So about 4 minutes into pickups today I chase down a guy making a break-away against my team (I was playing Offense, but as usual w/ pick-ups everybody had just swarmed up trying to be the star… so I had to chase down the break-away even though I was O). I caught the guy no prob, as he isn’t the fastest skater. I poke-checked the puck away and pulled up to stop. Of course this son of a bitch turns out to be one of those guys that can skate sort of fast, stick handle okay, has a pretty good shot… but can’t for the life of him stop. So I stop (to stay w/ the puck I poke-checked away) and he attempts to stop and proceeds to fall full force into my left knee.
I absolutely love it when the money hungry bastards running the rink don’t enforce the A/B talent criteria for pick-ups. There’s a reason there’s a C/D pick-up too. But no, they just want the $. Now I’m probably not playing for a few weeks. Great.
And before anybody says it: yes I know it’s hockey and you’re going to get hurt. I’m just fine with that; it’s part of the game and I love to play. But it just sucks to get hurt like this, because some fucker couldn’t control his own speed.
-TJ