KO Squad - Langley Sportsplex Chrome Champions!!!

Woohoo!! So many of you know that I play on multiple hockey teams, 4 to be exact. Anyways the playoffs for all of my teams are now done and over with and 3/4 of my teams were knocked out of my playoffs. One of my teams made it to the finals though. My team KO Squad played in the Langley Sportsplex Roller Hockey League and making it to the finals was an amazing feeling as this would be my first Championship Series in Roller Hockey. Anyways making it to the finals in our league meant that we would play against a team named the "Buffalo Bruins" in a 5 game series. 

To start the series my team went up 2-0 by winning the first 2 games, they were both close games and I believe both went to OT. After that though we dropped the next 2 games against the Buffalo Bruins, game 3 was a close one and game 4 was a blowout of 7-1. 

Now after all this it brings to me to say that on Monday night my team was entering game 5 and we were all quite disappointed in ourselves. I should also mention that we hate the team we were playing against so beating them was something we really wanted to accomplish. I have to say, game 5 was an amazing experience and was extremely grueling. My team took a couple of early penalties and wasn't playing as well as we expected. We got scored on early and before we knew it the game was 3-1 and we were kind of on our heels but we ended up getting a power play and guess who scored to make the game 3-2 and give my team some much needed life. Yes I was the one to score. I was so happy to score the goal mostly because my team really needed a boost of energy to get us going. Anyways after that my team started to have some more jump in their stride. We got another power play and then tided it up. After that there were 2 more goals on each side going back and forth. Being tied 5-5 one of my team mates buried a brilliant chance he had to make it 6-5 for us. We held the lead right up until the last minute until we took another penalty and went on the penalty kill. So we were playing 5 on 3 hockey as they had their goalie pulled and then with 3.6 seconds to go we took another penalty. The game was now 5 on 2!!!! I was out on the rink with another teammate and the faceoff was in our zone. Our only option was to win the draw to the boards and keep the puck away from their players. My team mate sacrificed his body and won the faceoff to the boards while I raced to it to ensure there was no shot for the other team. 

The clock ran out and we were champions!!!! Oh my god what a feeling it was!! I couldn't control my emotions and I started hugging every team mate that I saw. Anyways after winning the  game a league rep brought out our trophy. Actually it wasn't a trophy that they brought out, it was a belt. For the Championship teams in the league they decided to give out Championship belts that the teams would keep, that and mugs for each player. I was excited about the win and I'm still overjoyed right now just thinking about Monday night.

I'll post some pictures later when I've got some more time. 

Sorry about the long post. Lol

S.A.D.

Well you must be wondering what the title of this post means right? The other day I was talking to a close friend of mine via email and she mentioned that she hadn't worked out very much lately and the rain was making her SAD. At first I was like, well everyone gets sad about the rain. It's Vancouver it's inevitable, but she replied to mean and explained that it meant "Seasonally Affected Disorder." I don't know why but I laughed pretty hard when she told me that. Maybe you don't think it's funny but I do, maybe because I totally agree with what she was saying. I mean with the weather in Vancouver being good then bad, then good then bad over and over again.... it gets depressing. Having it rain all the time makes me depressed and well it makes me not want to go to the gym and work out. It makes me not want to do anything for that matter aside from sit at home and be a couch potato.

Down Time =)

So lately I've had a chance to have some down time to spend unwinding a bit with my piggie (that's her other nickname) I guess if I have to explain I'm the big piggie and she's the small one =). A few weeks ago my hockey schedule was pretty hectic. If I haven't mentioned it before I play on 4 recreational hockey teams and before now I was playing about 5 games a week. 2 of the 4 teams I was on had entered the playoffs and the possibility of winning was promising but both teams fell short and were knocked out in the semi-finals. So now in the last week or so I've had a couple more days off to just rest and catch up on some much needed sleep. A few days ago I went out for some late night food with my baby at Starlight Casino in New Westminster, we shared Onion Rings, Lasagna and Cheesecake for dessert. I have to say the day after I felt pretty guilty about it because I ended up eating practically all the Onion Rings and the left overs of the Lasagna. I admit though the food tasted good so I don't regret it that much, that plus I just finished a long session at the gym. I'm slowly trying to get myself into the gym some more too. Part of the reason for that is so that I can eat more food, lol. Oh on the weekend as part of my unwinding I ended up spending most of Sunday in bed watching Glee with my piggie and pigging out on New Town Bakery Apple Tarts =D. If you've never had the Apple Tarts from New Town, well all I have to say is that you're MISSING OUT!! They are amazing!!! 

Anyways now that I've had a bit of rest the last 2 teams of the 4 I play on for the Winter Season have now entered the playoffs. Which means it's time to kick into overdrive yet again and while just around the corner the new Spring Season for hockey will be starting. Surprisingly the Spring Season is starting early this year as my first Roller Hockey game is this coming Sunday. Right, I should mention in the Spring I end up playing more Roller Hockey than I do Ice. Alright so with this in mind it means that I've really only had a few days off from hockey. That's ok, I don't think I could go very long without playing anyways because when I'm not playing I'm still playing; usually drop in hockey with friends. 

Alright, well I'm gonna try to get some sleep and tomorrow I get ready for some more playoff action Woohoo!!! XD 

Til next time. 

- arf

Hockey Hockey and more Hockey.

