2019/2020 Beer League Discussion

[seagoal]

Nothing like game 1 of a new season in a WHL rink

[RyanR3KC]

My rec league plays on the same ice as the Iowa Wild. They’re using our Wednesday game to practice their systems for the season. 

[seagoal]

4-0 shutout for me tonight. 

1 diving superman save.  17 saves.

Good times .

Tonight  was one of those nights where I just felt ON.  I felt confident and everything I did was sound and with purpose and in good form.  My gear felt great.  The tops of my pads were closing in my butterfly, which doesn't always happen, I was playing the puck well, and my rebounds were well controllled...well, except for the one.  It was a relatively soft shot on the ice, symmetrical butterfly save and the puck hit right of center, too much, and snuck out perpendicular right to a wide open guy at the goal line about 2 feet out of my right post.  

It was like a goalie camp drill.  My head pivoted first. I assessed the situation and the ensuing OH CRAP moment, pivoted my hips and my hands and dove back and over with my blocker on the ice and my glove open wide in the air...puck hit my forearm pretty high up...he tried to roof it.  Bam.  No goal and lots of oohs and stick taps.  

We actually had two injured teammates in the arena and one had a cow bell, ha..  It was ringing loudly for that save.  Speaking of which, they got some pics and videos tonight so hopefully I can post some in the Action thread.  We were in our dark jerseys tonight which is super rare for us.  I have no photos of those jerseys yet.  

Cheers eveyone

[Lucky Pucker]

6 hours ago, seagoal said:

4-0 shutout for me tonight. 

1 diving superman save.  17 saves.

Good times .

Tonight  was one of those nights where I just felt ON.  I felt confident and everything I did was sound and with purpose and in good form.  My gear felt great.  The tops of my pads were closing in my butterfly, which doesn't always happen, I was playing the puck well, and my rebounds were well controllled...well, except for the one.  It was a relatively soft shot on the ice, symmetrical butterfly save and the puck hit right of center, too much, and snuck out perpendicular right to a wide open guy at the goal line about 2 feet out of my right post.  

It was like a goalie camp drill.  My head pivoted first. I assessed the situation and the ensuing OH CRAP moment, pivoted my hips and my hands and dove back and over with my blocker on the ice and my glove open wide in the air...puck hit my forearm pretty high up...he tried to roof it.  Bam.  No goal and lots of oohs and stick taps.  

We actually had two injured teammates in the arena and one had a cow bell, ha..  It was ringing loudly for that save.  Speaking of which, they got some pics and videos tonight so hopefully I can post some in the Action thread.  We were in our dark jerseys tonight which is super rare for us.  I have no photos of those jerseys yet.  

Cheers eveyone

Hellz, yeah! Good on ya, brother - and big congrats on the shutout! Look forward to seeign the dark uniform pics.

Bonus points for the beverage selection - but then any beer would taste great when you're on a post-game high like that! Maybe you have another post to make to the Beer thread!

[coopaloop1234]

@seagoal that's a nice arena. Are you guys playing there full time?

The start of this season has not gone well so far. Playing for a new team in my upper division and am just getting rocked. We're pretty heavily outclassed and ti shows. For an example, we played last night against a team that I had just beaten a week prior with my other team. Despite me feeling exactly how @seagoal just said (I was "on") we still lost 7-1. Four of those goals came off of my defensemen's skates and either went in or deflected to a wide open guy.

One of those games where despite you playing well, pucks are still finding ways by you. 

[seagoal]

1 hour ago, coopaloop1234 said:

@seagoal that's a nice arena. Are you guys playing there full time?

The start of this season has not gone well so far. Playing for a new team in my upper division and am just getting rocked. We're pretty heavily outclassed and ti shows. For an example, we played last night against a team that I had just beaten a week prior with my other team. Despite me feeling exactly how @seagoal just said (I was "on") we still lost 7-1. Four of those goals came off of my defensemen's skates and either went in or deflected to a wide open guy.

One of those games where despite you playing well, pucks are still finding ways by you. 

Hey Coop.  We don't play there full time, but we do play there a lot.  Our league is pretty big and spread out over the whole greater Seattle area.  We technically play in 7 different arenas as a league.  Our team prefers south end games which means we get the Showare Center where the Tbirds play. 

[Lucky Pucker]

1 hour ago, coopaloop1234 said:

@seagoal that's a nice arena. Are you guys playing there full time?

