 other goalie. The first goal on me was a wild slapshot from the blue line/left point. Hits his own guy about 10ft in front of me, puck goes right hard, bounces off the mid/back of another one of their guys and in on my far right side. I think I may have had a chance to react with my blocker if I wasn't in awe of the pinball like wizardry in front of me. 2nd goal was a good screen I never saw the release on. Happy overall with my performance. I play in a dwindled mens league with only 6 teams that were previous a mix of A through C. It's sad really. We were top in the C division last 2 seasons. Anyway, we are now 10 and 2. I have a 2.00 GAA. No save% unfortunately. Never posted in this thread thanks for reading.
Last week's game (D-Division 35+) was terrible for the team. We were blown out 7-1, but I felt like I was standing on my frickin head! They don't count shots - and neither do I - but asking in the room, we figured the other team had to have had at least 40-45 shots. If you take away the odd-man rush, breakaway and back-door bang-bang goals, I think I had a shutout. Overall, it's been a struggle, as my team is the lowest-scoring team in our league. So if I let in more than 2 - which is bound to happen - we usually lose. Also, if we aren't getting goals, it probably means we aren't in possession, and aren't in their end as much - which means more at our end.
The week before we won 6-3, and at least 2 goals were pretty soft - one being a super weird shot along the ice from outside the blue line, through a screen, that I didn't react to as it looked like it was going wide. My D-man after the game said the same thing, that he didn't really tie up the guy, cus the shot was weak and didn't seem to be on target. Still came out with the W though. One of the top teams just lost 10-1 the other night in our league, and they have an excellent goalie. It's nutty.
Welcome to goaltending. You know how many games I would've had a shutout without all the odd man rushes and such? Pretty sure over a million.
I haven't played in two weeks (which is a very large time for me) but I have two games coming up this weekend to get back into it. I keep opening my laundry room and staring lovingly at my gear as I whisper "Soon".
That first 7-1 game for sure sounds like a tough go. Glad you made it out with a few positives!
The goal in the 6-3 game the week earlier sounds like a goal we've all seen playout before in our experiences playing goal. Those "I think the shot is going wide" shots can be tricky, especially if the player(s) in front can get a quick stick on it (whether it was tipped intentionally or not) or something like that.
That's why, when you can, getting more experience and reading those plays can set you up for success the next time it happens and those shots gone wide end up on goal, but you making the correct read on a potential scoring threat coming out of nowhere makes the difference between a goal and a save. Not saying you made a bad read or anything of the sort, as random stuff happens in hockey all the time, but those are one example of non-traditional/non-expected plays where seeing it playout (when us goalies are usually on the wrong end of it) helps in the longrun, IMO.
Our game last weekend was pretty big for us. A win and we clinched 1st place in our division, a regulation loss probably meant 3rd.  We were playing the best team in the league and 2/3 of our top line decided 90 minutes before the game that they weren't going to show up. One wasn't feeling well and the other was on a date and he "felt good about where it was going".  We weren't having much luck with fill ins since it was so close to game time. Mentally, we(or I) had already lost the game. Game started, they were really good. We were down 3-0 at the end of the 1st. I should have had 1 of them for sure. We were down 4-0 in the 2nd before we scored our 1st. It was back and forth for a while after that. Every time we scored they ended up scoring a few minutes later. A few pucks I got a piece of but not enough of it. Back doors, odd mans, snipes. We kept battling, got to within 9-7. Scored again late in the 3rd to make it 9-8 and we were pumped.  Won the next face off and just played keep away from the redline back for the last 1:20 of the game. I blame myself for being mentally out of it before I even left for the rink. There were several goals that I feel I should/would have had if I showed up prepared for the game. Sucks because I was really looking forward to the challenge that game was going to bring us. The rest of the games finished as anticipated and we finished tied for 2nd, 3rd due to the tiebreaker. Playoffs start this weekend.
Oh man, I think we've all been there. Sucks that your teammates couldn't make it out, especially for a big game nearing the end of the season (But I do kind of get it, being on a date and all, but it is what it is). I hope everyone can showup now that your playoffs have arrived. There is nothing worse than playoff no-shows I tell ya.
I had a similar game earlier on this season when only 7 guys (including myself) showed up. Putting on your gear and looking around at an empty room is an uneasy feeling and is never fun haha. I thought for sure we were going to lose, but we somehow managed to win it 6-3 that night (their goalie had an off night and I got some puck luck at my end). But yeah, mentally I was checked out before the game even started and that one is on me, win or lose. Us goalies need to be ready to go no matter how many teammates we have in front of us.
I took 100% responsibility for the outcome of the game afterwards. I was pretty disappointed in myself.
I know this feeling all too well. I ran into this situation so many times when I was the team captain for my old team.
Told my team I'm not playing after this season. We have the last game this Sunday. Championship game.
I've been with the team for years. Just bored. 4 team league. Every week we play the same people it feels like. Every week we piece a team together. With my kids both playing, I have to miss a lot of the games. Since my rink charges goalies full price, I end up paying too much for a few games. Add in my gear is old, I'm old and pulling all my gear out of the garage is old.
Bar in the rink already asked me for my mask to hang on the wall.
Are you going to sell it to them?
Got a back to back to back today. All on the same rink all directly after each other.
I can't wait for the beers after game 3.
Had the same group of refs the whole time. Was a lot fun.
Did back-to-back-back earlier this year as well (2 goalies in our league didn't show). Same refs for all 3 games also. Won, Won, Lost.
After the 3rd game my body felt like it was going to collapse inside itself, but I had a ton of fun though.
First & Last time I'm doing that haha. Good on ya!
It's only the third time I've ever done it.
This time didn't feel so bad at the end though.
I miss those days. Won our semifinal game last night, 4-1. Game one of the final is tomorrow night, game two Sunday night. If we're tied after two this league plays a 15 minute period immediately after game 2 to decide game 3. Kinda weird but kinda cool, I think.
I think we've all been there. There's always that one team you get snake bitten by during the year.
My team has only lost 2 games this year, but both losses were against the same team. We know we can beat them, but they've just had our number so far.
One of the larger leagues here does something similar for their playoffs too. Except they do a 5 minute "game" followed by a winner takes all shootout.
I can't say I'm the biggest fan of it. Especially compared to a normal three game series.
I think most teams have that one team. The top team in my lower division I play in has 4 losses on the year. They routinely smoke teams in our division until they face me.
I'm responsible for 3 of their losses (different teams) and they haven't potted more than one against me in any of those games.
So how did everyone else's games go last week?
We won yesterday 6-5 in an absolute barn burner. We scored with 23 seconds left in the game thankfully. Tight game all the way through.
Last week we found ourselves down 5-1 not even halfway through the game but managed