Tue, 27 May 2008  The SoCal HockeyCast, enhanced podcast is back! In this episode, listen and watch as Ted, Zoe, and Genevieve talk about the Stanley Cup Finals, the Los Angeles Kings, and what the heck happened to them for over a year! Remember, this is an enhanced podcast and has images, live URL links, and chapters. It's best viewed in iTunes... a free download from the Apple website at http://apple.com/itunes. If you have any questions or comments at all, please email us at info@socalhockeycast.com.Comments[0] |
Fri, 23 May 2008
Unlike the Ducks and the Kings, the hockey season for
participants in the Kings Beginning
Hockey Workshop with Daryl Evans continues. I know that I didn't
report on the "big game" we played on April 24th, but it's been a busy
crazy time in our family! It was a surreal experience that seemed a
total haze for me. My mom had just suffered a heart attack and was
scheduled for a double bypass, so my mind definitely wasn't on the
game. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to give much more of an assessment
of the game other than, "It was fun," and "I was terrible." I didn't
score any goals, but one of my passes was finished off, so I did get an
assist. The Purple Team lost this game, but it was kind of bogus. Our
goalie allowed two goals to the kids on the Yellow Team. Without the
charity goals, we'd have won by a goal. Not a big deal. It was
still a lot of fun. However, the most memorable moment came at the very
end of the game. Yellow sqaud's #16, the goon I mentioned, was in the
corner, checking one of my linemates, Ben Salisbury. Our goalie was
pulled, and I hopped on the ice. The puck was in the corner near the
goon and Ben. I got to skate at least half the length of the ice, turn
at the last moment, and give him a good hip check. I must admit...
knocking him to the ice was the BEST
part of the night for me personally. Of course, in a real, competitive
game, I would've been penalized for boarding, charging, and probably
given a 10-minute misconduct. However, even though I'm not a violent
person, by any means, I must admit... it was so satisfying to check the goon. Okay, enough with the past. Now fast forward to the present. We also had a three-practice extension of the Beginning Hockey Workshop. It was a little smaller than the first session, but it was still well attended. The "Noah's Ark" theme continued. We still had the pairs of Salisburys and Wells. We lost the Dearmans and Manzellas, but we gained another Slee and a pair of Ballards. The practice really did extend our learning and gave us more practice on the ice to improve our skills. My skating has definitely improved immensely. I can skate backwards... not well, but not as poorly as before. I can stop and slow down, and I can turn on a dime... of course, the dime has to have a two-foot diameter, but it's better! I could definitely use a lot more work on skating with the puck because I can't stickhandle very well while moving. Our second big game was this past Tuesday, May 21st. It was a great game. Much better than the last one. On the first shift of the game, I saw one of my linemates breaking out, and I got an outlet pass to him for a goal. Of course, it helps that Wolf has a wicked good wrist shot for the beginning group. I also got a centering pass to little David Wing who finished it off for another goal. The best part of the game was that my little girl, Genevieve, was in attendance, cheering on Team Purple. I really appreciated how she refrained from laughing each time I fell. Now that I'm skating a lot faster and taking more risks in lateral movement, I seem to fall a lot more. I guess since our teammate Fell is gone, someone else has to pick up the slack of eating ice the most. It felt like a much faster game, and that might have been because we were playing on the other rink and had harder ice... Who knows? Maybe it was because we had all improved in our skating. For whatever reason, the game flew by, and I actually felt really good on the ice... well, except when I ran into the huge Asian American guy, Tony Liu. It was a comedic moment... much like when a cartoon character runs into a brick wall. I'll let you think about who was the brick wall. If you guessed me, then you're right on one! I bounced off of him and staggered back, but I stayed on my skates! Cool, huh? In the first week, I definitely would have fallen. I probably would have fallen in the second and third weeks as well. Unlike the run at the goon in the first game, this was totally accidental. I mean, come on, I'm not stupid. Tony's a nice guy, he's a lot bigger than me, and he's no goon. AND did I mention that I'm not a masochist? Two days later, I'm still feeling soreness in my neck and shoulders from the collision. Definitely an accident Just for fun, I have some of my own awards to hand out... mostly to Team Purple players because I got to know them a little better, but we're all winners for taking the risk of learning how to play the game we love...
