A little before 7pm Tonight at the Gawler Rec Centre the Wheelers played the Shufflers in a tight 2-2 draw. At our last meeting Wheelers had won 3-2 with a final minute goal. This time, I scored the first goal, unassisted. Hammered away from in front of the goal and around to my left for three shots total, rebounding off the progressively less balanced goalie each time until my third short goes in on his open glove side. Moderately powerful wrist shot. They equalised a few minutes later. We went into half time tied at one.
The second half was just as tight. Again, we scored first from a scrum in the crease on the one powerplay of the game. Their goalie got very vocal that no penalty had been called for the fact that someone had been standing on his blocker (goalie stick) in what he thought was his crease. Seems that the referee couldn't see it, and our player (experienced player) maintains that the goalie was actually out of his crease by a couple of feet.
We held the lead till the final five minutes or so, when their skilled veteran received a pass back on the point (near the centre line, towards the boards) and had enough time to loop backwards and towards the centre, from where he launched a powerful shot that went through a group of three skaters and into the top corner of the net above the goalie's catcher. Potent shot. The final minute of the game was marked by about five shots from the slot in front of our goal (area directly in front of the goal, say 3m-6m distance), as their wing kept grabbing the rebound and passing to their centre for another shot and subsequent save/rebound by our goalie. It was only when our third skater dropped back and we played the game out with 3D and a final rush that I stopped fearing the loss. Good game.
I could have maybe prevented their second goal as I was coming back from the offensive zone at the time and actually thought of pinching down to interfere with Alan the Veteran as he carried the puck towards centre, but I went further out for some vague reason instead. The good thing was, I did think of the right action to take that could well have won us the game. The bad thing was, I didn't do it. Need to get more mentally flexible.
My goal was my strongest and most deliberate yet. I think I knew it at the time as I had a small private 'air punch' to celebrate in the crease (where I'd come to in case of another rebound). Probably made possible by the fact that I'd gone for a 'morning skate' and shot pucks down at the primary school earlier in the day - working on the very scenario that actually eventuated in the game. Good training routines.
I played on the 'first line' for much of my time, though scored the goal with the Pfeiffers. Our team is generally older, and we each have our own particular abilities. Mine is, I think positioning. Meryllyn's is her poke check. Dylan's, his skating and slapshot. Digger's, stick handling. Brendan, owning the corners. Mal, his stolid determination in attack. We all pass, talk and look. The 'first' line has probably the more agile and speedy skaters. Of course, we were also continuously mixing it up. Good group to play with.
I got a stick full in the face cage. If I'd been wearing a visor it would have struck between nose and mouth. Don't know who's stick it was, realise it was incidental and not deliberate, never-the-less wanted to slash at any opponent's stick held higher than waist high for a few minutes.
We remain at the top of the ladder, with Rockers three points below. We play them in the late game next week for the final fixture of the regular season. We'll be playing them again the following week in the Qualifying final. It's quite possible that we'll play them the following week in the grand final. It's almost like playoffs!
My season: 3-0-1 G3 A1 P4 +/- +4
Bruise update: almost no hinderance now, has lightened to a deep rich violet.
Fridge
Sunday, 9 March 2014
Saturday, 8 March 2014
Go, Shannon Szabados, Go!
As a hockey player, and as a female hockey player, you just want to be seen as a hockey player and as a goalie.
Shannon Szabados, after training with the Oilers (Oilers TV)
Shannon Szabados, gold medal goalie in Canada's women's team, is apparently about to play in the Southern Professional Hockey League for the Columbus Cottonmouths (gotta love the names of some hockey teams!). She'll be the first woman to have played in the league if she does. Just like she was the first woman to play in the Western Hockey League (for a game with the Tricity Americans). For those that don't know, these are big leagues. She trained with the Edmonton Oilers this week. She is breaking through! One has to applaud the fact that Shannon is able to play in leagues that feed into the very top layers of the ice hockey world. It can't be easy. Applause for her too! Go Shannon!
Info from NHL website.
My appreciation continues to grow of the fact that, in the world of hockey, women and men are able to meet in legitimate competition where there are no unwritten rules or affirmative actions (except, perhaps, the 'don't hit sheilas' rule). There aren't many sports that allow this in any except for a novelty event. In hockey it's skill and, to a less extreme degree, size that sets the benchmarks. It's part of what I've call 'the democracy of the ice,' where age, ethnicity and gender are all secondary characteristics of one's fellow skaters, all ranking behind their ability to skate. This is as it should be.
