hooked on hockey

Tonight was our first Intro to Adult Hockey class, well for us at least. We missed the first session last weekend because we were in Ucluelet.

Even though we arrived a half hour early, we were the last ones on the ice after struggling to figure out how to get all of our gear on.

There's your underlayer, a jack (for guys) or jill (for girls), padded shorts with suspenders, chest and shoulder protector, elbow pads, knee and shin pads, long thick socks, hockey jersey, skates, helmet, neck protector, gloves and of course, the stick.

I literally just guessed at what went on first since the one other girl in the class was already on the ice and i was all alone in the female washroom. There's an order because say, if you put on your socks first before your shin/knee pads, you won't be able to tape them down to your leg. Or if you put your skates on first, forget about getting your shorts, knee pads or socks on.

But once we got out there, it was fantastic. We did some skating drills, some passing, shooting and defense work.

Then the last 15 minutes we played a mini game - hard work!!! And very very sweaty! No wonder hockey locker rooms smell so ripe!

A great workout, my heart was racing but only because i was so pumped.

Matt did really well, and even managed to score a goal during the first exercise!!! :D

We are going to make a point of going to the leisure skating sessions at the rinks during the week so we can practice our skating and stopping.

For me the hardest part to get used to was the hockey skates, i'm so used to figure skates that i kept forgetting there wasn't a toe pick for me to stop with. Instead, i would pick my 'toe' to help me stop and thus, instantly fall forwards. But having all that extra heavy gear has one benefit: it doesn't hurt at all when you fall. I can't believe i waited all my life to try this game i grew up watching!

We had a LOT of fun and are already thinking about signing up for a second intro class after this finishes.

Clocks sprung forward today so it's bedtime!!