WillyGrips13's GoPro Adventure

[WillyGrips13]

Thanks. This group, as with many around here at least recently, has a very mixed level of skill. This means the good players will stand out more and have an easier time of it. Also the novices usually end up on defense and we all know how that makes it harder on us. You may of noticed two goals were deflected by defenders  

There were two skates I used to go to that had a consistently high level of play. I had to give them up due to scheduling and I needed to cut back on playing because I was getting some nagging injuries while playing nearly everyday. One of those skates has since lowered its level and has the same type of talent variance you see in this video. The other one, I have no idea. Otherwise it would be in upper leagues where I’d face consistent talent. Of course it’s only enjoyable if both your team and the opponent have the same level of talent. Currently I’m playing goal on a team in a mid-level league, still pretty good level. I’m also skating out on another team in a lower division. 

I have played in the top divisions before and you have to be alert at all times as players have lethal release. I also need teammates who are of the same caliber as the opponents in those divisions because if I’m exposed I’ll get lit up. I can be competitive if I have the support. 

BTW, I brought out my Brown 2100 chest protector for this skate and it felt fine. I rarely use it. 

[WillyGrips13]

Subbed at a regular Tuesday group. Hour and a half skate plus last goal wins. Mixed level of skill as is the norm for many of these groups. I had some five-hole issues early in this one. Eventually sorted them out and played fine. Sometimes I get annoyed with the type of goals I'm allowing and it helps me focus more.

I played tonight, too. First time outdoors this season. They just got the ice up and running Saturday. I'll have that video ready hopefully tomorrow. It feels like a full time job editing this footage.

 

[WillyGrips13]

Nothing too exciting here. This was a novice heavy skate. Not the same level as the Tuesday video.

 

[Fullright]

1st Video: Nice save at 1:10! Wow at 2:30. 5:17 is awesome. Pretty fantastic job, Willy. I got nothing negative for you. Good work, esp the glove!

[Imperative]

I thought you played will in both skates! Love the Winnipeg jersey in the 2nd video made me think of Rick tabberaci 

[WillyGrips13]

Nice Tabaracci reference. On one team I was on the captain called me that when I wore this jersey with these pads and gloves. They didn't have a goalie sized jersey for me when we wore white, so I'd wear this one sometimes.

Here's Friday night's skate. This is the first of the Friday outdoor skates. It's a regular group that plays every week during the season of this rink being open. The afterparty is always good with plenty of beer, liquor and pretzels and peanuts. This is the group that I started using the GoPro at.

This video is kind of long. I probably could have cut out some of the puck handling and I mistook some misses as saves during the editing process. The footage is kind of jumpy when I'm editing. Probably the result of using an older computer without the fastest processor.

At least there weren't any five-hole goals in this session. It's been a theme recently.

 

[Imperative]

Many good saves, especially all those breakaway saves. I know you said you played outdoors and I don’t know why I didn’t notice before I guess I was thinking no roof on it. What city do you play in that you have that nice of an outdoor rink, plus cold enough to have an outdoor rink. 

[WillyGrips13]

44 minutes ago, Imperative said:

Many good saves, especially all those breakaway saves. I know you said you played outdoors and I don’t know why I didn’t notice before I guess I was thinking no roof on it. What city do you play in that you have that nice of an outdoor rink, plus cold enough to have an outdoor rink. 

This rink is in Simsbury, which is in central Connecticut. Probably 25-30 minutes drive from Hartford, to the northwest. I live in West Hartford which as you might expect, is the next town to the west of Hartford. Central Connecticut is a typical New England region and has cold, snowy winters slightly more so in the hills. We can get wind in the region which can make it much colder than the actual temperature.

This rink is on a town property that includes a golf course and paddle tennis courts. They make ice starting in mid November and keep it until mid March. There is a compressor so it’s not totally reliant on weather. I’ve found that I can wear normal indoor attire when it’s over 20 degrees Fahrenheit. If it’s below that and there’s wind, I’ll wear cotton gloves under my goalie gloves. I may also switch to UA cold gear under clothing. Sometimes if we’re in a real cold stretch I’ll get toe warmers for inside my skates. 

