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Thursday, August 21, 2014

Link Dump

This is where I'll gather all the things I've written elsewhere.

Along the Boards

Plenty up in the air for Red Wings
The Red Wings are gambling on a few key things going right for them in order to improve on last season.

Red Wings must get what they paid for in Stephen Weiss
The Red Wings thought they had a player in Weiss when they signed him last offseason. After an injury-ruined season, Weiss has to earn his keep.

Winging It in Motown

NHL Rulebook: Abuse of Officials
Don't cross the refs. You won't like them when they're angry.

NHL Rulebook: Video Review
A complicated section of the rulebook that is never going to make everyone truly happy.

NHL Rulebook: Intent to Blow the Whistle
I'll spare you the slog of reading about referees, linesmen, and off-ice officials and instead give you something from last month about a controversial rule.

Get thee to a TV
Red Wings' national TV schedule has been out for a while.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Sabby's Clinic 8-14-14

These days, Sabby's clinic is the only real chance I get week to week to get out on the ice. It's a good thing I've been able to go every week, but I hope I can go to at least one stick time or skating session soon.

My slap shot is pitiful. I think I might consider prioritizing flex on the next hockey stick I buy because 85 may be too stiff for me. I also could work on my technique because I think that could use some work. But holy wow, my slap shot is pitiful.

Today was a good session. I started off strong, doing everything right (except scoring when I took my shot) and at my highest pace in the first drill, and I took it from there. There were some minor pacing issues the later we went on, but overall, I'm getting better at making passes, targeting my passes so my teammates get it in stride, and catching passes myself.

Last week was an absolute trainwreck, but even if it was super easy to have a better week than last week, I still will mention that I had a much better session than last week. I feel like my competence in executing drills was up, and my execution during the scrimmage was up as well. I was on the ice for a goal against where I feel like I was screening my own goalie, but he didn't say anything to me. But every pass attempt kept the puck moving toward our opponent's net, and I even led the rush a time or two.

I'm still pretty clueless about how to manage the puck in the offensive half of the ice. I know when I have the puck across the red line, I'm going to make sure we're onside before carrying the puck in. But there was a particular zone entry where I could have tried to beat a guy wide and instead just dumped the puck. I don't think he was lining me up for a hit (it's a clinic scrimmage in the middle of the day for crying out loud), but I guess I was still worried about turning the puck over at the blue line and just wanted to get the puck away from our end.

I think my whole muddled disposition with trying to describe that sequence is a sign I need to slow my game down a bit. There is a point where thinking gets you into trouble because a sport like hockey moves way too fast for anybody to really do any thinking. But still, maybe I could have taken the puck and driven into the zone and pulled up to buy a second a or two to make a more intelligent play with it rather than just throw it behind the opponent's goal line. I wasn't really thinking much of anything when I dumped the puck in. I just saw a guy closing in on me near the boards, and . . . I don't know. There was once sequence where I threw a pass that ended up trickling toward the goalie because I missed my target, but at least I was trying to make a play which didn't work out. That dump in bothers me considering I'm trying to get better by learning how to make plays with the puck. It wasn't like I was even trying to get off the ice for a line change either.

There was another moment during the scrimmage where I definitely felt the effects of leg fatigue. I was on the right wing boards and our defenseman had the puck and was carrying it and looking for a way to get out. He saw me up ice, and the two of us saw the open ice in the middle (wide open) that I needed to skate to. My brain was telling me "skate to open ice!" My left leg was not cooperating. I wasn't injured, but my left quad was just so worn out from all the pushes of skating and stopping for the previous 85 minutes, it took longer than it should have for me to get into space. He fired the pass and there was still a chance I could have corralled it cleanly and gone in for a rush, but I think that split-second delay because of my leg threw the timing off. I really need to get out on the ice more than once a week. I could do certain leg exercises, but there's nothing better to exercise my hockey skating than . . . well, more hard skating.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Sabby's Clinic 8-7-14

After a run of three straight weeks scoring a goal in scrimmage, my streak ended. More than that, a lot of other things just made me think "today's not my day."

We had a guy there who, according to someone else out on the ice with us, plays in a European professional league. He certainly played like it, skating circles around so many of us. I had the honor of him getting past me by skipping the puck over my stick as he took a shot on net that my goalie thankfully bailed me out on. If there's one saving grace for me on that sequence, it's that he didn't get behind me but just created a shooting lane with his superior skill.

