Eliminated

Last week was pretty rough. There were no insane double-headers like the other week, but Ray and I had 3 games in 4 nights. First was the last game of the regular season at Hot Skates on Monday. Wednesday was a late night game for our ice league at Central Park. Finally, we finished it off with the semi-final playoff round at Hot Skates on Thursday.

I was going to write up the anticipation for the playoffs at Hot Skates, but decided not to so I wouldn't jinx it. Didn't do any good as we lost 5-3. Expect a season summary soon.



I was pretty amped all week long. Honestly, I would sit on the train during my commute and think about it. Although it's just a beer league, and the lowest rung, it was the first time in two years since I had last made the playoffs. First time ever since playing at Hot Skates. Hell, it was the first time in two years where the team had more than 1 win.

It just wasn't to be, and we lost. We were down 5-0 with about 10 mintues left before we even scored our first goal. Losing stinks, but usually I can shake it off easy and look concentrate on the next game. We actually lost the first two games last week. Whatever, no biggie. Those were just regular season afterall. The game at Hot Skates didn't even matter since we clinched our seed for the playoff rounds.

The tricky part is when it's the last game of the season, and you're on a good team. We legitimately had a chance of going all the way, and even came close to tying it up when we were down by 5. But losing with no more games on the schedule leaves that empty feeling. It's not the end the world obviously. Like I said, just a beer league which I practically use as a glorified gym membership.

Bear in mind that this isn't a team we put together. It was thrown together by the league from free agents. It gives it almost like a pro level feel, because you know not everyone will be back next season. Even Ray and I are skipping next season at Hot Skates since the Central Park league conflicts with the days. That means next time might drop you back to mediocrity real quick. That's the tough part of crashing out of the playoffs. You just never know if you'll make it back.

It's also an impetus to get better. Actually the entire reason I started at Hot Skates was because I wanted to continue playing hockey after the awful season I had last year at Central Park. Of course it wasn't my play which made the team lose, but being better certainly could help us win.

That's another difficult thing with losing. I'm no Wayne Gretzky, and the 1 goal I scored this season was my all-time season high. Oddly enough though, the first game at Central Park a few weeks ago and I score on a breakaway (my career highlight). When that's the case, you know you need to contribute more and be a big game changer. The biggest play I was apart of in the playoff game was drawing a penalty for taking a big check when my head was down carrying (more like juggling) the puck.

Regardless, time for the offseason. That's the best time on working fundamentals I lack. Except Central Park is already in full swing. But as luck has it, I have a 2 week break before the next game. It'll be hell though, because the schedule for the next few weeks just came out, and it's back-to-back games to start it off. I thought last week was tiring, yet Ray and I seem to explore new ways to get exhausted.

The Invisible Man

Frequently in hockey if you don't play well, people say you "disappear" for the game, or become "invisible". This is because you weren't apart of any big or noticable plays. But sometimes there's another meaning, one in which your teammate literally disappears for the season.

You know the type of guy I'm talking about. Everyone signs up for a rec. league and gets put on a thrown together team. Someone shows up to the first 3 or so games, then suddenly stops appearing. It's like the guy in the movie Summer School who asks to go to the bathroom on the first day of class, and isn't seen again until the final exam.

By the time the 7th game rolls around, everyone barely remembers him, and may not even notice he is gone. Only if you're lucky he might show up for the final game of the season, which doesn't really count anyway cause your team invariably tanked due to low turnout.

For a rec. league you might actualy think this is a good thing since you end up getting more ice time. In reality though, it's always better to have more guys on the bench for you. The shorter the shifts you play, the harder you play them, and the better the team typically does.

It's sort of a catch-22 with this as well. The worst the team does, the less people show up. But to have a better chance of winning games, you need people to show up. I've never been on a winning team which didn't have a full roster almost every game, and I've never been on a losing team where at least 2 guys didn't stop showing up.

This past summer was definitely the worst. By the end of the season, we must have played 3 games with only 5 skaters, and at least 4 others with only 1 guy on the bench. Contrast that to this season at Hot Skates where we're in the playoffs. Except for a few occassions where people were out of town, we've almost always had a full roster.

This is why the first few games in a season are vital to a new teams success in a rec. league. A lot of people sign-up cause they think it will be fun and they can score some goals every so often. But if that's doesn't happen, and you start getting beat down, well then don't expect the guy who only recently picked up a stick 2 weeks before the season on a whim to show up anymore. It really sucks.

Don't worry though if you see me on your team. Through thick or thin, I'll be there. Not only cause of my heart in playing, but also the fact that I paid for this league. Seriously, why do people not show up when they paid hundreds of dollars for this?