Super sweet game-ending goal

I managed to wrestle the remote away from the Domestic Partner the other night to avoid watching another episode of "House Hunters" on HGTV. So instead of watching house porn -- and feeling even worse than I do about the decrepit state of my slob-pit domicile -- I caught the excellent overtime between Denver and the University of North Dakota.

The awesome goal above by Matt Frittin ended the game. Watch what he does, hockey enthusiasts: picks up the puck at his own end of the ice, curls around to pick up speed, skates through four defenders and hangs onto the puck, passes it back to his D, who then passes it to a guy camped by the crease. S-W-E-E-T!

Frittin, by the way, is Canadian-born. He's a Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick

--S.H.

Mammoth pics

Chair 23, Mammoth Mountain.







Solo on Solitude run on Thursday. Great windblown powder.

--S.H.

Photos copyright Steve Hymon

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Have cajones?

St. Patricks Day at Mammoth. BTW, temps were in 20s with wind today--cold beer, cold balls (I assume).

--S.H.

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Hello, Mammoth Lakes

No hockey clinic tonight: going skiing tomorrow. Just read the turdlings who run Mammoth never opened the town's ice rink this year. P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C!!!

--S.H.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A picture is worth...

I pilfered this from the Pasadena rink's website. It's from the fall season title game in December; I'm the guy in red on my ass -- not an uncommon position for yours truly -- either trying to score or trip anyone in the vicinity of the other team's goal.

We lost, 3 to 0. Hmm.

--S.H.

Tryouts for Pasadena spring league next week

Just a heads up: the current lower division league at the Pasadena rink is is trying to expand from four teams to six for the spring season that begins April 10 and runs through mid-July.

Tryouts for both the rink's upper and lower division leagues are Wednesday night, March 30, at 9 p.m. Here's the website.

It should hopefully be the final season on the 150-foot rink at the current facility; the fall season should be played on a new NHL-size rink to be built next door to the current facility on the Pasadena Convention Center grounds.

The lower division is basically for beginner through intermediate skilled players and it's coed, although there are only a handful of women in the league currently. It's not really a novice league -- although some novices with some get-go may like it -- and is best suited these days for someone with a little hockey experience, although you certainly don't have to be very good (I'm not). 

The idea of the tryouts is to determine if players should be in the upper or lower division and to try to place them on one of the teams. I'm captain of one of the teams and as leagues go, it's fun and pretty mellow. If you're on the fence, at least come out and skate in the tryout.

--S.H.

A few quick hit hockey thoughts before retiring for the evening

•I stuck around for pickup at the Pasadena rink on Monday night. There's always some very good players but there was one dude who I hadn't seen before that was literally skating circles around almost everyone. With that kind of speed and stick handling, I've spent most of today trying to figure out why he was playing pickup on a Monday night at the crappy Pasadena rink. I mean if he's not good enough to play minor league hockey, how good must those guys be?

•My lower division team clinched at least a .500 regular season record in our third season this past Sunday. We went 0-9-1 last spring (and 1-1 in playoffs), 6-3-1 in the fall (1-1 playoffs) and are now 5-4. It's mostly the same bunch of playes that suffered through the winless season although there have been a few key upgrades. We're usually competitive each week, although still perfectly capable of getting our ass kicked at any time. :)

•Listening to the NHL debate over what to do about head shots is kind of vomitous. The easy answer: get rid of them and crack down on fighting. The NHL has made some fixes this past week, but I think the NHL is loathe to do anything substantial that might suggest to the ticket-buying public that violence in games will be dampened.

The smartest thing I've read is this blog post about "finishing the check." I didn't know this, but you don't necessarily have to have possession of the puck in order to be checked in the NHL -- if you were the last guy to touch it, you are in many cases eligible to be checked. That is, creamed, rubbed out, demolished, etc. This blogger opines that maybe that's not such a great idea -- if, that is, the idea is to keep players' brains intact.

--S.H.

Great hockey pics of pond hockey championships

The New York Times has a very short feature on the recent Pond Hockey National Championships held in Wisconsin. Click here to see a truly awesome pic of the event. The above photo is from Flickr and was taken by Kent Landerholm.

Here's an idea for the smart marketing people in California mountain towns: find a lake near a road and hold a state-oriented event. A lot of the guys on my beer league team -- including me -- have never had a chance to play outdoors and would be willing to travel many miles and spend many dollars to do so.

I'm talking to you, Mammoth Lakes. I'm pretty sure that Twin Lakes along Lake Mary Road freezes in the winter. I know I've seen pics of people playing hockey there. If not there, hold a tournament at your financially beleaguered outdoor rink in town -- the scenery is still pretty great and I bet you can get enough teams to pay a decent enough entry free to cover your nut.

--S.H.

Great hockey quote

One of the guys on my team got off the ice after two hours of clinic and stick time last night and said it about as good as it can be said: "I'm like a little kid playing in the mud out there. It's that fun."

That's right, brother. And I still think it's a complete travesty more adults aren't out there giving hockey a spin.

--S.H.

Death Valley Days

Mesquite Sand Dunes, Death Valley National Park.

I took a few days off from hockey to visit Death Valley National Park and play around with my relatively new Nikon D5000. Despite its reputation for heat in the summer, the park is actually quite chilly in the winter and the Furnace Creek area -- with a swimming pool, tennis courts and golf course -- would surely benefit from also having an ice rink for those who need to practice their crossovers, stopping and basic ice skating.

Because, you know, nothing would be cooler than playing hockey at 200 feet below sea level in Death Valley. Except, perhaps, playing hockey in the Yosemite Valley.

The above photo, by the way, was taken this past Monday evening in the Mesquite Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells. If you plan on visiting the park -- and it's well worth a trip -- stay at Furnace Creek but spend an afternoon exploring the dunes and don't miss being there for sunset.

Here's another pic that I really like:

Since this blog's reader is primarily those who play hockey, I can't resist adding this image that will surely appeal to everyone's dark side -- a dead tarantula that someone had put on top of a cairn in Fall Canyon in the park. I have little issue professing to the fact that I'm a total pussy around spiders so my girlfriend had to take this photo while I stayed a good 20 feet away -- in case, you know, the little fucker came back to life and tried to smother me, a la "Lord of the Rings" or that one Brady Bunch episode. Even putting the photo on this blog is giving me the willies -- I'd rather take a slapshot to the nuts.

If you would like to fawn over my Death Valley photo gallery, be my guest -- here's the link to my Flickr page. And I'll soon post a short guide to Death Valley because when I'm not dreaming of hockey competency, I like the great outdoors.

And from the Department of Self Promotion: The above Death Valley photos -- as well as other landscape images -- are for sale at my SmugMug site.

--S.H.