saturday

Big, big Saturday of air hockey. It’s funny – what I consider a really big day of air hockey is probably a pretty awful day in Houston. We had Danny, Billy, Goran, me, Nick, Mike, Eric, and Brianna show up for a tourney. 8 people.

Due to me losing to Mike, my ranking has tanked. I had to fight off Goran in the first round. Goran always has some kind of voodoo against me. I can’t really figure it out, but I’m starting to see holes that I can exploit. As I’m getting comfortable shooting out of a circle drift, I’ve noticed that I can emulate Donovan’s shots. I think it’s more surprising to see it come from me – but I’ve gotten some pretty easy points off of Goran and Geoff lately. It’s an effective attack that’s not fancy or really too different from what I’ve done in the past. Anyway – in my first couple games against Goran – I was incredibly accurate with my shots. I was hitting straights against him that I normally don’t get. I got it tied up 2 games to 2 games, when I let Goran hit his cross against me. He mixed in just enough lwu’s to get me thinking.. and hit a couple crosses from different parts of the table. He did a good job of catching me not recentering… thus Goran worked his magic against me once again and took the set. Still, it was probably my best set against Goran. Something must’ve clicked in his brain after playing me, because he killed Billy 4-0.

So, I headed into the loser’s bracket, and played Eric. I normally plow right through Eric… and even though it doesn’t feel like he’s getting better – the scores would indicate that he’s making great strides. He’s not scoring on himself like he has in the past, and he’s able to rip a pretty good rwu sometimes. His defense is still a little rough, but everything is getting slightly better. He even took a game off me this set. I think he just needs to get fast… just work on hitting everything harder and get used to a puck moving really fast. Like, he should just spend a day playing the chase game with a goal blocker until his arm hurts. Kid played baseball.. if he can hit a fastball, I’m sure this will start working for him. Real shame he may not make the tourney.

So, with my win, I was slated to play Nick, who beat Mike, then lost to Danny. In our first game, I got caught up in his bullshit. Nick was playing very fast, but enough in control that he was getting goals past me… I made too many stupid mistakes, and Nick won the first game. The 2nd game, I went into slow motion. I took my sweet old time, and hit lots of offgoals… either cut shots that miss left and come back to me, or off-goals that hit the corner and come back. Nick got incredibly impatient. My attack consisted of cuts and right wall unders… that’s it. I hit so many off-goal cuts, it really set up my right wall under. It made it unstoppable. I’d dribble the puck.. drift it over the middle.. cut-shot. Repeat. Should Nick get the puck – he was being so impatient that he would hit pot shot after pot shot… rarely, if ever, setting up his shot. I won the next 2 games handily, and in the 3rd – Nick started shagging more of my pucks… kind of expected since I didn’t alter my strategy… but in the 4th game – tied 6-6, I just got pigheaded about it, and won the game. The last game, Nick got even more desperate and tried to get transition shots every chance he got. He’d usually miss and I’d get the puck back – and I’d take my time… and I knew I was driving Nick nuts. When the set was over, he blew up. He was just really pissed off.

…after a cigarette, Nick came back in and Danny had some words of wisdom for him. Now, Danny isn’t going to lecture anyone…. When Danny talks – it’s like he’s dumping wisdom on people… more of a “Hey, by the way…”. He talked to Nick about being a good loser. How losing is an experience in learning, and that losing makes you better… and this isn’t just in air hockey – but permeates your life. Losing is a part of winning. If you’ve ever seen Danny play… he’s not blowing smoke up your ass when he says this. Most players when they make a mistake, will sometimes yell at themselves for making a mistake. Danny’s play is a string of compliments. “perfect shot” is what he’d say most times. It’s like he loves to see the game played at its best, even if he isn’t the one doing it. I wonder if Nick will take what Danny said to heart. Danny, Eric, and I watched Nick play Mike. After awhile, Nick didn’t set up a single shot. Danny thought most of his drifts were out of control and that it was unlikely he could hit out of many of his fancy drifts. Everything Nick did against Mike was rushed and run on pure instinct.

Oh yeah, and then I met Billy in the loser’s bracket. Yeah.. that was fun. Billy was pissed about losing to Goran, so he pretty much walked all over me. Not much to talk about there. So, I got kicked out of the tourney by Billy… not the worst way to go.