What if I gave myself an award, you may ask? If I was very generous, I'd say, "Most Likely to be Craig Janney," because I'm not a top tier playmaker, but I'm steady at making the right pass. If I was joking around, I'd say, "Most Likely to be Mistaken for Paul Kariya." Hey, gotta represent my Asian brothers and sisters! I can't wait till June when we come together for four more days. I feel like we're playing more as a team: communicating on the ice, making unselfish plays, and supporting each other. Category: sports -- posted at: 1:07 AM Comments[0] |
Tue, 22 April 2008  Session Number 4... The last one before the big game on Thursday night. It's incredible to see how far we've come. On a personal level, I've become proficient at stopping (at least with a snowplow and a gliding T-stop... still can't do the full out hockey stop), I'm better at going backwards, and I'm getting much faster and stronger on my skates (especially on the tight turns). The high point of the warm-up drills was when I was able to go down on one knee and pop right back up. It may not have been as smooth as many others, but it's the first time I was able to do it successfully. Of course, I was so shocked, that when I went to go down on my left knee, I totally messed up and fell. Oh well, next practice!The absolute best part of the night was the last 20 minutes or so. We had an all-out scrimmage. Unofficially, the Purple Team won the scrimmage. Go Purple!!! I must say that I've never skated so hard in my life, but it was great to actually skate for a purpose. It's like that magical moment in life when students (usually in 3rd grade or so), go beyond learning to read, and they begin to read to learn. For those students, the light bulb goes on because they realize that there's a purpose for reading. It's not that I dislike the skating and stickhandling drills. I actually really do like them a lot, but when you scrimmage, then the whole point of why you're doing this becomes apparent. Now, that said, for all the frantic skating I did, I felt like I barely did anything. The best part was getting the puck stickhandling a little and giving a decent outlet pass to Benjamin Salisbury who finished off the play with a nice goal. The big downer of the scrimmage was some wacko goon who somehow misunderstood the No Body Checking Rule. He ran me over pretty well and also hit Salisbury a couple times. He was also careless with his stickwork as well. I'm sure many of you are thinking that we're all beginners and he probably couldn't stop. Yeah, right... except that there were times that he wasn't even skating towards the puck when he would run over us. Goon! On a totally different note... I had an email asking me what Daryl Evans is like as a coach/instructor. I've got to say, he's awesome. He really does a great job at demonstrating and explaining how to do the different drills. One good example is when he saw some of us having trouble with crossovers. He slowed it down in the demonstration and didn't just focus on what your feet and legs are doing. He talked about what your head and whole body does before you cross the leg over. It was great! I've never felt so stable doing a fast crossover. He's always encouraging and positive in his remarks. I've never had formal training in skating or stickhandling, and I have nothing but positives to say about Mr. Evans. If you're interested in learning how to play hockey, the LA Kings Beginner Workshops are a great way to do it (especially if Mr. Evans is teaching them)! Category: Other Hockey -- posted at: 10:41 PM Comments[0] |
Thu, 17 April 2008 Like the saying goes... third time's the charm! This practice went really well. I still skate backwards like an arthritic octogenarian, but it's getting better. I think I'm about the same speed as the famous Mr. Fell... although I think I'm the only one who fell down while going backwards tonight, but hey! I'm learning! Here are some of the things I've noticed during practice three:
More later! Category: Other Hockey -- posted at: 1:52 AM Comments[0] |
Mon, 14 April 2008  Last night marked a departure from the last few Sunday nights. Many of you will be thinking that it had to do with the lack of a Kings' game. That's partially true, but it was actually strange because I didn't have hockey practice. Hockey practice? Yes, I am part of the LA Kings Beginners Hockey Workshop hosted by Daryl Evans.Really learning to play ice hockey is something that I've always wanted to do. The handful of pick-up games in high school (roller and ice) and the two seasons of street hockey just don't count. I've wanted to learn how to actually play the sport I've loved for pretty much my whole life. With all this prior experience, you'd think that I'd do pretty well. All I can say is that I haven't truly embarrassed myself. We've had two practices, and I'm not the worst, but I'm also far from the best. I've definitely improved already. Need proof? In the first practice, I couldn't stop. I was the guy who aimed for the emptiest stretch of boards to run into. However, by the second practice, I could definitely glide to a stop given enough time. Unfortunately, my biggest Achilles Heel was realized in that second practice... I can't skate backwards to save my life. The good news was that, I did improve enough to get across the ice (albeit very very VERY slowly). Some of the other participants actually gave up, turned around, and skated forward during the drill. Having Daryl Evans lead the workshop is a thrill. Although he didn't have the lengthiest Kings' career, he's most notable for scoring the winning goal in the Miracle on Manchester... easily one of the greatest moments in Kings' history. He's an enthusiastic instructor and demonstrates what we need to do clearly. Of course, watching him do it so effortlessly (with unlaced skates no less), is a far cry from actually doing the drills, but it helps to see it done properly. One of the other cool things has been the bonding. I haven't made any lifelong friends or anything, but all the participants are friendly and excited. We're all in it to learn, and it's a blast to have fun with a bunch of people. On the first night, Andrew Mason, one of the main organizers, announced that there was a hidden blogger amongst our ranks. One of the more amusing things about this was the fact that several of the participants thought it would be me because I "seemed pretty smart... the type to blog." Well, I'm more of a podcaster than a blogger, but I took it as a compliment. Hopefully I actually am smart, and don't just seem it. On other news and notes, the SoCal HockeyCast podcast is in production again. It feels odd to have missed an entire season of podcasting, but my commute to work took out all my editing time. Armed with a new job (much closer to home) and two daughters who are ready to podcast, we're going to begin modestly in the next week or two. Other than some playoff news, thoughts on the Kings, and other general SoCal Hockey thoughts, Genevieve and I will also talk about our respective learning curves for hockey... did I forget to mention that she's learning hockey as well? I'll save that for another time. Category: sports -- posted at: 11:34 PM Comments[0] |
