New kind of pain.

Hockey players are not padded in a few areas, including the sides of the feet, the back of the calf, the forearm, and the neck.  I was expecting a pass in front of  the net, but the centerman hit the point, so I screened the goalie. . . and then saw a slapshot coming straight at my feet, so I raised my left skate to let the shot go under me, but it was rising and impacted my calf at about 70+ miles per hour.  That is a new kind of pain for me.  The worst part is the shot deflected wide of the net.  It would have been easier to take if we had scored.

Later in the game, I was playing a rebound in front of the net with defensemen on either side of me.  The puck was on my backhand and just as I was shooting, shifting my weight onto my right foot, someone swept my right leg with their stick.  My foot was pointed toward the goal, my knee went all the way to the ice, my butt went all the way to my skate, and my ankle bent in a direction that ankles should not bend.  I shook it off and kept skating.  The ref didn't see it, because I was in traffic.  I deserved a penalty shot on that one, even though we ended up scoring on that play.

Fast forward to this morning.  I got out of bed onto the left leg with the fantastically bruised calf.  Then I shifted onto the right leg with the hurt ankle.  Then I winced and got back into bed.  When the endorphins kicked in, I basically crawled to the shower.  I'm discovering ankle movements that make me want to scream.  Flexing the foot to depress the gas pedal or flexing the foot to turn the office chair are particularly surprising.  Something is really strained in there.  Today is quadricep day, but I won't be doing any squats.  I guess I'll just hit the leg extensions extra hard.  All that said, it was a really great defensive game last night.  My team really outscored them, too.  I can't wait to play again next Tuesday.