Played my first hockey of the season last night up at UBC. Actually, this was first hockey since last December, I think, as there was a cat-pee incident involving my hockey bag and equipment, which resulted in my throwing out my bag, along with my pants, helmet and gloves.
So yesterday, with fresh money in hand, I spent $200 on ‘cheap’ hockey equipment (+ Day paid for a new helmet as an early birthday present — Thanks Day & Nicole!), and so was all kitted out (although no shoulder pads, as well, for some ‘tripod’ hockey, they shouldn’t really be required and are pretty expensive.
And so to UBC we went, to play this slacker game, that turned out to be anything but. It was fast paced, and significantly more skilled than I’d been anticipating. Of course, because it was the first outing of the season, we also got extra ice time. Apart from looking somewhat foolish out there, what with people skating circles around me (although my entire team seemed to suffer this, as our defense was as porous as wet paper), I just ran out of gas about 20 minutes before I actually stopped playing, and this was with me taking more rests than others.
So today, I’m sore, but I have to say, it felt really great to be out on the ice again, and I can’t wait until the next time I play. Hockey’s such a great sport. I just need to work on my skills some, I think. I remember the plays, but seem to have lost the skills to deal with them. Oh well. Hopefully I’ll improve on what I think was a -6 on the night too. And I’ll get some shoulder pads, so that if there is some digging in the corners, I’m not too timid to join in because I don’t want to get crunched without padding.