After Danny beat Billy in the finals, I got the chance to play him. I think I did pretty well. I think it was 7-5, 7-6, and 7-3, and I did a really good job of blocking his off-speed shots, but that’s not really good enough to beat the best. I’m pretty sure I led in each game at some point. The third game was worst.. I gave up the puck and lost control. Danny was also reading my shots like a book, putting his mallet in places where he anticipated I’d shoot – and did so with clairvoyant accuracy. It was weird.

Mark showed up as I was leaving… predictably, 4 hours late. I imagine I’ll see him next week.

8 days and counting…

Last night I went out for what I intended to be a ‘defense only’ night to save my elbow – which has been bugging me. I should be fine, either way, but the extra rest is good.

Played a couple games with Eric, snagged a lot of pucks, really read what Eric was doing and noticing his tendencies – which gave me good reads on when to charge. After snagging the puck, I’d do a couple circle drifts – which I’m happy to say, I’m getting *much* better at. Sometimes I’d do an L drift, contemplating different places to take a shot, and even practiced a straight tap-tap drift – adding spin to the puck… which gives me the idea I could hit some wicked overs with the spin I’ve added. But… instead of taking shots.. I’d just give the puck up and do it again. I was either reading Eric as well as I’ve ever done, or he’d gotten a bit too predictable… because our scores were pretty close – as Eric would score on himself, or in the process of snagging a puck – would score accidentally. Eventually, not shooting got boring, so I mixed in some forehands.. which are pretty easy on my arm. I really get too much satisfaction by hearing the sound of scoring for me to not try to mix in a couple shots.

I played Nick the same way.. and after awhile we played a real game. I still wasn’t about to hit a cross or a left wall under.. and mostly kept it to forehands. Nick was using a ‘new offense’ – which amounted to a bunch of fancy tap-tap drifting… it’s Wil Upchurchlike, but I think Wil uses the forward/back motion to create angles in which to hit overs/unders. Nick was just adding wrinkles to an offense that already has enough wrinkles… in fact, Nick may be well served by toning back his offense and getting a little more vanilla. I think it’s useful for him to change the pace of his game… but adding even more stuff to his offense – I dunno if he’s getting what he needs out of it. Then again… Nick was just having fun last night. Basically, we were pretending to be different players than we were.. me with a mostly forehand attack, and Nick with his fast tap-tapping.

Then Geoff showed up.. and I played 2 real-ish games with him. In my first game, my offense consisted soley of shots from the circle drift. I’ve noticed in myself and in others that defenses don’t want to recenter too much while someone is going through their drift… which leaves a quick cut shot open. I killed Eric with this last week, but it even worked on Geoff. The other shot I liked to take out of the circle that worked on Geoff was straight out of Donovan’s playbook. In the circle drift, where the puck is closest to the goal, and you’re hitting the left rail, instead of hitting a catchable open V, you just hit it hard for an over. It’s an off speed shot, it’s difficult to hit hard when you’re shooting from close to your goal, but because it’s an over – and a surprising one – people are late to see the shot coming, and then follow it to the rail to block – and miss. I don’t know how many of those Donovan scored on me before I caught on… and now it’s another attack. I think I beat Geoff the first game, something like 7-3. The 2nd game, I took it easy and hit almost all forehands again… and Geoff was being goofy going with a rail defense… and my forehand straights aren’t that accurate.

I don’t think I’ll be using the circle drift too much in the tourney next week.. I’m still working on perfecting more basic stuff.

Starting to gear up for the IL State tourney

Ok.. so, what are we at? 2 weeks, pretty much before the IL tourney?

I think I need to tone down the amount of air hockey I’m playing, because my elbow/muscles have been bugging me a bit. I need to make sure I’m still ready to go without my arm falling apart on me.

So.. went in last night. Eric, Nick, and Billy were all there. I recall playing some ’straights-only’ games with Eric and Billy. I think it was a good exercise for me. Not only did I need to work on setting up my straight shot, but defense. Especially after what Mike did to me with his stupid cross that I should have blocked about a hundred times more than what I did. I find that I can block straights pretty well when that’s the only thing I have to worry about.

I played a couple games with Eric. He’s getting dangerous. There’s just a couple things holding him back. Most notably, puck control. I think my puck control is pretty bad, but Eric’s is worse. He just gives up the puck too much. Unforced turnovers will cost games… but Eric’s defense has gotten a bit better – still not great, but better… but most notably, his offense is getting good. Eric has added some zip to his RWU’s, and when he combines that with pump fakes, delays, and off-goals… and the fact that he doesn’t go to that shot every time makes it particularly dangerous. Eric has begun to win games against me – even as I improve.