The start of this season has not gone well so far. Playing for a new team in my upper division and am just getting rocked. We're pretty heavily outclassed and ti shows. For an example, we played last night against a team that I had just beaten a week prior with my other team. Despite me feeling exactly how @seagoal just said (I was "on") we still lost 7-1. Four of those goals came off of my defensemen's skates and either went in or deflected to a wide open guy.

One of those games where despite you playing well, pucks are still finding ways by you. 

That sucks Coop - but at least you have the confidence and experience to know what is what in your situation; I'd probably blame myself, doubt myself, and ultimately ruin myself.

...but then, in my case, I'd probably be right in doing so - lol!

[creasecollector]

2 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

@seagoal that's a nice arena. Are you guys playing there full time?

The start of this season has not gone well so far. Playing for a new team in my upper division and am just getting rocked. We're pretty heavily outclassed and ti shows. For an example, we played last night against a team that I had just beaten a week prior with my other team. Despite me feeling exactly how @seagoal just said (I was "on") we still lost 7-1. Four of those goals came off of my defensemen's skates and either went in or deflected to a wide open guy.

One of those games where despite you playing well, pucks are still finding ways by you. 

I had one of those games last night also. I played really well and felt solid the entire game, but we still lost 6-0. A few bad bounces like off the back boards & right to the open man on the other side, plus another off my own teammate, breakaways, stuff like that. Normally after a 6-0 loss I'd blame a few on myself for sure, but this was a really positive 6-0 loss if that makes any sense.  

Sorry to hear man. Here's hoping we can both bounce back this week.

[coopaloop1234]

12 minutes ago, creasecollector said:

I had one of those games last night also. I played really well and felt solid the entire game, but we still lost 6-0. A few bad bounces like off the back boards & right to the open man on the other side, plus another off my own teammate, breakaways, stuff like that. Normally after a 6-0 loss I'd blame a few on myself for sure, but this was a really positive 6-0 loss if that makes any sense.  

Sorry to hear man. Here's hoping we can both bounce back this week.

I hear ya bud. Most games I'm pretty critical of my play. But after our three games, I haven't walked away feeling that I was the cause for the losses.

I'm going to embarrass myself here, but check out these first three games.

[seagoal]

Those games are tough, for sure guys.  It sucks when we feel like we are doing all the right things and it is one of those games where that's not good enough.  Goaltending can be so frustrating because there is so much that we can not control (most things, in fact) but all of those things affect us in a very significant way.  

I often think of the hockey in front of us including the refs and the teams and the shots and the play and everything as a filter and we as the goalie are what's left after that filter.

So if a bunch of crap gets through the filter than we have to deal with a bunch of crap.  If the filter is working great, our job is easy.  If the filter is unpredictable, then our game is unpredictable. 

It's tough.

[seagoal]

@coopaloop1234 Minus the Caps game you guys could score some more goals, eh?  2 and 1 goals for is a lot of pressure on us.  4 out of our 6 losses last season were games we scored 1 goal.   What the F are we supposed to do??

[coopaloop1234]

Just now, seagoal said:

@coopaloop1234 Minus the Caps game you guys could score some more goals, eh?  2 and 1 goals for is a lot of pressure on us.  4 out of our 6 losses last season were games we scored 1 goal.   What the F are we supposed to do??

The Caps game wasn't too nuts. My other team I play(ed) for got shelled by those guys 9-0. They were always a good team, but they just seem to be on another level this year.

Alot of the guys on my Brewers team is made up of guys I used to play with a few years ago. That team kind of fell apart due to no offensive support. So I might be in for the same unless we get dropped (which is highly plausible).

[seagoal]

Just now, coopaloop1234 said:

The Caps game wasn't too nuts. My other team I play(ed) for got shelled by those guys 9-0. They were always a good team, but they just seem to be on another level this year.

Alot of the guys on my Brewers team is made up of guys I used to play with a few years ago. That team kind of fell apart due to no offensive support. So I might be in for the same unless we get dropped (which is highly plausible).

As in put in a lower division?

[coopaloop1234]

14 minutes ago, seagoal said:

As in put in a lower division?

Correct. There's 12 divisions total and we're currently in div 4.

[seagoal]

16 minutes ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Correct. There's 12 divisions total and we're currently in div 4.

Yep.

Our league uses the first 3 games of any season as a division placement test.  So teams can be demoted or promoted based on performance, primarily shots on goal and goals scored/allowed. 

[Teezle]

I don't feel bad about unwinnable games/situations. One of my best games a couple seasons ago came in a 9-3 loss, where the shots were 73-24 in favor of the other team. As long as you're feeling good about your game, the score isn't too much of a concern (it is nice to win, though).

