Sunday Skate - the strength of a sport lies in its youth

I completed my big skating/grandkid weekend by taking B and J down to the Ice Arena for our usual Sunday arvo skate, followed by an early dinner at Villi's bakery and return to the Arena for the Adrenaline's game against the Sydney Ice Dogs.  Left at 12, back a bit after 7.  Quite a day.

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We had an hour and a half on the ice before we'd have to go and get something to eat.  This included about 10 min for a resurface, so not long as these things go.  The first people I recognised were fellow Vikings, down in the big smoke for a skate before the big game.  Had a good chance to speak to fellow Vikings Amanda and her daughter Laura a little about the balancing act of sport and life if you like the ice and live in the country and are still in the early teens.  I hope I helped with my comments.  Amanda plays for the Rockers and scored three goals in their win against the Shufflers last night, so was good to have a bit of a chat about Division 2 stuff for a while also.

Not long after, did a few circuits with my fellow Knight, Christian, who's keeping himself busy with Old Timers' hockey and running the junior 'Ice Blast' introductory program over the off season.  He commented to me that inline habits are visible in my ice skating technique (specifically, trying to heel to heel in the closing turn of a wraparound move (read Game Report from last night to find out why I was practicing this - the only 'drill' that I attempted this afternoon)).  We asked about the next Ice Blast 'season' [early August - three spots left - picked up contact details to get B enrolled].

The cool thing here was the way B has stepped up his presence on the ice since last week.  It was clear to me from the moment he started that this kid has found his rhythm, looked like someone who 'knows' rather than someone who is 'learning'.  When I mentioned B's interest to Christian, he turned to B (who just 'happened' to be skating alongside at this moment) and asked if he could skate backwards.  Whereupon B immediately did a transition to the rear to demonstrate his answer, before skating off.  Being a kid, he got into his own world pretty quick and sprinted to the wall before pulling off a very cool looking hockey stop.  We, being adults, of course were still watching him.  I could only agree with Christian that he'd be able to slip into pee wees next season, and that he appeared confident and comfortable on the ice.

Wound up doing a few final laps with my fellow young Saskatchewan fan of the Edmonton Oilers, talking Oilers gossip and opinions.  Cool indeed!  Not long after and me and the boys were off, to grab something to eat from Villis before returning for the afternoon game.

 It had been a very 'people oriented' afternoon, a change from the usual concentration on the technical act of skating per se.  All part of the course for hockey development (there's a whole series of potential posts I could write about this social aspect of sport/hockey once I start thinking about it).

The theme would continue upon our return from our tea for the big game.

Game Day - Wheelers (4) d Bumpers (2)

We played the last game of the evening at Gawler against the Bumpers in a top vs bottom of table clash.  The weather was cool and raining, about twenty adults in the audience (with sundry kids floating around).  Again, a hard fought game that the scoreline belies.  Never-the-less, we won and are now clear by two games at the top of the ladder.  Go Wheelers!

First Period

The Bumpers had hit us hard in the opening minutes of our previous game this season, scoring two goals on that occasion before we'd had a shift change.  This time we were waiting for them and the first ten minutes of the game were a real arm wrestle, with both teams having shots on goal and both goalies earning their keep.

Two minutes after the start, Malcolm Bedell got caught hooking in the backcheck across the centre and we had our first powerplay of the season.  As is so often the case at this level, the penalty killing team played a highly aggressive forecheck and had more shots at goal than the powerplay team.  Matt the Goalie earned his keep again.

The game eventually settled down to a quite physical 3 on 3 tussle until I broke the deadlock with an unassisted goal at 12:30.  This one got a punch in the air from me, mainly an expression of the relief of tension that had been building to that point.  We had another shot that put the puck into the goal, but the siren had gone while the puck was on its way so it was about 0.1 seconds late (Matt the skater shot this one).  We went into half time satisfied generally with our game but knowing that there was unfinished business to sort out in the second period.

Second Period

 The second period began with the same blast as the first, lots of bodies hitting the floor and desperate stretch checks.  At one point I found myself in the offensive left corner, with Matt and two of the opposition at the crease.  Perhaps crazily, I passed it to him and skated in.  In the bundle of collapsing bodies and flying sticks that followed, Matt managed to poke the puck over the line for a millisecond before someone jammed it out - right onto my stick to which I jammed it home again above the outstretched goalies leg (raised forehand snapshot, 3' range).  Only then did the referee blow his whistle.  This would have given me the goal, which sometimes I'd not worry about but this time would have felt wrong, so I immediately pointed to Matt and told the referee when he enquired of me as he skated to the scorers.  I still got the assist.  We were up 2-0.