Less so with inline than ice, but that comes down perhaps to the intrinsic social and structural differences between these two forms of the art.
Non-checking leagues
Our C Grade ice hockey league plays a 'non checking' game, which to some purists makes it not 'real hockey' that we play. And, to be fair, the only time someone was given a match penalty during a game in which I played was when one of our opposition was sent off for smacking down a spectator (one of his own team's supporters, ironically). There was history behind the fight which I won't go into, and the guy in the crowd probably deserved it, but the player shouldn't have done it.
Just like Canuck, Zack Kassian, shouldn't have done the 'check' on Dallas Star's Brenden Dillon in their recent 6-1 loss in the NHL that got him a major penalty (his team plays with one less skater less on the ice that it otherwise would have for 5 minutes) and a game misconduct (face the disciplinary tribunal) for 'boarding' - intentionally forcing someone into the boards from behind with intent (check the link to the cool gif at this post on a Stars website)).
Violence in hockey is something I'll go into in some detail at some future date, but for now I'd say that, even without body checking, hockey is still a 'collision based sport' in its non-checking form. As such, is quite a lot of rough and tumble. I suspect that those who criticise it as soft hockey haven't actually played a game. When you see the bruises and feel the aggression on the ice you know that it still one of the harder games going.
Even the 'gentle cousin' (inline hockey) has quite a lot of push and shove. In fact, last Saturday one of the 'games within the game' that was happening while the Wheelers played the Bumpers was that I was involved in probably the most enjoyable match of physical tactics (body blocks, cutting out, stick checking, etc) that have played across a game with an opponent. In this case, just to show the joys of C Grade, a female. I think that both she and I were around the same size and build and skill level (she's a bit better skater though) and had a similarly aggressive mode on the rink. We both checked with each other after a non-hit hit to make sure that the other player was neither hurt nor upset before we proceeded to dogfight grinningly through the rest of the game. Shaking her hand at the end meant something, I tell you!
And it is always a pleasure for me to have the twenty something year old hulking male try to bully me out of my space on the ice. Usually they get away with it the first time as I give anyone the benefit of the doubt, but once they've shown their colours it's a case of my tenacity and guile against their usually simplistic reliance on size and mass. We 'little guys' have a few tricks in our sticks, aye, and it's nice to see a bit of respect is there usually by the next face off. All depending on skill levels, of course, as well as the animal drives.
Bottom line, for someone my age and stature, a 'non checking' league makes a good hard physical game a practical possibility even in middle age. A very good thing indeed.
Just like Canuck, Zack Kassian, shouldn't have done the 'check' on Dallas Star's Brenden Dillon in their recent 6-1 loss in the NHL that got him a major penalty (his team plays with one less skater less on the ice that it otherwise would have for 5 minutes) and a game misconduct (face the disciplinary tribunal) for 'boarding' - intentionally forcing someone into the boards from behind with intent (check the link to the cool gif at this post on a Stars website)).
Violence in hockey is something I'll go into in some detail at some future date, but for now I'd say that, even without body checking, hockey is still a 'collision based sport' in its non-checking form. As such, is quite a lot of rough and tumble. I suspect that those who criticise it as soft hockey haven't actually played a game. When you see the bruises and feel the aggression on the ice you know that it still one of the harder games going.
Even the 'gentle cousin' (inline hockey) has quite a lot of push and shove. In fact, last Saturday one of the 'games within the game' that was happening while the Wheelers played the Bumpers was that I was involved in probably the most enjoyable match of physical tactics (body blocks, cutting out, stick checking, etc) that have played across a game with an opponent. In this case, just to show the joys of C Grade, a female. I think that both she and I were around the same size and build and skill level (she's a bit better skater though) and had a similarly aggressive mode on the rink. We both checked with each other after a non-hit hit to make sure that the other player was neither hurt nor upset before we proceeded to dogfight grinningly through the rest of the game. Shaking her hand at the end meant something, I tell you!
And it is always a pleasure for me to have the twenty something year old hulking male try to bully me out of my space on the ice. Usually they get away with it the first time as I give anyone the benefit of the doubt, but once they've shown their colours it's a case of my tenacity and guile against their usually simplistic reliance on size and mass. We 'little guys' have a few tricks in our sticks, aye, and it's nice to see a bit of respect is there usually by the next face off. All depending on skill levels, of course, as well as the animal drives.
