Saturday, June 12, 2021; Nations-Tobin Sport Center, Little floor, 11:00 am-12:30 pm
Vianca last skated blind about two years ago... She is a sighted player that is gaining elite level abilities on ice. She worried that her blind abilities might have atrophied somewhat, but apparently she needn't have. Her blind skills have not only not diminished, she is several levels above where she once was.
Vianca will tell you she was "lost" on the rink during Saturday's first game segment, but she quickly reoriented herself and it was amazing.
Here she demonstrates excellent puck finding technique. Head down, listening for the puck, stick in front, sweeping for the puck until touch. Very well done.
Vianca will tell you she was "lost" on the rink during Saturday's first game segment, but she quickly reoriented herself and it was amazing.
Here she demonstrates excellent puck finding technique. Head down, listening for the puck, stick in front, sweeping for the puck until touch. Very well done.
Daniela continues her play as a 200 foot player. Here she gathers and turns a loose puck off the wall (a skill in itself) and makes a cross floor pass into the attacking zone.
Now the Mooses are getting after it. This week has been a disaster logistically, something came up every day of the week, and the Mooses did not skate at all during the week.
Made up for that on Saturday, however. Did the usual three segments. First segment was our usual offensive pattern play. Daniela, Carina, Vianca, Craig, and David worked the passing moving and shooting plays while Jorge took up a defensive position, attempting to thwart their attacks
This was pretty good. So good, in fact, that it soon got boring, as most drills, once mastered, do.
Now the Mooses are getting after it. This week has been a disaster logistically, something came up every day of the week, and the Mooses did not skate at all during the week.
Made up for that on Saturday, however. Did the usual three segments. First segment was our usual offensive pattern play. Daniela, Carina, Vianca, Craig, and David worked the passing moving and shooting plays while Jorge took up a defensive position, attempting to thwart their attacks
This was pretty good. So good, in fact, that it soon got boring, as most drills, once mastered, do.
Here's Jorge, set up as a defender, head down, listening for the attack to come. Carina has gone to the back wall to secure the puck and turn it. The other players have each set up in a possible passing zone for Carina to use. Note that all this floor movement and positioning is done with every player totally blind, using no vision. Looks like "real" hockey, eh?
Wow!
Coach Dan has a habit of regularly making this pronouncement, but:
"Best practice, ever!"
The second segment we ran 3v3, girls v. boys. This was tactically amazing. Moving about the floor, taking up positions, using your teammates, contesting opponents, getting shots on goal, it was like sighted hockey!
At a group level, this was the best we have ever played. We note always the the pace of play in hockey blind makes it a somewhat slower game, but this was a true-to-life, top level game of hockey. Tremendous!
Wow!
Coach Dan has a habit of regularly making this pronouncement, but:
"Best practice, ever!"
The second segment we ran 3v3, girls v. boys. This was tactically amazing. Moving about the floor, taking up positions, using your teammates, contesting opponents, getting shots on goal, it was like sighted hockey!
At a group level, this was the best we have ever played. We note always the the pace of play in hockey blind makes it a somewhat slower game, but this was a true-to-life, top level game of hockey. Tremendous!
Carina from the left wing, ready to distribute the puck. This is an elite level technical-tactical ability she has developed in her eight years of playing with the Mooses.
Both Craig and David take up attack positions in the slot, waiting for a centering pass from the end wall.
Ortega on Ortega... Jorge tries to defend as Vianca shields him off the puck. She pulled it away and backhanded a pass into the slot.
Incidentally, our siren puck, and the goal beepers all worked perfectly this session. All three devices were excellent sound level for the entire 65 minutes of performance!
Following today's play, we believe we have the excellent set of blind hockey sounding devices for top level play, in any arena.
So, the Mooses are once again trying to get our players in small groups out on the practice floor during the week, then get the larger group on Saturday.
See everybody this week.
Incidentally, our siren puck, and the goal beepers all worked perfectly this session. All three devices were excellent sound level for the entire 65 minutes of performance!
Following today's play, we believe we have the excellent set of blind hockey sounding devices for top level play, in any arena.
So, the Mooses are once again trying to get our players in small groups out on the practice floor during the week, then get the larger group on Saturday.
See everybody this week.
Saturday, June 5, 2021; Nations-Tobin Sport Center, Little Floor, 11:00 am-12:30 p.m.
...455 Days later...the Mooses get back into action!
Shawn, Dan, Carina, David, and Craig cmae out to skate... and get reacquainted with our hockey family after 16 months in absentia from each other.