In the next four minutes, Brendon and Merrilyn each slammed a shot into the net from the high slot, extending our lead to 4.  This could have been 5 a few minutes later when I (again being aggressive around the crease) saw the puck entirely over the line between the goalie's skate and the post for a millisecond before it flicked back out.  I think I might have been the only one who saw it because no one else seemed to notice.  I pointed at it but continued on at full pace (no score came of the play).

The Bumpers got a good goal in with four two go, and a second in the final second.  The last one was funny as both our bench, which was closer to their shooter than his own team's, and our goalie (!) were urging him to "Shoot!" as the clock wound down.

It was all smiles and grins and handshakes during the 'good game' period that followed.

My game

My game was, overall, quite reasonable in the circumstances.  I was totally blown at the end however and I think I would have been right at my limit if the periods were twenty minutes instead of fifteen.  There is definitely room for improvement here.  Part of the problem might be that I did a triple shift at the very start, about 6 and a half minutes!  As I came off I made comment that I'd been on way too long, and did only a couple more double shifts for the rest of the game (though I did limit myself to a 20 second rest on the bench before going out again on a couple occasions late in the second half).  I was in the opening line for both periods, and not on the floor at the siren for either neither [!].  I played around twenty minutes again and enjoyed the fact that not a lot of this was spent in defence (as our 'reserve', Dylan P, tended to play D when on the floor relieved us of the task somewhat).

In the first half there were a couple hot stretch passes from Dylan that found me lurking at about 20'.  I settled and shot on the second, and never gained control of the first though I did connect for a one timer attempt.  Both of these shots went just wide of the shortside post.  A third pass found me at centre, I came down the stickside and released a wristshot at 20'.  Again, I missed, this time the stickside post.  However, the rebound off the backboard returned on my forehand pretty quick as I glided in, and I snapped the puck high into the net as an unassisted result.

 My second half was more characterised by low wristshots (none of full strength) that were on target but blocked by the Goalie, and desperate chases to the boards to gain or regain possession.  I also crossed the puck across the crease a number of times from the corner (no one was home for us, sadly).  Engaged in good ongoing contests with a couple of their younger brigade (very gutsy on the boards, strong stickcheckers, quicker skaters than me in the early minutes), and enjoyed the long battle I had with Nick - very competitive, a lot of hip and shoulder (he's bigger but I'm more lithe), stick lifting, blocking moves along the boards and so on.  Perhaps that's a corollary of our easy going out-of-game relationship?

Three times I grabbed the puck in the offensive right corner and went behind the goal, thinking of the possibility of a wrap around each time.  The third time, I could have conceivably got it (goalie was too quick the first two times) IF I'd gone heel to heel to snap a shot off a pace or so sooner.  Instead, I had to settle for the second best option and either pass it back to our D, thus allowing us to reset, or snap a pass across the crease (allowing for deflected goal if a Wheeler had been home).

A couple times I gained possession in offensive left corner and found myself wishing I'd thought to take a backhand turn rather than the more comfortably automatic outward curl towards the boards.  Will have to work on this.

It was, however, on one of these 'deep resets' that I played my role in what was probably the most entertaining play of the game for me.  I held possession on the boards for a couple seconds before passing it into Matt in the scrum at the crease.  I followed that in and there began a mad fifteen seconds (?) of falling bodies, kicking skates, blades battling over a sandwiched puck, ground level gloved hands and flailed sticks.  Somehow I kept my feet, kept my eye on the puck and my stickblade kept pulling it away from the scrum.  Behind me I could hear Brendon urging me to get it to him, me thinking 'gotta get that bloody thing first' as I fought for it.  Eventually, made enough clearance room (about a foot) to have time and space to snap it back to Brendon and spread myself wider again.  Whereupon he had a strike on goal, I got the rebound (the others in the scrum not having fully regained themselves, though still in my way) and passed it to him for another attempt.  Neither went in, but it was good hockey.