Bottom line, for someone my age and stature, a 'non checking' league makes a good hard physical game a practical possibility even in middle age. A very good thing indeed.
Thursday, 6 March 2014
Kings sweep C Grade Finals
3rd post I've written this evening. Will keep it short as the foxtel condensed version of Flyers v Washington starts in five minutes.
I was babysitting this evening with nancy, only got away from his-royal-highness once the final bedtime story was read (ah, if only I ever met pepe pig on the ice!). Hastily I begged play-off fever as my excuse and got to the Ice Arena for the final minutes of the second game of the final playoffs (best of three grand final series between the winners of the semifinal rounds).
Kings v Rangers. Kings won the first game of the series. Rangers had been on top of the ladder for two thirds of the season. Kings had had to fight off the Flyers in the elimination final before the playoffs. Rangers had won the last two C Grade seasons. Both times against my own Knights. Both times by one goal. This season, we went down to each of these teams by one goal. Against the Kings it was in a shootout. Against the Rangers, in the final minute. There but for the grace of the hockey gods go I, I thought, as I pulled into the Ice Arena.
I got there for the final five minutes of the final period. It was good to see C Grade hockey after a break of a few weeks. I immediately could see the intensity, complexity and speed which is ice hockey, what sets it apart from all other sports. Why we love it so.
Nice to see the Kings won (7-3), giving them the cup. Well done, guys!
I was babysitting this evening with nancy, only got away from his-royal-highness once the final bedtime story was read (ah, if only I ever met pepe pig on the ice!). Hastily I begged play-off fever as my excuse and got to the Ice Arena for the final minutes of the second game of the final playoffs (best of three grand final series between the winners of the semifinal rounds).
Kings v Rangers. Kings won the first game of the series. Rangers had been on top of the ladder for two thirds of the season. Kings had had to fight off the Flyers in the elimination final before the playoffs. Rangers had won the last two C Grade seasons. Both times against my own Knights. Both times by one goal. This season, we went down to each of these teams by one goal. Against the Kings it was in a shootout. Against the Rangers, in the final minute. There but for the grace of the hockey gods go I, I thought, as I pulled into the Ice Arena.
I got there for the final five minutes of the final period. It was good to see C Grade hockey after a break of a few weeks. I immediately could see the intensity, complexity and speed which is ice hockey, what sets it apart from all other sports. Why we love it so.
Nice to see the Kings won (7-3), giving them the cup. Well done, guys!
Letters, sweaters and hockey sense
This is an extract from something I recently wrote to someone:
In ice hockey, the concepts of drills, neural pathways, muscle memory and 'hockey sense' are very closely related. So, as clumbsy as we might appear, over rationalisation of the skating per se is rarely the problem. It's usually trying to do too much, or having drilled strongly the wrong technique. Our lack of confidence is more about the higher reaches of the game (our 'hockey sense') than our technique. It's such a fast sport that there isn't time to think through the doing of something that your muscles won't do automatically. The problem is more, what to do.
From russia, I think I'd love a hockey sweater*. I'll get the name(s) of the local superteam for St Petersberg (I keep wanting to call it Leningrad). Where are you staying in Germany? - I might put in an 'order' there too! It's cool to have lots of hockey tops, in mid season we're on the ice five times a week so can go through them pretty quickly.
* 'Sweater' is such an appropriate word for a hockey jersey!
In ice hockey, the concepts of drills, neural pathways, muscle memory and 'hockey sense' are very closely related. So, as clumbsy as we might appear, over rationalisation of the skating per se is rarely the problem. It's usually trying to do too much, or having drilled strongly the wrong technique. Our lack of confidence is more about the higher reaches of the game (our 'hockey sense') than our technique. It's such a fast sport that there isn't time to think through the doing of something that your muscles won't do automatically. The problem is more, what to do.
From russia, I think I'd love a hockey sweater*. I'll get the name(s) of the local superteam for St Petersberg (I keep wanting to call it Leningrad). Where are you staying in Germany? - I might put in an 'order' there too! It's cool to have lots of hockey tops, in mid season we're on the ice five times a week so can go through them pretty quickly.
* 'Sweater' is such an appropriate word for a hockey jersey!
