Three-peat Complete

Congratulations, ACME Skating Co. (beep beep)! Division champions for the third year in a row at the annual Everett Ravens "Fools on Ice" Womens Ice Hockey Tournament. Oh, and despite the images, this was a *Spring* tournament, but you have the admit the jack-o-lantern tape work on Tamara was apropos (see below). Quick recap of how we got there:

Friday night: Faced off against a local team made up of girls who were considerably younger than us! Haha....but, the group of "girls" were a tenacious bunch and certainly made us more "mature" women work for our win. First, we were off to a shaky start. I missed about 7 minutes of the first period because of the ridiculous traffic on I-5....grrrr. But, that was fine because I knew that we had a full roster and that Patrick would adjust the lines accordingly until I got on the ice (I was one of nine forwards). However, I showed up at the door and saw Karen in the net. Um, what's wrong with this picture is that Karen is one of our regular defense players - yeah, NO GOALIE!! Goalie, Tamara, was stuck in the same traffic I was in and she actually missed the entire first period. Kudos to Karen for her 1st period shutout. Thankfully, Karen was a goalie before so she played it as well as she could. Not our best game because: a) of the shaky start, and; b) getting used to playing with other people we don't regularly play with. But, we managed to squeeze out a victory (2-1).

Saturday am: Our next game in the morning was against the Everett Ravens. Patrick shuffled the lines a little bit and I got the honor of playing with two players I admire and have the utmost respect for: Mel and Sharon. They both have excellent technical skills, but are also smart players and we got some great cycling and passing going. Our line may not have been the highest scoring line, but we were strong when it came to puck possession and I got to work on some of my own personal goals which is more patience with the puck and smarter passes. And, more give and go's. It was a much better game than the previous night and even though we dominated the game and were outshooting the Ravens 2-1, it was close for the first two periods. Final score was 7-2.

Saturday pm: Game was against the Utah Ice Vixens - a team we've never played before. Yeah, it was a rude awakening because they were *much* more physical than the previous two teams we played. And, because of the contact, there were a lot of penalties as well. I've managed to stay out of the sin-bin for a long time...uh, oh....did I just jinx myself for the next tournament? We had a lot of penalty kills and had to reshuffle lines on the fly. But, Patrick was an amazing coach and got us to stay focused on the game despite the awful calls (er, non-calls) by the refs. Final score - 2-1...buh, bye Utah.

Sunday am: Final championship round. We were facing the same team (Phoenix) that we played Friday night. But, before that, we watched a bunch of our SWHC teammates who were playing on another team go through a shoot-out in their championship round for their division. Nerve-racking but they won 1-0 in the shoot-out. Way to go "Pick Up Sticks!!" Just watching that game did nothing for me but add more pre-game jitters. I wished there was a spin bike at that rink because I could've used a few minutes to do a full-on sprint to shake off my anxiety. I should've borrowed Tamara's jump rope. Finally, we got on the ice but it was more like a pond (an unfrozen one)....like they took out the firehouse and flooded the rink in between games! So, the first part of the game was a lot of dump and chase until all those puddles disappeared. The Phoenix "girls" came out a lot more physical than our game on Friday. But, then again, they weren't exactly strong on their skates either and fell over pretty easily. Or, maybe that was how they were going to break up our play...by crashing into us or in front of us? That's how it felt anyway. Once again, bad ref'ing...in fact, it was downright awful. And, we had to kill off a lot of penalties...one time Phoenix had a 2-man advantage for 2 minutes...but we emphatically shut that down. It wasn't our best game, but we made it up with our tenacity despite the "tournament legs" that were starting to set in. We pulled ahead 2-1 with about 10 minutes left in the game and that was our final score. Congratulations, ladies!! And, a huge 'thanks' to Patrick for coaching us to another victory. Three-peat is sweet.

Going For a Three-peat

Another winter season of ice hockey coming to a close. It's always bittersweet: on the one hand, I'm happy to open up my schedule for other activities, but; on the other, skating with the Fries has been soooo much fun with very little (if any) conflicts which is a big feat for any team. And, skating with my co-ed team, the Isotopes, was a great (and exhausting) experience as well. So now, I have tournaments galore to look forward to! This coming weekend is the annual Everett Ravens "Fools on Ice" tourney and the team I'm on (non-SWHC) is going for a three-peat as champions in their division. Here's the link for a recap of last year's tourney where we won in overtime. I'm looking forward to skating with this group - many of whom I've skated and faced-off against all season. I'm also looking forward to having Sharon's husband, Patrick, as our coach - he is one of the best coaches I've ever had. Great presence on the bench - he has this quiet sort of intensity and is so focused on the game. I remember him giving excellent feedback shift after shift and motivating everyone to skate 110%, no wait, 150% each time they were on the ice. The make-up of the team has a lot to do with it as well....I must say, this is a group of highly competitive individuals. All makes for a perfect storm as we play to defend our title. Finally, no midnight ice time!!! Yay! Our first game tonight is at 6:15 - now, that's what I'm talking about. Good luck Acme Skating Co. (beep, beep)!! Now, let's go kick some Portland Phoenix ass.