My overall stats continue to surprise me.  I was on the floor for about 20 mins, scored a goal and assisted another.  I wasn't on for any other goals, either for or against.  I don't think I won a face off outright, and only salvaged maybe 2 out of six.  I had at least six real shots at goal that didn't score, perhaps four were on target.  Was very pleased at Nick's comment afterwards that I seemed a lot faster than in past.  I was totally blown at the end.  Maybe the two are related!

GP 4 G 4 A 4 TP 8 +7 4/0/0

Morning Skate at Gawler

Being a cloudy wet day it wasn't good timing to get a young fella his first pair of skates (you can't go skating cause it's wet?!).  So instead, Me Nan and A went off to Gawler to get some skating in in the public session that runs before the Hockey Day in Gawler starts.

N hadn't skated for years, and not on roller skates for decades, so she was a bit trepidatious about the whole thing.  But after the initial inevitable stride-fall sequence she gave herself time and the floor respect and by the end of an hour was motivating around with some sense of rhythm and a positive sense of self.

Young A, bless 'im, was keen to give it a go and, apart from a little sitdown to watch every now and again, kept going also for the full shift.  He started off at about the point I'd last seen him on the ice, working his way around the edge and holding onto my hand for dear life in the parts of the circuit where there was no accessible barrier for little hands.  After a wee word from one of the rink maidens about keeping his eyes/head up and taking little marching steps (marching, not stepping or walking, is the key word methinks!) and a few falls some of which hurt, we were doing circuits without falling (our record was three).  Near the end, I asked him if it was time to get off, or should we press onwards?  The answer?  Onwards!

A good hour and a half; fun, progress made on the part of both N and A, and a good morning activity for me prior to heading back later to Gawler for the last game of the night against the Bumpers.

And, here's to the Rink Maidens of Gawler!

Vikings Training

Last night I again managed to get out to Gawler for Vikings training.  The session started with pass and shoot practice with two groups in opposite corners of the rink and a goalie in each goal.  One at a time, players would pass a puck to a skater from the other group looping around at their end.  While that skater then carried the puck back towards their own end for a shot, the passer would set off up the rink and loop around the aftermath of the skater shot before accepting a pass from the next player in the opposing group. 

After a few repetitions we changed up by having two players depart at a time, with the puck carrier passing to their partner for the shot on goal.  My partner through this was Riley, a young fellow of great skating and good leadership abilities, aged about 12.  We communicated well and enjoyed the half dozen repetitions.

We then conducted a 'house drill', whereby the main group would remain in the corner, three players stationary on the half rink around the goal (two at point, one half way along the goal line between the goal and the opposite wall).  The skater would pass the puck to the point player in front of them, then skate up and around them.  At that point, the skater would take on a 'D' role.  Meanwhile, the three 'stationary' players would pass from point to point to the goal line player, then between each other for a shot on goal while the D tried to stop them.  Once there'd been a shot on goal, the skater became the first point, first point became second, second became deep forward and the deep forward went to join the group and await their next turn.

We ended with about twenty minutes of six on six short form games on the full rink, turning over teams in shifts.  This culminated in a crazy minute of all in free form competition before we ran out of time and packed up.

During the team battles at the end there was one 'game' where my team was attacking the goal tended by the Wheeler's regular goalie (Matt).  I spent much of the shift screening him at close quarters to give him a taste of it and me the experience.  When we battled for the puck at one point his stick handle found its way inside my helmet cage.  Perhaps lucky for me he let it go at that point.  Good reminder for me that even with a cage one is not invulnerable.

The other thing of note occurred when I we were doing the solo pass/shoot drill at the start.  I steamed in on the goalie and dropped the puck onto my backhand before whipping off an unexpected shot of moderate power.  The shot didn't go in but drew applause from the spectators.  I realised the same thing had happened at Ice Hockey Academy the night before (when the shot had gone in).  Both times, comment was made that I was doing some fancy puckwork.  I wasn't intending to, but it seems this is one of my 'natural trick shots' that I should work on as goalies certainly don't expect it and other players think it is good value.

Who would have thought?

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.

Sunday Skate & Other Deeds

After the game last night I wasn't late in getting to bed but unfortunately still managed to awaken a couple hours before dawn.  Resigned to the fact that this would necessitate a mid morning nap so I'd have the promised energy to go ice skating with B, and that therefore I wouldn't be able to get a mid morning inline puck'n'skate session in, I instead watch a recording of the second NHL game of the current Western Conference Final series and then had my nap.

