Back where we started, here we go 'round again...

[Hoosier Daddy]

The Fall 08 season finds me playing on the team that brought me in to the league just over 6 years ago, Team Labatt, in the LAHPA C-League.
If I'm not mistaken, I haven't played with them, even as a sub, since that first season.

Anyhow, first game is Sunday at 6:23 p.m. - Second game is at 7:31 p.m.
That's right, folks, a stacked double header on the very first night. That's o.k., though, it will be a bonding experience after all these years. :D

Here's a link to the league's website if you want to check it out. Louisville Adult Hockey Players Association (http://www.lahpa.com)

[Moving Target]

That looks like a great league!

[Spidey]

The Stanley keg, that is awesome!

[Hounsy]

How weird, I know two people on the C- league Labatt team in the Stanley keg photo album.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Let me guess, Shannon & Gary?

[Hounsy]

Shannon and Dom, though at her wedding I did meet a few others from her Louisville Hockey. I'll have to get my wife to dig up some good "inside info" digs you can use on her, could really confuse her.:D

[boyzero]

"Anyhow, first game is Sunday at 6:23 p.m. - Second game is at 7:31 p.m"

Y'all got some odd start times down there...

Good luck!

[Hoosier Daddy]

and they always run late.

[Hoosier Daddy]

The remains of Hurricane Ike brought some intense weather through here over the weekend. Winds of up to 72 mph were recorded, causing incredible damage throughout Kentucky and Indiana.

I lost power at my house at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday and didn't get it back until about 8:00 p.m., this evening.

Anyhow, the rink was among the estimated 300,000 without power, so the start of the season has been pushed back until next weekend.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Well, we finally got the season underway and I'm happy to say that it went well.

The first game was against the defending Keg Champions, Pylons. It was a fun and hard faught game that ended in a 4-3 loss for my team. I was happy with the way that I played and I received some compliments from my team and the Pylons players. Always nice to hear positive things.

I had just enough time to go refill the water bottle when the zamboni was finished and the Beermen took the ice for Game 2 of the night.

The best thing about the first game was that we really started hitting our stride in the 3rd period. Unfortunately, for the Beermen, we carried that in to the next game. Can't remember the final score but we won double digits to 3.

I'm putting together a website for my team and, while I still have some work to do (including posting pictures from both games), I think it's coming along nicely. Check it out and let me know what you think.
http://www.goaliecards.com/lahpa/labatt.html

[Hoosier Daddy]

Here are a few pics from the games.

http://www.goaliecards.com/glbb1.JPG
http://www.goaliecards.com/glbb2.JPG
http://www.goaliecards.com/glbb3.JPG
http://www.goaliecards.com/glbb4.JPG

[Hoosier Daddy]

Game 3 is in the books, a 7-2 win. Unfortunately, I think I could have done much better.

My team dominated and I didn't see many shots, I think that may have contributed to two bad goals. Oh well, a win is a win.

2-1-0 and I have shaken whatever was wrong with me last season.

[Timmaayy]

What rink do you play at down there?

[Hoosier Daddy]

Iceland arena, just off of Hurstborne Lane.

[Hoosier Daddy]

2-2-0 after another 4-3 loss to the defending Keg Champions.

The first one that went in was bad. The shot came in from my glove side and I thought I had the angle right but I should have been on the post. Went right in between me and the post.

Wasn't too thrilled with the second goal, either, but it wasn't as bad as the first.

We play our 3rd and final game against them, this Sunday. I'll get those bastids.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Final regular season game against the Pylons results in a 2-1 loss. :mad:
They scored on a rebound in the 1st and then everyone was held scoreless until early in the 3rd.

Their second goal came when I thought I had a shot covered but there was no whistle and they kept hacking at me. Somehow, they got it in.

We got our goal with 4 minutes left in the 3rd.

meh, I'm not too disappointed, though. We played good; the other goalie played better.

[Hoosier Daddy]

This season seems to have a common tread running through it....

At the end of Sunday's game, everyone was telling me what a great game I had played, one of my team mates even said "Oh my God, you made like 400 F'ing saves tonight!".

Unfortunately, I needed 401 to get a point. We lost 3-2

Not feeling bad about it, I played a good game. I made 1 mistake, I knew it as soon as I did it, and it ended up being a goal.

They came in on a 2 on 0 breakaway and I played the guy carrying the puck until I knew he had no choice but to pass to his right wing. I started to move to position myself on the guy receiving the pass then I realized it.....I had started my move before the pass came off of his stick. He just flipped it between my legs.


2nd goal was a good goal

3rd was bad. I was screened but I knew where it was and I had position. One of my guys tried to intercept it and ended up tipping it just over my right shoulder.

No big deal, there will be another game on Sunday.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Worst loss this season, 5-3.

