Those who have been reading this blog since its inception may remember some early references I made to the neurotransmitter/hormone, noradrenaline (otherwise known as Norepinephrine or, sometimes, 'the hockey hormone'). Since that time I have neither made nor, more importantly, seen reference to it anywhere.
Hold that thought and let me tell you more...
Nearly twenty years ago at an obscure point in my university daze I came across the work of a russian academic in an american journal discussing a state of consciousness he termed 'flow'. What impressed me at the time was that he 'operationalised' the term, defining 'going with the flow' in terms of what is actually experienced and laying out certain conditions that were a necessary precedent to the state arising. His work had some objective validity because it was based on interviews with, over the decades, tens of thousands of people from all classes and places in the world. His findings were universally applicable. The saddest thing about this story is that I have long forgotten the name of the guy and long ago lost my copy of the seminal article he authored on the subject. The concept of 'flow' however, was one that has resonated ever since.
Snap back to the present...
Imagine my joy, therefore, when, while perusing one of my favourite weely blogosphere visits (Sports IQ), I came across a post discussing recent advances in understanding the state of 'flow' via its neurochemical and neuroelectrical bases. Even better, it referred both to the work of my missing scientist (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) and Norepinephrine (where we learn amongst other things that a significant natural source of the substance is found in banana peel). Both in the one article! Good stuff.
Flash forward to physical development.
You may recall from my last two posts that one of the things I have recently bumped into both in games and training has been my lack of necessary size/strength/skill in physical battles for position. I can't really alter size, and skill will come when I know what I need to learn (the first intuitive steps being taken in Sami's drill last night), but I can take on the process of building my strength immediately.
Afterall, after this week's coming game I have a break from inline hockey for five weeks (!) and it looks like I won't be doing either ice academy or playing anything but Sunday shinnies at Noarlunga for at least a couple months yet, so I am effectively in a (midseason) offseason. Which is apparently the best time in a busy hockey player's life to do some strength training. Which is what I need to do.
So guess what I'll be developing in my hockey development discipline over the next few months?
As a first step, I had a little talk with Jess, the personal trainer who I know best. She has given me a few suggestions of various simple 'exercises' using either only one's own body or a simple weight at most. Thus, no need for a gym (which she knows I don't want to do if can be avoided). And she's told me which muscle sets they work on (after assessing my need from her knowledge of my goal) which is for me to then tailor to my needs.
So, combining this with the growing understanding I have of how mind/body/life works when doing new developmental things, I think I have worked out how I can productively channel the unexpected opportunity my midseason crisis offers. And it will make me a more dangerous hockey player to boot (my 'meta plan' through this period between ice hockey seasons).
Thanks Jess!
Fridge
Showing posts with label Ice Hockey Academy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ice Hockey Academy. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
Academy - Sami Session to end the term
Tonight completed my run of eight Academy sessions in a row. That's a record for the ages! Well worth the effort. Just to add a bit of spice, we had a guest coach tonight, with a guest assistant. Sami, Adelaide's resident smiling Finnish coach, took the session with Chris as his assistant as there were a few of us. I've heard of Sami's sessions before though have never had the pleasure. So, though a bit sorry that wouldn't get a chance to say thanks to Cory for a great several months, was intrigued by the time the session started.
It started pretty simple, with a warning that we were going to spend the first half hour or so on 'boring' skating. Which suited everyone fine this week, it seemed. I know it did me!
Began by doing tightish turns in a circuit of all five circles from one end to the other. Couple laps there and back with inside edges, then twice as much on the outside. Idea was not to cut the ice, to generate the turn by the pivot of the upper body (shoulders) towards the centre of the circle. Stick in two hands and blade on the ice towards the centre of each turn.
Then, working in pairs, put two sticks on the ice end to end. Do figure eights around/over them on inside, then outside edges. Then, on the one foot, hop the length of the two sticks landing on alternating sides of the sticks with each hop. Tough to do!
Then, three pucks in a line between the blue lines. Skate to the first puck and then on one foot curve your way through the next two (again, not cutting the ice, doing it with the upper body). Do it twice each way. Add a puck, repeat the exercise, and again. Add another puck, do it five times each way.
Then, skate entirely down the ice on the one foot. Get your initial push off by jumping forwards from a one footed start, and as your momentum pulls you up, push off again with jumping hop on that foot. If your other skate touches the ice go back to the start. After several failed attempts I managed to make it - to the encouraging cheers of my classmates as I bunnyhopped my painful way across the closing stretch with ever decreasing power in each jump. I think it was their cheers that got me over the line! Then it was do it back the other way. And again, and again, on the other foot.
Then, for those who'd had some success (I'd finally made it on the right foot as outlined above, and made it easier by the time I got onto my left foot) repeat the exercise except now add a one foot stop on each blue line. If your other foot touched the ice, go back to the start. I was on about my fourth attempt when it was time to get a drink (actually, now I think of it, I think I stubbornly finished it on my right foot as he'd called it as I'd successfully stopped on the second blue line for the first time).
The latter half of the session was more concentrated on skill with the puck, beginning with passing/receiving. A player on each board. One player with puck skates towards the opposite side, passes to their opposite number when they are about half way. Second player receives the puck and commences skating towards the next player on the opposite side until they are about half way, passes it, etc. With paired groups composed of three players each side, had about twice as long a rest between the runs, which is about right for mild anaerobic training.
Then, step it up by now skating at some speed towards the opposite side, pass it when ready, keep skating to receive the returned pass from Player 2, pass it back to them. They then head off and repeat the exercise the other way with the third skater (who'd been waiting behind player 1). What was interesting was that accuracy, power and speed picked up as we went, despite the additional complexity.
Then, three or four rounds of the puck possession game (all in between the blue lines with a puck each, try and knock everyone else's puck out of the area while keeping yours in, if your puck gets knocked out of the contest area, you get out of the zone). Drink.
Return for a body checking game (just what I needed after my experience in the game on Saturday), with one player defending a circle against another who was trying to get in. Got way overpowered with my small size and frame and not knowing how to use it properly. By the last attempt at a breakin, however, my body had worked out a new 'trick' and was able to 'roll' off and around the tall strong young guy who'd had it all over everyone till then and into the zone. Much to his surprise. I just wish that I could reconstruct how I did it exactly!
Then, some shooting. Start midway between blue line and goal, everyone shoots. Those who miss, go and entertain themselves up the other end. Survivors, shoot from the blue line. Survivors, shoot from the centre, then the far blue line, hashmarks in the opposite zone. By the time they got to the opposite goal line, only two shooters left.
End of the session, a bit less than five minutes of free time. Yay.
The stretching, comradely banter in the change room, snack on banana and bottle of orange juice, the drive home and after match meal. All a most excellent way to end off what has been a great term of skill development.
Now up to me to put it into practice.
It started pretty simple, with a warning that we were going to spend the first half hour or so on 'boring' skating. Which suited everyone fine this week, it seemed. I know it did me!