Then I got into a set with Nick. We’ve played so much that I pretty much know what to expect with his game. I just need to see how he reacts, what he’s focusing on, and make small adjustments. One thing that caught me off guard was Nick’s ability to snag pucks. If he gets it in his head that I’m going to hit an off-goal, he will get his mallet out there to snag that puck. I generally start out using my cut/cross attack using a simple diagonal drift… I dunno if it’s just because it’s easy – and if you can score with it consistently, it’s a very good sign – or if it’s pretty much Billy’s standard attack. There were a couple things I worked on against Eric… and that was tap-tap drifts and diamond drifts. I don’t think I’ve done a diamond in a game better than what I did last night. The best part was that I was able to shoot out of it. I use the open-V quite a bit, so it didn’t seem like it was such an adjustment.

Anyway… Nick was playing very good. He was controlled, he was hitting his RWU well and setting up his shots – and made fewer unforced turnovers than I. Our games were very close. If I recall, there were 3 7-6 games in our set, with Nick taking the first 2. I knew Nick had learned to use the cross against me from my match with Mike, so I really tried to focus on not letting him hit in a straight. I got down 3 games to 1. I wasn’t even playing bad.. but Nick was finding the goal a bit more than I, and got me with 2 7-6 wins. Taking a page out of Mike’s book – I stormed back and took the next 2 games… mostly using my cross/lwu attack. I even mixed in a little bit of my tap-tap drifts… trying to summon Wil Upchurch as much as I could… but I didn’t go to this too frequently. In, I believe, the 5th game – I made what Billy thought was my best shot, ever. I did a diagonal drift and did a double delay, which allowed the puck to really go over to the left a bit – and then I hit a perfect cross shot that looked like it was going to be a lwu, but perfectly hit the right side of the goal. Another factor in my comeback was that Nick started charging more – and I was able to get a couple easy goals in and Nick abandoned using straight shots. Throughout the set – Nick was getting me with straights when I thought I was centered… I wasn’t falling back on my defense, but Nick was still finding the goal – which was frustrating. I don’t know if Nick’s accuracy just waned a tiny bit, or if I started blocking those shots… but Nick got away from it enough for me to come back and force a game 7.

I played game 7 incredibly well. I probably played the best offense of my career. I smashed left wall unders and followed it up with a couple crosses. Then threw in a quick cut which really got Nick to move. Nick started overplaying his offense, and I quickly got up 4-0. Nick came back a little bit, I believe scoring the next 2… but I didn’t let up, and went on to hammering that left wall under. That was the shot I went to when I needed one. I finished the set, and came out the winner. 4-3, and it couldn’t have been much closer. Billy said that we both played a very good game.

I don’t know what it is, but I’ve played Nick incredibly well since the big Texas Tourney… having won 7 out of 9 sets. I had no idea it was that lopsided. It doesn’t even seem like that’s real.

Billy and I played next. In this set, I really, really focused on hitting overs, and it seemed like a pretty good strategy. It got to the point where I’d miss overs on purpose – just to get him thinking of it. I didn’t realize it, but it’s not a bad way to set up an under. Get him thinking about blocking that over… and I managed to sink a number of them… especially left wall overs. In the first game, I managed to get a couple cheesy points… where the puck is blocked – but somehow manages to bounce off the side and off his mallet into the goal… and even one medium speed double bank. I got it to 6-6, but he managed to get the final point. Game 2 was similar, but only managed to get 5 points.. and then in game 3, I totally went into the tank on overs – and I got beat pretty bad. Game 4 was pretty awesome – because I won it.. I know I got a couple transition points and managed to score a couple cuts against him – which is rare to do against Billy. I forced a game 5 – where I completely shit the bed and lost 7-0. Brutal, but that’s how I get better.

So.. I’ll see what happens tomorrow. I don’t think I want to play too long.. rest up and then have a good lead-in to the tourney the Thursday before. That’s my plan, anyway.

weekend roundup

I should probably have a long winded write-up about my last challenge match against Mike that happened last Thursday. Something about how being up 3 games to 1 in what should have been the final set… only to lose to Mike in what was probably the biggest comeback of Mike’s career… and the worst defeat of my air-hockey career. But really… I’m just too tired and sore to write this up, and it’s really difficult to have a lot of enthusiasm writing up a horrific defeat. So, I’m sure Mike will read this – and I’d like to give him the opportunity to write about this, but I’m pretty sure he’ll pass.