The roof helps for any precipitation and preventing too much sun hitting the ice for during the day. If it’s real windy and snowing we can get some mini-snow drifts on the ice usually against the boards. But it’s rare. I’ve seen leaves blow on the ice before, too. 

This facility has buildings on three sides now so that and the roof helps mitigate the wind. The prep school on the other side of Simsbury, Westminster School used to have an outdoor rink on campus, but they enclosed it. UCONN which is in the other side of the state in Storrs used have an outdoor rink also with a roof. It’s a regular indoor facility now. 

[Imperative]

That is pretty nice to have an outdoor rink like that. I don’t know if I had seen too many of those up in Canada. 

[Fullright]

Dude, pretty amazing job of mixing the old with the new regarding "save selection"/"technique"/"style"/"whatever". Truly hybrid. One question: why  the heck aren't you on a team? I got to believe you get asked plenty.

[WillyGrips13]

Thanks. I am on a team. I used to play on multiple teams when scheduling allowed it. Currently as a goalie, just one team. On another team as a forward and defense. Yes I get asked to play often. In some ways that’s good, but I’m other ways it can be tiresome. I’ve gotten good at saying no. Between conflicts and the need for a day off from playing I couldn’t possibly say yes to everyone. I also play soccer seasonally. So there’s a lot of activity built into my schedule. 

[WillyGrips13]

So I had a groin issue on Monday the 20th in my league game. Strained it on one of the first plays of the game. I finished the period but left at intermission. I've been using the heating pad, massaging it and stretching and it's been getting better. I've played twice as a skater since. This recording is from this Friday night and it was the first time I played goal since. I was somewhat tentative and made sure not to extend too much. Too many goals allowed, but rust and fear of injury did contribute. The other goalie was wearing OLD pads, Heaton III with tape all over them. He played well. Picture included below. Incidentally, I played out tonight and everything felt good.

 

[Imperative]

groin injuries suck, glad to hear you are on the mend. I thought you played well. Maybe with the groin injury I thought you were a little tentative to stretch out like you did before the injury. It looked like you were working hard to get in position and be ready before the shot came in. I have a world of respect for guys who wear those old style pads, so much extra weight on your legs compared to how light the new pads are. That is why I admire @Fullright for how quick he is on his skates when he wears that much extra weight on his legs.   

[Fullright]

Echoing Mr. Imperative...glad to see you're coming along. Really nice job. So I guess all goalies should be able to do crossovers backwards and forwards? Nice to see. Your skating ability makes the job so much easier and adds a lot to your game. Which groin? Left? Good work, Willy.

[WillyGrips13]

Was my left groin initially, but the right also was in pain. Unfortunately, I aggrevated the groins last night. I made the mistake of agreeing to do a double and play in two skates back to back. They're only an hour each and I wanted to try to play without fear to get back to normal. It went well until I overextended my leg quickly and I felt the left groin at the 3:51 mark. It was toward the end of the first skate. I played deep and conservative to limit movement in the second skate. Luckily I was on the better team, so it worked. I'll likely have to take more time off to allow the groins to heal. I can skate out okay without bothering the groins too much. Despite charging the GoPro, the batteries stopped with a half hour left and cut off the filming. Maybe the cold has something to do with it. The angle is a little low for the second skate.

 

[WillyGrips13]

So I played again last night. I made sure to play very conservative with my depth and lateral movement due to my groin issue. It worked pretty well. It reminded me that sometimes playing more conservative makes things easier. I was channeling late-career Sean Burke or Alex Auld. I tried to keep my toes in the blue paint. Of course if I'm fully healthy I would be somewhat more aggressive. I'm taking time away from my league team that I play goal on because I can't justify playing in games that matter when I can't give everything to assure victory. Meanwhile I can skate out without much issue both on another league team I'm on and at another weekly group I play in. I made sure not to play in two consecutive skates, just the latter one. The other goalie didn't show so they turned the goal on it's face and aimed for the top of the net. Teams switched directions every 10 minutes. The dark team was much better and scored all four goals that I allowed.

