Week 4: The Sweet Potatas vs. the Turtles

Sweet Potata #18 - My Executioner…

…But Look…

…I Made the Save!!! Still, it Was…

My Worst Game This Season
(click to enlarge)
(click here to view the game pics)

Then again, as of last week, the Turtles are in last place and the Sweet Potatas (SP) are in first. SP #18 is a phenomenal player: a strong skater, a strong shooter, she could pick and choose where she wanted to shoot the puck. I’m sure her height works for her as does mine! I’m only 5′1″ so my clinic coaches tell me to come out of the crease more, which I did, but I’d either commit and go down too early, in which case she could easily skate around me and shoot it, or pass it to a teammate who’d make the goal.

Though I’ve learned that the other goalie’s skill level doesn’t matter, I was disappointed to play against the SP’s beginning goalie, who, it turns out, isn’t a beginner after all. I was simply awed by her glove saves, which she did particularly well. She’s also tall — when she’s in her ready stance, the top of her head’s still over the crossbar. Mine may be just below it, if not completely below it. During parts of the game, she’d just stand there and rest her arms on top of the net, completely relaxed, which had the opposite effect on me — I was completely unnerved!

I’m not sure, but I don’t think I played that badly. I mean, the score was tied 2 - 2 at the end of the first period, and with maybe less than ten seconds left, SP #18 took a long shot, which I managed to block — I might have even stacked my pads! But I’m not sure — unfortunately Brian didn’t capture the save. According to hockey experts, this is also called the “desperation” move (scroll down). Well, I was desperate! Besides, it was at the very end of the period and I just reacted. I wasn’t going to allow a last-second goal. (photo © NHL.com)

The second period was a different story: my confidence was completely shattered. The goalie coach I went to for instruction six years ago, the one who told me that I don’t deserve to be a goalie, was sitting on the visitors’ side. He comes to every game, and normally his presence doesn’t bother me, but since the other goalie plays on his team during the regular season, albeit as a winger, it’s understandable that he was there to cheer her on. He wasn’t heckling me or anything, but his old words came flooding back, and I couldn’t deflect them from my mind. I know I shouldn’t let it bother me but empower me, instead.

First Period: First goal was passed to the Center, who was in front of the net. She got me top shelf, glove side — I had come out to meet her but went down too early. I may have been screened on the second goal, though Brian wasn’t sure. The shot came from the (my) left face-off circle and may have been deflected in. I may not have even seen the puck.

Second Period: The first goal this period went in top shelf, stick side. Our defense didn’t come to get the SP shooter and she had all day to pick her spot. The next goal was passed to an open shooter (OK, his notes can be hard to read), and it looks like I came out of the crease to block the shot, but I wasn’t sure which side it was going to be coming from. Last goal this period was totally embarrassing: a deflection through my 5-hole. Hopefully, someone else deflected it, and not me!

Third Period: First goal bounced off a teammate’s stick, went over another teammate’s shoulder, and right into the net. I didn’t even have time to react. I thought my teammates were trying to keep the puck from getting near me, but most of them normally play offense and aren’t used to playing D. Well, I guess that’s why they say that making assumptions is a bad thing. Brian isn’t sure how the final goal was scored, but it shouldn’t have counted because the timekeeper forgot to turn the clock back on when the play started, so the time would have run out by the time this goal went in.

Though we lost 7 - 3, I was happy that they didn’t get a shutout, at least!

For stats abbreviation key, see below.

KEY
GP: (# of) games played
GA: goals against (shots I let in)
GAA: goals against average (GA divided by GP)
S: shots against (how many shots I faced)
Sv %: (S minus GA divided by S)
W: wins
L: losses
T: ties
W %: win percentage (W divided by GP)
SO: shutouts (when you don’t let in any goals at all the entire game–or like in the 3rd period when I didn’t let in any goals, that’s considered a shutout period, but don’t count in stats)