Because he’s a big jerk.

Saturday wasn’t so bad. Played disc golf before heading out, which was a lot of fun. Saw Eric for the first time in ages… and when we played a set – he got me to 6-6 twice. Then I played Geoff a set, and he once again barely edged me. I need to practice my straights and get more accurate and more deadly. That, and… well.. minimizing mistakes would be very useful.

Video of me vs. Tim Weissman

thanks to Nick for recording my match vs Tim. I believe my best shot against him was that left wall over. I need to work that into my game a bit more. Tim, as expected – destroyed me… but it was awesome to play him.

hmm.. I’ll work on getting this embedded, not working right now. Here’s the link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Czechmate0123#p/a/u/0/mavEP4OpnYg

Yesterday… the Thursday I did want to write about

I got a call from Goran saying that Mark was going to be out tonight. Awesome.

I get out there and find Mark. For some reason I was thinking he may not even recognize me. I’ve only seen the guy once in IL, then in Houston. I’m not an upper-tier level player, so I have no idea if I make an impression. It was cool to see Mark’s eyes light up when he saw me – as he was all geared up to play and looked like he was roaming the bowling alley looking for someone to play.

Mark gets warmed up and I examine my mallet for signs of pine tar. It’s still a little tacky – which I think is about perfect. I want it to stick to my fingers a little bit, but not to the point where I could lift up my hand and have the mallet stick to it. Also, I’ve been going nuts trying to find my athletic tape that I use. Apparently CVS and Walgreens have decided the 4-pack of athletic tape that I like would be discontinued or something. All I can find is the stuff that looks slick on the outside and doesn’t stick very well, or paper tape or some other nonsense. I gambled on some 1-inch wide stuff that looked thicker than regular tape (padded like), was skin colored (for a Caucasian), and boasted that it ‘sticks under water’. I put this stuff on, and fell in love. It was like a 2nd skin, and felt really comfortable – and didn’t start to come off one bit as I was playing. The only thing it did do was cut off my circulation a bit – but all I had to do was loosen it up and re-stick it.. which it did incredibly well. I think I’ll end up going back and buying a bunch of this stuff.. even though it’s relatively expensive.

So, I start playing and try to put last week behind me.

I have to say, playing Mark is a lot of fun. For a leftie, he plays like a right hander – it’s weird. He uses more forehands than anyone I’ve seen, even Mike. Actually – he plays a lot like Mike, I’d say. The main difference is Mike plays with a flow and his movements are a bit more fluid. Mark’s are terse and jerky and fast. There’s a real intelligence behind Mark’s shot selection, but it’s highly random. I don’t know if Mark was just warming up or what.. but he was executing *every* shot. Left, right, under, over, cuts – everything. I recall winning the first game, but Mark was just getting warmed up. I think I like playing Mark a lot because he’s not perfect in his execution.. he just lets things fly, and he seems to be beatable. All of the games against Mark were pretty close (except one notable one where I played awful).

A lady friend of Mark’s showed up. I have no idea what their relationship is – there were hints of affection, but nothing overt.

Geoff showed up and Mark and Geoff played a couple games. Geoff and I played a little bit – then Geoff said his arm was tired. 20 years old and a couple games of air hockey is too much for him. Before Mark’s lady friend left we all chatted for a bit… somehow it turned into talking mostly about Geoff’s experience in high school and how he took the GED and how easy the written part was. Mark found this funny based on what Geoff had written in the ahw forums regarding the match between Don J and Mark. I have to say – Mark has a point. This is what Geoff said… and if you can make it out – you’ve probably spent too much time on AOL.

Geoff:
either way u deside mark i think DJ has the edge with billys help and coaching billy has taught us kids who had no clue how to play or a concept now were all getting together and pushing now take that and think what he can do with someone that has the experience and knowledge of the game hes great at honestly they are ready to get you mark

My reply:

Now only if Billy gave out grammar lessons you’d be in business.

Seriously…

When the English language leaves in the morning to go to work – Geoff goes over and bangs his wife.

Anyway…. Mark and I played some more, and I got to see more of his game, and I got to hit more cuts on him. Straights seem to be his weakness, but my crosses didn’t work too well. I think we played 3 games in a row where it came down to the final point. That stuff is so much fun… win or lose (in my case, lose). I just find it a lot of fun to play close games and be competitive. That… and playing the guy who, from what I understand, is kinda responsible for me being able to play air hockey at all.

last thursday, the day I didn’t want to write about

Ok.. I didn’t write about last Thursday. I’m sure Mike and Nick are snickering to themselves knowing why I haven’t gotten around to writing something.