Waking up again late in the morning, it wasn't long and B and I had had some watermelon (wonder sports food) and were down at the Ice Arena.  First thing on the agenda was to get a lace tightening tool for him so he can be responsible for putting on his own skates nice and tight (it's tough enough on forty plus year old fingers, let alone for those under ten (just)).  And then, out on the ice for an hour and a half of moderately crowded public skating time.

As seems to be the pattern these days, I didn't really try to push any particular agenda too hard, tending just to enjoy watching other skaters, cruising to the music, and continually doing simple and single 'moves' as I just took my time.  As the ice began to empty over the last half hour I picked up the pace for a few laps, and became more flamboyant in the techniques which had gained most of my attention earlier.  Namely, 'grapevining' backwards/forwards (which is, the way I do it, good practice drill for undercutting outside edges), backwards to forwards transitions, combined with a preceding forwards to backwards on the same foot along the boards on later runs, and the previously mentioned combination of inside edge C cuts and outside undercut, crossed over from standing or pivoting start, forwards and backwards.  Seem to be on top of them all (famous last words).

We left as the Old Timers were turning up for their games later that afternoon/evening.

Quick trip home and a bit of 'down time' while we heated up some food and got some energy back into ourselves, before a trip to the North East suburbs to check out some protective gear which B's Uncle Shaun had spotted being advertised for sale second hand on the web the night before.  He'd emailed for pictures, had forwarded them to my missus who had then emailed the lady.  Eventually I had given her a ring to organise an inspection of the gear and had sadly had to disappoint her that both the guy she'd mailed pictures to and the lady she'd emailed had both been connected to my call (ie not as much interest as she'd thought).  Lol.

Anyway, cutting a long story short, we rocked up bang on 5 pm and were testing the fitting on quite a few items of equipment on B in the dusk.  Turned out that would be able to get practically everything he'll need except for hockey pants and socks (Vince's son is apparently a bit taller in the legs than B).  I made an offer, and then this guy invited me to make an offer for the whole collection.  Which I did.  And that was the final agreed price.  After a down payment, to collect later in the week, we departed for the lengthy trip home discussing the ins and outs of off-ice practice and the value of inline for stick'n'puck'thinking training, the theoretical milestones that would be needed for an Adelaide boy to play NHL (I thought, club-state-national-scholarship-tryout if you're good enough would be the route) and so on and so forth.

I think what we ended up purchasing were two caged helmets (both Itec, white and yellow), throat guard (Bauer), three sets of shoulder pads (CCM and two Bauer), elbow pads (Bauer), two sets of gloves (Itech), hockey pants (CCM), shin pads (Itech), hockey shorts (like boxershorts with a protector in them), three sets of green and gold hockey socks, a black practice sweater and a Bauer kit bag complete with shoulder strap.  Some of it is hardly used, all has been well looked after  $350.  Seemed fair all round.

After finally dropping B off home and then heading home myself, I could only think that I had been a very useful engine and it had been a very busy day. 

All good.

Game Day - Wheelers (4) d Shufflers (2)

Tonight was Round 3 of the Vikings Div 2 regular winter season.  We started our top of the ladder clash against the Shufflers at about 6.30pm.  I think everyone was looking forward to the game, I know I was.  All three of the games I played against this team last season were hard physical contests and all in very good spirits (we led the series 2-1).  The best thing about tonight's game was that this rivalry without rancour remained the defining feature of the contest.

I'd forgotten my gloves (the first time I've forgotten a piece of equipment other than my skates (!)) and was glad to be able to borrow Matt the Goalie's spare set (!) of skater's gloves.  A neat set of Bauers, a lot less bulky than my Mission Commanders.  Though, the week I took a few strikes and pucks on the gloves and know that the only thing that saved my hands was my now scarred gloves proved the worth of the padding (even now, I can feel the impact site on the edge of my hand).

The other major difference in my kit tonight was that I brought my Bauer Ice Stick rather than my usual Easton wooden stick.  The Bauer is a lot lighter and has a fibre flex to it (potentially allowing much more power, though I still don't press the stick hard enough in a shot to benefit from this).  There were a couple moments during offensive plays plays tonight when I was specifically aware of the benefit of the lightness of my stick.  I think I'll make my Bauer my 'match stick'.

