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Back on the Ice

As opposed to back on ice...

Yesterday, I skated for the first time in about 9 months. It's been almost 2 years since I played hockey. At first, I had stopped playing because of my cross-country move and related issues. I had told myself about 5 years ago that I wanted to make an effort to keep playing, but when you stop, it's hard to get back in the routine.

It was nice to get back out there. Unlike a lot of the people I've been on teams with, I have always enjoyed skating by itself, not just a necessary skill to be able to play ice hockey. The downside of this is that even though skating is the foundational skill in hockey, I don't play as well as I should considering my skating ability. Not to say that I'm that good of a skater (My stops to the right are a lot weaker than to the left, and my takeoff backwards is relatively slow...) , but my passsing is mediocre, and my shot is spotty. I think I'll try to start playing pickup at least occasionally, even though pickup is a very poor substitute for actual league play.