Bruised butt better
I gathered the courage this morning to check my sore butt out in the mirror, especially as the muscles I banged up on Sunday felt like they were finally beginning to unknot themselves. There, on the side (where the fleshy bit meets the bony bit), was a nice big black bruise measuring about six inches by four. And by 'black' I mean black, not blue or any lesser colour. Ah, the relief! I'll have to learn why it is that a visible bruise seems to take much of the pain away and frees up the muscles.
I even was game to go skating with my youngest grandson on his bike this evening for about a half hour. I think I'll have another brief and gentle skate tomorrow arvo and then wait for Saturday's Wheelers' game to see how much effect almost a week off will have on my game.
I even was game to go skating with my youngest grandson on his bike this evening for about a half hour. I think I'll have another brief and gentle skate tomorrow arvo and then wait for Saturday's Wheelers' game to see how much effect almost a week off will have on my game.
Wednesday, 5 March 2014
Viking Training (not) and Fluero pucks
After a continuously draining day at work I managed to get home in time to collect the car for a hurried meal and trip to Vikings (inline hockey) training at Gawler. Feeling totally drained before I set out (but at last, finally, fed) I was way behind time to start with and it just got worse as everyone else decided to drive just slow enough to catch every red light. I had originally flagged the idea of not going due my almost exhaustion and in the interests of getting as close to full recovery on my most recent corked thigh but scratched that idea when I thought that might make it seem an option in future. Which is a long way of saying 'I was in two minds when I left.' Getting there (very) late with a corked thigh that finally seemed to be recovering, as well as being fairly tired, it was easy to decide to sit out the session and observe.
Which I did. Wrist shots, Slapshots, passing combinations, carrying the puck, were the topics of the day. Picked up a few ideas for some drills at home. Worth it.
Caught up with the guy who runs the hole-in-the-wall equipment shop. Bought an inline puck (lighter than an ice puck (plastic not rubber) and a different type of friction (due the small knobs it has on its rink surfaces to reduce frictioned areas)). Had a choice of products. Couldn't resist the neon orange one.
Drove back home listening to trench warfare on the final day of the test series in Capetown on the radio. Realised there's some sort of thread connecting the past few evenings.
Life can be such a blast.
Which I did. Wrist shots, Slapshots, passing combinations, carrying the puck, were the topics of the day. Picked up a few ideas for some drills at home. Worth it.
Caught up with the guy who runs the hole-in-the-wall equipment shop. Bought an inline puck (lighter than an ice puck (plastic not rubber) and a different type of friction (due the small knobs it has on its rink surfaces to reduce frictioned areas)). Had a choice of products. Couldn't resist the neon orange one.
Drove back home listening to trench warfare on the final day of the test series in Capetown on the radio. Realised there's some sort of thread connecting the past few evenings.
Life can be such a blast.
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
Synchronous Sports
I drove to Port Augusta (about 300km north) yesterday. Spent the night in a rustic caravan park. After the drive I wasn't in the mood for much else but mindlessness so ended up watching some TV. In particular, I watched a weekly round-up of the last week's A-League soccer games. Started thinking about the similarities I noticed between soccer and ice hockey. Found more than I would have first thought.
Then, tonight, drove back. Listened to Australia v South Africa on the radio, playing test cricket in Capetown (the 4th day of the third and final match of the series). When I got home I watched a bit on TV, albeit with the radio commentary instead of the televised guff that passes for commentary. Again, thinking of what I was hearing/seeing with a hockey template. And again, finding the similarities. Much to my surprise, I might add, for although I've read a post on another blog which compared a little of soccer and hockey, I haven't heard of anyone comparing or even contrasting the games of cricket and hockey.
Ah, a new idea! I thought, quite proud of myself.
So, sitting there feeling quite pleased, I became even more surprised when the radio commentator started comparing a particularly powerful stroke made by a rampant David Warner with a hockey shot whose name he didn't know (a slapshot, as it turned out when his fellow commentator pitched in). The original commentator then started dribbling about how ice hockey is a game he has always wanted to become a fan of, and of how he keeps watching games but finds himself enjoying the fights and the slapping into the perspex most because he can never see where the puck is. Why don't they paint it in a bright neon fleuro, he opines, so everybody can actually see it?
I used to be a bit like that, I think, you just gotta watch more hockey.
Interesting moment.