Began by doing tightish turns in a circuit of all five circles from one end to the other. Couple laps there and back with inside edges, then twice as much on the outside. Idea was not to cut the ice, to generate the turn by the pivot of the upper body (shoulders) towards the centre of the circle. Stick in two hands and blade on the ice towards the centre of each turn.
Then, working in pairs, put two sticks on the ice end to end. Do figure eights around/over them on inside, then outside edges. Then, on the one foot, hop the length of the two sticks landing on alternating sides of the sticks with each hop. Tough to do!
Then, three pucks in a line between the blue lines. Skate to the first puck and then on one foot curve your way through the next two (again, not cutting the ice, doing it with the upper body). Do it twice each way. Add a puck, repeat the exercise, and again. Add another puck, do it five times each way.
Then, skate entirely down the ice on the one foot. Get your initial push off by jumping forwards from a one footed start, and as your momentum pulls you up, push off again with jumping hop on that foot. If your other skate touches the ice go back to the start. After several failed attempts I managed to make it - to the encouraging cheers of my classmates as I bunnyhopped my painful way across the closing stretch with ever decreasing power in each jump. I think it was their cheers that got me over the line! Then it was do it back the other way. And again, and again, on the other foot.
Then, for those who'd had some success (I'd finally made it on the right foot as outlined above, and made it easier by the time I got onto my left foot) repeat the exercise except now add a one foot stop on each blue line. If your other foot touched the ice, go back to the start. I was on about my fourth attempt when it was time to get a drink (actually, now I think of it, I think I stubbornly finished it on my right foot as he'd called it as I'd successfully stopped on the second blue line for the first time).
The latter half of the session was more concentrated on skill with the puck, beginning with passing/receiving. A player on each board. One player with puck skates towards the opposite side, passes to their opposite number when they are about half way. Second player receives the puck and commences skating towards the next player on the opposite side until they are about half way, passes it, etc. With paired groups composed of three players each side, had about twice as long a rest between the runs, which is about right for mild anaerobic training.
Then, step it up by now skating at some speed towards the opposite side, pass it when ready, keep skating to receive the returned pass from Player 2, pass it back to them. They then head off and repeat the exercise the other way with the third skater (who'd been waiting behind player 1). What was interesting was that accuracy, power and speed picked up as we went, despite the additional complexity.
Then, three or four rounds of the puck possession game (all in between the blue lines with a puck each, try and knock everyone else's puck out of the area while keeping yours in, if your puck gets knocked out of the contest area, you get out of the zone). Drink.
Return for a body checking game (just what I needed after my experience in the game on Saturday), with one player defending a circle against another who was trying to get in. Got way overpowered with my small size and frame and not knowing how to use it properly. By the last attempt at a breakin, however, my body had worked out a new 'trick' and was able to 'roll' off and around the tall strong young guy who'd had it all over everyone till then and into the zone. Much to his surprise. I just wish that I could reconstruct how I did it exactly!
Then, some shooting. Start midway between blue line and goal, everyone shoots. Those who miss, go and entertain themselves up the other end. Survivors, shoot from the blue line. Survivors, shoot from the centre, then the far blue line, hashmarks in the opposite zone. By the time they got to the opposite goal line, only two shooters left.
End of the session, a bit less than five minutes of free time. Yay.
The stretching, comradely banter in the change room, snack on banana and bottle of orange juice, the drive home and after match meal. All a most excellent way to end off what has been a great term of skill development.
Now up to me to put it into practice.
Tuesday, 24 June 2014
Academy - snappy session
Seventh week in a row, cold and wet. Busy traffic. Had been reading about nutrition and hockey conditioning yesterday, put a few ideas into place today (as I had the opportunity). I have a lot to learn about diet, nutrition and the hockey lifestyle but even the tweaks I made today to my more regular routines had a positive impact both on the ice and afterwards. This last point is important as I have another training session tomorrow (Vikings inline training at Gawler).
But I digress...
Tonight was definitely more oriented towards basic skills than anything more dramatic. With no goalie and the numbers being what they were (about twenty), it was good that Mick was there to help out. We began with a few warm ups, enough that I could safely stretch out my leg muscles before we gathered for the first set of instructions.
Then began about a half hour of basic skating exercises, beginning with doing laps, transitioning at the blue lines so as to be skating backwards between them. Our collective pace and intensity was lacking, which brought a brief lecture from Corey - to always skate hard. I think he must have heard someone grumbling about not using a puck yet (?!) because, after his critique on our casual approach he announced that 'boring skating' is the core of it all, and only when one is able to do all the necessary maneuvers at the fastest speed of which one is capable of (and then some) can one say that 'I don't need to do this.' Which was all fine by me, as I love skating for skating's sake (as regular readers would know).
We then set off in pairs, racing with crossovers and tight turns in full circuits of all the faceoff circles a couple of times, then the same backwards. No pucks. Then it was about four back and forths from red to far blue line to near blue line to far red line up the ice, with stops and accelerations in between. Then throw in backwards skating segments and do several more laps.
Then it got technical. Simple end to end skating. No emphasis on speed. Outside edges. Gliding. Balance. Extension. Stability. Weight transfer. Under cut. Cross unders. Do it backwards. Notice the improvement after ten or more minutes.
Half an hour has passed. Gather a puck and meet in the centre of the ice. Instructions being given, stray skater out at a goal playing with a puck, distracting. Stray skater wanders over, Corey stops, is a little ascerbic in his comment to the stray skater, not happy Jan. Snaps out, 'you stay still, don't move! The rest of you, leave your pucks, skate a lap. Hard. Now!' And off we all go and the poor stray skater probably feels like a real goose.
Regather in centre ice. Play the puck protection game of everyone protect their own puck while skating within the blue lines, and try and knock the other player's over the blue line. If you lose your puck, go and play puck protection in the outer zones. Eventually there's only one left in the middle. Do it all again.
Then, shooting. Wrist shot, backhand, slapshot. For the wrist shots, as there was no goalie, to miss the goal mouth from the blue line incurred a ten push up penalty. I didn't have to do any, but felt sorry for some of my peers who had to do ten push ups again and again and again. Being hockey players, they did it and didn't complain. I think I missed one of the half dozen backhand shots we then did (concentrating on weight transfer). For the slap shot, this was the first time I've ever been 'officially' shown how to do it. I think my last of four attempts could be called a weak slapshot, so I guess there was progress. I sure miss my summer shooting sessions in the neighborhood!
Finally, about ten minutes of a rolling battle drill at each end of the ice, involving groups in each corner and the coach in the centre. A skater would race out from each corner, tight turn around the neutral zone dots and race back in towards the goal. Meanwhile the coach had sent a puck somewhere into the zone. The skaters race for it. Whoever gets it will try and get a goal. The other defends. Next pair. Around and around and around for about ten minutes. We had four skaters in one corner to start with and five in the other. I kept getting beat in the skating by a sheila who was at her first academy session but played in NSW. I held my own (though not necessarily 'winning' very often) against the others I went against. My speed was lacking.
End of session. Good yarn with Old Timer Stephen afterwards while I munch on a banana and have a mandarin while cooling off in my gear, watching the next training session.
