Hockey Extravaganza
This weekend was filled with hockey, as most of my weekends are from September through March.
On Friday night, my 0-8 Blue Jays travelled down to DC to take on the Catholic U. of America Cardinals in search of our first win. Despite CUA's boisterous crowd, we came out hard and played strong all game long, taking a 9-4 victory in a penalty-filled affair. It felt pretty damn good to get the first win, and the guys seemed to be in a good mood for the most part. On Saturday we travelled up to New Haven, CT to take on Yale. This game was special because it was 110 years (and change) since the first known hockey game in the United States - a contest between Hopkins and Yale on Feb. 1st, 1896. We've decided, with Yale, to make this game a yearly tradition. If you want to learn more about the game, go to the Hopkins Hockey website.
We came a bit flat - either bus legs, five hours sleep, or the fact that we were crammed in a storage closet and not a lockerroom, but we just did not have it. We won the third period 2-1, though.
Other than that, I found out the results of the shoulder MRI. I have rotator cuff tendonitis and degeneration of the labrum causing impingement. The good news is that there are no tears in either the rotator cuff or labrum, which is what the doctor and I were afraid of. So, my prognosis is good - I got a cortisone shot Friday and have to do physical therapy 3 times a week for 3 weeks. We'll see how that goes...
Lastly, I played in my own hockey game on Sunday night at the new Capitals Practice Facility in Ballston - Kettler Capitals Iceplex. It's a very nice facility, but there were a couple glaring problems that I hope the recognize and work out. First, the elevators (owned by the mall it is attached to) are always out of service. I stood there for 15 minutes with my equipment before trying to find the stairs, which were also incredibly hard to find. As of right now, you can't park on the 8th floor, where the rink is - or if you can, the entrance to the 8th floor is incredibly hard to find. Next, the lockerrooms did not have locks. Not a big problem except the elevators are right next to the lockerrooms, and with the mall downstairs, I'd be concerned at who has access to the arena. Also, with such a nice facility, I'm suprised that they only put ONE showerhead in each lockerroom's bathroom.... weird. Most importantly, I thought the ice sucked. It could have been a function of bad zamboni-ing, but I have played on better pond ice. It was almost as if the Zam put down water, but didn't scrape the ice. Very bumpy...
I play there again next Sunday, so we'll see how it is then.