[Fullright]

I think the best description of your game here is patience by some one who's been doing this a long time. Really nice and smooth. Hope you continue to heal. 

[WillyGrips13]

So much to say about this recording. I'll try to keep it brief, and fail to do so.

Subbed at a Tuesday night group. Main goal was to get another skate in as goalie before going away for the holidays and not to get hurt doing so. I succeeded in not getting injured. I used conservative depth again to limit lateral movements. Slowly working myself back to 100%.

The skate itself was long, more than an hour and a half. The guy who runs it is known to stack his team and he did so here. I was on the weaker side. The opponents had snipers and speedsters while we had a few decent players, some mediocre players and some novices. There were tons of goals scored on me. Some were due to my depth, some were my lack of sharpness or tentativeness and some were due to the quality of opponents vs the lacking quality of some of my teammates. The skate was relatively even for the first half hour, but it progressively got worse and eventually I wasn't fully invested as evidenced by my response in some of the later action. However, a good player who we had for the first five minutes of the skate before he switched to the other team, came to our side at the end and it revitalized our side. Another good player from their side also switched and it helped. The head guy called last goal wins, and our best guy scored it. Of course, just like the last time I played, the head guy called last goal wins again. Apparently it only ends when his side wins. Last time we scored three last goal wins and finally the Zamboni doors opened. This time, we ended up capitulating after we were down to four skaters while they still had eight. I protested by skating the full length of the ice and scoring my own bogus winning last goal.

Aside from not getting hurt, other good news included the GoPro staying on the entire time and the lighting in the arena being bright which made my getup look sharp. Hopefully my time off will allow me to get back to 100%.

[Fullright]

99 and both 27s in white are probably sick of you, lol. 27 in plain white, the bigger of the two, is a pretty good player. However, you stoned the players mentioned and the rest of the good ones pretty much all night. Nice job. Movement looks pretty good. Recovered?

[WillyGrips13]

Mostly. I can skate out as a forward or defenseman with no issue. And playing goal 95% of the time I’m fine. Just worried about extending fully and bothering the groin. I likely won’t play again until Friday, I’m away for the holidays, and I hope to be fully recovered by then. 

[WillyGrips13]

Was a very cold night last night. Single digits with a "Feels like" temperature below zero. I wore toe warmers, long underclothing, hockey socks over my knee pads, cotton gloves and I put a wool hat over my mask. I used a hand warmer in my blocker after my hand started to go numb from being too cold. With all the preparations I was comfortable. Was a good skate for those who did come out and brave the elements. Also it was nice to see six or seven guys hang around after outside for some beers, egg nog and pretzels. We all wore our hefty winter boots and jackets to be comfortable. The camera angle is a little low in this video.

[Fullright]

I thought you were you going to pitch a shutout. Great work. How was the visibility outside?

[bunnyman666]

I have not said much. I have so little time that I don’t watch much...

I mean ABSOLUTELY  no disrespect to ANYONE who posts their videos here. Please get that straight...

@WillyGrips13 you are a STAR! 

[WillyGrips13]

Thanks guys. Keep in mind I am playing against mixed skill and on this night I lucked out and was on the stronger side. It’s also a short skate, only an hour. Less time for tons of goals. I am fully capable of being a tremendous slouch.

Visibilty was normal. Surprisingly the ice wasn’t great. A little bumpy, like there were heavy practices earlier in the day and the Zamboni driver hadn’t been shaving enough off the top before laying down fresh water.

[Imperative]

You played really well!! Especially considering how not warm it was, the puck hurts more in the cold, haha. I need to spend more time and become as proficient as you at playing the puck.