Last week – I completely shit the bed when it comes to air hockey.

So, there were 4 of us – great. Mike, Nick, Geoff, and I… and after warming up – we got into a friendly game of ‘press your luck’.

I hate this game. No.. I take it back… I’d love this game if I were any good at it. My basic strategy is to play conservative early… get a couple points, stay in the game – and then around round 4 or so, you can figure out where you are in comparison to everyone else, then you can gauge how risky you need to be. My only problem is that when you start out and can’t sink a single goal on the goddamn gatekeeper – your game goes to shit in a hurry, and you *have* to take big risks. So.. in a nutshell… I pretty much sucked it up the entire time and even though I played conservatively – I still got my ass handed to me.

What a great lead-in to playing sets, huh?

I suppose I should point out one cause for my troubles. I’ll ignore the fact that I couldn’t control the puck. I had the agility of a drunken 3 year old. I’ll forget that I had a hard time hitting the back rail – let alone the goal, or how, all of a sudden, my movement to block a left wall under is so slow – I may as well just lifted my mallet right off the table and tell my opponent to just fucking score already.

I do want to focus on my stupid experimenting with my mallet. So.. I thought I had caught lightning in a bottle when I went to my local sports store and went over to the baseball aisle and picked up some pine tar. Pine tar you ask? Yes. I’ve been losing my mallet way too much, and thought this would help. Not only that, but the extra tackiness would help out with me being able to control my mallet and really ‘marry’ my hand to my mallet. I thought it would keep me from losing my mallet, while still giving me the control and the ability to move my hand in different configurations.

So, I went home and smeared this shit all over the insides of my mallet. I played my challenge set against Nick, and I thought everything was great. I didn’t lose my mallet all game and I won 4 sets to 1. Sweet. I go back last week – and it was a different story. I didn’t lose my mallet… but I topped the puck on a ridiculous number of my possessions. Basically… when I was swinging out in front of me, the mallet would lift up just the tiniest bit – and I’d end up topping the puck. It was very, very frustrating. Combine that with the fact that I was sucking things up, and you had the makings of a terrible day.

So.. with that in mind, I started my set with Mike. We hadn’t played in forever (since before Houston), and Nick played Geoff. I remember hitting a couple really sharp goals against Mike right away and him stating, “Where was that during press your luck?” It basically gave me the confidence to think that I was past my blundering past hour or so and was ready to win. That wasn’t the case, however. What started out ‘ok’ , quickly regressed into me cursing, topping the puck over and over, losing my ability to block any unders – and me thinking I I’d be better off in a rail defense. What’s worse is that Mike predicted a 4-1 win, and he was right. Of all the predictions Mike has made over the months – this may be the first one he’s gotten right. This, of course, made Mike want to challenge me on Saturday – and I’m not sure if I can do it, because I have a friend coming into town that day.

So, with my proverbial tail between my legs – I looked over and saw that Nick had beaten Geoff. It came down to the final game, but Nick beat him 7-1. So, while I’m a shell of myself and Nick is riding high after winning against Geoff (and beating him pretty good) – we hop into a set. Pretty much the same thing as before as against Mike – with an embarrassing loss (7-1) thrown in. Topped pucks, bad turnovers, no defense… all that good stuff repeated.

I ended the night by going home and looking up online how to take pine tar off of stuff.

My first challenge set

Ok. So, last week Nick Challenged Mike for his #33 world ranking. He beat him 4 sets to 0. A huge, huge win. Nick has been on a huge roll. Beating Mike 4-0 is no small feat.

I thought it was time I challenge *somebody* – and with Nick coming off this big win, I thought it was only appropriate I challenge him… plus – I’ve had some recent success against him, so I thought I had a chance… and most of all – attendance has been low on Thursdays. People have been working or not showing up or something. I figured my best bet was to get Nick to commit to coming out – and a challenge set would make things interesting. So, with very short notice – Nick agreed to play.

Cool.

Actually – a friend of mine was going to show up and I was just going to show her the sport and whatnot. She’s tickled that she has a friend that is “world ranked” in anything. She’s been wanting to come out for weeks – and again had to cancel. This time because her dog was sick. No matter… I headed out anyway and got there early. Nick showed up and after chatting for a bit – we started playing.

