WillyGrips13

@ThatCarGuy on his way to the rink

Or for biting someone

Should’ve gone with PAW. They’re made in ‘Merica.

I really don’t know. I have standard footbeds. I did put the warmers under my toes. The warmers stay warm enough that I’d transfer them into my boots for when we would hang out in the parking lot afterwards to drink .

No I didn’t watch most of it, but it’s not about what old codgers want, it’s about the youth. Besides, who the F cares who wins a skills competition? Make it fun for the players. They still had the traditional fan-favorite events like fastest skater, hardest shot and accuracy shooting. I thought the guys outside on the strip shooting at the cards to score blackjack was cool. Brought out a bit of the player’s personalities (and God does the league need that, since these guys are usually so bland). I was actually out at the rink playing at a stick and puck earlier and missed most of the events. Got home in time to see the magic routine to pick the schedule for tomorrow and the goofy breakaway competition. I didn’t care for much of that part, so I was in the other room emptying my bag for that portion. My GF loved it. Honestly, I don’t watch most all-star events in any sport nowadays. I think it’s more about me then them. I’m just not really interested in it anymore. It probably wasn’t that much better when I was younger, my interests have just changed.

I think I remember correctly that you sold the Browns when you thought you were retiring from playing, correct? And when you un-retired you used your older Battram pads, right? Just trying something different or are the Battrams toast?

If a woman is dressing in a locker room with men it means she’s ok with the standard temporary nudity that occurs during the change. Meaning, she’s not going to be offended or aghast when you change normally. As long as no one is being inappropriate by lingering naked, invading space or leering, it’s fine. By the way, dudes who linger naked, NO ONE wants to see that, not just the women. Like, what are you doing? Get dressed already. And honestly guys, don’t flatter yourselves. She’s probably trying NOT to look based on what most beer league bodies look like . My beer league career has had a lot of coed scenarios and it’s pretty normal to share the locker room with women. Also, think of it this way, if they’re in a separate room, it’s like they’re not part of the team.

Recently a lot of rinks designate Sunday as beer league day. Since youth hockey is usually Saturday morning and public skates are Friday and Saturday night (teenager mating ritual), that allows Sunday to be devoted to the wretched of society, the beer league hockey player. That helps avoid consistent late time slots. If your league plays during the week, you’re stuck with late start times.

That’s how my gf and I feel. We’ve probably had it in one form or another and didn’t even know it. Wore masks when we were made to, got the vaccinations when they were available. But still carried on with life as normal. No high risk people in our household. Can we move on now?

So I’ve been coaching the goalies for the youth and high school program at the local and only rink in the area for a year now. One thing I noticed while being at all the practices at all levels, there is no defending instruction at all. It’s all skill development and offense. It seems that it’s expected that people will figure out how to defend. And I can tell you by watching the games, they are not figuring it out. And of course they wouldn’t if they’re not being shown how. There’s a new hockey director. I was talking to him about this tonight at a stick and puck. Unfortunately, he looked at me like I had two heads. So it seems that will not change. Of course, in watching the NHL nowadays, I can see the art of defending is dying at all levels (I’ve ranted before about defending now is just shot-blocking, puck chasing and fishing for the puck, while it used to be body contact, marking open men and staying close to opponents), so I guess it would follow it’s undervalued at the learning stages.

Keep in mind that Saros has mastered these movements, so he doesn't need to bring his push-leg foot further in toward his knee to get a good push. He also doesn't need to pick up his down knee to get a good push. Notice how quickly he can stop his momentum to push the opposite way. But because you're just learning this technique, @CJ Boiss advice is spot on. Get the push foot close to the down knee and slightly lift the down knee as you push. The better you get at it, the less you'll have to do either of these things. I've heard that pushing the ankle of your lead foot down toward the ice helps keep the pad rotated while you slide and prevents rolling over onto the face of the pad. You won't get your ankle to the ice, but it's the feeling of trying to do so that will help keep the pad rotated. Also, make sure you look where you're aiming to go before you push. Point your head toward your target, rotate your shoulders, lead with your hands, pick up the push leg and plant your foot so the skate blade is perpendicular to the line you will be traveling at. If you get to the point where you can practice these movements on a diagonal, like moving from the top of the crease back to the post, the head, shoulder, hands and body rotation will really come into play. In this scenario, you'll also need to put your plant foot almost in front of you as you rotate your body so you can travel diagonally back to the post.

I tie a knot at the clip or loop to secure it. I did it while wearing the cup to get the right fit The clip below broke when I attempted to tighten it once, so I had to improvise by tying a knot instead. I soon realized I should do that at the other adjustment points for better fit. You'll just have excess strapping to tuck away. The waist strap is still using the velcro attachment, but only to keep the rough side of the velcro from damaging the pants. The waist is really secure by the knot I made. It's not pretty looking, but it works.