Certainly everybody was in the "Do I even remember how to skate?" mental set, but that fear quickly proved unnecessary. Rusty, yes, but everybody performed well up to par!
Certainly everybody was in the "Do I even remember how to skate?" mental set, but that fear quickly proved unnecessary. Rusty, yes, but everybody performed well up to par!
Shawndale Johnson is demonstrating a star quality photographically. He always looks good for the camera. Here, Shawn turns the puck, while moving it out of the zone.
Everybody knew this was going to be a "get back into it, " re-orientation session. Leg muscles in particular, needed to get used to the strength, balance, and endurance factors involved in skating and playing hockey.
Several players had skate adjustments to effect after the initial play segment, but everybody got stronger as we went on. We laso note, however, that everybody was happy to end the session, when the scheduled end-time came.
Everybody knew this was going to be a "get back into it, " re-orientation session. Leg muscles in particular, needed to get used to the strength, balance, and endurance factors involved in skating and playing hockey.
Several players had skate adjustments to effect after the initial play segment, but everybody got stronger as we went on. We laso note, however, that everybody was happy to end the session, when the scheduled end-time came.
Carina makes "Her" play, one that she could perform blindfolded (blind hockey humor!). She takes the puck in the neutral zone, turns it, and sends it into attack.
The Mooses have also made a major program shift. We are now concentrating strictly on Inline Hockey. We have come to see that the future of total-blind play is with the inline form of the sport.
This is primarily due to the puck. Total-blind, "Sonic" Hockey must have a continuously sounding puck. For us, that means a puck with a very loud (over 100 decibels) sounding device, that is powered by an electric battery. This electric system performs very poorly on ice. Because of the moisture content inherent in ice rinks, the electronics diminish and fail during play, sometimes within minutes. The Mooses had "solved" that problem by encasing the entire sounding system in plastic before inserting the mechanism into the puck casing. This usually worked satisfactorily for up to an hour, but sometimes not. The plastic protection, that must be thin enough to allow the sound to come out as unmuffled as possible, was subject to damage as the puck was bashed around in the normal course of play. Sometimes the puck sound would "shut down" in as little as 15-20 minutes.
This problem can be resolved for ice play by using multiple pucks in sequence, but that is very cumbersome. We also discover that, following research on sonics and acoustics, the very nature of ice itself is defeating for a sounding puck. As ice frosts over upon solidifying, each individual ice crystal acts as a muffler, with lots of concave surfaces from which sound waves do not escape. The ice surface acts as a damper, effectively reducing the sound by as much as 30%. In contrast, the inline skating floor acts as a sounding board, reflecting an additional 40% more sound to the ears of the player!
The Mooses have also made a major program shift. We are now concentrating strictly on Inline Hockey. We have come to see that the future of total-blind play is with the inline form of the sport.
This is primarily due to the puck. Total-blind, "Sonic" Hockey must have a continuously sounding puck. For us, that means a puck with a very loud (over 100 decibels) sounding device, that is powered by an electric battery. This electric system performs very poorly on ice. Because of the moisture content inherent in ice rinks, the electronics diminish and fail during play, sometimes within minutes. The Mooses had "solved" that problem by encasing the entire sounding system in plastic before inserting the mechanism into the puck casing. This usually worked satisfactorily for up to an hour, but sometimes not. The plastic protection, that must be thin enough to allow the sound to come out as unmuffled as possible, was subject to damage as the puck was bashed around in the normal course of play. Sometimes the puck sound would "shut down" in as little as 15-20 minutes.
This problem can be resolved for ice play by using multiple pucks in sequence, but that is very cumbersome. We also discover that, following research on sonics and acoustics, the very nature of ice itself is defeating for a sounding puck. As ice frosts over upon solidifying, each individual ice crystal acts as a muffler, with lots of concave surfaces from which sound waves do not escape. The ice surface acts as a damper, effectively reducing the sound by as much as 30%. In contrast, the inline skating floor acts as a sounding board, reflecting an additional 40% more sound to the ears of the player!
David grabs a puck on the wing and turns it for a shot on goal. David was the consummate shooter today.
So the Mooses went back to the sounding system they previously used, the back-up alarm in the puck and the oscillating buzzers on the goals. This worked great prior to our using the siren sounding device on ice.
Unhappily, the sounds were not as distinct as the system components with the siren. Everybody agreed that the "older" system was not as easy to use as the newer one. We have resolved to return to the siren system next time out.