My mindset going into this was of confidence. I’d had some recent success against Nick – and I just wanted to ride that as long as I can. I knew Nick would want to play a best of 7 sets… and as a fat and out of shape old guy – I knew this could be a problem. When Donovan played Mike – Mike just wore him out… Don was a mess by the end of it, and I figured I’d be a mess, too. I didn’t think *too* much about what I wanted to do – other than to play loose knowing that as long as I didn’t get wiped out, I wasn’t going to lose a lot of points, and I had *nothing* to lose when it comes to ranking. My basic strategy going into the game was that I wanted to establish my rail shots… especially the left wall under. Nick has started to figure out my cut/right wall under attack pretty well.. and I thought that shot would work well against him. I wanted him to get so paranoid of bank attacks that he’d start to move his defense back (whether consciously or unconsciously) – and then I’d switch over to straight shots. That’s it. That’s not to say I didn’t attempt other shots or utilize delays and mix things up… but that was my very basic strategy. My biggest worry was that I wouldn’t have enough ‘tricks’ up my sleeve or be able to vary my offense enough to keep Nick off guard… I mean, I was going to be playing at least 4 sets in a row against the same person… how many different styles can I mix up to where Nick won’t figure me out?

In the first set – I think I identified Nick’s basic strategy. 1st – play aggressive defense – not so much a charging defense.. but one that was going to snag pucks. Nick has some amazing athleticism and it looked like early on he had it in his mind that he was going be very aggressive in snagging that puck. 2nd – he wanted to really, really, really make sure I didn’t get any straight shots in on him. I believe, once up on a time, my biggest strength was my accurate straights. I don’t know if this is the case, anymore… but if Nick was going to sell out on a defense – this is probably not a bad strategy.

Nick took the first game. Nick snagged pucks like I’ve never seen him do before – and he set up his shots and hit his beautiful right wall under against me. I just have a hard time adjusting to his speed. Nick also scored some transition shots on me – which quickly reminded me that I’m simply not going to be more athletic than him and anything that’s close to the center line is his and it’s not worth taking that chance. Making this adjustment alone has probably saved me from many losses against Nick. In the 2nd game, Nick’s puck snagging turned into a charge defense in some cases – and I took advantage. My left wall attack starting hitting its stride – and I altered my drift. Instead of just using a diagonal drift, or an open V (which I hit my lwu out of both drifts).. I was really shortening up the open v such that it would bounce off the right rail as well (and sometimes I’d have to give it another tap to maintain control). It altered the pattern of my shot enough, that it caused Nick to come out and charge thinking I’d be hitting a cut shot – but then I’d rip a right wall under past him. Mixing that up with my left wall under attack and taking just enough pot shots to keep Nick honest proved to be too much for Nick. Also, Nick managed to score against himself more than I’ve ever seen. He was playing hard and fast, but he must’ve played just a little beyond his control. This was a theme he’d repeat through the match, much to his detriment. There was no way I was going to win 4 in a row against him, and he took another game – but I came on strong winning the 6th game, and then finished the set with a big statement, beating Nick 7-0. I’d won my first challenge set 4-2.

We took a break and chatted outside. Nick shook his head and thought he needed to *think* about what he was doing and piece together a strategy – he said he’d just been reacting but not doing much game planning.

We started our next set, and I don’t remember a whole lot of how it went other than it went pretty much like the first set. There were 2 games in which I couldn’t get my offense going and I made some mistakes. There’s about 0 chance that I’m going to be successful against Nick if I shoot myself in the foot… and the times that Nick got up early, and the score was 6-1 or 6-2, Nick likes to finish the game with a ’statement’ shot. He likes to get a charge or a fancy shot or a Wolfslayer to finish a game, and although I didn’t come back – I was able to keep the games close. I suffered my biggest loss of the match in the 2nd set and lost 7-3, though he probably should have beaten me 7-1. Nick even trotted out a drift he’d rarely used in the past, where it was more like a Wil Upchurch drift, where he wouldn’t use the rails at all.. just kept tapping the puck around before taking a shot. It was successful until I started sitting on the bank. I did a good job of mixing up my offense and there were a number of times I got on a roll. Somehow I elevated my game beyond what I thought was capable and I’d go on very, very quick runs of 3 points or more. Nick wasn’t using his timeout and may have gotten flustered. I recall winning a game in this set 7-1… and many of these runs I’d go on were transition points. Nick had completely stopped charging at this point – which I think was wise.. but he was still being aggressive in trying to catch the puck. I believe in this set I had completely keyed in my left wall under. I was hitting it further and further to the right and even back sometimes. Again, I think I executed just a little bit better, and my defense was doing well. I won the 2nd set 4-2.