Just another night at the Ice Arena!
But I digress...
Tonight was definitely more oriented towards basic skills than anything more dramatic. With no goalie and the numbers being what they were (about twenty), it was good that Mick was there to help out. We began with a few warm ups, enough that I could safely stretch out my leg muscles before we gathered for the first set of instructions.
Then began about a half hour of basic skating exercises, beginning with doing laps, transitioning at the blue lines so as to be skating backwards between them. Our collective pace and intensity was lacking, which brought a brief lecture from Corey - to always skate hard. I think he must have heard someone grumbling about not using a puck yet (?!) because, after his critique on our casual approach he announced that 'boring skating' is the core of it all, and only when one is able to do all the necessary maneuvers at the fastest speed of which one is capable of (and then some) can one say that 'I don't need to do this.' Which was all fine by me, as I love skating for skating's sake (as regular readers would know).
We then set off in pairs, racing with crossovers and tight turns in full circuits of all the faceoff circles a couple of times, then the same backwards. No pucks. Then it was about four back and forths from red to far blue line to near blue line to far red line up the ice, with stops and accelerations in between. Then throw in backwards skating segments and do several more laps.
Then it got technical. Simple end to end skating. No emphasis on speed. Outside edges. Gliding. Balance. Extension. Stability. Weight transfer. Under cut. Cross unders. Do it backwards. Notice the improvement after ten or more minutes.
Half an hour has passed. Gather a puck and meet in the centre of the ice. Instructions being given, stray skater out at a goal playing with a puck, distracting. Stray skater wanders over, Corey stops, is a little ascerbic in his comment to the stray skater, not happy Jan. Snaps out, 'you stay still, don't move! The rest of you, leave your pucks, skate a lap. Hard. Now!' And off we all go and the poor stray skater probably feels like a real goose.
Regather in centre ice. Play the puck protection game of everyone protect their own puck while skating within the blue lines, and try and knock the other player's over the blue line. If you lose your puck, go and play puck protection in the outer zones. Eventually there's only one left in the middle. Do it all again.
Then, shooting. Wrist shot, backhand, slapshot. For the wrist shots, as there was no goalie, to miss the goal mouth from the blue line incurred a ten push up penalty. I didn't have to do any, but felt sorry for some of my peers who had to do ten push ups again and again and again. Being hockey players, they did it and didn't complain. I think I missed one of the half dozen backhand shots we then did (concentrating on weight transfer). For the slap shot, this was the first time I've ever been 'officially' shown how to do it. I think my last of four attempts could be called a weak slapshot, so I guess there was progress. I sure miss my summer shooting sessions in the neighborhood!
Finally, about ten minutes of a rolling battle drill at each end of the ice, involving groups in each corner and the coach in the centre. A skater would race out from each corner, tight turn around the neutral zone dots and race back in towards the goal. Meanwhile the coach had sent a puck somewhere into the zone. The skaters race for it. Whoever gets it will try and get a goal. The other defends. Next pair. Around and around and around for about ten minutes. We had four skaters in one corner to start with and five in the other. I kept getting beat in the skating by a sheila who was at her first academy session but played in NSW. I held my own (though not necessarily 'winning' very often) against the others I went against. My speed was lacking.
End of session. Good yarn with Old Timer Stephen afterwards while I munch on a banana and have a mandarin while cooling off in my gear, watching the next training session.
Just another night at the Ice Arena!
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
Academy - Puck'n Strong!
Last night I was at the Ice Arena for my sixth session in a row of Corey's weekly Ice Hockey Academy. As always, it was a enjoyable, educational and exhausting hour! Many thanks to Nancy for making it possible for me to attend, the demands any half serious hockey player makes on the household economia is considerable, and in a sense we owe it all to our loved ones.
Sentimentality over, it was onto the ice. After several laps he had us skating as hard as we could between the blue lines while we did several laps. Then he had us do it the other way for several more. Then we had a minutes breather while he explained the next evolution of the drill. Namely, one whistle meant do a stop and then take off in the opposite direction as hard as you can. Two whistles meant that one had to immediately do a full tight circle and then continue in the direction you were going as hard as you could. And then it was the equivalent of several laps of this. And then it was, 'get a drink'. This was a conditioning exercise, also termed 'cardio' (by a colleague who is also into fitness per se).
Then we did a sequence of drills where one of the concentration points was puck handling, with introductions of skating techniques and positioning (hockey sense) to culminate in basic teamwork practice.
The initial exercise was to drop gloves on the ice in front of one, about one and a half times the distance apart of one's feet in the classic hockey stance. Then, stick handle the puck in figure of eights around the gloves. Then, reorganise the gloves so they are the same distance apart, but now the second glove is just that distance in front of you. Then, kick the gloves apart to the distance of two sticks lying end on end and skate between them, carrying the puck. Then pick up the speed. Then, leave the pucks in a pile and cycling from one end of the ice to the other and back, via doing fast circles around each of the five face-off circles. Then do this with a puck.
Then, everyone grab a puck and gather in the zone between the one blue line and adjacent red goal line. The (empty goal) was put in the middle of the zone. Everyone, keep moving, protect your puck, try and knock other players' pucks into the goal. If your puck gets scored with, you go up to the far blue line and start back and forth between it and its nearby goal line, doing hockey stops and accelerating out of it each time. I think I could have kept going the whole way through the long battle between the final two puck carriers (of whom I knew both), but once I was only able to accelerate out of the stop every second one on average I found it quite easy to stop the exhausting skate/stop routine and watch the battle play out at the other end of the ice. The winnner was the one who first decided to just leave their puck alone on the board and chase down the opponent and their puck to seize it and score. Then, get a drink.
When we returned to the ice,.refreshed, there were a sequence of 'witch's hat' cones spaced about two stick lengths apart in a line up one side of the rink between the non neutral zone circles, and a goal with goalie at the other end. The idea was to skate in a fast slalom through the cones and then have a shot on goal. After a few rounds of this, four cones were put into a diamond shape (same distance between them as the others) in the zone nearest where the drill began and a pile of pucks dropped in the top corner diagonally opposite where the skaters had begun from. The idea was now to pick up a puck after passing the goal (after your shot) and then carry it back, making full circuits of each of the cones while carrying it. Then, rather than doing circles, skate back down the middle of the cones after taking your shot, dangling the puck, 'outside' or 'inside' each of the cones in the diamond (depending if the cone was near the boards or not). Then, repeat the skating drills but this time start alongside the pile of pucks nearest the goal (ie we were all near the goal and able to hear the exhortations and have things pointed out to us about the shooting). Then, get a drink.
Then, step it up. This time, all the cones were scattered in a random pattern across one end of the rink. The goalie in his net was down the other. All the skaters gathered in the middle, with the pucks in a pile nearby. Skater 1 would go up and weave a pattern (nothing in particular) through the cones, curling back towards the centre, they were to call for the puck shortly after turning. The second skater of the pair would pass the first the puck, then pivot so as to be skating in the same direction (ie. towards the goal) but backwards, in front of the skater 1 with the puck. Skater 1 was offence, skater 2 was defence. Idea was to either get a shot off on goal (either into the goal or requiring a goalie save from which rebound didn't go in) or get it out off the zone to end the play and get the next pair moving from the centre.