There were lots of problems with me during the scrimmage. My backskating definitely showed that it needs a lot of work, including transitioning from forward to backward in the same direction. One guy actually blew right past me because I didn't turn around in time, so he drove wide and was already level with me when I turned around to start backskating. Welp.

I had the puck on my stick probably six times or so. All six resulted in changes of possession. All were through different means: bad pass, outright giveaway, attempted clear, flat out getting the puck stolen from me, blocked shot attempt, and overskating.

The drills were a lot better for me for the first time in a while. I had moments of realizing my desire to be that player you can't give a bad pass to: I took a pass from skate to stick; I caught a pass with one hand on my hockey stick, full extension to catch it on the heel of my stick; I caught passes on my backhand and retained possession. It's a step in the right direction.

It's not a session to write home about. It's one of those that you say just to throw it away and act like it never happened. There are things to learn, but otherwise, I'm going to pretend like this never happened.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Goals, goals, goals

I'm currently on a three-scrimmage goal-scoring streak at Sabby's clinic. For someone who didn't grow up playing hockey, and for someone who still doesn't really think too highly of his own hockey skills, this is a big deal. It remains to be seen just how it would translate to a real hockey game, but I'll save all that for another time.

Three weeks ago, it was the first time I scored since a two-goal output one random scrimmage time when I made a cameo appearance at the clinic for my spring break. We unfortunately got scored on, and when play restarted, I took the puck up out of our zone along the boards and skated past a guy who admittedly was a bit half-hearted probably because he had to let us leave the zone after they scored against us. I skated and chipped the puck past him and continued carrying it across the opponent's blue line.

Here's where it gets a little dicey and luck-ish: one of our teammates was headed off the ice, and was going out through the door in our offensive zone. I tried to carry the puck further into their zone but lost it into said teammate's skates. The defenseman who would otherwise have corralled the puck and cleared the zone got tripped up by the deflection off his skate. I pressured the puck carrier and got it back before firing a shot from the circle just under the goalie's glove. End-to-end, score.

Two weeks ago, I completely forgot exactly how the play led up to this, but I think we skated into the zone three-on-two before the puck carrier pulled up at the half-wall and I was driving far post. The puck went back to the point at the corner of the zone when I noticed someone was on me but there was open space in the slot. I skated back and got open, got a great feed from that defenseman at the corner point and took a stride toward the net before taking a shot. Now I originally wanted to fire the puck above the pad, under the blocker of the goalie, but I fanned on the shot partially so that it ended up staying along the ice and went five-hole instead. The goalie was definitely preparing for a shot competently executed instead of a flubbed up shot-pass along the ice.

Last week was a total fluke. Total. Fluke. Off the scrimmage opening faceoff, I was on right wing and went to the boards off a won faceoff. Our defenseman fed me the puck and I controlled it (woohoo!) and skated up ice with it. I was expecting the opposing defenseman to close-in on me, which he kind of did. He did a little sweep check as I crossed the blue line, but I maintained possession. Scrimmages here are generally non-body-checking, but this guy has hip-checked a person before, so I made sure to keep my head up. He was still giving me space and wasn't trying to take the puck away, so I just took the space and drove wide. I knew I was too far in to try to cut to the net, so I instead looked for someone driving far post for a pass through the crease. I saw semblances of a teammate driving (I say "semblances" because I couldn't actually see much besides someone's leg socks because a defender was in the way), so I decided to throw the puck in front. When I did, I tried to airmail the puck so it would avoid defenders' sticks and skates. What ended up happening is my attempted saucer pass deflected off the knee of a defender's shin pad and straight to the back of the net. Goal, maybe 10 seconds in. Funnily enough, that was the goal I celebrated the loudest.

Scoring goals is fun. I know this won't happen every single time, but I'll ride this hot streak as long as I can. As much as I bemoan my own puckhandling capabilities, that may actually be my best hockey skill right now: passing needs work, reading plays needs (LOTS OF) work, decision-making needs (SO MUCH) work, even my shot needs work. I've been pretty good about not getting the puck turned over when I carry the puck through the neutral zone. Hopefully the scoring streak continues tomorrow.