Hockey Revival

Monday night I played hockey for the first time in 6 weeks.  I wore the ankle brace Mrs. Strong lent me, and I brought my game.  My ankle did ok- it was a little swollen by the end of the night, but the indoor rink was clocking in at about 85 degrees and I blame the heat as much as the usage.

Boy am I out of shape.  I huffed and puffed up and down that rink.  My soul was yearning to play, so I worked through my "exhaustion," but I can tell I have a lot of work to do to get back to where I was.

"Elevating my ankle" at a Hood Park game

HOWEVER.  The last 6 weeks I've been watching hockey.  A LOT of hockey.  Nerd Herd games, roller hockey at the Hood Park Hockey League, NHL finals...  Damn, I'd watch peewee hockey if I was standing next to it.  And I think the watching really improved my skill.  I watched the mistakes we made over and over.  I saw how good plays were set up, and how to foil a play the other team is making.  It was proven empirically, over and over, that just taking shots will eventually work; no need to get all fancy.

Before my injury, I'll admit, I was getting tired of hockey.  I felt like my team was out of joint and disconnected, that I was playing poorly, and that it was taking up time I could be doing other things.  6 weeks of watching has cured me!  Monday's game lit the fire in my belly.  I feel like I played positionally pretty well, even managing to get a few shots on net.

I still have plenty of room for improvement.  I've got to start running again soon, or at least doing cardio so my body is in shape for sprinting.  I still need to work on my basic hockey skills like stick handling and catching passes.  I'm feeling the motivation to improve- finally.... something I've been missing from my life for a while.