[Ken35]

18 hours ago, seagoal said:

Nothing like game 1 of a new season in a WHL rink

Hey @seagoal,

I love that rink.  Only been there once but plan on many more games.  My wife's family lives in Renton and we visit there a lot especially since we moved to Vernon.  I have yet to play in any really cool rinks but hopefully it's coming.  Maybe one of our trips down I might have to swing by a rink and take in a game.

After getting my gear home after Christmas last year I played maybe 12 games from February to April and a couple in May and June.  All of these were 3 on 3 in a training rink.  It makes things super busy when the rink is only 1/3 to 1/2 size of a full rink.  Although I thought I did very well for not having any play for almost 8 months.

[seagoal]

5 minutes ago, Ken35 said:

Hey @seagoal,

I love that rink.  Only been there once but plan on many more games.  My wife's family lives in Renton and we visit there a lot especially since we moved to Vernon.  I have yet to play in any really cool rinks but hopefully it's coming.  Maybe one of our trips down I might have to swing by a rink and take in a game.

After getting my gear home after Christmas last year I played maybe 12 games from February to April and a couple in May and June.  All of these were 3 on 3 in a training rink.  It makes things super busy when the rink is only 1/3 to 1/2 size of a full rink.  Although I thought I did very well for not having any play for almost 8 months.

Hey man, awesome.  Good to see another goalie on here from the area. 

Hopefully you get more playing time in soon.  It sorta seems to ebb and flow around here.  Sometimes there are no goalie vacancies and sometimes there are way too many.  There have been some weeks where I decline 3-4 games as a sub.  As of now, I play full time in GSHL, once a week at an organized invitation pick-up, and then part time on another GSHL team.  3 times a week is ideal for me, especially if spaced out well. 

I see you are pretty new on here, so welcome.  What do you got for gear?  I'm like the "Vaughn guy" on this site.....and I'm lovingly chirped for it all the time. 

There are other Vaughn users on here....even one of the admin guys....at least for now.

[Ken35]

Hey @seagoal,

We currently live in Vernon, BC, Canada so not quite the area but within 6.5 hours.

One of the guys I met when we got here just offered me a fulltime spot with his Wednesday team.  So yay I found a spot for this season.  It's been interesting getting used to the warm rinks around here.  I am used to Northern BC where it's usually colder in the rink than outside.

I've been on here for a little while but don't post much.  Now that I am getting back into my game I will likely be on more.

I am currently wearing all Vaughn visible gear with Bauer skates and a Passau C/A with an Otny mask. 

Oh and love the gear by the way.  Especially your mask.

Been active in the online goalie community for a long time (GSBB) but only joined here in 2017.

[seagoal]

1 minute ago, Ken35 said:

Hey @seagoal,

We currently live in Vernon, BC, Canada so not quite the area but within 6.5 hours.

One of the guys I met when we got here just offered me a fulltime spot with his Wednesday team.  So yay I found a spot for this season.  It's been interesting getting used to the warm rinks around here.  I am used to Northern BC where it's usually colder in the rink than outside.

I've been on here for a little while but don't post much.  Now that I am getting back into my game I will likely be on more.

I am currently wearing all Vaughn visible gear with Bauer skates and a Passau C/A with an Otny mask. 

Oh and love the gear by the way.  Especially your mask.

Been active in the online goalie community for a long time (GSBB) but only joined here in 2017.

Oh, ha.  I thought you meant Mt. Vernon which is close to Everett, WA.  Sorry about that.  At least you are in the same time zone then.  You said Renton and my mind went to the Seattle area so that's how I made that connection.

Nice, I was on GSBB too back in the day.

[SaveByRichter35]

19 hours ago, seagoal said:

Nothing like game 1 of a new season in a WHL rink

19 hours ago, RyanR3KC said:

My rec league plays on the same ice as the Iowa Wild. They’re using our Wednesday game to practice their systems for the season. 

Those are some pretty sweet setups for both of you guys!

8 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

@seagoal that's a nice arena. Are you guys playing there full time?

The start of this season has not gone well so far. Playing for a new team in my upper division and am just getting rocked. We're pretty heavily outclassed and ti shows. For an example, we played last night against a team that I had just beaten a week prior with my other team. Despite me feeling exactly how @seagoal just said (I was "on") we still lost 7-1. Four of those goals came off of my defensemen's skates and either went in or deflected to a wide open guy.