The game itself was a tough contest.  Alex boomed all four of our goals, all from relatively close and very deliberate.  He's potentially a bit of a sharpshooter, though his score could have been more if he had a quick snapshot as well.

Half way through the first period, we were 2-0 up  when their two guns combined to put them in reach.  Alex answered back a couple minutes later to reinstate the two goal cushion, only to have Alan shoot one in with seconds to go from half way.  This was the goal against that was scored while I was on the floor.  I was tracking Alan and crossing his path about a couple metres from him on centre wing.  He fired off a strong wristshot that got no higher than a foot from the floor the whole distance and was dropping as it crossed the goal mouth in a gap about four inches wide between keeper and post.  Probably the best shot I've seen on goal yet.  I was inches from blocking the shot, could have done so - but by the time I thought of it it was too late.  Good training in hockey sense!

So we went into half time at 3-2, and anything but confident.  They had had us under strong pressure at the end of the period, and Alan's goal had shown us that we only needed to drop our guard for a moment and they could capitalise.

The second half was a much more dour affair, with their Mark probably the best player, skating hard and dishing the puck around.  We did rise to the occasion, but only just at times, and at others it came down to a couple great saves by Matt the Goalie.  Our whole team contributed to the occasion, with Matt desperate in the midfield, Merrilyn and Brenton providing their own high standard of defensive coverage, Alex posing a constant threat and me enjoying playing pivot behind the play and skating up the puck before passing off.  I managed a court length stretch pass at one point, and a half court bank pass (off the boards) at another, both were tape to tape in the end.  In the last minute of the game Alex and I combined to put paid to their persistent attacks with a neat and deliberate goal, me passing from mid court to him uncovered in the lower left slot - resulting in control of the puck and a deliberate shot into the top corner.

So, the Wheelers now sit  a game clear on top of the ladder.  Despite this, any of the games could have gone the other way (or so it felt at the time), but I thought that this was our best effort yet.  And, as I said earlier, it was a great fun game also, so the handshakes and 'good games' at the end were full of good vibes and smiles.  There were no penalties and no criticisms of the umpiring of which I was aware.

I was pretty happy with my own play, being on the floor for three of our goals and one of theirs, scoring one assist, finding time with the puck, not getting totally blown, totaling probably slightly over 20 minutes floor time, controlling the puck and occasionally the play.  I won 6 out of 7 face offs, for which we were much more aggressive in our set up than last week (ie. two or three forward, as opposed to playing two back as we did last week).  I had about five shots on goal, including a couple jams at the crease, a backhand snap and two strong wrist shots, one coming in at speed from wing (could and should have crossed the goalmouth before shooting) and the other from within a pack in the bottom of the slot.  I learned that you can find time even the middle of a pack if you maintain proper focus.

The biggest things I got from the experience in terms of my individual game were the experiences of taking puck possesion and then evaluating/deciding/executing in a time span appropriate to the situation (ie. seconds when in deep D taking a pass back for a reset, milliseconds in a pack in front of the crease before unleashing the unexpected backhand that so NEARLY crossed the line underneath and behind the sprawled goalie before the ref blew the whistle), leaving the puck (carrier) to the goalie and taking the man when they were on the rush, and the experience of being stick checked twice from behind by Alan as I wound up for a shot coming in at speed from mid rink (must remember to use the technique myself a bit more, as well as put more emphasis on protecting the puck prior to the shot when I can do so (as I could have in both of these instances)).

GP 3 G 3 A 3 TP 6 +5 3/0/0

Back to School. Again.

Being a beautiful autumnal day I finally got my opportunity to go out for a neighborhood skate this morning.  Couldn't do too much in terms of working out because I have a game this evening at Gawler so contented myself with grabbing stick and pucks and heading down the primary school, taking a punt that the construction works that made the netball court surface unusable when daylight saving ended were either completed or at least advanced to clean up stage.

Luckily, I was right in my assumption.  I had to adjust what I'd do to account for a few materials left near my traditional goal shooting site, and a fair bit of detrius on the surface.  However, the trench had been ashphalted over, I could sweep off the detrius, and I could adjust where on the court I skated and what I did to account for contractor's vehicles and materials on other parts of the surface.  All good.

