First Skate of the Season

There is one advantage about starting the hockey season during the summer; when your alarm goes off at 05:30am you only have to battle tiredness, instead of the knockout tired-subfreezing temperature combo. So rolling out of bed wasn't the biggest chore in the world. I couldn't help but to groan as my bare feet shuffled across the wooden bedroom floor, making my way to the bathroom to splash water on my face and further pry my eyes open.

I looked out the window and was surprised at how much light there was for 05:35am, which is weird because I usually wake up for work only fifteen minutes later. I glanced out my hallway window to see my buddy, Jon (hopefully more on him in a later post), was already waiting for me out front. Soon as I saw his car I couldn't help but wonder why I voluntarily got up so early on a Sunday morning. As soon as I stopped grumbling to myself I threw on a pair of shorts and grabbed my hockey bag and we were en route to Conway Arena.

I've been in Conway only once before, never have played in it. All in all it's a very nice facility. Everything seems new and clean. It has a nice concourse area in the front with plenty of glass so you can watch all of the on ice action. Conway Arena is one of the rinks I plan to spotlight later, so I wont go into too much detail, except that it's a nice place to place. Though I did think the way the locker rooms are tucked away is odd- no reason really, I've played in places with much odder setups.

I was not really looking forward to skating as soon as I started suiting up. I injured my ankle last summer, that coupled with the fact that I'm a lazy bastard, I didn't skate at all this winter. So Yeah, I knew it was going to be a long morning.

I hit the ice about 6:10am for stretching and general warm ups, but I really spent the time getting acquainted with my ice skate balance, more on that later.

6:15, Jon informs me that there are no leagues going on after us so we can skate another hour or so... great...

6:20, we pair off in the traditional white jerseys vs colored jerseys. Me wearing my Miami Hurricanes jersey I got for Christmas years ago, I was on color. I was also relegated to right wing. I primarily play Defense, and I think Center for a quarter of a season. I don't know how you forwards out there do it. I was ready to stop skating around 6:30.

I also made things worse for myself by forgetting to stay up high in our zone. I kept finding myself drifting closer and closer to our goal line- it really seemed unnatural to stay up high. Which the more I did that meant, the more skating I had to do. Which at that point and time skating anywhere wasn't exactly my forte.

I think around 06:40, I completely lost my balance/footing and fell on my ass in front of the net. I'm not talking about I just fell over, I whipped back and my feet went over my head. Seriously, if this had been a movie some actors probably would've hired a stunt double for the fall I took. Luckily for me, in the time it took me to learn to skate I also became quite the pro at falling down, that and good elbow pads prevented any injury. The most embarrassing thing about the fall was that no one hit me, I didn't pivot turn and lose an edge, I simply fell.

I skated to the bench and "changed lines" with Jon. I sat there for like five minutes trying to figure out how I could possibly be this bad. During my other long term hiatus with hockey my return to the ice wasn't so rough. Then I felt it inside me... my dinner from late last night.

I was wondering how I could top the embarrassment of falling on my ass, easy. By sneaking into the corner and puking into a bucket after only 20 minutes of skating. Embarrassing moment part III, I was puking into the bucket in what I thought was tucked away from everyone's sight but I looked up and realized how much that glass concourse area I described earlier sees.

After I finished spewing I did feel better. I wish I could write that I came back out on the ice like a champ and out skated everyone. No, but I did manage.

7:15, I'm actually surprised my legs don't want to fall off. More surprising is that the side of my foot didn't hurt, they always do until I get back to skating a lot. I guess I was in better shape than I thought. Though my ribs and lower back do hurt pretty bad. And the fact that I grabbed a small pair of hockey socks, so they were pulling down my guarder belt was annoying.

7:40, the sight of the Zamboni was a welcomed sight. If it wasn't for my back or ribs, I could've probably skated for another half hour or so. But that's when we called it a day.

Oh and I'm really appreciative of everyone there who pretended like they didn't see me fall, puke or suck. It was really nice of you.

I know this is my first real post, but it isn't what you're going to typically see. Think of this as preseason, I'm trying to line up some interviews to interweave into the stories. I actually was planning on writing about the Summer Shift, but didn't get around to it so I figured I'd write about my experience on Sunday Morning.

I'll be playing hockey Sunday morning in Nashua. If you have any rinks, leagues, teams or players in the Southern NH area that you think I should cover, contact me at nehockeyguy@yahoo.com. follow me on twitter. Also I've been working on a graphic to get up, I know I said I'd have one by this post, but I'm a lazy bastard. I'm working on it.