So the Mooses went back to the sounding system they previously used, the back-up alarm in the puck and the oscillating buzzers on the goals. This worked great prior to our using the siren sounding device on ice.
Unhappily, the sounds were not as distinct as the system components with the siren. Everybody agreed that the "older" system was not as easy to use as the newer one. We have resolved to return to the siren system next time out.
Craig was phenomenal in his puck acquisition hearing and skills. He played every position on the rink, and skillfully moved the puck, in carry, passing, and shooting.
So the Mooses are playing inline hockey exclusively, and we are hoping that our siren puck system will prevail.
Coach Dan is in contact with USA Roller Sports, and the national admin office folks at USARS have expressed a good level of excitement about total-blind hockey as an inline hockey game. Dan will be presenting a proposal next week, and we'll see how it goes from there.
See everybody back out on the blue floor this week!
So the Mooses are playing inline hockey exclusively, and we are hoping that our siren puck system will prevail.
Coach Dan is in contact with USA Roller Sports, and the national admin office folks at USARS have expressed a good level of excitement about total-blind hockey as an inline hockey game. Dan will be presenting a proposal next week, and we'll see how it goes from there.
See everybody back out on the blue floor this week!
----------------------below this line is now going to be considered "Archives," as they denote activities pre-pandemic---------------------------------------------------
Saturday, February 29, 2020; Nations-Tobin Little Floor, 11:00 am-12:00 pm
Mickayla sets up in the slot, receives the pass, turns, and fires it on goal. Each of these skill components is incredibly difficult to execute. Mickayla does them in sequence with an ease that practically makes this drill boring.
Past two weeks, the Nations-Tobin Recreation Center has been used, as usual, as a polling place for early voting. When this happens, the Parks Department has asked us not to hold our training sessions on the little floor. This facility is located adjacent to the area set up for voting, and out 108 db sounding devices have been deemed "disturbing" by the volunteer staff for the county elections department. They have asked (or demanded) that we move to the large floor on the other side of the building.
The Parks Department has been very kind in trying to provide the alternate venue, or alternate times, for us to play, but fact is, sometimes its available, sometimes not, for the two weeks precedent to election day.
Past two weeks, the Nations-Tobin Recreation Center has been used, as usual, as a polling place for early voting. When this happens, the Parks Department has asked us not to hold our training sessions on the little floor. This facility is located adjacent to the area set up for voting, and out 108 db sounding devices have been deemed "disturbing" by the volunteer staff for the county elections department. They have asked (or demanded) that we move to the large floor on the other side of the building.
The Parks Department has been very kind in trying to provide the alternate venue, or alternate times, for us to play, but fact is, sometimes its available, sometimes not, for the two weeks precedent to election day.
Daniela heads back to the defensive zone to retrieve the puck. Her clearance pass up to a teammate is spot on.
Five Mooses skated out onto the little floor at Nations-Tobin for the first time in two weeks. Danny, Daniela, Shawndale, Mickayla, and Carina went trough four segments of offensive play, faceoff plays, and penalty shots training.
Five Mooses skated out onto the little floor at Nations-Tobin for the first time in two weeks. Danny, Daniela, Shawndale, Mickayla, and Carina went trough four segments of offensive play, faceoff plays, and penalty shots training.
Carina gathers the puck on her stick in the defensive zone, turns her head to focus her hearing toward the intended target, and lets fly a pass straight to her teammate's stick up ice.
On this Saturday, as it had been a while, Coach Danny was uncertain if he had installed a new battery in the puck, so that took a few minutes to re-do.
On this Saturday, as it had been a while, Coach Danny was uncertain if he had installed a new battery in the puck, so that took a few minutes to re-do.
Shawndale is still a comparatively inexperienced player, but he has developed his ability to track down and possess the puck pretty well. Here he sets up his clearing pass into the neutral zone.
Hopefully, all the distractions that prevent each player from a schedule of frequent training will dissipate over the next few weeks, and we will have more and more sessions, out on the floor and the ice. See you next time
Hopefully, all the distractions that prevent each player from a schedule of frequent training will dissipate over the next few weeks, and we will have more and more sessions, out on the floor and the ice. See you next time
President's Day, Monday, February 17, 2020, Nations-Tobin little floor, 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Danny moves up through the neutral zone into the attack. He has developed his ability to set up "the next play" to a high level.