So, I contented myself by setting up the neon puck as a target against some concrete and snapping the green pucks at it from 15'-20' until I needed a breather, and followed that up with a series of puck carrying slaloms through a simple course of puck pylons, completing each run through with a shot on goal at about 30'.  Ended up with a run of five sprints in to pick up puck from the centre, control and release at 20'.  The particular skills that I kept at forefront in the skating were my heel to heels both ways, and the move of deking one way but crossing over the other direction simultaneously.  This latter is still not probably drilled enough to use in a game comfortably but I am improving.  Total time on court, a bit less than an hour before the skate home.

Didn't push myself too hard as I didn't wish to either risk injury or tightness in muscles.  And it was thoroughly enjoyable and brought a smile to people that saw me on the street and at the school.

Vikings Training - more passing games

Tonight was the regular Vikings inline hockey training at Gawler for us lower grade adult players.  About fifteen present.  I got there early for probably the first time ever, many thanks to the missus for restructuring her own day to give me the opportunity (car).  The anthropologist in me finds the whole experience of what goes on in change rooms to be fascinating.  But that's another post for another day.  Let's perhaps say that it breeds a distinct sense of camaraderie amongst participants.

Which is good, because when accidents happen (and they do) and people get hurt, there's no aggro.  Tonight, for example, Jai got tangled with another player and ended up in pain on the floor.  And not getting up.  With a sore shoulder.  And he's a fairly tough bugga.  But it was all very 'matter of fact' as an event, even when the ambulance crews arrived and there was a huddle of fellow players around his suppine body on the bench.  Kinda reminded me of laying on of hands, or the grieving mary's at golgotha.  Perhaps, looking back on it, the strangest aspect (though not at the time) was how seemingly natural was the fact that our training session continued on in the adjoining rink at the same intensity and almost the same volume as before, stopping only at the appointed time.

We did less drills than at the ice academy last night, but we did (a few) more repetitions for each drill.  There's something to be said for both approaches, depends on the pedagogic emphasis you wish to achieve.  I'm happy to trust my coaches on the matter.

Started with groups of three players, each group formed in a line between a player at each of the red lines at opposite ends of the rink and a skater in the middle.  The middle skater would skate towards each of the opposing end players in turn, passing to the stationary player on the journey in and receiving a pass on the way out as they looped around behind them, then in a long figure eight to do the same with the player at the opposite end of the rink.  They would then pass off to one of the stationary skaters who would then become the skater in the middle.  Then there'd be another pass off and the third skater would have their time in the middle.  Started reasonably slow, sped up as it went.

Then, with the groups of three holding their positions (one at each end and one in the middle), moved to a high tempo passing drill.  Centre skater now just skated partway towards one of the stationary players, receiving a pass from them and then immediately passing it back before stopping and heading back towards the other stationary player.  Repeat five times, then the centre skater swaps with one of the stationary players until all three have had a go at being centre.

Then, two groups on opposite ends of one of the goal lines, goalie in the goals between.  One from each group departs, up the boards to the defensive zone before curling across and swapping sides with each other.  One of the two skaters will have carried up a puck, passes it off to the second skater.  They then skate back down the boards towards the goal line, with a pass from F1 to F2 for a shot on goal.  After the pass, F1's job is to skate hard at the net for any rebounds.  We all got to do this maybe four or five times.  (It was during this drill that Jai was injured.  I didn't see what happened, but saw the immediate aftermath with both skaters on the ice.  My guess is that they collided).

Then, everyone into the middle for an description of a variation of 'red rover'.  A goal was put in the centre of the rink, facing the side boards.  The goalie was in the goal mouth.  Two or three players started in a line across the centre.  Everyone else had a puck and lined up across one of the opposing end goal lines.  The puck carriers had to skate their puck beyond the opposing red line.  The guys in the middle had to stop them, take the puck, and put it in the net.  The skater who had been dispossessed would meanwhile try and get their puck back and get it to the safe zone behind the red line.  If a goal was scored with a puck, that puck's original carrier joined the defenders in the middle.  The successful puck carriers got to repeat the exercise, until there was only one left.  Ganging up on the attacker, and passing to others for the goal was expected.  The drill combined offence, defence, puck possession and protection, passing, 'two way play' (the sudden transition from carrying a puck to battling for it and defending the goalie).  We did it twice, both times the coach being the last man standing.  As it should be.  Very great fun.

Then, about three penalty shots each.  And finally we had to be quiet (presumably at the paramedic's request), so we just did some laps.

Great training.

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.