Is it motivation?

[monicle]

Ok Im wondering if anyone else suffers from the same kinda of situation. I really only play dropin hocey untill I can find a team to play on or whatever but heres my dilema. It seems like I actually play worse when theres less players or when everyone starts getting tired. I played Friday and there was only about 7 skaters for each side so they could only trade out 1 or 2 guys here and there. For me it seems like I play my best when everyone is at full intensity. anyone else have this happen to them? I know that defense would usually play a hand in this but again its dropin so Im lucky for whatever i get in that respect.
I feel rediculous when I let in a weak goal especially when I should be trumping fools when theyre tired.

[rx7master]

i have noticed the same thing. the better the opposing players/ the better i play. i think it has something to do with the mind set that if you make a save on a scrub or a poor player it really doesnt boost your ego, therefore you dont try as hard and its not as exiting to be playing. when the play slows down I tend to slow down too. i catch myself taking shortcuts, not going down if i think i can easily stop somone, and not skating out to challenge until they get to the top of the circles. that often ends with being scored on.

[McTrout!]

Its all about the motivation. Its not just goalies either teams as a genreal rule will play better against the best teams, or in desperate siuations. Last year my team came second in the nationals on the first day we lost four games, the next in a desperate situation we won 2 games and qualified as bottom seeds. Then everyone stepped their games up against two superior teams and we made the final with no right to.

Its certainly motivation.

[Timberwoof]

I've noticed that after the less-well-conditioned players get tired, no one plays defense. Then pick-up tends to become breakaway practice. The flavor of the game changes, and as a goalie, youhave to adapt.

Do you have the endurance and conditioning to last a whole pick-up game?


McTrout, I'd say you had every "right" to. You played hard; they didn't.

[Fish]

The same thing happens to me every week. I think it is that I am getting tired towards the end as well. I also find that with fewer players in the pick up I don't get as many breaks for shift changes. If only one or two guys are changing randomly the game never really stops. With 2 full lines per side you tend yo get 30 seconds or so during line changes.

[monicle]

Originally Posted by Timberwoof

Do you have the endurance and conditioning to last a whole pick-up game?

yeah thats not a problem. infact we usually have 3 or 4 goalies show up so I only end up playing for an hour out of the 2 hour pickup switching in and out every 10 minutes or so. Even when theres only 1 other goalie I usually dont get too winded unless im gettting hammered non stop on my end. I guess I just need to find a way to keep myself amped when everyone else is slowing down. hrmmm....

[marvintpa]

I believe part of this phenomenon is also that at drop-in where there's no defense, the incoming forwards have all the time in the world and no pressure, so can try anything they want with no fear of getting crushed to the ice and get as many rebounds as they want before someone on your team saunters back. When it's a league game and they're coming in full blast they have to rush and take whatever angle they can get in the brief time they have before someone is on them, and therefore score less.

[McTrout!]

Timberwoof the other teams played hard but i was amazing haha.



DISCLAIMER: THIS IS SARCASM!

[elite]

Let's face it: for goalies, playing up is easy, playing down is hard. Put a goalie a level up, he'll usually do well. Maybe not incredible, but he'll do well. Put a goalie DOWN a level and he's not worth crap.

In play regularly you get used to a certain level of shot, be it quickness or how heavy it is. If you play down a level, suddenly the level of that shot is down, too. I'll tell you what.. it's easy to stop a shot that's a straight on slapshot, but once you get a newbie defenseman in there, and he winds up and takes a shapshot that goes all over the place, it's hard to track. It's not even a good shot! It just gets by you because it was so horrible.

Anyway, that's my two cents. Guys get tired and can put that shots on the net they could before, and unfortunately you're used to better shots.

[PatrickE34]

Originally Posted by elite

Let's face it: for goalies, playing up is easy, playing down is hard. Put a goalie a level up, he'll usually do well. Maybe not incredible, but he'll do well. Put a goalie DOWN a level and he's not worth crap.

I agree with that wholeheartedly. Last season, I played in two leagues - a C South and a B North. I always played worse in C South. Nothing like positioning yourself for a hard slapper, only to receive a half-wiffed shot that bounces over to the random open guy who bangs it home and thinks it was the greatest goal ever scored. I feel like MAF, I'm moving too fast for my own good sometimes. (Not to really compare myself in any way to an NHL goalie. I haven't met a 5 foot 2 inch NHL goalie yet. When I do, maybe I'll compare myself to him.)

I'm far from a great goalie, but it's a very frustrating thing to deal with.

[monicle]

Originally Posted by PatrickE34

Nothing like positioning yourself for a hard slapper, only to receive a half-wiffed shot that bounces over to the random open guy who bangs it home and thinks it was the greatest goal ever scored.

Damn, yeah you do know what its like. Thats exactly the kind of stuff Im talking about. Also Im so much more used to a guy coming at me hard with the puck and trying to put it past me. But when everyone gets tired they just kinda mosey up the bords all slow, cut across the center and Im sitting there like "damn come at me already" not to mention noone else is really pressing him all that hard to get the puck away from him. Its almost like playing down a level like elite was saying. Man its frustrating.

[stl_tl]

Originally Posted by PatrickE34

I haven't met a 5 foot 2 inch NHL goalie yet. When I do, maybe I'll compare myself to him.
.

So you've never met Panger or Archie Irbe?

Tony

[Fish]

Originally Posted by elite

Let's face it: for goalies, playing up is easy, playing down is hard. Put a goalie a level up, he'll usually do well. Maybe not incredible, but he'll do well. Put a goalie DOWN a level and he's not worth crap.

In play regularly you get used to a certain level of shot, be it quickness or how heavy it is. If you play down a level, suddenly the level of that shot is down, too. I'll tell you what.. it's easy to stop a shot that's a straight on slapshot, but once you get a newbie defenseman in there, and he winds up and takes a shapshot that goes all over the place, it's hard to track. It's not even a good shot! It just gets by you because it was so horrible.

.

SOOOOOOOOOO True!

[PatrickE34]

Originally Posted by stl_tl

So you've never met Panger or Archie Irbe?

Panger was "officially" listed as 5 feet 5 inches. Maybe a little less now that he's missing a lot of hair.

I think Roy Worters (I think that's how it's spelled) was the shortest NHL goalie ever, at 5' 3". Can you tell I've looked this up before?

[mklaman]

monicle,

try leaving 20-30 minutes before "open hockey" as i call it, is over.

I started leaving early when people started goofing off. Also, if u notice, im sure some of the "better" players also leave a little early? Leave when they do!