To be perfectly honest, I wasn't crazy about the idea of a game on Tuesday following the three on Sunday. I was exhausted, sore, and had no desire to put skates on. Just the idea of having a game made me grumpy. Luckily I got 13 hours of sleep on Monday night, so that helped a little bit.

Just dressing for the game was an exercise in frustration. All of my gear was just plain disgusting, I was able to wash most of the smaller stuff, but the shins, and elbows and the such were still nasty. Lacing up my skates revealed nothing but pain from my sore feet, and skating didn't fare much better.

As warmups progressed, it was obvious we were working with a short bench. We ended up with 3 defenseman, and a quartet of forwards. Luckily.. the other team only had 2 subs, so we had numbers on them.

The big surprise was how much we completely dominated the game. Our team was playing extremely well, we were passing well and keeping the puck in the offensive zone. The best part about this is, when we stay in the offensive zone, I actually have a chance to be effective. Normally our game consists of tons of breakaways, in which case I don't have much of a chance to help.

With the puck staying down low, I can take up residence in front of the goalie, and just create havoc. There were many times when I was getting compliments rather than the usual yelling. The best part was that I actually managed to score my first "official" goal.

As the play progressed, I was in front of the net as usual, and the other forward was down low. The other forward rotated towards my position, so I started to drop back in the slot, and towards the opposite side, which is the way our system tends to work. A shot went in, rebounded, and it came out right onto the tape of my stick, at this point there was plenty of traffic in front, which helps. I was able to just take a wrist shot, and it went right in on the goalies glove side. I'm not sure the goalie even saw it coming. All that matters is that it went in cleanly, it was a right place, right time thing, but at least it was a clean shot. Being my first official goal, I got to keep the puck, which is always cool.

It was nice to get a win, but at this point, I am sore, exhausted, and tired. We only have a few games left this "season" so we will have to see how that goes. Overall I am very happy with my progress this season, I've come a long way.

On to the playoffs?