The first two goals were bad; the first coming from an innocent enough flip in, from a bad angle, to my left. It seems as though I wasn't quite on the post. The second was a 2 on and my defenseman decided to play the guy with the puck instead of the pass. I dropped and tried for the poke check and just missed it. He simply flipped it over me.

I played a pretty good game, otherwise, but really started coming in to my own in the 3rd. A lot of good saves then but we were too far down at that point.

2 - 5 on the season :(

[Hoosier Daddy]

Ever get the feeling that you're just not as good as you thought you were?

I went to another rink on Thursday night, for a pick up game. They're trying to start another league there and one of the perks is that goalies will play for free. Having never been to this rink before, I felt the need to check it out.

Never before have I felt as though I was in so over my head. I just couldn't compete with these guys, I had no business being on the ice with them. They were all cool and just having fun but I knew that I didn't belong there.

Sunday rolls around and I'm back at my usual rink for my 5:15 game vs the Wolfpack. The game didn't start off so bad, I let in a bad goal and my guys quickly evened it up. That happened 3 times.
It really sucks, I was making some great saves and stopping things that, by all rights, should have been goals. It was the simple, routine, saves that I couldn't make. The sad thing is, this has become my m.o. Not sure why but I just can't stop the easy ones.

I know that, at some point, I started trying too hard. I don't like coming out of my crease to play the puck because, historically, I'm not very good at it. It's always a desperation move on my part and it, generally, ends up as a turnover and a goal. That's exactly what happened.

I don't remember the final score, I'll post that when the league updates their website, but I think it was 5, or 6, to 3.

I'm really getting tired of coming off of the ice mad at myself, knowing that this team has lost another game because I'm unable to correct the things that I know I'm doing wrong.

Granted, it's difficult when I'm only on the ice once a week and that is for a game but it still wears on me.

2-6-0

Maybe next week.

[Hoosier Daddy]

yah, I was right. Last weeks game was 6-3.
I know a that doesn't seem so bad but it was my worst loss of the season and it was killing me that I could point out the stupid mistake that I had made which led to each of the 6 goals. Oh well, that's in the past.

Tonight's game seemed, going in to it, like a good opportunity to get another win. That is, until we got on the ice. The goalie for the opposing team was out and the sub that they were using was the top goalie in our league. When we realized this, people started saying that this completely changed our plan of attack.

Of course, I pointed out that it was only a sub goalie and did nothing to change their offence.

We went up 3-0 in the first and I was feeling really good about the way that I was playing. Staying calm, not thinking about last week's loss and, after each save, I simply whispered to myself "Just stop the next one.".

That held up until about half way through the second period, when they scored their only goal against me.

We were able to put 2 more on the board and won 5 - 1

3-6-0 on the season with one regular season game left. That will be next week against the Wolfpack, and I have a 6-3 loss to make up for.

[Hoosier Daddy]

http://www.goaliecards.com/lahpa/billy.jpg

It would seem as though I came up a little short of avenging my 6-3 loss to the Wolfpack.

My team scored first and we were up 3-0 and before I let in 3 bad ones. My team didn't give up, though, they scored two more and we were up 5-3 before I fell apart. We ended up losing 11-5.

There's no question that I've lost it but I've got to try to keep it together for a little while longer.
Play-offs start today and we have a play in game at 5:15 against the Beermen. The winner of that game takes the ice at 7:31 against the Wolfpack.

[Hoosier Daddy]

What a night! The play in game might have been the most fun game ever!

The Beermen were once again without their regular goalie (I found out that her most recent knee surgeries have finally put her out) and, once again, the top goalie in the league was her fill in.
I had a shutout going until about 4 minutes left in the 2nd period (we were up 2-0) and the period ended tied at 2.

The 3rd was tough at both ends and each team was able to put in 1.

At the end of regulation, tied at 3, we went to an overtime period which was just as tough as the 3rd and ended still tied at 3.

5 on 5 shoot out was next, with each of us letting 1 in, ended tied at 4.

Sudden death shootout took 3 shooters to decide. We won! :eek: :D

It was a fun game and everyone in the building, that wasn't playing, was pressed against the glass cheering. Absolutely incredible!

With the play in game won, we had to go back in the locker room and wait for our game against the # 1 seeded Wolfpack.

We were missing some players, exhausted from the first game and cold from having to wait between games. Not to mention that they have handed our asses to us every time we've played them.

My season ended with a 5-0 loss.

I'll miss playing with these guys, I like all of them and they have fun playing. There's not a single jerk on the team. But, their goalie is scheduled to be completely rehabbed from his hand surgery and back for the Winter Season. Once again, I'll move on to fill someone else's spot.

I've already been told that I will take over for the Beermen or, the Wolfpack's goalie will move to the Beermen and I will fill his spot. Either way, I'm happy.

That play in game was the shot that I needed and it came at just the right time. I was seriously starting to think that I was done but that game made me believe that I can still compete and there's no way that I can walk away after having that much fun. :)