Three goals!

I had three goals in my first hockey game Friday night. Unfortunately they didn't have any impact on the scoreboard.

Sipping a tall Shirley Temple at Red Lobster to calm my nerves, I decided to combat my competitive nature, my desire to be able to skate like Gretzky on my first time out and my looming disappointment when I inevitably fall flat on my face mask with a few, simple personal goals.

The first goal was one I have every time I step out onto the ice - don't fall. And while I skated the entire game without a spill I'm beginning to believe that it's not as worthwhile a goal as I first thought. Why be timid? I should just go balls out and see what happens. It's not like it's going to hurt...much.

My second goal was to keep my stick on the ice and my post-game aching lower back can attest to my success.

Thirdly, I'm a team player and I didn't want ALL of my goals to be ALL about me, therefore, my last goal was to make at least one good pass. This required stopping the puck with my stick, finding an open player in good position and successfully getting the puck to that person. Sounds easy, right? Except that it also required skating, stopping, and staying upright with other players rushing toward me. Panic was unavoidable but as I scooped the puck and it glided over the ice to meet the blade of my teammate's stick, I was satisfied with my performance.

One game and three goals down.... maybe next time I'll score one.