to a “tryout”, if you could call it that, for a women’s team here in Waterloo. It’s an AA level team, which is really really cool!! It was actually the first game of the season for them, but the coach is new and has been extremely busy with getting married, so he didn’t have time to get a practice time in (except for one, which I guess he didn’t call the new players) to see what the new talent is like. So, he decided to let the new players “try out” in the first game of the season. I’m new too, obviously, so I don’t know how many new people were there, but I know some of the older players were commenting on how many new faces there were. The coach had told me that he didn’t care about the stats right now so that’s why he didn’t mind having the first game essentially a tryout.

I don’t know what their goalie situation is like. I was the only one there, so maybe there is no competition for me, I really have no idea. I know their goalie from last year is pregnant, at least that’s what I heard, but I don’t know if there are any other goalies looking for a team. The league has lost a few teams in the last two years, including my own, so I would think there would be some goalies looking.

There was another girl there from my St. Clements team, which is the team that folded this year. She was easily the best player on our old team. I was surprised, but happy to see a familiar face. I talked to her a bit and she said that she doesn’t thing anyone from our team is playing this year. Aside from her and I of course. Wow.

The game went well. The team, the Waterloo Eagles, were very good. It was actually pretty uplifting to see the talent in front of me! Even with never having played together before, everyone was passing well and making great plays. We dominated the other team, but they got some great chances too, so it could’ve gone either way. We won 3-0! Yay! A shutout during my first, and I hope not only, game with them!

I’m still playing in the rec league, but I’m kind of worried that if I do make the Waterloo Eagles team, the rec league will find out and kick me out. That’s what happened two years ago when I first moved here. I was looking around for some hockey to play and found the rec league. I joined and then tried out for the Tri-City Bandits who were a BB team in the competitive league. I mentioned it to one of the people on the board (I guess) for the rec league, and she wanted to know if I made it on the team. When she found out that I did, they told me I couldn’t play in the rec league anymore because they don’t allow goalies that play on competitive teams in their league.

I don’t get it though. This year, the rec league has 14 teams and 13 goalies. I’ve already played more total games for other teams than I have for my own, so you’d think they’d want as many goalies as they could get. I just like playing hockey, and it’s not like I’ve won every game I’ve played in! It’s the whole team as much as it is me, so I can’t really win a game for a team, right?

Another thing is that the rec league starts way before the competitive league. So, since I didn’t know if I’d be able to find a team, and pretty much assumed that I wouldn’t, I joined the rec league. I wasn’t happy about it, I really wanted to play competitively, but if given the choice to play in the rec league or not at all, well obviously I’d choose to play. I didn’t even find out about the Waterloo Eagles possibly needing a goalie until I had played 2 or 3 games in the rec league. I guess what I’m saying is, I didn’t know what options I had, and still don’t really because I don’t know if the Eagles want me as their goalie.

The Eagles have a practice on Friday. The coach told everyone that if we don’t hear from him during the week, to be at the practice.

Oh, and let me tell you about the coach. I thought he was awesome. That’s my first impression. He was very business-like and focused on the game. There wasn’t much joking around on his part and he seemed to be trying to be that way on purpose. I thought I detected a hint of a smile sometimes, like he was trying to suppress it. He did say one thing that was funny. After the first period he asked me, “Yeah, where is the rest of you?” after someone called me “Sprout”. Heh. Anyway, I really liked that he was so focused. It was nice to have someone that spent the time to explain exactly what we should do and had a specific plan. I just hope he wouldn’t be a dick if the team lost a game. A certain amount of dickitude is good, but I mean total asshole is bad. Like another coach I won’t name here…thank God he’s never been my coach.

Enough blabbing outta me. Can you tell I’m excited about being back in to hockey? :D

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Hackey Yak Forum

Published on August 22, 2003 in hockey and projects. 0 Comments

Hey, all you hockey fans! I now have a Hackey Yak Forum for hockey lovers to chat, chide and blast about “hackey”.

I’ve been running an e-mailing list for about 3-4 years now and we have quite a few vocal members. It’s a fun list. We talk about trade rumors, recent games, who sucks, who doesn’t, pretty much anything hockey related. I’ve sent out an announcement to the list letting the subscribers know there’s a new forum, so hopefully it wil lbe well received.

If not, that’s okay. I don’t plan on retiring the e-mailing list.

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3 Gut Feelings in TO

Published on July 20, 2003 in family, hockey, pictures and travel. 0 Comments

Posted two new pics in my photo gallery of me playing hockey. Two consecutive shots of a sprawling save. There are some other photos added too.

I’m going up to the cottage for a few days, leaving bright and early tomorrow morning. Hopefully I’ll get some nice shots while I’m there and will have more to add!

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Wal-Mart hates Canada.

Published on July 6, 2003 in hockey, misc and rants. 0 Comments

I played in a hockey game yesterday for the first time in over a year. Woohoo!
Not only did I play, but I got First Star of the Game too. Can you believe it? I never would have thought I’d be playing this good so soon after taking a year off. Granted, they gave me 1st star because I got shelled and kept the score to a 4-1 loss, but still…

It was a lot of fun! I was asked to fill in for a practice/shinny hockey session on Friday and after the practice the guy that runs it said I played great (!!) and wanted to know if I’d be available to play in Toronto on Sunday. I was thrilled to be playing in an actual game — they’re so much more fun than shinny hockey.

The other team was pretty cool too, and there didn’t seem to be one asshole on the ice, which is unusual. You usually see at least one, or maybe I just didn’t notice. (You know, too busy getting pummelled with pucks!) The team I played for was kind of expecting to lose, so there was no pressure and everyone had fun.

Wayde got some cool photos of the game. I’ll put them up in my hockey gallery as soon as I get a chance.

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[Note: The following is cut and pasted from the baby blog.]

I think Wal-Mart hates Canada. I uploaded pictures to their site, thinking I could order the prints online and have my Mom pick them up at her local store — I’d save on shipping and it’d be ultra-convenient for her. But guess what? They won’t take my Canadian credit card. You hafe to fill out a form with your address to verify your credit card, but the drop-down “state” list doesn’t have Ontario. Nor do they accept my postal code. Dammit. It woulda been so cool to do that!

I was thinking that maybe I could get their “online shopping card” and put it on that but (duh!!) you have to pay for it online.

They have a German, Chinese, even Korean website, but not one for Canada. Bah.

What really sucks is that if I want to ship prints to my mom using an online service it’s more expensive — not only because of shipping, but also because they all charge about 15 to 25 cents more per print. Insane! Wal-Mart charges .26 per print, Shutterfly.com charges .49 per print (unless you order a large amount) and Snapfish.com charges .39 per print (again, unless you order a lot). PlanetFoto looks cool, they let you pick up your prints at a local shop, but they don’t have one local to my mom or Wayde’s mom.

I’m going to try to go to Wal-Mart tomorrow to get a Shopping Card if I can — hopefully it will let me order online from Canada.

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