hockey

http://waikikihockey.blogspot.com/2008/07/waikiki-hockey-hall-of-fame.html

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Video-Dana-Tyrell-gets-Phaneuf-d-seconds-into-L?urn=nhl-312489

Nadal lost in Australia OPen Finals.  wow, he's good, too.  Hopefully, Federer takes it all home.

Shared some articles on reader.. i'll read 'em tonight or tomorrow at lunch.

Hockey is a waste of my time now.  My team is utterly useless.  We had 9 guys, for some reason I still played like half of the game.. the other guys weren't taking hte initiative to go out, so I did.  One time, I played defense for 2 or 3 minutes.. go to the bench. everybody's looking around and someone said "you wanna go next?" lookin' at me, so I didn't say anything and went out, haha. 

My wheels might be really gettin' really bad, I fell two times for no reason on sharp turns.  The one time, it was between the benches and the other team said "that looked like a nasty fall".. didnt' hurt or anything, but it was weird going down for no reason.  my back wheels, the big 100mm ones, were definitely acting suspicious at points.

Probably about 10 minutes into the game, I'm going after the puck behind the other teams' net when I get pushed from behind for no reason.  A guy on the other team got the puck first so I was going after him, and the guy who originally pushed me goes around the net in front and comes and slams into me again.. ref puts his arm up and blows the whistle as he pushed me into the boards.. I yelled "JESUS FUCK!"  I mean, there was no need for it, I wasn't battling the guy, I was going for the guy wtih the puck.  Got a penalty out of it, thankfully.  Interference, hah.  We coudln't do much on the PP, though.  We couldnt' do anything at all other than that.  Somehow we managed 3 goals, I was out there for one but I couldn't tell you how any of them went in.  I think one was a one timer across the crease, could be wrong.

The other team's goalie was a complete douche.  He kept talking during the game, saying things like "Go score, I want the assist" .. "You FINALLY scored? FINALLY?" when it was 5-0.  I was forechecking the guy, come around the front of the net as he goes behind so he stops and I go around hte other side to him and the goalie says "make him chase you, yeah!" At one point I deked two of their players.. first deke I faked a pass right and went left, I sold it completely.. guy had no chance of stopping me.  Second guy was their best player so I looked right and went left again, he comes from behind and slashes my stick from the side and hit my skate so I went down, I probably coulda stayed up but either way, I wouldn't have been able to manage the puck.  Goalie yells "That's a trip! TRIP!" bein' sarcastic.  The guys on my team were saying stuff like "if he continues this during the 3rd period, I'm gonna charge him"  haha.. it didn't bother me personally, but it was extremely unsporstmanlike.  The only thing I said was, after getting on the bench, "That goalie's a real douche."  there was no need for it.  I refused to shake hands at the end of the game 'cause of those antics.  Even mom was saying he was a dick.  I'll see him next Wednesday at stickTime probably, I'll definitely say something to him about it.  Just say something like "Be respectful, have fun, dont' be a sore winner next time."

When I played D, I think they scored one goal. Maybe two.  When I wasn't D, they scored 10.  D sucks, man.  no energy used.  Like I said before, I played D for 2 or 3 minutes, then went back out when nobody volunteered and played O for 2.5 minutes.  It'd be nice if we could do 1 minute shifts, 'cause then I could ctually skate hard the whole time.  After a few shifts, the body definitely slows down at points.  You can't go 100% the whole time.

I got one perfect cross crease pass from the best player on the team, but I dind't have my stick in the proper angle.. it was down but pointing straight instead of toward the goal, so it went just wide.  There was another time the best lpayer had the puck on the LW side and I was going up the middle.. yelled "SLOT!" and he passed it like 10 feet in front so I had to reach out as far as I could, stop it with my backhand, then quickly take a shot.  top right, no dice.

on a Penalty Kill, I played stay at home D, cleared the puck 3 times I think.  The one time, I lifted the puck over the head of a defender and just above a teammate who took off, he hit it down with his hand and got a nice shot off.  well, it wasn't a beauty or anything, not like it was gonna go in.   Then, we were actually cycling the puck on the PK, me at the point. the same kid had the puck and gave it to me, nobody in front so I skated up a few strides and wrist shot it bottom left, right where there was a defender in front of the goalie.  The defender missed it, and i knew he would 'cause he wasn't good, but the goalie went down and it hit his leg pad or else it would have been perfect.  Ah well. 

One time, I went up LW side, did a crossover to the right, then quickly cut back left and when the defender was completely in front of me and the goalie, I shot it top right.. goalie gloved it, not sure how he saw it.  most of the time they don't.

at the very end of the game, 10 seconds left, best lpayer on RD passes it off the boards to me on RW (I hate that, just pass it to me directly.. it's much easier to get the pass and to make the pass, I think, dont' have to account for the angle on the boards).  I reach out and stop it with my forehand, cut left .. a defender is sorta in the way but not really.  by this point I thought there was only like 2 seconds left so I shot it middle right.. it was a perfectly placed shot, but the goalie knew I was going there and already put his glove out.  I was lookin' at the goalie the whole time and top left, so  I thought it would fake him.  Obviously, it dind't.  Look up, still 2.5 seconds on the clock ,so  I went to the bench, grabbed my towel, drink, and puck, and went to the locker room with another guy who refused to shake their hands.

Stats aren't up, but I know we're playing one of the worst teams next week.  We'll see if that hcanges anything.  After the game, I told mom that I'd rather just play 3 hours on Tuesday rather than the league games, see if I could request to get my money back and put it toward that, that's how bad this team is.  I kept telling the team, "We have no O and no D, we're never gonna win.  It might sound pessimistic, but this is the reality of the situation."  Another guy was like "we have no puck possession, you can't win with no possession."  We have nothing.  Me, the best player, and a new guy last ngiht who is probably better than me but not by much.  The other kids can't shoot, can't pass, and can't receive passes, and they don't skate hard.  So what's the point.  I'm not gonna teach 'em how to play.  It's not that hard. 

Gotta go to 4 more hours of fun class.  SuperFreakonomics - they're washed up along with Tucker.  They talk about a lot of issues that other people with more authority have already covered, I don't get it.  Tucker is definitely more washed up, though.  Not sure how he's famous, caters to the college-aged males and females.  Time for Mr. Fisk.