Breakfast Club: Week 3 with Kirk

Scottie comes stumbling into the locker room today throws down his hockey bag and announces I have a BAD ATTITUDE......Thanks for the news flash big fella you need a couple of Tylenol. I'll make sure not to team up with him today; I don't want that big moose bowling me over.

I don't know what it was but I was having more fun than a professional beer leaguer deserves at hockey school today. Lyle has that opening drill of taking a snap shot from different angels on the goalie. This has become my favorite shot, and I'm obsessed with learning to execute this shot better. I play on a team with Donnie J and he snapped off a shot for a goal last week. We both promised not to tell Lyle. We need to keep his ego in check.

Passing and more passing. Can you consistently make a tape-to-tape pass and catch a hard pass? Don't overlook the fundamentals of these skills. Then a little edge work with Scottie. I do have trouble getting on the outside edge of my left foot. Worked up a sweat doing that stuff. When I'm bending my knees and using my outside edges, I feel a lot more comfortable and maneuverable on my skates. Then the passing, 2-on-0 drill. That was a good one .., put a little pressure on the passers then a 2 player rush for a shot on goal.

Laura and I teamed up on a couple runs. One time I didn't pass to her, I had my blinders on and thought I could five-hole the goalie with my new expert shot, the snap shot. Still having directional problems with the shot, it did hit close to the goalie a few feet from the net. So, obviously, I didn't follow directions (once again) and pass the puck to Laura for the shot. Sorry Laura, I owe you yet again. Lyle was giving me that look as if to say do the doctors at the institution know you’re out right now.

It was a great day on the ice folks all these things make us better players. Oh, Scottie admitted after class he was in a much better mood now. See how that works, you'll rarely, if ever, walk away from the rink not feeling good. That's a big part of why we do this isn't it? Kirk out

Breakfast Club: Week 2 with Laura

The token female managed to take out a boy into the boards. Oops, sorry, our skates got tangled. How? Well we were ending the practice with a chase the puck one-on-one. We ended with this friendly (ahem) little bit, always popular, a good way of having an opportunity to put to work all the things we worked on in the preceding 80 minutes.
So what were those things?

Skating... Full strides, meaning full extension with the finishing toe flick to skate faster not harder.

Deeking... Skate along the boards, bust toward the middle, make a move around your colleague the human pylon.

One, two, three one-on-ones. Find your buddy, one time you're defending and the next time you're trying to score. Skate it, try to get a shot, curl back up and get another puck. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Chase... the puck carrier has a good couple of yards advantage, can you back check and close the gap?

It's been nice having two goalies. We warm them up for the first few, with breakaway shots from the right, then center, then left.

It all sounds so divinely simple, huh?

So how is it, then, that we can manage to goof it up so quickly? Not to name names, of course...this is the BC Blog, not Fox News or Entertainment Tonight. But when I was talking to some of my dead friends at the blue line, they were wondering when Laura was going to zing Kirk back for last week's post. Hmmm, good question. Could it be this week? Or maybe in two more? Time will tell...

In the meantime, keep your head up and your eyes on the goal.

Breakfast Club - 2007 Session I (Kirk's Back)

Another start to the season, feels good doesn't it? No better way to start the day. There’s a big class this year. This is my eighth year in the program, 8 years. I admit it, I may be running out of runway before I have my breakout year with the pros. Heck, I've been coming here so long the guy who stocks the vending machines knows me " Hey Kirk, still going after it eh, hang in there buddy one day it'll come together". Thanks I say with a broken smile, have a good day......

Good to see some of the old timers back, Pat D, Donnie J, Jim, Jeff the cop (aka DDB, Dunkin Donut boy), Ed, Matt, and Ronnie S (S for snakes in my head). Plus the return of Scottie O, there will be plenty of stories about Scottie the locomotive this year. This guy is a skating news reel, always something happening here. The LLC chick core is back, Laura, Laura and Courtney. Laura S. will also be writing the blog this year. Laura is definitely a talker on the ice. I've even seen her talk to the blue line, no joke. Actually, I think she sees dead people. Not us of course.

Oh, almost forgot, yeah he's back. Coach Lyle, he hasn't skipped a beat. I almost spilled his Tim Horton's coffee this morning, this is like gold folks, talk about a game suspension. And yes, Scottie is back also.

Alright enough of the nice stuff, let's get down to hockey. The good doctor Lyle had us start off with skating in from the neutral zone either from the right, left or center and take a snap shot at goal. For adult leaguers this is a bread and butter shot that everyone should have in their arsenal. A quick release can catch the goalie off balance and allows you to get a good shot off before a defender is on you. Some guys really had this move down, I was impressed. Me, on the other hand, I want to take the wrist shot, that's what I know best but a slower release. I became a little obsessed with practicing the move and didn't want to leave the ice until I had it down. I had to be reminded to let it go and move on to the next drill, thank you. Some short breakaway drills on the goalie and some one-on-one drills. One on ones happen all the time during games. Developing moves during one-on-ones will turn you into a Paval Datsyuk, another handy skill while playing. Then ending with agility drills, jumping over your stick both skates, one skate, a humbling experience. I felt like Koko the dancing bear.

So, that brings us to why do we come here at 5:30 in the morning, three reasons, I think. One, we all want to improve our skills in things we do already but most importantly develop skills in our weaknesses. We don't practice our weaknesses during a game. We don't want to make a mistake that could cost us the game. We need to break out of our comfort zone. By building our range of skills, we become more well-rounded players. Second, I'll speak for myself, I need to be told how to do things the right way. By getting professional coaching that understand how to push mentally challenged people like myself, I need that. I can't read a book and learn how to play hockey. I'm a hands-on person. In fear of exploding his ego, Lyle is very good at this and so is his staff. Three, I'm here to learn and I'm serious about it but I like to have fun and laugh a bit too. You learn more while having fun. You meet people with common interests. Plus this provides for a little mental therapy before the work day. Folks, looking forward to the year … see ya next week, Kirk out.

Breakfast Club - Laura's Pre-Program Blog

My dearest fellow and sister skaters, are you as antsy as me? I'm stuck in the airport right now due to work. I missed my travel adult league team's practice last night due to work, and the God-honest truth is that this work stuff isn’t nearly as much fun as hockey so I am presently most definitely not a happy girl. I am grumpy and antsy.

I am so looking forward to my morning addiction, even though Tom from my Troy D league team tells me that "so" should never be used as an adverb as I have just done. SO please forgive me, oh keeper of the English language, I have fallen and I can't get up...

You ARE already registered for the fall season of the Breakfast Club, aren't you? It starts NEXT WEEK, you know, so even you procrastinators need to step it up.

The guy sitting next to me at the airport bar thinks he's cool with his bluetooth headset and crackberry thumbs flying, but we all know that true cool nirvana can only be achieved when you are soaked in sweat and crashing into the boards and, yes, winning that puck ha ha ha I got there before you nyah nyah nyah and it is mine, mine, mine. Who me? No, I don't have issues, why do you ask? There's nothing wrong with a little incidental contact between friends, right?

See you in a week. Or, to be precise, six days and eight hours, and no, it's not like I'm counting or anything ... In the meantime, keep your head up and those eyes on your goal.