Recruited!

Alright, not really. But I've been asked to play on a hockey team! Last night we had a hockey game and afterwards one of the women from the opposing team tracked me down and asked if I had time to play with her other team that plays in a higher division. Clearly she didn't notice the seventeen times that the puck came toward me and I missed it! I'm not sure if I'll have the time to play for two teams but it is still cool to be wanted on a team. If I can find the time to fill in when they are short handed a couple of times it would be fun to get some experience with a higher-calibre team. This woman also told me about some of the programs that the rink offers to develop skills and strategy. It would be great to get in some skills practice, I'll have to see if I have the time and money to sign up for a session. There's also the logistical issue of getting my gear to the rink on days when I can't drive (most of them).....hmmm. There need to be more days in the week!!

As for the game, it was not very good. The other team was substantially better than us, which begs the question, 'why are we in the same division?' We were scrambling just to keep up. I had another mixed evening; in addition to missing/fanning on the puck, there were two goals against us that I really should have been able to prevent and just didn't try hard enough or something. But on the bright side I had a couple of rushes and even got to carry the puck around the opposing team's net (ok big deal for a defenceman). Then I lost my balance and almost fell down, lol! Sometimes the rockered hockey blades throw me off. I also kept the puck inside the blue line a few times and had one wrist shot (was intercepted, too weak). I had a couple of incidents that almost cost me penalties but the refs seemed to be pretty lenient. Although they showed no mercy giving the other team a too-many-men penalty, which they fully deserved. Ha. Needless to say we lost the game having been fully outmatched for the whole game and if it wasn't for our amazing goalie the damage would have been much worse. I get sort of bummed out when we lose and then I have to remind myself that I'm doing this for FUN.

When I was on the bus home tonight I had my nose buried in my book. I was shocked to look up at my stop and see snow on the ground and more of it coming down in thick and furious flakes! It's early for snow and to have such a decisive first snowfall is surprising. Usually the first one is basically slush. That's what I get for living on a hill! To make matters worse I was completely unprepared and wasn't dressed warmly enough so I had an uncomfortable walk home. Time to get some winter boots! I've somehow managed to get to the age of thirty without owning any winter boots. Well, because it usually snows about twice all winter.


Tomorrow morning I have my early skate so I hope the buses can make it up the hill to pick me up....!