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Subbed at Mt. Lebo last night. It was a playoff match up between the worst teams in each division. Neither team had a win all season and were both prone to giving up high goal totals. Exactly the kind of game I wanted to play in. Unfortunately I did not play well and the team I was on lost 9-7.

I usually look for the positives in these kind of games as one is very likely to get hung out to dry and see a lot of breakaways and odd-man rushes. I ended up letting in 2 or 3 bad goals and don't feel very well about my performance. Overly aggressive positioning (didn't we just talk about that?), a couple of technical breakdowns (inexcusable at this point), and a sniper on their team who seriously scored 7 of their goals. Among other things, I just felt kind of slow physically and mentally all game. Surprisingly though, I did make three highlight reel saves including one that looked a lot like this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxghRfnQrIM&NR=1. (my version went off the inside of my blocker and was trickling towards the glove-side post when I swatted it away while turning clockwise).

After getting dressed and on my way out, a young lad asked me if I was on the Coyotes? Huh? He said they heard someone from the Coyotes organization was in the building tonight and that they figured it must have been me. "LOL, what game were you watching, son?" Apparently this guy was working out on the studio rink, but they thought it was me while they were watching the game. I told him that they were mistaken and then he followed up to say that I was a "really really good goalie". Thanks, kid.

So aside from getting confused for a professional goalie, it was overall a poor effort by me. That's alright though, I play the games to have fun and learn something about my game that needs to be improved upon. There were plenty to take from this game. One is flexibility. Again, I mildly strained my groin on one play. My stretching on the ice is getting better and I've been much more discipline about taking the extra 2 or 3 minutes after each game to stretch on the ice. Need to keep up with my program at home though if I'm gonnna get anywhere close to a full leg split which I hope will help serve as an injury deterent.

2 more games tonight. One is the playoff game for my Mt. Lebo team. Time to shine.