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About Me |
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Wassup?
Hi! Welcome to my
site! This is the page where I get to
brag a little about myself. :) I'm a college student, in my second year of
working on an Associates in Web Design. (And if you like what you see,
drop me a line! I'm always looking for more experience!) I've
learned/worked with/am learning Macromedia Flash, JavaScript, Visual Basic,
Apache servers, FrontPage, and of course, basic HTML.
I've been a hockey freak since 1996 when I watched my first
playoff game, (more about that below), so it was inevitable that those two
forces in my life would finally meet. Well, they did, and this site is
what emerged! It is still under construction, as I hope to add many more
features eventually. But for now, I hope you're enjoying your visit.
Please sign my GuestBook
and let me know what you think!
My mission in
building this site:
I hope that somewhere amongst these pages you can find something to make you
think, or laugh. But, most of all, I hope you find something that inspires
you to become a better goaltender, or maybe even something that convinces you to
try your hand at it if you've never played before.
How it
all began
I am a Grade A, 100%
pure-blooded goalie (and goalie nut). For the records, I am a female
in-line 'tender, and have been playing about 2 years. But in reality, I
have been a goalie at heart all my life, and only discovered that in 1996 when I
watched the Red Wings play the Jets during the first round of the playoffs.
I was hooked on hockey instantly. Mike Vernon and Nikolai Khabibulin were
outstanding in net, and I realized at that point that goalies were by far the
most awesome sports people I'd ever seen. Of course, I wanted to be one.
Team
spirit
I played
street hockey with my brother for two years before I got on a team at
last. The very first game
I ever played in a league was in September 1998 as defense, but I mark the beginning
of my career from the first game I played as goalie. That was on
October 1, 1998. In these two pictures I'm in my Lightning jersey. That was
my initial team, which my
dad coached. My brother played on it with me. (Actually, he was
there first.) I loved playing with that team, but the rink we were at
was tiny and not kept up well. We played there for a year and a half before moving to a rink much closer to our house.
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New
experiences
We're still at that rink, and it's a great hockey place. I
first played in
the brand-new Women's league. Unfortunately, it was a little below my level (having played with the boys up to that point)
and barely a
challenge. I could almost single-handedly hold off the other
team. We went 6-0-0 before losing the championship 5-4. It
broke my overconfident little heart and I made a bad show afterwards, but
it was a stepping stone in my development as an athlete. It was
the hardest thing that I've had to deal with in hockey, so far, and
it made me grow up a little. (Not that I like losing now, but I like to
think
I'm a bit more graceful!)
My brother and I played two seasons in
Bantam House there. Although I was too old, I was allowed to play
down since I was a g-i-r-l, but it was
fun and allowed me to get adjusted to the new rink, new league, and new atmosphere. We won a championship the second season, and it was a good experience. Then
we were both too old.
We had to move up to adult Copper House.
That was much different than Bantam. We managed to win another
championship, thanks to a superstar player on our team, a lucky call from
the refs, and a lot of work. We played two seasons
there, and then had to take a break for the summer. (That was not our idea, believe me!)
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Hockey
today
College messed up the Fall 2000 season. It scheduled out all of the
league possibilities at our rink, and I had to go play at a new place that
has three soccer fields and only one hockey rink. It's further to drive, and it doesn't have the hockey
atmosphere like our other rink. I really don't care for it. Too
much soccer there. Chokes out the hockey. But, I loved the
league I was in and my team, the Lumberjacks.
The league is called 17 and under, otherwise
known as "Midget." My dad coached again, but my
brother was already stuck on another team by the time we got the mix-up
straightened out. I think he would have liked the Lumberjacks, though.
We finished up tied for first place in a 4 team league. We were pretty good, and
I was just happy to be playing again
after a long summer layoff.
This season I'm back with my brother at the "real" hockey place, playing with the team he was on last season. I can't wait to get back into the games again. The holidays have been too long a break, even with a 2-day tournament in between!
My brother
and I recently started coaching an inline hockey class for kids age 6-15.
I never expected to get that sort of an opportunity, so I'm extremely
thankful. There's nothing better than being able to do something you love
and teach it to others. There have been challenges at times, but the kids
are great to work with and we are having a blast!
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On
the horizon
Eventually, I'd like to get on an in-line travel team and go around the country
playing in tournaments. Who knows if it will ever happen, but that's my
dream. I hope to one day get good enough. I played in my first
tournament this past December. We looked awful, several of us (including
me) were sick, and we got mercied all three times. It was another growing
experience, however, and I had a lot of fun. Tournaments are much
different than regular playoffs.
I'm also filling in for two other adult
teams, one of them in Silver, two leagues above where we usually
play. I think that's awesome, because it was another "someday"
dream of mine.
I'd also like to try my hand at refereeing.
Philosophical
goaltending
When I first started playing, my main goal was to become a steady, reliable
goaltender. Secondarily, I wanted to be respected (although I've found
respect often goes along with being dependable. :) But after I'd played a
little, been in the hockey atmosphere among all the guys, I had to revise
"respected" to "respected as a goalie, and not just as a girl in
hockey." It's all fine to be good for a girl, but I have always
wanted to be good for a goalie! I think I have finally achieved that,
(although I'm not particularly reliable at times), and it feels really
awesome. That's the best part of goaltending, anyway--the feeling you get
when you single-handedly negate an entire offensive squad. That's the
best, just the absolute best.
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