Colander

Does that include stretching for another beer (pre or post game)?

So true!

So going along with your glass half-full outlook: I am assuming he will be at the top of his team skill-wise- this will hopefully allow for more ice time, allowing further improvement - I know a lot of people who said the drop for them was the best thing that happened to them. This may also be an opportunity for him to practice some leadership among the less experienced/ lesser skilled players - that is always a good thing for both performance and life skills...

Nice mask! What about the two that don't line up -are they close or a mile off? If the former, perhaps a custom clip? Can you post a pic with the cage in place (assuming you have it?)

Never played it but would love to try - although I am betting once would be enough for me... So, based on the quoted part of your response, what happens when you return to real hockey? Do you click back into the benchmarks on the ice? Any good or bad habits you bring into the 200 feet rink?

It’s a Canadian problem, that’s the thing. This isn’t new: look at the Avro Arrow. Before anyone starts in on me, no I don’t believe the hype that even though it was designed and built > 60 years ago it would be competitive today. But it was innovative and showed leading edge work by some great minds and showed Canadian leadership in the aerospace field. Proof lies in the fact that after the program was scrapped (in lieu of the US Bomarc missiles and DEW line) most of the Canadian engineers that worked on it went to work for NASA on Gemini and Apollo. The program NRC just started (at the outset of the pandemic they announced the construction of the facility) should have been in action decades ago (there was a program in place in up to the ‘70’s when it was scrapped as that work moved out of country). I’m sure people felt there wasn’t a need at that time, but the middle word in NRC is Research… How many times do Canadians have to shoot themselves in the foot before they stop being happy to plow a field, plant the crops and hand the farm to someone else?

LOL – getting the spouse on board is the key element - kids won’t change the situation… When I was ~ 34/35, had just given up on my first iteration of being a goalie – my kids would have been ~ 2 & 4. A bunch of guys at the company I worked had the ice rented on Friday nights (technically Saturday morning) from ~ 12:30am to whenever the Zamboni guy finished his 2-4 was ready to go home. Great bunch of guys, sloppy hockey (I was playing out) and enough fun that even after I left the place to work elsewhere, I still played with them for a few years after. (As I have said before on playing out – it’s soooo much easier to score that to stop the puck, but then perhaps that’s just a reflection of what a sh###y goalie I am). The deal with my wife was, I could go play, but the kids wanted to go to Kindergym with dad on Saturday mornings, which started at 8:30 am… So I dutifully got up after about 2 hours, sleep, chugged the better part of a coffee pot, got the kids there and then chugged a couple of their pots. In reflection I had a blast on the ice and at the Kindergym with the kids, the parents and the organizers (one time, they were trying to make paper airplanes for the kids – I had to “school” them on the proper way to make a paper airplane and then lectured them on how they had apparently wasted their time listening attentively to the teachers, while kids like me were perfecting the art of the paper dart…) As much as I probably looked like a warmed over zombie on those Saturday afternoons, I wouldn’t change that time for anything. Have fun!!!

Some things never change. When I was in my teens my best friend was a D who was really a “closeted goalie”. It was as obvious as the sunrise this guy wanted to be a goalie, and to that end I don’t know why he never tired the position, he had the bucks and the size. I guess for him it went in the “things I regret not trying” column. Anyway yeah, he was always in the crease trying block shots or “make saves”. I don’t know how many times he slid in, knocked me out of the way, the puck would hit him and then at the whistle he’d look a me and say “I saved you on that one…” I was hoping in my second iteration as a goalie this would go away , but every couple of games I will try to move cross-crease to get set for a shot only to be stopped by a D-man standing pretty well right beside me…And yes @MTH that was my exact thought…

Well, they hung the carrot of possibly opening up hockey here about 2 weeks ago – but instead, yesterday, basically shut down all indoor restaurant facilities, implying that I will probably have to wait ‘til the day after never before I get on the ice again. The one bright spot is, moving into spring, the weather is getting better, so I am turning energies toward some inline skating to get into a bit better shape and ensure I actually remember to skate (in case I ever get to step on the ice again)... As a history, I had a pair of Bauer inline skates about 20 years ago: really liked them and they worked well – perhaps too well. I skated rain or shine and even managed to go for short hops on packed gravel sections while shepherding my young kids along on their first bikes. Needless to say the bearing and wheels eventually disintegrated. The skates were originally ~$120 but replacing wheels and bearings was going to run about ~$150 so I ditched them and never got any replacements (another curse of getting old). I am hoping to get recommendations on what you think is a decent pair. I am not looking for the most or least expensive, not going to play hockey with them, just want something reliable and comfortable. I know this probably opens up a lot of opinions, but hey – Covid is still here and apparently I aint going anywhere fast (well, except for hopefully on my new pair of inlines). BTW what to avoids is as valuable as what you like TIA

Scotty said it best...

Yeah - it certainly looked like he didn't want to take the ref out - let's give him credit for being that smart at least

IDK - In this case I'd probably give him the benefit of the doubt. It looked like one of those struggles you get into when you are battling to keep the puck out and they finally scored nullifying all your effort. In that mental space, I've had some choice words after those and even accidentally hit one of my players with the puck as I tried to fire it off in anger*. Luckily with my shot I don't think they even realized it hit them, but despite that I was embarrassed after. When he went for the boards he checked his swing - perhaps because he realized someone was skating into the path of his intended swing to beat the stick on the boards? You tell me...(I don't want to jump too quickly to start calling hi the Marchand of the goalie sect). *To be clear -in those case I was mad at myself, not anyone else for the GA

Wait'll you get married...

Hilarious - I almost added the "nerd" aspect in my last post. Read a couple of his books - including the one that pre-dates "The Game" that most people don't know about - he co-authored a soft cover book aimed at youth hockey put out by McDonald's just after the '72 Canada-Russia series called "Let's Play Better Hockey". And to complete the history lesson, he and Dave were the only brother goalies to ever play against each other in the NHL (yeah I know they alluded to it in a Montreal game recently, but I watched it...)