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.