After snapping my twig in a practice, I decided it
was time to upgrade various pieces of hockey equipment.
Bought new Mission gloves, in Calgary colors so
they match our Flames-based
New Jersey Ice Dragons jerseys. Invested in
a new blade for the stick, a little less fiberglass
and a little more wood. We're supposed to wear
black helmets as part of our color-coordinated
uniforms, but I have grown too comfortable in my
old white bubble. So an hour before game
time I was sitting with a roll of black hockey
tape, creating the illusion of black plastic. It
looks more like a velvet cover for my head, but
it works. When you toss in the black shell
for the pants (real color = blue), I look like
I got dressed at
Build-A-Bear Workshop, but significantly less cuddly.
Whether it was the new gloves, new tape, new blade, new white home jerseys, start of a new Hockey North America season, or just good luck, I managed a power-play goal with 38 seconds left in our first game last night. The proper assist went to our defenseman Stu who put a shot on net that I tipped in, but I think it deflected off of the goalie and off of Steve (yes, the Steve who provided the leverage to break my stick in the first place) helmet before I got wood on it. That goal broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Dragons our first win of the new season. It's a far, far cry from having my own namesake bear or doing endorsements for Mission gloves, but it's a start.