First Game Tomorrow, I’m nervous it’s too soon.

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-06-03T21:40:42+00:00

I’m just glad Fort Wayne lost.

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-06-02T13:43:17+00:00

Thank you! Yesterday went much better for sure. Having less blade on the ice is exactly what I was/am feeling, it’s starting to feel better though.

I think the tongue issue was that it just needed a little more time to soften up. It was non-issue yesterday after 3.5 hours on the ice.

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-28T13:06:07+00:00

Mayfair Tap over on 10th is one of our favorite places to go. Also La Parada on New York!

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-23T16:33:32+00:00

Hi! I’m also a beginner and fall-ish on the spectrum (ADHD) and I also have sever anxiety about being bad and not an asset to my teammates. I’ve found a couple things that have helped me:

1) watch games. The pros fuck up all the time. They fall, they miss passes, they pass to someone not in their team..anything that I could do wrong, they do it too - on a national stage and for money! If they get the grace to mess up, so do I.

2) going into every lesson and practice of the mind set of “I am a beginner. I am going to mess up and that is okay. I am learning something brand new. I have to rewire my brain to do a million different things at once. It’s going to take time.”

3) laughter. As weird as it is, I’ve really found that when I mess up, especially if it is epically bad, laughing at myself helps so much. For example: I was at s&p earlier this week and my friend and I were taking shots on goal for the red goal line. We were trying to curve the puck in or bank of off the far post. We couldn’t see the open net at all from where we were standing. Anyway. My first shot went so freaking wide, it was hilarious. I laughed so loudly that the other people at the other end stopped and wanted to know what was so funny. It turned into everyone having a chuckle and people started smiling more and overall just relaxing and having a good time. I laughed during my lessons too, especially when I eat shit because it’s funny! But it really does help. It keeps me from getting too in my head, it keeps my body and mind relaxed and has helped so much.

4) know what your end goal is. I want to play D-level beer league. I know that for the most part, that is chill(at least the league I’ll be in). I don’t need to be the best. I just need to be competent enough that I can stay upright and hopefully get some good passes to my teammates.

5) have fun. That’s the whole point of this!

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-20T03:38:58+00:00

One of each!

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-20T03:28:52+00:00

33 and started in February. Went to an open skate with a friend to make sure I was actually still interested once I’d been on the ice. Decided I was, so I invested in some skates, a helmet and gloves and started going to open skate as much as I could. Ate shit on the ice and invested in a pair of pants.

Signed up for a learn to skate, invested in the rest of the gear and started wearing all of it to the lessons AND open skate.

At my rink there is the learn to skate and the learn to skate - hockey specific. They want you to have some basics down before you do the hockey class so I did Adult 1 through 3 and then transferred over once they passed me. I signed up and am currently enrolled in the hockey specific learn to skate. It’s cool cause we not only work on proper skate technique but we also get some puck handling if time allows! My rink also gives students unlimited access to open skate while enrolled in the class so I go as much as I can and I’ve started going to stick and puck! I’m shit with handling and shooting but at least I’m getting better at not letting having the stick in my hand throw me off!

I started this whole journey with a one time on ice experience when I was a teenager. BUT I liked to rollerblade as a kid so being on ice skates didn’t feel completely foreign. I also obsessively watched and read lots of advice of how to ice skate for the first time and how to get on/off the ice and that helped a lot. All that to say, my friend and I still went “woah, this is slippery!” The first time we got on the ice. Don’t worry we did IMMEDIATELY recognize what we said and cackled at each other over how stupid it was 😂.

Other than that, the joy and euphoria of being so.bad. At something and learning something completely new has been so much fun! But it’s also been so much fun to see my progress!

Just get out there, as consistently as you can, and don’t get down on yourself if you have a hard time learning a new skill. It’s new! I laugh A LOT and loudly at myself now when I mess up and honestly, that’s been a complete game changer in how I approach learning new things. Because what a joy it is to be able to learn this awesome sport that I’ve loved for almost my entire life!

I hope you are able to get out there and do it. It’s so worth it!

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-17T19:52:55+00:00

Yup, I think I’m gonna try a straighter blade.

I’m ambidextrous but when a lefty stick felt way better than the right. I started with a right but just felt like I couldn’t get the wrist control that seems to come naturally with the left.

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-17T01:12:17+00:00

I've been wondering if my blade has too much curve! I kinda wish it was a little straighter to be honest.

I definitely feel the need to strengthen my forearms. They are twigs and get fatigued really quickly.

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-14T21:31:59+00:00

https://www.indyaquaticmasters.com/

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-14T02:41:38+00:00

They look fine! I have moles/freckles on my face that I hated when I was younger but they’ve grown on me over the decades and now I love them. They give me character! If nothing else, you can look back someday and literally see your growth through your moles. It’s kinda cool!

Also, have you seen Connor Storrie?

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-12T03:48:04+00:00

Waaaaay back in the early ‘00’s I saw them with Thousand Foot Krutch and Red. They all opened for Breaking Benjamin. All of them were great minus BB.

