Hockey League - Game 3

Alright, game 3 of our season was the best so far. Unfortunately that doesn't mean we won, just that we played better. We didn't have our full team because of it being such a late game (we started at 10:45pm) but it actually helped make things less hectic. This was my first game taking over the goaltending responsibilities, and I played fairly well despite the score. It may seem strange to say that, with a score of 6-12, but this was the best team we've faced yet and if it wasn't for a handful of crazy saves it could have easily been much worse. I let in the occasional bad five-hole goal, which was a combo of rust and being tired. There were also a few fluky goals that everyone including the ref looked at one another like "How in the world did that go in??" Our defense played better, but they still need to work on picking up guys in the slot. I counted at least 3 goals were I had to play all the way against one pipe and the other team had a guy camped out behind me just outside of the crease. No one on my team picked up this extra guy and they had an easy pass across center and slam dunk goal. There's nothing really I can do in those situations other then dive and hope for the best. From about halfway through the 2nd period on, we actually outscored the other team. We started spacing ourselves properly and jumping in on offense when we had the puck. I also had quite a few saves throughout the game that not only had my teammates cheering, but the ref and other team were commenting as well. It felt nice that my first game back was also our best game, and not trying to boast, but if we had one of the two previous fill in goalies the game would have been much uglier. Everyone was very appreciative of how I played, and they were taking the blame for many of the goals that they knew weren't my fault. I got the feeling that everyone thought I played well and were happy I was in net for the team. Unfortunately, it sounds like we play the best two teams the next two weeks, so things might get a little worse before they get better.