Just to lighten the mood (and, I suspect, give the goalie a breather) we all then had to line up on a goal line on our knees. We had to get up to our feet as quick as we could, go as fast as we could to the blue line. Drop to our knees and get to our feet and to the centre line, then the next blue line, then the far goal line. Then back. Rinse and repeat. Get a drink.
The final puck handling exercise of the evening was a four line drill, starting from the opposite end of the ice to the goalie. From right to left, the four roles of the various lines were; puck carrier, puck carrier defence, puck support and puck support defence. Essentially, a two on two battle with the emphasis added now to passing/receiving and positional play. The battle zone was extended to include the neutral zone also. Everyone (as always in these things) was expected to have a go at each of the lines several times over. As there were 14 of us to start and several dropped off through it, it got to be a bit of a final conditioning exercise by the time we ran through it the last few times (eventually paced by the need to have one or more of the empty lines filled by one or more of the surviving skaters returning from the previous battle).
Finally, a strength battle tournament where everyone split into pairs, standing facing each other in the middle of the ice with each holding their hockey stick towards the opponent and holding the blade end of the opponent's stick as it was held towards them. Then, each player tries to pull the other towards the boards on their side of the rink. In each bout, the first to score three times against the opponent wins. Then play the winner of a neighboring pair. Continue until only one pair left. Then they fight it out. It was a contest of strength and stability. When one lost one's footing you were even more helpless than when resisting a stronger bigger person's pull. It took agility to get to one's feet and keep resisting the opponent. I was getting the hang of it by the time I had been knocked out 3-0 by fellow Knight Andy in the first round. I had a bit of a cheer squad during my intense struggle in the final round.
The night concluded with the final bout, and all the rest of us having quite a laugh as the final two used their varied abilities in strength and catlike agility to determine the victor.
A great evening.
Sentimentality over, it was onto the ice. After several laps he had us skating as hard as we could between the blue lines while we did several laps. Then he had us do it the other way for several more. Then we had a minutes breather while he explained the next evolution of the drill. Namely, one whistle meant do a stop and then take off in the opposite direction as hard as you can. Two whistles meant that one had to immediately do a full tight circle and then continue in the direction you were going as hard as you could. And then it was the equivalent of several laps of this. And then it was, 'get a drink'. This was a conditioning exercise, also termed 'cardio' (by a colleague who is also into fitness per se).
Then we did a sequence of drills where one of the concentration points was puck handling, with introductions of skating techniques and positioning (hockey sense) to culminate in basic teamwork practice.
The initial exercise was to drop gloves on the ice in front of one, about one and a half times the distance apart of one's feet in the classic hockey stance. Then, stick handle the puck in figure of eights around the gloves. Then, reorganise the gloves so they are the same distance apart, but now the second glove is just that distance in front of you. Then, kick the gloves apart to the distance of two sticks lying end on end and skate between them, carrying the puck. Then pick up the speed. Then, leave the pucks in a pile and cycling from one end of the ice to the other and back, via doing fast circles around each of the five face-off circles. Then do this with a puck.
Then, everyone grab a puck and gather in the zone between the one blue line and adjacent red goal line. The (empty goal) was put in the middle of the zone. Everyone, keep moving, protect your puck, try and knock other players' pucks into the goal. If your puck gets scored with, you go up to the far blue line and start back and forth between it and its nearby goal line, doing hockey stops and accelerating out of it each time. I think I could have kept going the whole way through the long battle between the final two puck carriers (of whom I knew both), but once I was only able to accelerate out of the stop every second one on average I found it quite easy to stop the exhausting skate/stop routine and watch the battle play out at the other end of the ice. The winnner was the one who first decided to just leave their puck alone on the board and chase down the opponent and their puck to seize it and score. Then, get a drink.
When we returned to the ice,.refreshed, there were a sequence of 'witch's hat' cones spaced about two stick lengths apart in a line up one side of the rink between the non neutral zone circles, and a goal with goalie at the other end. The idea was to skate in a fast slalom through the cones and then have a shot on goal. After a few rounds of this, four cones were put into a diamond shape (same distance between them as the others) in the zone nearest where the drill began and a pile of pucks dropped in the top corner diagonally opposite where the skaters had begun from. The idea was now to pick up a puck after passing the goal (after your shot) and then carry it back, making full circuits of each of the cones while carrying it. Then, rather than doing circles, skate back down the middle of the cones after taking your shot, dangling the puck, 'outside' or 'inside' each of the cones in the diamond (depending if the cone was near the boards or not). Then, repeat the skating drills but this time start alongside the pile of pucks nearest the goal (ie we were all near the goal and able to hear the exhortations and have things pointed out to us about the shooting). Then, get a drink.
Then, step it up. This time, all the cones were scattered in a random pattern across one end of the rink. The goalie in his net was down the other. All the skaters gathered in the middle, with the pucks in a pile nearby. Skater 1 would go up and weave a pattern (nothing in particular) through the cones, curling back towards the centre, they were to call for the puck shortly after turning. The second skater of the pair would pass the first the puck, then pivot so as to be skating in the same direction (ie. towards the goal) but backwards, in front of the skater 1 with the puck. Skater 1 was offence, skater 2 was defence. Idea was to either get a shot off on goal (either into the goal or requiring a goalie save from which rebound didn't go in) or get it out off the zone to end the play and get the next pair moving from the centre.
Just to lighten the mood (and, I suspect, give the goalie a breather) we all then had to line up on a goal line on our knees. We had to get up to our feet as quick as we could, go as fast as we could to the blue line. Drop to our knees and get to our feet and to the centre line, then the next blue line, then the far goal line. Then back. Rinse and repeat. Get a drink.
The final puck handling exercise of the evening was a four line drill, starting from the opposite end of the ice to the goalie. From right to left, the four roles of the various lines were; puck carrier, puck carrier defence, puck support and puck support defence. Essentially, a two on two battle with the emphasis added now to passing/receiving and positional play. The battle zone was extended to include the neutral zone also. Everyone (as always in these things) was expected to have a go at each of the lines several times over. As there were 14 of us to start and several dropped off through it, it got to be a bit of a final conditioning exercise by the time we ran through it the last few times (eventually paced by the need to have one or more of the empty lines filled by one or more of the surviving skaters returning from the previous battle).
Finally, a strength battle tournament where everyone split into pairs, standing facing each other in the middle of the ice with each holding their hockey stick towards the opponent and holding the blade end of the opponent's stick as it was held towards them. Then, each player tries to pull the other towards the boards on their side of the rink. In each bout, the first to score three times against the opponent wins. Then play the winner of a neighboring pair. Continue until only one pair left. Then they fight it out. It was a contest of strength and stability. When one lost one's footing you were even more helpless than when resisting a stronger bigger person's pull. It took agility to get to one's feet and keep resisting the opponent. I was getting the hang of it by the time I had been knocked out 3-0 by fellow Knight Andy in the first round. I had a bit of a cheer squad during my intense struggle in the final round.
