Street Hockey Report for Monday 5th January 2009

1. Wednesday Night Hockey

This Wednesday night, January 7, there's drop in hockey at Amazing Square in Kita-Senju, from 9 to 11 PM. It costs a couple thousand yen to use the rink.

We should have goalies to shoot at, so it should be pretty awesome. This is the start of what will hopefully become regular games at Amazing Square, and ultimately a ball hockey league. No need to sign up, just come on down!

2. Yesterday's Game

Rob gets props for adhering to the doughnut rule. The only downside to the doughnut rule is that everybody has been both compliant and late, so we've been having doughnuts every week. It's a mixed blessing, because we might be getting fat.

When I arrived at the park, there was a kid's baseball team finishing off some practise or something, but they wrapped it up shortly after twelve. Turns out one of the kids on the team is one of the regulars who plays at the park. So when he saw us setting up, he came over and asked us when we wanted to play to. We asked if they could come back around 1:30 or 2, and he was fine with that. Quite civil, really.

So we had full court for a couple hours, and then the kids showed up. But then, half an hour later, all the kids suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. No one saw them leave, but they were completely gone, equipment and all, so we took full court again and had it the rest of the day. Sweet.

There were only about 9 guys there, so we had few subs. Which means lots of game time, and that's good. But it's also exhausting.

If there is an anti-MVP award, it would go to me. I had probably the worst day of shooting I've ever had, and that's saying something. There were multiple occasions when I was right in front of the net, with no one even in the same zip code as me, and I'd launch the ball in any random direction that was not in the goal.

I was pretty much the only guy stinking it up consistently. Everyone else had decent game. Chad and Colin were scoring machines, as usual.

Each week there's someone who has unusually good mojo, and yesterday it was Ted. He's actually been moving a lot recently, and finding scoring positions, which is disconcerting. If people stop behaving consistently, how can we really claim to know anyone? What does it mean to individuate people by their characteristics if there is no similarity from one moment to the next? Who are we really? Who am I? If Ted keeps scoring, can there be any solace to alleviate my existential angst?

3. Damn It, Do We Need New Nets Already?

Our current nets are in pretty bad condition, which seems kind of strange to me. Didn't we just get them? Are we playing any rougher or something?

Anyway, we may need to get a new set of nets soon. If anyone knows of more durable nets, or a way we might be able to stop the nets we have from falling apart so easily, please offer suggestions.