Then, tonight, drove back. Listened to Australia v South Africa on the radio, playing test cricket in Capetown (the 4th day of the third and final match of the series). When I got home I watched a bit on TV, albeit with the radio commentary instead of the televised guff that passes for commentary. Again, thinking of what I was hearing/seeing with a hockey template. And again, finding the similarities. Much to my surprise, I might add, for although I've read a post on another blog which compared a little of soccer and hockey, I haven't heard of anyone comparing or even contrasting the games of cricket and hockey.
Ah, a new idea! I thought, quite proud of myself.
So, sitting there feeling quite pleased, I became even more surprised when the radio commentator started comparing a particularly powerful stroke made by a rampant David Warner with a hockey shot whose name he didn't know (a slapshot, as it turned out when his fellow commentator pitched in). The original commentator then started dribbling about how ice hockey is a game he has always wanted to become a fan of, and of how he keeps watching games but finds himself enjoying the fights and the slapping into the perspex most because he can never see where the puck is. Why don't they paint it in a bright neon fleuro, he opines, so everybody can actually see it?
I used to be a bit like that, I think, you just gotta watch more hockey.
Interesting moment.
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Sunday Skate - Bruised, Battered, Brilliant.
After my experience today in a Sunday afternoon social skating session I reckon I'll have to add 'injuries' to my list of topic categories for this blog. Injuries are, after all, a fundamental aspect of skating in all its forms. Coming to terms with them (or, even better, avoiding them) is a key consideration in the compleat skater's development.
Take today. I went down for my regular sunday session at the Thebarton Ice Arena with two grandsons. They're taking weekly lessons which gives them also a free public session each week, so I've been taking them on a Sunday arvo. Suits my agenda well as, with all the inline skating I'm doing, I need to get on the ice at least weekly to keep my 'ice legs'. Another topic category?
Anyways, we rock up and notice that the car park which exists beneath the building has had all its nested parking defined since our last visit with bright painted markings dividing each parking bay into three spaces. And, amazingly, there are three cars in almost all of the parking bays rather than the usual two. Meaning, even though there's a zillion people there today (thanks, winter olympics, for bringing all these people to the ice, I'll even forgive you crowding out my usually quiet Sunday afternoon session), they can all can park their car on site. Including us.
So we park our car and head inside.
Usually we have a friend or younger one with us when we've come so it was a pleasant change for me to just skate, and not be having to keep an eye out for the needs of a beginner (much as I love teaching and supporting, I also enjoy just skating). So, the boys did their thing and I did mine.
Which as usual starts slow. As the muscles warm up and the ice sense returns, everything speeds up. A bit over an hour later, I'm pushing it fairly quickly, forwards, backwards, through the crowds. And I go over three times in the one lap. Haven't done that for a long long time.
I go over three different ways, doing three different things, all to the sound of 'California Dreaming'. By the last fall I'm feeling a bit shaken and stirred, so I get my breath on the side of the rink before continuing on at lesser speeds for the rest of the session. I'd managed to bang up three different spots on the same leg, from the glutious maximum down to the bony bit next to the knee cap. Sadly, I don't think I'll bruise (things usually hurt less if it bruises visibly), so I'll have a little reminder of my sunday skate for at least a week or three. Every time I get up. Sigh.
But it was worth it. Confident at speed on the ice. Great time with the boys. Good workout. Brilliant.
Take today. I went down for my regular sunday session at the Thebarton Ice Arena with two grandsons. They're taking weekly lessons which gives them also a free public session each week, so I've been taking them on a Sunday arvo. Suits my agenda well as, with all the inline skating I'm doing, I need to get on the ice at least weekly to keep my 'ice legs'. Another topic category?
Anyways, we rock up and notice that the car park which exists beneath the building has had all its nested parking defined since our last visit with bright painted markings dividing each parking bay into three spaces. And, amazingly, there are three cars in almost all of the parking bays rather than the usual two. Meaning, even though there's a zillion people there today (thanks, winter olympics, for bringing all these people to the ice, I'll even forgive you crowding out my usually quiet Sunday afternoon session), they can all can park their car on site. Including us.
So we park our car and head inside.
Usually we have a friend or younger one with us when we've come so it was a pleasant change for me to just skate, and not be having to keep an eye out for the needs of a beginner (much as I love teaching and supporting, I also enjoy just skating). So, the boys did their thing and I did mine.
