The Last Couple of Weeks--and the Hockey Game(s)

I've realized that I never posted an update after last week's game. There was a reason for that, but I'll get to that in a little bit.

First of all, Sarah left as planned on Friday the 19th, then returned on the 21st for a few more days. Her plans for Boston had fallen through and we told her we'd love to see her again for a few days. Unfortunately, she had to leave early on Thursday morning, so even with her visiting twice and us not having work/school on Fridays, we were only able to have one full day with her when we didn't have to go to work/school. Oh, well. It was good to see her anyway. She is now 2 or 3 days into a 10 day meditation retreat where she doesn't get to talk or communicate with anyone. That might be good for her relationship with the friend who was originally in charge of the Boston plans (and who is also at this retreat). :-)

Gizmo got his stitches out two weeks ago and got rid of his funnel a little over a week ago. He still looks a little funny as his fur grows back, but he's back to his little evil self again; which is something of a relief after 9 months but it's also a bit aggravating sometimes.

School is going well for both me and Rachel. Last week, I took a "big quiz" (not really a test, but we had 2 hours to work on it) in my Computer Structures class. As I mentioned parenthetically, we had 2 hours to work on it. When I finished in 25 minutes, I was a little nervous, so I spent about 10 minutes double-checking my work, then turned it in. I was the second to finish, but as I walked out I could see that some of the other students had barely gotten started (and I assume they probably needed all two hours). It was a bit of a surreal experience.

My boss really likes my work and has gotten to the point of embarrassing me, she's so enthusiastic about it. That's nice on the one hand, but she keeps going on about me working through next summer and maybe for the whole time I'm at UNH. I don't know about that--I'd rather find an internship or something for the summer that is related to my degree, but I guess we'll see. She does want to pay me $20 an hour for the work when school is not in session, so the pay is hard to turn down...

Now to the hockey update: The reason I didn't post anything about last week's game was twofold; first, I wasn't feeling like writing a whole lot that night after we received a 12-3 drubbing. Second, I wasn't sure the 12-3 was going to hold up because the guy who scored 7 of their goals (yes, seven) had played a couple of years of high school hockey, which makes him ineligible for our tier. In the end, they forfeited and we got our first win of the season (kind of cheap way to get the win, but there's no saying we wouldn't have won anyway if that guy hadn't been playing). That means that any stats from that game (including my one assist) don't count.

The weird thing is that the other game played that night also ended up as a forfeit since the winning team had an ineligible player. That's part of why I wasn't sure what was going on with that game; I didn't expect to see two forfeits listed on the web site, so I thought there had been a mistake. Our captain confirmed tonight, however, that both games were indeed forfeits.

Another weird thing that happened after the game last week was that we found out it was now legal to take slap shots in our tier. The league had simply removed the rule that banned slapshots from the web site and didn't bother to inform anyone. God, I miss the GSHL's organization (even if the schedule was a bit slow to come out every season).

This week's game was a bit more normal. We played the same team we did in the very first game (which we led 6-3 going into the third period but lost 7-6 in a shootout). For the third time in the four games we've played, I scored the first goal of the game, this one on my team's first shot of the game. The goalie just left me about a foot and a half of space on the short side and dropped to his knees, so I just shot it in. I also picked up a goal in the second period on a technicality (I was screening the goalie and the shot hit me before it went in). I don't know for sure if I'll get official credit for that goal or not, but it was technically mine. I don't mind if Josh (the actual shooter) gets credit, though. He earned it.

So we led 5-2 heading into the third period, and all the chat on the bench during the break was how we had led them by 3 going into the third last time and managed to lose it. We didn't this time; we hung on for a 6-3 win. Now we have a win in the usual way, which makes us all feel better. The team is starting to gel as we get to know each other better, which gives us more confidence on the ice.

Some readers who know I don't score very often normally might note that I now have 5 goals in 4 games (3 games if you don't count the forfeit) and might be wondering if I might be playing in too low a tier. I've been thinking about that, too, pondering whether I should try moving up to Tier 3 in January. At this point, I'm thinking no--frankly, I'm not out there skating around a lot of people (a few, but only the people who obviously have only been playing for a year or two). I think the goaltending in this tier just isn't what I was used to in the GSHL--my team has scored 6 goals twice in four games, after all. Besides, a little time being able to score a few might boost my confidence before I take on a higher level of play again.