2 for 2

Well, it was a good sports night.

Earlier in the evening our volleyball team won it's match two games to zero. We actually played really well. I even had a couple of blocks and made a few good plays on offense too.

Then I went home and had a little to eat, watched some tv, talked to Steph, and got my hockey equipment ready. Sean came to pick me up and off we went for our first game of the season.

When we got there it felt like we hadn't ever left. Our goalie, Dave, was there when we arrived. Before we had even sat down the dirty jokes started. Ahhhh, just like old times. Seeing the guys and hanging out in the locker room was fun. Sean made the comment on the way over. I don't remember the games the most from the year before, I remember hanging out in the locker room with a crazy group of guys.

My new defensive partner, Rob, and I started the game. The stated goal for the game, made by a couple of people, was to get a goal in the first minute of play. Well, wouldn't you know it, we did. I made a little bit of a rush and got off a big shot on net, the goalie stopped it but let out a pretty nice rebound. One of our new players (who had been on the team in the years before I joined, so only new from last year) Tim, who played high school hockey in Minnesota, was right there to pop the puck in the net for a goal. The time on the clock? 19:03. Only 57 seconds had ticked off. So I got a shot and an assist on the first shift of the season, I felt pretty good about that.

I'm going to keep a running total of my stats for the year here (mostly for my own enjoyment). Here it is:

Date	Res	Opp	Score	+/-	G	A	P	Shots	PIM
11/9/04	W	Bighorn Rams	4-2	+1	0	1	1	3	0
TOTALS	1-0		4-2	+1	0	1	1	3	0

The columns are Date, Result, Opponent, Plus/Minus (explanation in a sec), Goals, Assist, Points, Shots, and Penalty Minutes.

For those of you who don't know hockey +/- is an interesting stat. It is a way to show how valuable you are to the team when you're on the ice. Do good things usually happen, or not-so-good things happen. Whenever you are on the ice and your team scores a goal you get a +1. Whenever you are on the ice and the opposing team gets a goal you get a -1. Then you add your plusses and minusses to get your +/- for the game. So I was out on the ice for the first goal, and then was on the bench for the rest of the goals, that equals +1. I think it is a really important stat for defensemen (which is where I play) since your main job is to keep the other team from scoring.

Anyway, it was a fun night. I'm feeling way better than I thought I would, but I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow. Great to be back in the swing of things and great to be undefeated! Now, it's time for bed.