Which as usual starts slow. As the muscles warm up and the ice sense returns, everything speeds up. A bit over an hour later, I'm pushing it fairly quickly, forwards, backwards, through the crowds. And I go over three times in the one lap. Haven't done that for a long long time.
I go over three different ways, doing three different things, all to the sound of 'California Dreaming'. By the last fall I'm feeling a bit shaken and stirred, so I get my breath on the side of the rink before continuing on at lesser speeds for the rest of the session. I'd managed to bang up three different spots on the same leg, from the glutious maximum down to the bony bit next to the knee cap. Sadly, I don't think I'll bruise (things usually hurt less if it bruises visibly), so I'll have a little reminder of my sunday skate for at least a week or three. Every time I get up. Sigh.
But it was worth it. Confident at speed on the ice. Great time with the boys. Good workout. Brilliant.
Saturday, 1 March 2014
Game Day: Wheelers defeat Bumpers 11-3
Tonight I played my third inline hockey game for the Wheelers, scoring a goal and an assist in our lopsided victory. My season (career) stats now stand at 3-0-0 2G 1A +4. The bulk of the scoreline came about through the combination of one of our forwards (Petz, 7G) and a rookie goalie for the Bumpers.
Two of their three goals against us were on an open net as we hadn't covered our defence zone (forcing the goalie to come out more than is wise), and the third was right at the end of the sole power play of the match (me and my team-mate stuck in a slugfest in front of our goal and not able to change lines, as a result being knackered after two minutes of the penalty kill and being unable to swipe the puck away from the line from behind our goalie for the third time in about a second). *sigh*
My goal was a (cleaner) mirror image from a week ago, this time with me carrying the puck to the centre and passing it deep into the right corner, then skating into the slot for the pass. This week, I spent a moment juggling the puck into my control before a mid strength wrist shot finding the gap on the goalie's glove side.
Last week it was a mad scramble up and down the rink from the centre face-off on, leaving two of the three opposition skaters on the floor behind me, and as I fell onto the goalie clinically noting that the puck had crossed the line so the goal would count despite landing on the goalie. All this after first stealing the rebounding puck from his defence and then pushing it through his legs. Pretty neat for a first goal :)
Here's the video (how lucky am I!):
Generally speaking, this week I was much more measured in my possession of the puck than previously. I carried it up rink several times (a first), tended to deke the puck into control when I got it before disposing of it (much better generally speaking than just blindly whacking it away from our goal) and even consciously evaluated my options on a number of occasions rather than just doing the first thing that sprang to mind.
The improvement is partly a result of spending an hour with puck and skates down at the local primary school of an evening through the week (the first time I've actually been able to properly practice with puck'nskate). Partly a result of good communications within the Wheelers. Partly a result of the nature of inline compared to ice (smaller rink, slower speeds, fewer players).
But more on all that some other time...
Two of their three goals against us were on an open net as we hadn't covered our defence zone (forcing the goalie to come out more than is wise), and the third was right at the end of the sole power play of the match (me and my team-mate stuck in a slugfest in front of our goal and not able to change lines, as a result being knackered after two minutes of the penalty kill and being unable to swipe the puck away from the line from behind our goalie for the third time in about a second). *sigh*
My goal was a (cleaner) mirror image from a week ago, this time with me carrying the puck to the centre and passing it deep into the right corner, then skating into the slot for the pass. This week, I spent a moment juggling the puck into my control before a mid strength wrist shot finding the gap on the goalie's glove side.
Last week it was a mad scramble up and down the rink from the centre face-off on, leaving two of the three opposition skaters on the floor behind me, and as I fell onto the goalie clinically noting that the puck had crossed the line so the goal would count despite landing on the goalie. All this after first stealing the rebounding puck from his defence and then pushing it through his legs. Pretty neat for a first goal :)
Here's the video (how lucky am I!):
My First Goal
22 February, 2014
Generally speaking, this week I was much more measured in my possession of the puck than previously. I carried it up rink several times (a first), tended to deke the puck into control when I got it before disposing of it (much better generally speaking than just blindly whacking it away from our goal) and even consciously evaluated my options on a number of occasions rather than just doing the first thing that sprang to mind.
The improvement is partly a result of spending an hour with puck and skates down at the local primary school of an evening through the week (the first time I've actually been able to properly practice with puck'nskate). Partly a result of good communications within the Wheelers. Partly a result of the nature of inline compared to ice (smaller rink, slower speeds, fewer players).
But more on all that some other time...
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