Unhappy streak
The Moose played their 4th game last night, and we've made some improvements. Not enough to win, but some improvements, none the less. Last night's loss was 4-2, which continues the trend of fewer goals against. On the bad side, we're still getting scored on early, this time, 2 goals in the first and 2 in the second, before a scoreless third.
First goal was shot through legs as the shooter cut left to right in front of me. I got most of it with the glove, but it skipped off and snuck inside the far post. Second goal was a partial screen, but it was along the ice, and I should have had it. I think that either my stick was floating or I didn't get the pads all the way down in time.
Third goal was a low screen shot that was tipped and went up and over me. I never saw it until went in. Our players that could see it all said it was kicked, but we couldn't get the call. The fourth goal was when a player got a breakaway, I stopped his first shot, but no one back checked on him, so he got to shoot his own rebound.
There were more penalties in this game. We took a couple of trips, one of which led to the second goal. The other team took an unsportswomanlike conduct for shooting after the whistle. I never would have complained, because the shot was so weak (just a little back-hand flip), and I wouldn't have wanted to let on that I was bothered by it. It was the kind of thing that someone does just to be a jerk, and I was happy to ignore her. My D apparently were offended for me, though, and they bitched. We scored on the power play while the offending player sat her penalty. Later in the game, Tough Girl broke into their zone with seconds left on the clock, and the last player she had to beat was the woman from the other team. It was funny to see, in the "men's" amateur league, a woman-v-woman showdown to end a game. Tough Girl beat her easy, then beat their goalie, giving us a 2-4 loss, which is at least 1 goal more respectable than a 1-4 loss.
Which brings me to another interesting point or two. There are more women playing this year, and they're better players than the women we've seen in the past. You'd see a couple of women play each year the last few years, and most of them could not keep up with the men. That's changed. There are some very good female players now, who are holding their own. That's a good sign for the leagues, I think, since it increases our player pool. One thing that is still a little odd is how teams handle their own, and each other's, female players, and what roles the women play. Tough Girl got banged around a lot last night, and it wasn't just the usual, friendly, incidental contact. She got leveled at least twice. The woman from the other team got treated about the same as the guys from the other team did. People played the body on her, but no one really tried to line her up for a cheap shot. She did, however, take on the role of going to the net and setting a screen, and she had good hands, and got tips on a few slap shots. Time in front of the net is usually painful, between goalies working over your legs with the stick to get you to move, and defensemen cross checking you to move you away from the goalies.
On the flip side, I also noticed that their female player didn't use their team dressing room, while Tough Girl asked before the first game to dress with the rest of the team, and we all immediately agreed. She has changed with us every game, and it hasn't been an issue. There's just too much team bonding that happens while people are changing and bullshitting to leave someone out. There was also a major difference between the way the teams used their female players. The other team spent the night trying to feed passes to their female player, or get her in position to tip shots, while our Tough Girl plays a role like the other guys play, including providing us with a pretty decent fore check, something I've not seen other women do in the league. No one tries to baby her by setting her up for easy breakaways; she mucks it out along the boards like all the guys do.
Just a small example of the way the game is changing. I think it's changing for the better. I also think it probably serves these women well when they come up against problems off the ice. I'm a big believer that how you play is how you live. But that's another story...
First goal was shot through legs as the shooter cut left to right in front of me. I got most of it with the glove, but it skipped off and snuck inside the far post. Second goal was a partial screen, but it was along the ice, and I should have had it. I think that either my stick was floating or I didn't get the pads all the way down in time.
Third goal was a low screen shot that was tipped and went up and over me. I never saw it until went in. Our players that could see it all said it was kicked, but we couldn't get the call. The fourth goal was when a player got a breakaway, I stopped his first shot, but no one back checked on him, so he got to shoot his own rebound.
There were more penalties in this game. We took a couple of trips, one of which led to the second goal. The other team took an unsportswomanlike conduct for shooting after the whistle. I never would have complained, because the shot was so weak (just a little back-hand flip), and I wouldn't have wanted to let on that I was bothered by it. It was the kind of thing that someone does just to be a jerk, and I was happy to ignore her. My D apparently were offended for me, though, and they bitched. We scored on the power play while the offending player sat her penalty. Later in the game, Tough Girl broke into their zone with seconds left on the clock, and the last player she had to beat was the woman from the other team. It was funny to see, in the "men's" amateur league, a woman-v-woman showdown to end a game. Tough Girl beat her easy, then beat their goalie, giving us a 2-4 loss, which is at least 1 goal more respectable than a 1-4 loss.
Which brings me to another interesting point or two. There are more women playing this year, and they're better players than the women we've seen in the past. You'd see a couple of women play each year the last few years, and most of them could not keep up with the men. That's changed. There are some very good female players now, who are holding their own. That's a good sign for the leagues, I think, since it increases our player pool. One thing that is still a little odd is how teams handle their own, and each other's, female players, and what roles the women play. Tough Girl got banged around a lot last night, and it wasn't just the usual, friendly, incidental contact. She got leveled at least twice. The woman from the other team got treated about the same as the guys from the other team did. People played the body on her, but no one really tried to line her up for a cheap shot. She did, however, take on the role of going to the net and setting a screen, and she had good hands, and got tips on a few slap shots. Time in front of the net is usually painful, between goalies working over your legs with the stick to get you to move, and defensemen cross checking you to move you away from the goalies.
On the flip side, I also noticed that their female player didn't use their team dressing room, while Tough Girl asked before the first game to dress with the rest of the team, and we all immediately agreed. She has changed with us every game, and it hasn't been an issue. There's just too much team bonding that happens while people are changing and bullshitting to leave someone out. There was also a major difference between the way the teams used their female players. The other team spent the night trying to feed passes to their female player, or get her in position to tip shots, while our Tough Girl plays a role like the other guys play, including providing us with a pretty decent fore check, something I've not seen other women do in the league. No one tries to baby her by setting her up for easy breakaways; she mucks it out along the boards like all the guys do.
Just a small example of the way the game is changing. I think it's changing for the better. I also think it probably serves these women well when they come up against problems off the ice. I'm a big believer that how you play is how you live. But that's another story...
posted by Micah at 5:58 PM
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