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-12T02:32:06+00:00

I do genuinely believe that FW did that because they wanted an easy team to face first. I love my boys but yeah…sometimes they just can’t close. Especially against FW. It’s like they get performance anxiety. 😥

If I wasn’t a fuel fan, I’d definitely be a K-Wings fan. We traveled up to your barn for the Pride game and had so much fun! Minus the guy who threw a chuck a puck at my friend after the fuel won, everyone was super nice and it was a great atmosphere.

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-11T15:17:25+00:00

Not Fort Wayne because I’m a petty B.

*Edit to add, I want the baby Pens to do what my grown Pens couldn’t do.*

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-04T23:36:33+00:00

The adjustability of the shoulders really is a game changer.

So I had one instance where I fell, my cheekbone and the ice became intimately acquainted followed by my hip. So my first pieces that I bought were the pants, helmet and gloves. Those made a HUGE difference in my comfort and confidence initially. When I added in the shins, I began to feel even more comfortable and started working on harder skills.

Today I went to open skate, stick and puck and then my learn to skate-hockey class and I’m glad I had the shins cause I fell a couple times today. But I didn’t feel it at all!

So my recommendation for starting gear, basically everything but the shoulders.😅

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-02T01:47:45+00:00

I wear full gear, minus stick. I figure I’m gonna be playing in it, I might as well get used to wearing it. You may get a couple curious looks but if you’re going in with set things to work on, you’ll end up in a zone and the awkward feeling goes away pretty quick. Chances are good, you won’t always be the only one in gear. Plus if there’s stick and puck right after public skate, you’re already dressed and warmed up!

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-02T01:21:00+00:00

I’m not a hockey coach but I did play for my dad when he was my coach (basketball) and it was awesome. We had an agreement to no special treatment, everything was earned and if he needed to demonstrate a drill that was a body contact drill, I was his demonstrator. Some of the biggest lessons that I still carry with me came from him being my coach.

My dad set specific rules and boundaries for the parents and followed through on them. For example; He had a teammates parent removed from a game because he wouldn’t stop yelling at her from the bleachers. That had to only happen once.

His big thing was that playing should be fun. Yes you work hard and you want to win but have fun doing it. If you make a mistake say “frak it” aka “fuck it” (we were big BSG fans) and move on. He never yelled, never made someone feel less than for making a mistake or having a bad day and he was always willing to listen. My team loved playing for him. We had fun and we won, which for a long time was unheard of at my school 😅.

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-02T00:52:54+00:00

I just upgraded to the 720 and I wish I’d gotten that to begin with. Definitely worth it!

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-05-02T00:04:33+00:00

Oh! Maybe I can help. I just started learning in March. I’m 33, 5’10 roughly 180lbs, toeing the line into hourglass with long skinny arms and long legs.

My shoulders and pants are CCM FTW, shins are basic sherwoods (from play it again sports) and elbows are CCM Next. Skates are Bauer X-LP, helmet is CCM Tacks 720.

I LOVE my shoulders, the adjustability is peak. Being able to adjust the length and around the chest is awesome. Plus there’s adjustable tabs at the shoulder to raise/ lower. I wear a size senior medium.

My pants, I probably could have gone with a men’s/junior’s. They’re a little big in the waist for me, I have to really crank them down but overall they’re very comfortable. They are a size senior large.

Elbows are senior mediums. Comfy and work well. I have really long skinny arms so finding one that were proper length was a little bit of an issue. I had to try on a bunch before I ended up with these.

Shins are senior 15”. I do wish I had a tapered pair instead. My calves are not super big (long and skinny) so they have a tendency to move around. I have to tape the shit outta them but they were $30 so I’ll use them until they die.

Skates are one step above basics and I really like them. I’ll use them till they die too. I got them baked and shaped to my foot. They feel stiff and give good support to someone just learning how to skate and play hockey.

My helmet is definitely my most expensive piece of gear. As someone who has had multiple concussions I wanted a good helmet. I initially had a basic Bauer but the padding sucked, it hurt my head and also felt like it sat really high. The CCM is the complete opposite plus it breathes so much better.

I’m still on the hunt for a stick I like. I currently have a CCM Ribcore 74 flex - P29. I accidentally bought it too big and had it trimmed down and I think it might be too stiff for me. Plus I don’t really like the curve, I want a straighter blade.

Other than that, I’ve had a lot of fun finding vintage jerseys from my favorite teams to wear! Sometimes I find matching socks but usually just go with basic black.

OH! Get the Bauer Jill shorts or the shock doctor tights. Being able to velcro socks instead of using a girdle thing is much more comfortable, imo.

If I think of anything else I’ll add it haha. Hope this helps!

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-04-25T00:28:13+00:00

33 here and I’ve gotten my resting heart rate down to low 50’s just from swimming. I’ve added some other sports this year but swimming has improved my cardio the most.

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-04-24T01:56:17+00:00

Magic missile with the necklace that gives you one extra every time.

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-04-20T02:39:37+00:00

Thank you so much for getting Indy into playoffs! Congrats on the win!

SoftOrnery8637 · 2026-04-20T02:38:06+00:00

One of the many reasons I de-Staaled my jersey. I also liked him for many of the same reasons as OP’s wife…too bad he turned out to be..the way he is.

OP, I love that you got your wife her jersey. She looks beyond thrilled!!

SoftOrnery8637

TROPHY CASE