Last night I had my season opener for both my winter teams, one right after the other! Our league scheduling is a joke, even though the convenor knows I am on two teams and promised to do her best to avoid conflicts, I have two conflicts in the first five games!
Anyway, the season couldn't have started better with a 6-1 blowout win and a close 3-2 win. I felt really good in both games, and thought I was challenging well and had my angles covered (for the most part).
The first game started slow for me, with most of the action in the other end of the ice, but got off to a bang with a breakaway. It was a stretch pass to the forward who only caught up to it shortly before he reached the hash marks at the face off circles. I came out pretty far and he didn't have much time to deke, although I expected a deke to the blocker side. Instead he fired a quick shot that I was able to get the pad down in time for, and directed the rebound out to the corner. The only goal against in that game came from a really strange shot. It was almost like a knuckle puck. I think I was a little off on my angle, and gave him too much space on the blocker side. My defenceman was in front of him trying to cut him off from walking in, and the guy fired the shot just to the right of the defender, and was almost like a sinker pitch. It was about mid net height when it was shot, but then sunk to the bottom of the net and bounced off the bottom post and right back out into play. I almost didn't even realize that it went in. Even though the shot was strange I think I still should have had it had my angles been right. I was a little too much in the centre of the net even though the puck was a little to the left of centre. The rest of the shots in that game were fairly easy perimeter shots, with not too much traffic in front, which made for fairly easy saves.
The second game was a much faster paced game, and seemed more skilled even though it was a lower division. The guys shooting at me had some pretty nice shots, and a couple of them had cannons. That being said the defencemen did a really great job keeping the shots to the perimeter and I had lots of time to get in position. The first goal was a bit of a flukey one, as the opponent was streaking down the wing and wound up and took a slapshot. I saw the shot the whole way, and snagged it in my glove, but somehow I guess it popped out and trickled into the net. I need to get better at watching the shot go into my glove because this isn't the first time I've lost one out of my glove. The second goal was off a bad rebound out in front that went straight to an opponent who had me out of position and lifted a nice one just past my reach. The initial shot was from a guy cutting cross crease, and I made the save with the toe of my pad, but the rebound bounced straight out into the slot. Not sure what to do about these as ones off the boot seem to really rocket out of there, and the angle that my boot is on when I'm down usually puts these straight back in front. The rest of the game I felt I played a really strong positional game, and made several nice saves to keep the team in the lead. Overall a good start to the season, and a good place to build from for the rest of the season. Next game isn't for a week and a half, but thankfully I have a goalie session on Saturday to get some time on the ice.
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