At this point, I have to admit – I was feeling pretty good about things, but I wasn’t about to go soft. I was already sweating like a pig and could feel my arm getting stiff. If Nick were to turn this around in this next set, and just keep me playing – I knew I would be in trouble. I would wear out.

The third set – Nick finally came back with a plan. I have to admit… this was his best idea, yet. I’m *terrible* against blocking overs.. and Nick had spent the first 2 sets training me to block his lwu. When he came in with medium-speed overs – I’d without doubt overcompensate and move right out of the way for him. Nick beat this into the ground against me in the 3rd set. Billy showed up, I believe somewhere in here as well. It was nice for us to get at least 1 person to see the great match we were playing. I adjusted my offense some more, using more straight drifts and trying to work in my cut/rwu attack a bit more. Nick – throughout the match, did an amazing job of blocking my cuts and rwu’s. I just couldn’t rely on a simple diagonal drift to get the job done. I *always* had to get Nick to freeze on his defense to get it past him – he was reading my shots too well. I had to work too hard to get my shots off, and this caused me to make mistakes. Nick’s defense caught fire, and he killed me with right and left wall overs. It frustrated the heck out of me to see a slow puck slide past my mallet. Nick won the 3rd set 4-2, and I tried to regain my cool.

Nick was coming off of a big win and had the momentum. I was determined to adjust to his over attack and I became a bit of a rock… and of course, Nick immediately went to his under attack. I can’t remember which game it was in this set, but Nick charged up 4-0.. and I’m pretty sure he was hitting *everything* on me.. over, unders, and straights. I called time out… and just cleared my head. I don’t remember thinking of a strategy, per se – but I was *not* going to let him get overs and straights on me anymore. I think I caught a hint of when he was going to hit his left wall unders and found a way to block them. My defense – all of a sudden, became lights out. My offense finally began to wear Nick down, and I began to hit straight shots… finding small holes in his defense and working my way around it. I came back and won 7-5. This was my statement game. I’d put a stop to Nick’s momentum. That game was huge. After that – I played with incredible confidence. I had altered the speed of my drifts and was working faster.. and there was one game in here where I managed to score mostly forehands. It was enough to get Nick thinking about what else I could throw at him – and me finding success with an aspect of my game I rarely am successful using was another confidence booster. I rolled to another win, but I can’t remember if I won 4-2 or 4-3. I was up 3 sets to 1. Very big lead – with the momentum.

The last set was all Dan. Somehow I played great defense and managed to score more straight shots than at any other point in the game. I shot many of them from a fast side to side drift or open V, or were just random pot shots. Nick got flustered, and when scored against – would sometimes smack the puck too hard and send the puck off the table – giving me the puck. It gave me more possessions – which I worked to my advantage. Nick went back to hitting overs, which were so successful against me in the 3rd set – but by this time, I was able to block them. With that option off the table, I won the first 3 games – and Nick forfeited the last. I had won the match.

I’m now recognized by the USAA as the #33 ranked air hockey player in the world. Winning the last game by forfeit wasn’t the most exciting way to win, but it felt good, nonetheless.

Let’s check the timeline. Jan 20th was my first time at a weekly.. and now – 247 days later, I’m ranked #33 in the world… about 8 months. That’s a pretty significant jump.

Anyway.. Nick played well, and I think if things would have started out differently, or if I hadn’t gotten that big momentum stopping game, or if I was unable to adjust my game in the middle of the match, it could have gone the other way. It was a lot of fun, and I hope I get to defend my title soon… well – not too soon, my back is beat up, and picking up anything heavy with my right arm just isn’t going to happen.. and if I make a turning key motion with my right arm, it just kinda seizes up, my thigh hurts, but I think is beyond bruising, and my hammy is so sore I’ve been gimping around most of the day like Quasimoto. My wrist, elbow, and bicep – which have been bugging me lately are thankfully feeling pretty good.

…and I think this means that Geoff is next. I have no idea if I’m ready for Geoff or not, but I should get some more games in with him. I think it’s a little early, but if I can somehow manage to get more points than Geoff before the IL tourney – that would be pretty awesome. It would be awesome – but it’s likely fantasy at this point.

win by 7

My brief hiatus away from the table has ended. I’m very happy about this.

