One step forward...

Its time for a few updates in no particular order.

Pads. Pads everywhere
I've had my first set of hybrid pads for about two months now and while getting used to them along with the butterfly technique, I've started to wonder if they are tall enough. I bought these 35" (no + sizing) from an Ebay seller after using various sizing charts I found on the web. The reason I think these 35's are too short is because of the h u g e 5-hole that's opening up in the butterfly. My 35's are only just making it to my mid-thigh and nearly every other goalie I see has pads that extend to groin level.

So I've begun researching pads again- anticipating that a new, taller set is imminent. Here's about all I've learned so far;

1. Intermediate and Senior has more to do with sizing than anything else
2. Pads with one or no break above the knee are considered butterfly, not hybrid pads
3. The better pads have adjustable knee blocks and calf wraps
4. New pads are still ridiculously expensive
5. There are only a handful of companies but they produce seemingly hundreds of models

My folks watched me play while
visiting from Canada

Another "Punisher" session
Last week I finished another session with my coach, whom I've dubbed, "The Punisher". We revisited the butterfly slide and for whatever reason, something finally clicked with me. I was executing the basic slide correctly more than 75% of the time. I need to work to keep my hips up and not slump while in the slide but this gets tougher as I get tired. I am far more comfortable pushing off the net posts into the slide than in open ice. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm keeping my skates sharp enough for the open ice push.

Two steps back
With all the work I've been putting into my return to hockey, I felt I was on a pretty steep curve of improvement. The reality is that if I'm measuring my success by GAA or wins and losses, I'm trending downward. Last night's I-League loss (5-2) matches my GA high and pushed me to 4th out 4 goalies in my league. The losses are adding up and my confidence is shaken.

I understand a couple of weeks of bad losses and mountains of goals isn't a true measure of improvement. I also know that hockey is a team sport and despite all my efforts (good and bad), I can't win or loose alone. That doesn't change the fact that for the first time since I stepped back onto the ice a couple of months ago, I have started to doubt whether I will improve to a point where I feel more like an asset than a liability to my team.

Fortunately I have some great friends who have been offering me encouragement and I hope in the coming weeks you will read about more successes than failures.

I know you can do this bud. You're working hard and learning a completely different style of goaltending. You have years (many many years :)) of muscle memory to overwrite. I believe that the work is going to pay off. You're Canadian man!! Hockey is in the blood! - T.F.

I admire you for even trying! - G.W.

I'm proud of you, babe. - A.L.E

Thanks guys! 

Electric Slide

After a week off from his torture, my new goalie coach known as "The Punisher" spent our entire hour working with me on the butterfly slide.

Let me start by saying that my 47 year old legs are being put through things I thought wouldn't be possible. Between repeated butterfly recoveries where they are lifting all 260 pounds of me (plus gear!) to my poor abused knees, the past two months of 3-times-a-week hockey is taking its toll. I try not to groan or weep in the locker room after each game and practice but its not easy to keep hiding the facts from my team mates.

Back to the butterfly slide... with the help of The Punisher I finally found the trigger that made all the difference in execution. In previous attempts I had been half lifting/hopping out of my crouch and more or less falling into a slide with all the lateral movement of a glacier. Understanding that you need to load up on the push leg and let the slide side knee collapse was the first part. The real key was learning that the cue for the push was feeling the slide side skate loose its edge as the cowling made contact with the ice. In other words, shift the weight to the push leg, let the slide knee move down until the cowling causes the slide skate to slip then PUSH!

Finding these cues is important for me as I've always used self talk as a way of learning new motor skills. I did this a lot when I started playing tennis 15 years ago.

By the end of the session I was performing butterfly slides to both sides though oddly I struggle moving to my right more than my left. One other important part of the move is to clench my butt cheeks while beginning the slide which helped me keep my knees a little tighter to the middle and kept my posture more upright.

Rocking the new school butterfly with the old school jersey number.

In the two on-ice sessions since my success with this move I've had trouble "pulling the trigger" and instead I'm falling back on my old stand-up techniques. I'm not too concerned because this was the case when I was learning the standard butterfly. Now I am executing that at will during games and I hope the same will be true as I become more comfortable with the slide.

Uhhhhh... that's definitely NOT the butterfly slide