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November 08, 2005

Fall/Winter 05-6 : Game Five Recap

The title is misleading, for this is the fourth game I have actually played. For Game Four I was sick, but my team won, so that is good!

Unfortunately, we had our fist loss. The final score was 1-0, and embarrassingly, I was playing D when the opposing team scored the goal.

I am not really sure what I could have done to prevent it other than to have been faster. I suppose I was too deep in our offensive zone, so I wasn’t quick enough getting back out to catch the breakaway. (It was 2 on 1; my partner had been back properly.)

This was the first time I had played D in a few years. The first couple shifts were definitely rocky. I had to orient myself and remember positioning. The aforementioned goal-against was during my second shift.

Starting at my third shift, however, the old rhythm returned and I remembered how to defend. I got a bit too aggressive, however, and earned my very first career penalty. Frankly, I was shocked. I have done plenty of penalty-worthy things in the past without getting caught, but this time, it was a legit stick-stuck-in-someone-accidentally. Really. I was trying to lift her stick, it got between her legs, and she pivoted and tripped. So I was called for… tripping!

At first, I was devastated. The whole “go to the box and feel shame:” I was feeling the shame. Plus, I was afraid of the mocking that Husband would give me after the game (which actually never came.)

The rest of the game, I played fairly well. I was extra careful not to get another penalty, though my team ended up getting several. I ended up being on penalty kill a couple times and rocked it tremendously. We almost got a shorthanded goal.

During the third period, the game slowed down for me. I could anticipate where people were going, and I seemed one step ahead. Everything felt floaty and fluid. But then after a couple really successful shifts, I actually thought about how I was getting the hang of it, and of course that broke the concentration and my final shift was a disaster (but didn’t result in any goals-against!)

My captain was pleased with my performance: “You rocked, Kari!” and noted what I had: that the first couple shifts were crazy but then I got into the groove.

My guess is that they will have me play D again, even though I was the main contributor to our first loss. We’ll see!

Stats: Yeah, okay, so I have 2:00 penalty minutes for Tripping. And I am a -1 (both for the game and for the season.)

Posted by karianna at November 8, 2005 08:53 AM

Comments

Posted by: Prego at November 9, 2005 11:04 AM