pissed offAfter last week where I had skated really poorly in brand new skates, I spent about 5 hours this week practicing. 90% of that was just accelerating up to a run, stopping, and transitioning forward to backward. I got to the point where I was doing it smoothly, left or right, forward or back, on the new skates.
So I'm super crazy disappointed when I came tonight and skated probably worse, not better, than the previous week. What's killing me is just how crap the ice is. Every time I went to take off I'd catch an edge in a deep rut. Nearly every time I went to turn around my skates would get stuck in a rut and I would be pulled off balance by my feet going different directions than my hips.
As I said to someone before game started, pointing at the deep cuts in the ice, "why do they bother pretending to cut it?" The ice was so bad that I'm not entirely certain it wouldn't be better if they didn't pour fresh water over it... because that appears to be the only thing they are doing. Does that zamboni have a blade in it?
So I'm not happy with the ice, I'm not happy with myself, and I want to beat the crap out of the other team's goalie. Twice that bastard swung his stick out beyond the crease and knocked me off my feet. My back is in a lot of pain right now, as is my shoulder.
I knew that hockey would involve some questionable play. And goodness knows we're all bad skaters, and we crash into each other. It didn't occur to me that it would involve deliberate violations intended to hurt someone bad enough they wouldn't be able to work the next day. That's a serious red flag for me. Right now I'm seriously considering whether or not I will return.