Do Not Be Fooled By This Face

This is Amy. She's my morning workout partner. She looks all sweet and angelic but I'm convinced that she's of the opposite nature....I shall call her "Luci" from this point on. Ever since our snow day at Stevens last Sunday (where this picture was taken), I've done nothing but endured sighs, expletives (both vocal and silent), single-finger salutes, and constant whining about the exercises I "force" her to go through in the mornings. Well, girlfriend, it ain't no tea party (complete with burnt toast :-)). If I wanted that, I would've joined Curves (LOL) or just bought a Wii Fit. No, we've got goals. We both participate in team sports and don't want to let our teammates down (me-hockey, she-soccer). We also have some endurance goals set up for this summer. Besides, we've built up a reputation in the gym, now, with our commitment to our workouts, the level of intensity...all the while maintaining a huge "fun" factor because we all know that the biggest motivator breaker is when the sessions become a chore.

I've yet to meet her husband, Lee. I'm beginning to see why....he must love the "quiet" time when she's out of the house (LOL). So, message to you, Amy...quit your f'ing whining and see your ass early in the gym tomorrow. More jumps, more squats, more push-ups, more skates, more pull-ups. Otherwise, I shall heave that 15-lb. medicine ball (always driving primarily from my legs) in your direction to knock some sense back in your noggin'.

Signed,
Your loving Burpees Partner

Stevens Pass: Epic Day w/ the Fries

What's the best way to drown your sorrows over losing a hockey game that we should've won? Head up to the mountains for some fun time in some fresh pow pow. Last night in the locker room, a group of us (Joemarie, Marie, Erin, and "Top Shelf" April) decided to head to Stevens Pass off of highway 2. As tired as I was this morning, I am SO GLAD that I joined them because: a) there was almost 2 feet of fresh snow to play in, and; b) it was nice to ski with other people who drool like I do when there is so much fresh snow and who think of lunch as an inconvenience but a necessary *quick* stop to refuel. Today made up for the last two, seriously disappointing days where I ended up skiing solo since the others I was with preferred happy hour(s) over happy snow. Oh well....to each their own and that's fine.

We were on the slopes by 9:15 and headed to the back side (Mill Valley) where we could take advantage of all the new snow. Well, here is where I earned a new nickname. I wear a C on my jersey because I thought it was to remind me that I am Captain of the team and that I play Center position. Well, it's also because my new nickname is Crash. Our first run in the the deep stuff was not pretty and one by one we face planted into the fresh pow as we hadn't adjusted accordingly and were all leaning too far forward. Oh, what fun! Came back later and showed that run who was boss...woot! Later, we played a lot on Orion and other runs off of the Jupiter chair. My face hurt but not from the snow blasting my face, but from smiling and laughing so much! Before lunch, we decided to head into the trees off of Outer Limit - here is where I really earned my Crash credentials as I proceeded to do, not one, but, TWO yard sales down a narrow chute in the trees. Famous last words from Erin - "Oh, it's not too narrow"....uh, yeah...for a snowboarder! When I panicked, I tried to get my skis perpindicular to the run to slow down but the problem was there was no room to do that and my tips touched either side of the walls and nothing under the middle part of my skis. Yeah - disaster. After tumbling head over skis, I had to dig out my goggles, hat, both poles, and one ski....it was one heckuva yard sale, I must say. I never do things half-ass :-)) I finally showed up at the bottom of the run covered in snow and beaming! Marie commented that she hadn't seen me smile and laugh as much as I did today. Yeah, I was in heaven.

After lunch, we headed over to Big Chief and found some sweet pow over on Lower Diamond and that is where we stayed the rest of the day. The three of us (Erin, Marie and I) had headed over to Skyline to try and find Joemarie and April, but it was complete mayhem and we hightailed it out of there and back to Big Chief where we, literally, had Lower Diamond all to ourselves. These are the days skiers and boarders dream about and I'm so glad I didn't pass it by. The snow came down hard all day. Now, I've got to find some energy for my legs for a hockey game in an hour - it's my co-ed game so I'll just let the guys skate (tee hee). I'll just take my shift to give one of the wingers a breather.

Thank you Erin, Marie, Joemarie, and April for an epic, craaaazy, fun day and I'm glad I provided you with some gut-busting laughs (see, I don't limit my entertainment to just the ice rink). I was soaked underneath from my wipeouts - got home and wrung out my underwear (LOL). I promise to get a helmet so it's not so unnerving for me when I go through the trees.

Oh, and great team effort in getting the car out of the lot after the snowplow barricaded us in our spot. See you at practice or at our next game - Captain Crash.

Can't wait to get back to da island (Kauai)

Hanalei Sunset

Hanakapai Falls

Na Pali Coastline

Kalalau Lookout from Koke'e

My little friend on the Hanakapai Trail