When it comes to hockey, "game day" isn't an understatement -- from wake-up to game time, everything you do is focused around making sure you're at your best for as many of your 20 minutes of ice time as possible.
Thankfully, there's the two-touch soccer crew to breathe a little levity into the stone-faced pregame culture your coach has tried to breed. It's only a game, Focker.
The type of guy who plays pregame two-touch is a social animal -- he doesn't sit in the room visualizing plays with his headphones on and a towel over his head. He likes to chat, get loose and have a cup a' joe, which incidentally, suits me quite nicely.
On Thursday, the always high-quality, intelligent, and funny sports blog Puck Daddy (you should check it out sometime) reported on R.J. Umberger running through the St. Louis Blues' game of two-touch, which led to some verbal jabs and apparently a near fight.
I love a little exchange of pregame bravado.
You know if you were on the other team you'd get along with the majority of your opponents' two-touch crew -- they're almost always fun people -- but because they're going to be wearing a different jersey that night, it can be testy when you both have to warm-up in a similar location.
And if that doesn't happen with an opponent (it rarely does), it most certainly will end up that way with a teammate thanks to this silly, soccer-style warm-up game.
Hey, hockey players are competitive people.
For those of you who haven't played two-touch, a quick overview of a fairly simple game:
You can't touch the soccer ball more than twice, and you simply hack it around. Whoever touches the ball last before it drops (which is supposed to mean "whoever messes up the rally," but it's rarely the same guy) is eliminated, until there's a last man standing -- your winner.
Of course, there's a little more to it than that -- you can't let the ball drop if you have any hope of getting to it, so you can't be intentionally slow-moving to get a guy out.
And, attacks are permitted, which makes for a mild amount of chaos.
Basically, you've got the green light to full-on boot the ball at a guy, or drop a quick redirection off his ankle, or use whatever cheap manoeuvre it is that you've got up your sleeve to make someone else touch the ball last before it hits the floor.
Thus, you can imagine how quickly little wars between guys can start. There are certain teammates you know not to stand beside, because you can count on them somehow banking a ball off you.
Most players keep a running tally of their total "wins" for the day (gotta have them stats), which are of secondary importance to winning the final game before you have to go in for the team meeting.
Some coaches hate two-touch. They think the players are too laid back, not focused, and there's a risk of injury. And honestly, they're probably right all around. (see: Stephen Weiss, Matt Stajan, Erik Cole)
(I once played with a teammate who tore his MCL diving to keep a great rally going, but for fear of having the coach kill the game for the rest of his teammates, dressed for warm-ups so he could claim it happened then.)
Within the players, there are always scraps over the subjective calls -- it's a generally democratic process, determining who should be eliminated and who kept. Could he have got to that? Did that touch him? Are you all horrible cheaters conspiring to get me out in the first round every time?
Honestly, sometimes having to go play hockey puts a damper on a great game. Which is probably another decent reason to not allow the game to exist, but whatever.
The game is great for getting loose, waking up, and getting your blood moving a little before stretching.
Headphones-on sprinty-pants over there? He takes life too seriously.
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