The night concluded with the final bout, and all the rest of us having quite a laugh as the final two used their varied abilities in strength and catlike agility to determine the victor.
A great evening.
Tuesday, 10 June 2014
Academy - skilling drills
Got to Ice Hockey Academy tonight for fifth week in a row. Well and truly smashed my previous record from last year (three). Everyone in the group tonight had been there last week. This week, about a dozen skaters and John the goalie (who I last saw between the pipes on Sunday evening). Cory took the session unassisted.
I noticed a gathering of several prem c coaches were watching us as they talked amongst themselves nearby, not sure if they were scouting or just waiting for the c grade training session which was after ours, or what. Probably a mix of all three. Anyway, I didn't let it bother me one way or t'other and just got on with what was a pretty well paced training session.
We started with a few warm up laps, then some basic red to blue to blue to red skating runs. Left foot stops, right foot stops, backwards power strides, inside and outside edge c cuts, left and right foot glides, left and right foot edgework. Then red line to far blue, backwards to near blue, to far red, backwards to red pushing/pulling a goal (resistance training). Then crossover circles around all five circles in turn.
Then it was passing across half the ice to a partner, then fully across the ice, backhand passing. Then, a variation where one in mid rink and one on boards with puck. Board skates forwards, middle player skates backwards to maintain distance. When forward skater gets half way (and backwards skater is at the boards) then pass, and the exercise then immediately repeats the other way.
Next topic, some pointers while shooting from a half circle at about 20'. Basically, cross the arms over to maximise leverage from both arms and shift the wait forward. Thus, when we next shot from before the blue line on each side of rink, we took the shot with the weight on the back leg and stepped onto the front leg as we connected for the weight transfer, generating more power yet again. Very valuable lessons, which were immediately used in a one on one battle with both skaters racing from the corners at the same end of the rink to take possession of the puck in the centre, skating on for a shot on goal.
This segued into a skate up the centre drill, with two pylon players on opposite sides of the rink on the blue lines who's job it was to receive a pass from the skater and then pass it back. I was lucky enough to be one of the pylons in the first few run throughs, taking the pass on the boards as they skated in to the offensive zone, laying on the return so that they could have a shot on goal. A couple other skaters then took the pylon jobs and I got to skate up ice for a shot.
The second last drill was to form three lines at one end of the ice. From right to left they were 'puck carrier', 'defence' and 'puck support'. Everyone got to do all roles a couple times. I did my first ever real poke check at speed when I was defence the first time, robbing two of the better players of their little feast over my bones. I think they were a bit sheepish and I was just a little chuffed as we returned to do it all again.
The evening ended with a shooting circle again, and then an 'avenue' of deflection targets and rebound takers from close range shooting. One of my weak but accurate shots surprisingly became a rebound and was put in (counted as a score to me), and I slotted a loose puck which emerged at the back of a tangle of bodies in front of the net on another occasion.
The night ended with a chase the goalie, then chase the quickest skater, on a mad lap or two of the rink.
Time to go home. Great session. Good to see familiar faces from Sunday also. Looking forward to doing it all again.
I noticed a gathering of several prem c coaches were watching us as they talked amongst themselves nearby, not sure if they were scouting or just waiting for the c grade training session which was after ours, or what. Probably a mix of all three. Anyway, I didn't let it bother me one way or t'other and just got on with what was a pretty well paced training session.
We started with a few warm up laps, then some basic red to blue to blue to red skating runs. Left foot stops, right foot stops, backwards power strides, inside and outside edge c cuts, left and right foot glides, left and right foot edgework. Then red line to far blue, backwards to near blue, to far red, backwards to red pushing/pulling a goal (resistance training). Then crossover circles around all five circles in turn.
Then it was passing across half the ice to a partner, then fully across the ice, backhand passing. Then, a variation where one in mid rink and one on boards with puck. Board skates forwards, middle player skates backwards to maintain distance. When forward skater gets half way (and backwards skater is at the boards) then pass, and the exercise then immediately repeats the other way.
Next topic, some pointers while shooting from a half circle at about 20'. Basically, cross the arms over to maximise leverage from both arms and shift the wait forward. Thus, when we next shot from before the blue line on each side of rink, we took the shot with the weight on the back leg and stepped onto the front leg as we connected for the weight transfer, generating more power yet again. Very valuable lessons, which were immediately used in a one on one battle with both skaters racing from the corners at the same end of the rink to take possession of the puck in the centre, skating on for a shot on goal.
This segued into a skate up the centre drill, with two pylon players on opposite sides of the rink on the blue lines who's job it was to receive a pass from the skater and then pass it back. I was lucky enough to be one of the pylons in the first few run throughs, taking the pass on the boards as they skated in to the offensive zone, laying on the return so that they could have a shot on goal. A couple other skaters then took the pylon jobs and I got to skate up ice for a shot.
The second last drill was to form three lines at one end of the ice. From right to left they were 'puck carrier', 'defence' and 'puck support'. Everyone got to do all roles a couple times. I did my first ever real poke check at speed when I was defence the first time, robbing two of the better players of their little feast over my bones. I think they were a bit sheepish and I was just a little chuffed as we returned to do it all again.
The evening ended with a shooting circle again, and then an 'avenue' of deflection targets and rebound takers from close range shooting. One of my weak but accurate shots surprisingly became a rebound and was put in (counted as a score to me), and I slotted a loose puck which emerged at the back of a tangle of bodies in front of the net on another occasion.
The night ended with a chase the goalie, then chase the quickest skater, on a mad lap or two of the rink.
Time to go home. Great session. Good to see familiar faces from Sunday also. Looking forward to doing it all again.
Wednesday, 4 June 2014
Academy - sobering
Last night I got to Ice Hockey Academy for the fourth week running, a record for me. As is sadly so often the case, I only arrived as they were about to go onto the ice so I only joined at the tail end of the first drill. Which I DID do, rather than join the start of the next because it was all about heel to heels, working one's way up the ice doing them alternating left and right. Followed by ankle bends on the boards, chasing one's own tail around the stick with 360' heel to heels, then chasing partner in looping pattern around paired end to end sticks, mixing it with heel to heels and crossovers over the middle.
It only struck me later how serendipitous this all was, with my interest in this move and its many uses since being introduced to it at Vikings training in late summer. James described it as an ice hockey technique that is very useful for inline also. Which I had evidenced in last week's game when I missed having at least one good shot on goal due my lack of training in the art (ie. by the time I thought of it, the moment had passed). Wrap arounds, puck protection, dynamic transitions, all use the basic move. But, more of that later...
Then, sprints the length of the rink, with knee drops and controlled slides from the first blue line, regaining one's feet at or as close to the second blue line as possible with stick held across the shoulders with both hands (to make us use our torso, and to a lesser degree, legs, to keep front on to direction of travel). This was the best that I've ever felt doing this particular drill, maintaining speed, distance and a sense of control to the whole exercise. Trickier than it looks.