So.. before I go into the update about what happened the other day, I’ll give some brief updates.

I *still* haven’t gotten Mike’s interview back
My surgery went well and I’m better than normal. About a week and a half after my surgery, a friend visited and when I was telling him about air hockey – he found the whole thing ridiculous and implausible that I could be considered a good player. He’s an athletic guy… plays tennis, etc. When I told him that I thought the odds of him winning a best of 3 were well over 100-1 – he found that to be laughable. He got excited to see my skills and the chance to “show me up”… and all I wanted to do is show him that there’s more to the game than whacking pucks around and getting lucky. After beating the pants off of him – I showed him some things, and explained some of the strategy… which he picked up very quickly. I believe he ended the day with a much better appreciation for the game.

This last Thursday I went out to the BZ – and missed Billy’s text saying he couldn’t make it. I managed to talk Nick into coming out, but he had just spent some time with some work buddies and had been drinking since he got off work, so we decided to just have fun with it. He was just coming off of a huge, huge win over Mike to take the #33 world rank, winning 4 sets to zero… and winning each set by an average of 4 games to 2. It was just dominating. He thought he was playing so well that he should challenge Goran. I disagreed with this sentiment – on the basis that everyone is different. Being good at beating one player does not mean one is prepared for the other. That being said… Nick has stepped up his game. But on Thursday, a tipsy Nick was no match for me. I was very worried that spending some time away from the table would cause me to have some rust… but the time off seemed to have done me some good. I’ve been adding wrinkles to my standard diagonal drift… in which I alter it slightly to an open V, and then even alter it further to make a shallow open V – and let it hit the right wall. I’ve also been working on a left wall under attack with the open V, and I’ve even hit some crosses out of it as well. Anyway.. I took advantage of Nick’s state of mind and beat him up pretty good. It was great to play again, and very reassuring I could spend a little time away from the table and still do well.

Saturday came, and Nick, Goran, Billy, and Geoff showed up. For some reason, we decided to just occupy one table and play each other “until someone is ahead by 7″. I love this game. It’s usually a marathon. If you get to the point where you’re ahead by 7 points – it really is a sign that you’re clearly better. It’s like having a 10 run rule in baseball. How quickly you get there – the final score, is also pretty indicative. We decided ahead of time that we have to cut it off at some point.. so we’d cut it off at 50 points… and then you’d only have to win by 2. The aforementioned Nick started a game with Geoff (who have seemed to settle their differences).. and the game was very tight. Nick seemed to have the edge throughout – but Geoff was not going down without a fight. I don’t think Geoff had a lead more than 2 the entire time – whereas I know Nick was up by 5 at one point. Regardless – it went to the full 50 points – and Nick won 50-48.

I played Goran, and I recall doing fairly well. I kept up with him until I just lost all concentration and puck control… committing several unforced errors.. and letting in a couple weak shots through. I can’t remember the final score, but 32-25 sounds close. I remember playing Billy – and it started out incredibly well for myself. I scored on the face off and didn’t look back. In fact, Billy didn’t take the lead on me until point 15. That’s 2 games worth of winning air hockey right there. Instead of me beating myself like I did with Goran.. Billy calmed down and started hitting straights on me. I did very well blocking his straights early on, but something happened – and I got out of his way on his straight shots. I know the final score was somewhere around what Goran and I went.

I believe Goran and Billy went to 50 points as well… with Billy shallowly edging out Goran. I finished my day off by playing Nick – and it may have been one of the most lopsided games of the day – and I finished him off 27-20. I don’t know if this is the confidence booster I need to actually challenge someone – but challenging Nick for #33 just popped in my mind. We haven’t played sets in awhile – he’s ranked/rated as high as he’s ever been, and he’s awesome to play against because he’ll always give me his all, and he’s always ready to play.

I think I’ll hop over to the forums and see what he thinks. I believe my biggest challenge in a challenge against Nick would be stamina… he would surely want to play 4 sets of 7. If it went to 7 sets – I’d probably need to take a week or so to recover.

a short break

Ok, so I underwent surgery recently, so that’s why I haven’t been posting.

Hopefully, I can ease back into things – my wife has a couple friends from her improv class that are interested in trying out the air hockey and this Thursday seems like one of the best times to come out… so, we’ll see. Plus, my wife will be out this Saturday as we’ll be headed out to her folks’ place afterwards.