All the elastic in my cup is stretched out. I tie everything down to the appropriate tightness now. Even the waist strap. You could do that if the rest of the cup is still in good shape and functional.

We were able to win the title again. This one was as surprising as any. The rest of the league has been improving every season. We had troubles during the season including a rotating roster due to injuries and other availability issues. We had a locker room blowup after an OT loss, but it turned into a turning point. We had a lot of OT games during the season which was key because in both the semifinals and finals, we went to OT In both. In fact at no time in either the semifinals or finals did we lead the game. In the semifinals game, we were down 3-1 and tied it with less than a minute. Then we played five minute OTs 3 on 3 except during penalties. We scored toward the end of the third OT. In the finals game, we would go down one, tie it and repeat that pattern including tying the game with a little more than a minute left. For some reason they decided to do one five minute OT 3 on 3, then go to a five round shootout. We scored one and they scored none. So our season and playoffs were pretty damn epic . The trophy was pulled out of storage as it was used in a previous incarnation of the league at a different now defunct building. It has teams and players from league winners engraved on it. Perhaps, it will be engraved with current league champions moving forward.

Weird phenomenon about goaltending. Everyone who has never done it seems to think they are experts. Also, those that used to do it a very long time ago develop the bad habit of thinking they know about today’s goaltending and mistakenly think the modern goalies aren’t good, athletic, etc. The Dryden article comes to mind.

I’m so tired of Ed Olczyk. He loves blaming goalies for every goal ever scored. He says some of the dumbest things ever. He’s linked with the Blackhawks president job. Hopefully he gets it so I don’t have to listen to him anymore.

I too stay on the goal line in the center of the net and tap the posts with my stick and glove before moving to address the puck. I can’t say I think about the crease or rink landmarks much at least not consciously.

Is scoring low? Most games I see are full of goals.

Thank you for illustrating this. THIS is what I’m talking about with modern defending. Nothing to do with speed here, everyone is relatively still. Just lack of positional awareness. But it’s not exclusive to this play or the Sabres. I see it all the time in most games. “Head on a swivel” was a mantra for hockey players once. Now it could read, “Eyes on the puck”. It’s down to coaching. For whatever reason it’s not being coached anymore.

I’m not talking about plays that involve speed. Rushes into the zone actually are the one area modern defenders are good at because all players can skate well. I’m referring to when a team has already gained the zone and they are passing the puck between players. Modern play has defenders focusing in the puck and not the man. For some reason at all levels, teaching players how to stay close to their marks has gone out the window.

On social media I saw this play juxtaposed next to a play from years ago that Datsyuk tried something similar. The difference was in the Datsyuk play it was still in the era where players actually played defense and both Datsyuk and his teammates had defenders on them. The defenders were marking their attackers and they prevented a shot from occurring. In the play from the other night, all defenders are staring at the puck and swiping at the puck while not physically marking attackers, which is how everyone “defends” today. No rule change needs to occur. Players need to return to marking players not space and this type of play never succeeds. Seeing plays from even ten years ago compared with today just highlights how bad defending has gotten in the modern game.

Everyone seems to have different opinions on the state of the game. I find that talent is so good throughout all positions. All players regardless of position can skate and handle the puck extremely well. Everyone has a great shot. Wrist and snap-shots are as hard as most slap-shots from previous eras. Some of this is due to stick technology. Fitter athletes and better technique are the other contributing factors. Offense is more dynamic than in previous eras. Goaltenders are better than ever across the board. The position is taught as a science now and done so at a younger age. The athletes playing the position are on average taller than ever with longer limbs. People keep saying that goalie gear is too big, yet since 2005 they’ve been making it smaller again and again. A 6’4” man is going to look bigger than a 5’10” man every day of the week. Especially when everyone has excellent stance discipline (no double-coverage, no bad glove positioning and no bad stick positioning.) Lateral movement and recovery ability is unprecedented. The main negative is modern defending is chaotic and inconsistent. The main methods of defending are chasing the puck around, swiping at the puck on an attacker’s stick and shot blocking. This leads to attackers dangling through defenders, attackers without the puck being left wide open in scoring areas and tips and screens by defending players that lead to goals against. Next time you see a highlight reel goal, look at what the defending players are doing. More often than not they are covering space, watching the puck move around and flailing in vain at it all while flopping around in front of their goalie. I can’t believe no coach has tried to install more of a man-marking system of defending. Then again most hockey coaches are dumb as a bag of rocks. They just get hired because they yell loud, chew gum, wear a suit and put gel in their hair.