Everybody bar one was to use the full (small) ice in a giant pelaton doing figure of eights. One person would skate the same figure, but in the opposite direction. There was only one red sweater being worn, by me. So I ended up being the red devil skating against the flow. I overheard later the reasoning behind this was 'to add chaos' to the already challenging figure eights (as skaters cross each other's path in the centre of the ice they need to keep their heads up and eyes open to avoid cross hitting collisions, while transiting from left to right crossovers). After the group set off, I confirmed my instructions to be skating in the opposite direction, and headed off into the fray.
I hospitalised my first ever victim on about the third hair raising lap. His was the first collision of the exercise. He was a pretty tall guy and a good skater, and for that reason I think I timed my 'angle of approach' into a cluster of skaters to take me nearer him than others I adjudged less 'safe'. My bad, because he didn't see me coming and turned right into me in what was a fairly high speed front on collision from my perspective. I bounced off him and back with a bit of a jolt, but nothing too heavy and was on my feet after a deep breath. He hadn't moved, but by the time I came over to him he was sitting up and gingerly holding his leg at the knee. He seemed to be quite alive, however, so as the coaches and sundry skating personages tended to him and conferred, I chased down the figure eight again.
I had two further collisions in the total of about 10 circuits, both with people taller than me, one of whom wasn't wearing protective armour beyond helmet and gloves. These guys each came to me later in the session and pointed out that they either hadn't been looking properly, or had been put out of their comfort zone due the actions of another skater, by the time I arrived in their face. I would have kept going (despite the carnage) except that the wounded skater was being taken from the ice so we had to stop.
We shifted to the old drill of stops on the blue lines, with forwards / backwards sprints back and forths (where for the first time I experienced a couple 'natural' outside edge crossunder accelerations out of a stop), and then the linkage back to heel to heels by using it for transitions from rearwards to forwards as a means of keeping momentum (rather than a rearward snowplough to stop and then having to accelerate back to speed).
Then, a horseshoe of shooting without a goalie, allowing one to shoot as often as one could grab a puck, the goal simply to practice the stroke and have it on net. After a half dozen or so shots I still hadn't had to do the pushups that followed a missed shot, albeit one otherwise errant puck only went in after it was struck in midair by another person's (which missed).
Then, a game. Groups in the corners. One skater races in from each group to seize the puck and score in the opposite goal. As soon as they cross the blue line, another skater comes out from the (now) defending group, creating a 2 on 1. If the 2 manage to get the possession before the 1 scores, they become the offensive team and rush the opposing goal. As they cross the blue line, a second skater enters from the (now) defending group and and it is 2 on 2. If it crosses back, 3 on 2. And the ice is full at 3 on 3. Exhausting but great fun.
I had to leave the ice to get my self together during the next exercise, which was basically a speed drill around the ice for a half dozen or so laps. I don't think I've sat out a drill before. I didn't sit it out because of the drill, I was heading off before I knew what was going to happen. I would have enjoyed the chase. I just did what my mind said I should do. Hockey's like that sometimes.
Second last drill of the day was a small ice battle game. Divided by colours (black, and white (with one red)), each side had either 2 or 3 skaters in each zone. They were to remain in their zone (offensive, neutral, defensive) and work the puck into their respective goals. After a few minutes the neutral group moved into an endzone (ie becoming either defence or offence) so that, after a few rounds, everyone had played in all the zones a couple times. All sorts of lessons to learn in this game about puck movement, positioning, passing and receiving, board clashes, etc).
Finally, a commando crawl across the ice to send us on our way (push up position with stick on the ice held by one's hands and feet dragging behind, 'walk' your way across the ice on your outstretched arms).
Excellent session, but I learned that the guy I'd collided with had been taken to hospital with a likely either broken ankle or major ligament damage (his edge had caught under him as he was knocked backwards by the impact).
Sobering.
It only struck me later how serendipitous this all was, with my interest in this move and its many uses since being introduced to it at Vikings training in late summer. James described it as an ice hockey technique that is very useful for inline also. Which I had evidenced in last week's game when I missed having at least one good shot on goal due my lack of training in the art (ie. by the time I thought of it, the moment had passed). Wrap arounds, puck protection, dynamic transitions, all use the basic move. But, more of that later...
Then, sprints the length of the rink, with knee drops and controlled slides from the first blue line, regaining one's feet at or as close to the second blue line as possible with stick held across the shoulders with both hands (to make us use our torso, and to a lesser degree, legs, to keep front on to direction of travel). This was the best that I've ever felt doing this particular drill, maintaining speed, distance and a sense of control to the whole exercise. Trickier than it looks.
Everybody bar one was to use the full (small) ice in a giant pelaton doing figure of eights. One person would skate the same figure, but in the opposite direction. There was only one red sweater being worn, by me. So I ended up being the red devil skating against the flow. I overheard later the reasoning behind this was 'to add chaos' to the already challenging figure eights (as skaters cross each other's path in the centre of the ice they need to keep their heads up and eyes open to avoid cross hitting collisions, while transiting from left to right crossovers). After the group set off, I confirmed my instructions to be skating in the opposite direction, and headed off into the fray.
I hospitalised my first ever victim on about the third hair raising lap. His was the first collision of the exercise. He was a pretty tall guy and a good skater, and for that reason I think I timed my 'angle of approach' into a cluster of skaters to take me nearer him than others I adjudged less 'safe'. My bad, because he didn't see me coming and turned right into me in what was a fairly high speed front on collision from my perspective. I bounced off him and back with a bit of a jolt, but nothing too heavy and was on my feet after a deep breath. He hadn't moved, but by the time I came over to him he was sitting up and gingerly holding his leg at the knee. He seemed to be quite alive, however, so as the coaches and sundry skating personages tended to him and conferred, I chased down the figure eight again.
I had two further collisions in the total of about 10 circuits, both with people taller than me, one of whom wasn't wearing protective armour beyond helmet and gloves. These guys each came to me later in the session and pointed out that they either hadn't been looking properly, or had been put out of their comfort zone due the actions of another skater, by the time I arrived in their face. I would have kept going (despite the carnage) except that the wounded skater was being taken from the ice so we had to stop.
We shifted to the old drill of stops on the blue lines, with forwards / backwards sprints back and forths (where for the first time I experienced a couple 'natural' outside edge crossunder accelerations out of a stop), and then the linkage back to heel to heels by using it for transitions from rearwards to forwards as a means of keeping momentum (rather than a rearward snowplough to stop and then having to accelerate back to speed).
Then, a horseshoe of shooting without a goalie, allowing one to shoot as often as one could grab a puck, the goal simply to practice the stroke and have it on net. After a half dozen or so shots I still hadn't had to do the pushups that followed a missed shot, albeit one otherwise errant puck only went in after it was struck in midair by another person's (which missed).