One of those games where despite you playing well, pucks are still finding ways by you. 

6 hours ago, creasecollector said:

I had one of those games last night also. I played really well and felt solid the entire game, but we still lost 6-0. A few bad bounces like off the back boards & right to the open man on the other side, plus another off my own teammate, breakaways, stuff like that. Normally after a 6-0 loss I'd blame a few on myself for sure, but this was a really positive 6-0 loss if that makes any sense.  

Sorry to hear man. Here's hoping we can both bounce back this week.

Wtf was going on last night?  I had the same type of game.  Was pumped to be playing the team that is most likely going to be our biggest rival in our new league.  Had a good warmup.  As a team we were buzzing in the first period.  I made some good saves on the shots I faced but we dominated puck possession the whole period.  It looked like we were on a power play the way we just commanded the offensive zone.  Their goalie was the difference, he made quite a few very nice saves.  2nd period was a pretty even period but there was a definite shift in the momentum.  I wouldn't say I outperformed the other goalie, we both had a good period.  I had a bit more action on my end and they potted 2 or three on me that period.  The third periods was a whole other game.  They manhandled us.  We were trying to dangle our way into their zone way too much, not enough passing.  Forwards quit on plays after A LOT of turnovers and there were odd man rushes the other way the whole period.  Ended up losing 7 or 8 to 3.  Was not the first impression we wanted to leave with that team that's for sure.

[coopaloop1234]

14 hours ago, SaveByRichter35 said:

.  We were trying to dangle our way into their zone way too much, not enough passing.  Forwards quit on plays after A LOT of turnovers and there were odd man rushes the other way the whole period.  Ended up losing 7 or 8 to 3.  Was not the first impression we wanted to leave with that team that's for sure.

Wait a minute, you saw my game footage?

[SaveByRichter35]

5 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Wait a minute, you saw my game footage?

Haha

[seagoal]

Got another win in Game 2 tonight, a come from behind at 3 -1 to win it 4 -3.  38 shots on me tonight against our main rival.  Super fun game.  

I let in 1 stinker tonight.  It was a centering pass from the corner on my glove side and I went to knock the puck back the same direction with the backhand of my stick....it hit the heel and went in.  Ha.  I just laughed at myself.  I can do that 20 times and do it perfectly but I feel like it is one of those goalie things that will just inevitably backfire sometimes.  It happens.  The other two goals on me were pretty legit, 1 semi-breakaway from a lot of pressure in the zone and from my right, blocker side.  I thought it would be an easy pressure/poke check situation and I came out and he chip shot it short side, hit my right pad and in.  The 3rd goal was a heavy screen shot from the high slot, I was down covering low and center, it went right and low and in.  

But we came back and won it in the final 2 minutes.  Fun game.  2-0 this season going into the 3rd game which in our league the first 3 are used as division seeding games.  It'll be interesting to see where we end up. Last week was a team lower, this week was an even match, so next week should be a higher team.  Looking forward to it. 

My new glove is due this week too...so now I have the goalie dilemma of "do I keep using the old glove while winning?" 

[Lucky Pucker]

3 hours ago, seagoal said:

Got another win in Game 2 tonight, a come from behind at 3 -1 to win it 4 -3.  38 shots on me tonight against our main rival.  Super fun game.  

I let in 1 stinker tonight.  It was a centering pass from the corner on my glove side and I went to knock the puck back the same direction with the backhand of my stick....it hit the heel and went in.  Ha.  I just laughed at myself.  I can do that 20 times and do it perfectly but I feel like it is one of those goalie things that will just inevitably backfire sometimes. 

My new glove is due this week too...so now I have the goalie dilemma of "do I keep using the old glove while winning?" 

Nice job, man! Sounds like you're off to a good start, and in a good place - hope you ride that good feeling for a long stretch!

This part about the goal off the heel? I let in an almost identical goal yesterday - except that it was against my 7 year old, playing street hockey in the driveway - LOL He was thrilled... but, like, the audacity of that kid to score on his old man that way... no respect, these kids today.

New glove dilemma... well, FWIW, I rocked new pads last week, and had a terrible game. There was one dude who told me not to do it... who was that again..? I'd chalk my experience up to INexperience though; I think you could play the new glove and be just fine.

I wish somebody kept shot totals - even if they did it badly - in our beer league; it might help take the sting out of a bad game. That last game I posted about elsewhere, a 6-3 loss? The results and game sheet went up on the site, and they had it as a 5-4 win for us. They can't even get scores right!