So I've done a terrible job of updating my blog in the last 2 weeks or so. I think it's come down to the fact that in the last 2 weeks I've just been terribly busy with other things going on. Most of which would be my hockey games. I think in the last 2 weeks I've had a total of 2 days off from hockey. If I count correctly, in the last 14 days I think I've played about 13 games. 2 of the 14 days though were break days which means in the 2 weeks I also ended up playing 2 games in one day. Some people may say that I am crazy and probably spend too much time playing hockey. Those people may be right, but I don't see it that way. I just see it as a way to keep myself busy. If I'm playing hockey, then it means that I'm too busy going out drinking or clubbing. I like drinking though, don't get me wrong drinking is something I like doing from time to time. Especially with close friends that I don't get to see very often.

Anyways aside from all the hockey I've been playing I've found it hard to get myself to the gym. Lol, I know what you're thinking. I play hockey virtually everyday, yet I still want to go to the gym. Well truth be told, as badly as I want to go to the gym I haven't had the opportunity. I've probably only been a few times this month. It's also playoff times at the moment so I've had a lot more games to play then usual.

Other things that are new for me.... hmm... well today I tried the restaurant Pittsburg for the first time. For anyone who doesn't know where that is. Well it's a restaurant that is part of Crystal Mall by Metrotown. The restaurant is kind of a Hong Kong Cafe type place so the menu has quite a few options on it. I opted to try their Mushroom, Ham Alfredo Spaghetti dish today, which was delightfully good to say the least. I didn't expect anything amazing but it was exactly what I was hoping for. It wasn't over bearing in flavour and had enough Mushroom and Ham in it to satisfy my expectations. =)

Anyways, for anyone who's reading this I'll try to update more often rather than make a post every 2 week.

Laters

arf =P

hmmm... maybe that'll be my sign off now.

Sleep Deprived ... If Only There Were More Hours In A Day =(

I'm looking at my schedule for the rest of this week and I'm realizing that I have a hockey game everyday from Mon-Fri. This usually means that I won't get much sleep in the week. I've had other weeks like this where I've had a game in everyday of the week and all I have to say that is that it's extremely tiring. Mostly because the games are late a lot of the times which means I don't end up going to sleep until even later at night. I think I average about 3-4 hours of sleep a night. Based on that I'm surprised I don't fall asleep at work. Another thing about having this many hockey games in a week is also trying to find time to go to the gym and get stuff done at home. On a day that I play hockey I tend to skip going to the gym depending on what time the game is at, but really I'd prefer to go either way. See but if I do that then that really cuts back the amount of time I get to sleep and/or get things done around the house. *Sigh* ... I LOVE sleeping and totally wish I had more time to do it. But I also wish I had more time to do anything else. Seems like my life revolves around hockey nowadays (is that right?...w/e). I can't complain though because that's exactly how I want it, I enjoy playing hockey so much I that I can't stop thinking about it. I think about hockey at least 5 times a day. But ya, one of the things I don't have time for anymore is reading. So on that note I've got some free time since I'm on a lunch break.... I think I'll go read one of my books.

If anyone's curious to know how many teams I play for... well the number is 4. BUT I also sub on other teams as well as play drop in hockey at least once a week. =S ... some people think I'm crazy, I just call it a love for hockey. =)

Striving To Be Better & Dealing With Defeat

I think one of the hardest things for me as hockey player is dealing with defeat. Learning how to take the positive out of something negative and turn it into something constructive. Every time I play I want to be better and I want to do more. So when I play a game where I think I've played well but as a part of team played poorly it gets hard to distinguish between the things that I did well and the things I did poorly. I think being a perfectionist it makes it even harder to be constructive and positive about the way I've played. No matter how well I play I usually still find a way to be negative towards myself, although it's even worse when I play bad. I have to say though I have gotten better at not taking things too seriously. Like I mean I play rec hockey so it's not like winning a hockey game necessarily means anything. It's just a game but of course no one likes to lose. I like to think that I'm a pretty competitive person. I try not to be but by nature aren't we all, don't we all want to be the best at what we do.

Anyways what I'm trying to say is that when things get tough it's hard to know how to make yourself better and look past what's happened. Sometimes we just get caught up in the emotions of things, the emotions of losing. Once you get past the initial disappointment we just have to learn to know that we'll never be perfect and sometimes we'll struggle. So we just have to be positive and know that there are going to be ups and downs and just try to be motivated to be better the next time out. 

Alright, well sorry if that sounded whiny. Just finished losing a game and thought I'd get out some of those emotions I was mentioning.

Tokyo Joes!!!

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE SUSHI!!! Anyways last friday I met up with friends of mine for dinner and skating. I met my friends at this small little Japanese restaurant in Richmond called Tokyo Joes. At first I didn't know what to think about the restaurant because it was really small and just looked a little dinky if I must say so. Once I sat down though I started to feel homey because you can help yourself to miso soup and tea at anytime and the staff was extremely friendly. Anyways I ordered a Sashimi Don, an Alaska Cream Cheese Roll and a Tuna and Salmon combo to share with my baby. When the food came out I was completely stunned by how BIG the pieces of Sashimi and Sushi were. The pieces of Salmon Sushi that was in my Salmon Don were huge!! Almost twice the size of what you would normally get at any other restaurant. The sushi pieces were a really good size too. The Alaska Cream Cheese Roll was delicious too as it was a perfect amount of Cream Cheese that was added to the roll. 

Anyways check out some of the photos. 

Looking at these pictures it makes me want sushi again. =S 

Alrighty well after dinner we went out for some skating at the Richmond Oval. It was ridiculously expensive though if you ask me. $21 for 2 people without skate rentals is stupid! For that I could go to a community centre rink a couple of times. Whatever it was nice skating in there just not worth the price of it. 

Anyways if anyone is looking for a place for some sushi I suggest trying out Tokyo Joes. Let me know what you think of it and how you liked the food. =)

Baby and Me  =)