Then, a game. Groups in the corners. One skater races in from each group to seize the puck and score in the opposite goal. As soon as they cross the blue line, another skater comes out from the (now) defending group, creating a 2 on 1. If the 2 manage to get the possession before the 1 scores, they become the offensive team and rush the opposing goal. As they cross the blue line, a second skater enters from the (now) defending group and and it is 2 on 2. If it crosses back, 3 on 2. And the ice is full at 3 on 3. Exhausting but great fun.
I had to leave the ice to get my self together during the next exercise, which was basically a speed drill around the ice for a half dozen or so laps. I don't think I've sat out a drill before. I didn't sit it out because of the drill, I was heading off before I knew what was going to happen. I would have enjoyed the chase. I just did what my mind said I should do. Hockey's like that sometimes.
Second last drill of the day was a small ice battle game. Divided by colours (black, and white (with one red)), each side had either 2 or 3 skaters in each zone. They were to remain in their zone (offensive, neutral, defensive) and work the puck into their respective goals. After a few minutes the neutral group moved into an endzone (ie becoming either defence or offence) so that, after a few rounds, everyone had played in all the zones a couple times. All sorts of lessons to learn in this game about puck movement, positioning, passing and receiving, board clashes, etc).
Finally, a commando crawl across the ice to send us on our way (push up position with stick on the ice held by one's hands and feet dragging behind, 'walk' your way across the ice on your outstretched arms).
Excellent session, but I learned that the guy I'd collided with had been taken to hospital with a likely either broken ankle or major ligament damage (his edge had caught under him as he was knocked backwards by the impact).
Sobering.
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
Academy - room for work
For the third week in a row I made it to Ice Hockey Academy this evening, I picked up my newly sharpened skates after a friendly chat about the kids with the program director on the way in (gotta love Adelaide) and noticed that a few of the crew were already doing stretches in their gear while waiting for the juniors to finish and the zamboni to roll. I got changed in time sufficient to do a few laps with my new edges. Could certainly feel them biting the ice around tight turns, not overly confident with the outside edges in hockey stops. About this time realised that Cory wasn't here. Instead, Mick and an Adrenaline player (Jakob) were conferring with purpose and a bag of pucks. 'This will be interesting,' I thought.
And it was. After a few skates up and down ice, stopping or transitioning on the blue lines, we self selected into beginners and intermediates. The huge bulk (about 20) went intermediate, some such were a surprise to me. Only one got pulled back. From then, we were subject to the accented brief commands of Jacob, while Mick had his half dozen charges.
Everyone was into the ethic of the a training session (which always makes it good) and Jacob kept us doing technical drills from one or two lines, varying everything forehand and backhand for one to three repetitions. Used pylons a lot, and our trainee goalie. Stickhandling, puck handling, passing, shooting. All the basics in a new bunch of little drills that could practice on inlines easy enough if the weather was dryer and the sun stayed up longer. *sigh* There's plenty of room for work on looser lower hand and softer hands more generally, leading to more fluidity in stickhandling, a harder shot, and more confident pivots. But, learned a fair bit and could notice some improvements across the evening (always nice). Worked up a fair sweat.
Good session.
And it was. After a few skates up and down ice, stopping or transitioning on the blue lines, we self selected into beginners and intermediates. The huge bulk (about 20) went intermediate, some such were a surprise to me. Only one got pulled back. From then, we were subject to the accented brief commands of Jacob, while Mick had his half dozen charges.
Everyone was into the ethic of the a training session (which always makes it good) and Jacob kept us doing technical drills from one or two lines, varying everything forehand and backhand for one to three repetitions. Used pylons a lot, and our trainee goalie. Stickhandling, puck handling, passing, shooting. All the basics in a new bunch of little drills that could practice on inlines easy enough if the weather was dryer and the sun stayed up longer. *sigh* There's plenty of room for work on looser lower hand and softer hands more generally, leading to more fluidity in stickhandling, a harder shot, and more confident pivots. But, learned a fair bit and could notice some improvements across the evening (always nice). Worked up a fair sweat.
Good session.
Wednesday, 21 May 2014
Academy - themeing D
Last night I got to the Ice Arena with comfortable time to change before Ice Hockey Academy. About twenty players, one goalie again. This week, if there was a 'theme' it was about playing defensively. Or at least, that's what themed the night for me. I've never really noticed 'themes' before, though, having recognised a layered approach in other levels of his classes, it wouldn't surprise me at all. Part of his art is to not give meta commentary in his sessions, letting the player's put the pieces together themselves with him helping by providing the tools.
Anyway...
Worked upwards from basic inside edge hockey stops, adding forwards then backwards cross (under) starts from the stop (ie. pivots). Then, shots on goal from a horsehoe at 20 feet plus, forehand and backhand. Then some passing one on one. Then passing interchanged with one on one battles. Then work in pairs, starting on opposite sides of the goal line, crossing over with a pass / drop off, up the boards over the blue and repeat the cross, followed by pass(es) and shot(s) against a tended goal. Then repeat this with a defender thrown in against. Then a three count back checking chase. Then some red rover, then red rover without using the hands (ie, bodycheck). Then some sprints across the ice, stop, swift accelerate backwards. And a lap to cool down.
What I got out of all that? A bunch of defensive concepts (though could equally be taking away converse offensive concepts). Of note, the crossing passoff, and the undercutting acceleration out of a pivoting stop. Both very very useful. The first, will rely on my trainings to keep drilling this into me (as by definition require at least one other skater to do). The second, of which the basic skating move is what I've been calling undercutting reverse c's over the past few weeks, is something I can work on. It ties directly into my more grand goal of working on my acceleration this off season All good, in other words.
A good session.
Anyway...
Worked upwards from basic inside edge hockey stops, adding forwards then backwards cross (under) starts from the stop (ie. pivots). Then, shots on goal from a horsehoe at 20 feet plus, forehand and backhand. Then some passing one on one. Then passing interchanged with one on one battles. Then work in pairs, starting on opposite sides of the goal line, crossing over with a pass / drop off, up the boards over the blue and repeat the cross, followed by pass(es) and shot(s) against a tended goal. Then repeat this with a defender thrown in against. Then a three count back checking chase. Then some red rover, then red rover without using the hands (ie, bodycheck). Then some sprints across the ice, stop, swift accelerate backwards. And a lap to cool down.
What I got out of all that? A bunch of defensive concepts (though could equally be taking away converse offensive concepts). Of note, the crossing passoff, and the undercutting acceleration out of a pivoting stop. Both very very useful. The first, will rely on my trainings to keep drilling this into me (as by definition require at least one other skater to do). The second, of which the basic skating move is what I've been calling undercutting reverse c's over the past few weeks, is something I can work on. It ties directly into my more grand goal of working on my acceleration this off season All good, in other words.
A good session.
Tuesday, 13 May 2014
Back to the Academy
Tonight I finally made it back to the Ice Hockey Academy at the Ice Arena, after a hiatus of almost six months. It was great to return to a crowded change room and be welcomed by a bunch of familiar faces, whether from my social skating episodes of recent months or from academy or league play from summer time. It sure does one's soul a load of good to have a bunch of welcoming faces!
