When I came to Cornell as a graduate student in the Fall of 1997, the department's recreational ice hockey team was looking for a goalie. I put skates on for the first time in my life on my 22nd birthday (which is why I now always try to wear #22). For five years I played with that group and for three years I served as one of the group's organizers; a "hockey czar". During that time I learned a lot about the sport and gained some competitive experience playing on the department's university intramural team and in the annual campus hockey tournament.
In 2002, I decided I wanted to "get serious" about trying to become a better goaltender. That year I played in the Ithaca Adult Hockey Association, a self-organized group of a dozen or so teams that play each year throughout the fall and winter.
In 2003, I again played in that league, this time for Dempsey's - a team in the league's B/C division. Despite a frustrating regular season, we did well in the playoffs advancing to the league's best-of-three championship series which we lost, two games to one. As a self-improvement tool, I kept an analysis of every goal I gave up during that season. That analysis is available here. The games are recapped in reverse order, left and right are from my perspective.
While I am not a great athlete and only have limited time to devote to ice hockey, I love to play and always looking for ways to improve my game.
The Stopper.
The Stopper is different.
The Stopper makes a mistake, a red light
goes on and 18,000 people yell at him.
The Stopper's the one you count on to
succeed after everyone else has failed.
The Stopper's the guy who remembers to
bring the toiler paper on the camping trip.
The Stopper might be weird.
But understandably so.
Thank God for the Stopper.
--Unknown, c. 1993
Last Updated: Monday May 03, 2004 11:13:08 AM