Cory was in his usual fine form, somehow managing to keep everyone involved at a level they'd get something out of it with. From almost rank beginners to my cohort (borderline intermediate level), he kept everyone in their place if required, and pushed us all just that bit further than we felt comfortable with. As it should be.
The format is pretty standard in its make-up, with a mix of skating and stickhandling drills, passing and shooting, puck possession and defence work, short battles, ending up with a round of penalty shots. We had one goalie only for about twenty skaters, so Anthony the goalie got a good work out. He's come a long way since term 4 last year. I felt quite proud to have got the majority of my shots in on him, including being one of only three that got a penalty goal at the end. Of interest with this last, two of us were Knights, and the third was a genius ten year old who just shines even in the adult sessions. Good company.
It took me about half the session to get used to the fact that the puck slides over the ice a lot faster than in inline. Once I'd made the adjustment I was able to start relying on the skill bank I've been working on. I heard someone calling me an 'ice dancer' so that must mean I have kept my ice legs!
And sweetness of sweetness, mine wasn't the only Oilers sweater for a change!
Cory was in his usual fine form, somehow managing to keep everyone involved at a level they'd get something out of it with. From almost rank beginners to my cohort (borderline intermediate level), he kept everyone in their place if required, and pushed us all just that bit further than we felt comfortable with. As it should be.
The format is pretty standard in its make-up, with a mix of skating and stickhandling drills, passing and shooting, puck possession and defence work, short battles, ending up with a round of penalty shots. We had one goalie only for about twenty skaters, so Anthony the goalie got a good work out. He's come a long way since term 4 last year. I felt quite proud to have got the majority of my shots in on him, including being one of only three that got a penalty goal at the end. Of interest with this last, two of us were Knights, and the third was a genius ten year old who just shines even in the adult sessions. Good company.
It took me about half the session to get used to the fact that the puck slides over the ice a lot faster than in inline. Once I'd made the adjustment I was able to start relying on the skill bank I've been working on. I heard someone calling me an 'ice dancer' so that must mean I have kept my ice legs!
And sweetness of sweetness, mine wasn't the only Oilers sweater for a change!
Tuesday, 6 May 2014
Excuses Decisions Excuses Decisions
I didn't go skating over the weekend at all because I was in Sydney or on a plane. I didn't go to Hockey Academy because I am fighting off a nasty head cold and don't want to stress my body out too much. I won't be going skating tomorrow night because we have a family event (one of the reasons I want to shake the head cold, or at least stop it getting too much worse). Which means I'll be going into the first game of the season with the Wheelers (the other reason I need to shake the cold) having only skated once in the previous fortnight. And that was on ice, at that.
And with only five skaters plus a goalie on our roster, that's scary - if I don't shift this cold significantly and get my energy levels back. If I do, it's a challenge. Such a fine line...
And with only five skaters plus a goalie on our roster, that's scary - if I don't shift this cold significantly and get my energy levels back. If I do, it's a challenge. Such a fine line...
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Productive Night at the Ice Arena
This evening it was off to the Ice Arena to watch a bit of hockey on the big ice (Tigers v Blackhawks, A Grade) while I skated casually around the small rink. On the way I also paid for a term at the Ice Hockey Academy on Tuesday nights. I learned there that B's skate classes had commenced for this term earlier that evening, which is what I'd said to him (based on some random 8 year old I'd been talking with on Sunday) so I was glad I'd turned out to be right (thanks kid!).
When I got home I learned further that B's mum has put a deposit on some skates for him, which made me even happier both for him and his family that they have seen their way through to doing this for their very keen son/brother. A very productive Wednesday night, in other words!
I skated only a bit over an hour, only just raising a sweat on a handful of occasions. Technically, nothing too challenging, more work on the backwards inside C cuts, open ice 3 turns, deepening the knee bends on ultra tight turns at reasonable speed, rehersals of accelerating leg movements while supporting myself against the boards.
There weren't a great many skaters (meaning that there was sufficient room for everyone to be doing their thing even though it was 'only' the small ice). The majority were in own skates, and most of these were out to get better at hockey skating. I knew most by face and about half by name. My hockey peers seemed pretty pleased that I'm paid up for the Academy this term, which is really nice I think! The comradeship of the ice, further crystalised.
When I got home I learned further that B's mum has put a deposit on some skates for him, which made me even happier both for him and his family that they have seen their way through to doing this for their very keen son/brother. A very productive Wednesday night, in other words!
I skated only a bit over an hour, only just raising a sweat on a handful of occasions. Technically, nothing too challenging, more work on the backwards inside C cuts, open ice 3 turns, deepening the knee bends on ultra tight turns at reasonable speed, rehersals of accelerating leg movements while supporting myself against the boards.
There weren't a great many skaters (meaning that there was sufficient room for everyone to be doing their thing even though it was 'only' the small ice). The majority were in own skates, and most of these were out to get better at hockey skating. I knew most by face and about half by name. My hockey peers seemed pretty pleased that I'm paid up for the Academy this term, which is really nice I think! The comradeship of the ice, further crystalised.
Monday, 28 April 2014
Winter almost here
What passes for 'winter' in Adelaide is almost upon us, school has gone back for the second term of the academic year, we approach the public holidayless months between June and October, NHL approaching it's end of playoffs climax, all other northern leagues either wound up on onto their last game (KHL - Go Lev!). Summer Season C Grade and almost glory in the early autumn a receding memory.
More positively, the local leagues are starting up. Adelaide Adrenaline off to a late start in the AIHL, A Grade at the Ice Arena already played a round of games before the school break. Vikings registration for the winter season (terms 2 and 3 of the school year) is this coming weekend, games and presumably training probably commence the week following.
Ice Academy and Skating classes also begin this week. I won't be able to get to the Academy this week, but might as well pay for it at next opportunity. Might as well pay for B's classes at the same time (thanks, Uncle George and Aunty Ester). And IHSA membership (so I can play in Shinnies). And fees for the coming Vikings season with the small change.
Even with all of the equipment, not much change from a thousand dollars to play a couple seasons of ice hockey. About a quarter of that for inline. At least the gear is interchangeable between the sports at the level I play at (except the skates, of course, and (practically speaking) the hockey pants, along with ice hockey socks/inline cover pants).
More positively, the local leagues are starting up. Adelaide Adrenaline off to a late start in the AIHL, A Grade at the Ice Arena already played a round of games before the school break. Vikings registration for the winter season (terms 2 and 3 of the school year) is this coming weekend, games and presumably training probably commence the week following.
Ice Academy and Skating classes also begin this week. I won't be able to get to the Academy this week, but might as well pay for it at next opportunity. Might as well pay for B's classes at the same time (thanks, Uncle George and Aunty Ester). And IHSA membership (so I can play in Shinnies). And fees for the coming Vikings season with the small change.
Even with all of the equipment, not much change from a thousand dollars to play a couple seasons of ice hockey. About a quarter of that for inline. At least the gear is interchangeable between the sports at the level I play at (except the skates, of course, and (practically speaking) the hockey pants, along with ice hockey socks/inline cover pants).
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