Coach Danny: "This is the most enjoyable team I have ever played on." We now have a core group of players. Six of 'em: Daniela, Shawndale, Craig, Carina, Danny, Mickayla are regulars. Jesus, David, and Sgt Mark are temporarily out with physical/medical issues. Vianca, Jorge, Mark, and Edgar are occasional participants.
Coach Danny: "This is the most enjoyable team I have ever played on." We now have a core group of players. Six of 'em: Daniela, Shawndale, Craig, Carina, Danny, Mickayla are regulars. Jesus, David, and Sgt Mark are temporarily out with physical/medical issues. Vianca, Jorge, Mark, and Edgar are occasional participants.
Mickayla sets up to turn the puck for a shot on goal. Craig, who sent the puck to her in the high slot, covers the near post in case her shot goes wide. This is a great example of how total blind players can play off one another at a high level.
Professional players in any sport will relate how their most successful teams they have payed on had the highest component of "team chemistry." Friendship, trust and confidence in one another make for a great group of players working together toward their common success.
Professional players in any sport will relate how their most successful teams they have payed on had the highest component of "team chemistry." Friendship, trust and confidence in one another make for a great group of players working together toward their common success.
Carina has developed her advanced level ability to use the tactile blue line to position herself in all parts of the rink.
The El Paso Mooses have evolved into a reallt great group of players, binding with each other in their playing of this sport we love so much.
Each player has developed defined strengths, and lesser skilled parts of their game. We all help each other to grow in the game, and to grow as persons. We have younger players, and older players. In fact, we have at least one player each in their teens, 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's...all playing together in a bond of friendship and camaraderie.
The El Paso Mooses have evolved into a reallt great group of players, binding with each other in their playing of this sport we love so much.
Each player has developed defined strengths, and lesser skilled parts of their game. We all help each other to grow in the game, and to grow as persons. We have younger players, and older players. In fact, we have at least one player each in their teens, 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's...all playing together in a bond of friendship and camaraderie.
Craig takes an active touch to position the puck for a shot from high in the slot.
Over the next several months, during Spring and Summer, we are looking to travel to other cities, and to introduce total blind play to everybody's game.
More than three dozen cities now have programs for their visually impaired players. These players all have some residual vision which helps them play. The total blind player, frankly, gets left out of that game. The total-blind player is commanded to play a static defensive position, or is remanded solely to the position of goalkeeper.
The El Paso Mooses are now going to spread the enjoyment of the total blind game as much and as far as we can. See you all out on the blue, and the ice, rinks!
Over the next several months, during Spring and Summer, we are looking to travel to other cities, and to introduce total blind play to everybody's game.
More than three dozen cities now have programs for their visually impaired players. These players all have some residual vision which helps them play. The total blind player, frankly, gets left out of that game. The total-blind player is commanded to play a static defensive position, or is remanded solely to the position of goalkeeper.
The El Paso Mooses are now going to spread the enjoyment of the total blind game as much and as far as we can. See you all out on the blue, and the ice, rinks!
Saturday, February 8, 2020, 11:00 am - 12:00 p.m., Nations-Tobin Little floor
Shawndale unerringly skates to the puck in the slot. HIs Selective, General direction, Specific direction, and Specific location hearing abilities are all first rate, in spite of being a relatively novice player.
Just a good Saturday practice. Danny, Shawndale, Carina, and Daniela went through a variety of offensive pattern plays. PLayer movement, playing to each other's positions, passing, receiving, and finding the puck were all pretty darn well done.
Just a good Saturday practice. Danny, Shawndale, Carina, and Daniela went through a variety of offensive pattern plays. PLayer movement, playing to each other's positions, passing, receiving, and finding the puck were all pretty darn well done.
Carina sets up her backhand pass from the neutral zone into the attacking zone. Carina's positioning and player movement about the floor is advanced in ability. She always knows where on the rink she is, and is probably our best player at using the tactile blue line to determine her positioning.
Playing with total blind players who know what they're doing is now easier than ever. As we have developed our communications skills, our team has become adept at teaching these skills to new players. Everybody is becoming first-level at running the plays on both the offensive and defensive sides of the puck!
Playing with total blind players who know what they're doing is now easier than ever. As we have developed our communications skills, our team has become adept at teaching these skills to new players. Everybody is becoming first-level at running the plays on both the offensive and defensive sides of the puck!
Daniela's sureness on the puck is first-rate. She is now advanced level on using her hearing to find loose pucks. Her stick skills of turning, moving, and sending the puck give her the ability to make excellent plays with her teammates.
We now have seven blind players who can play the game at a high level. Of course, the total blind game is slower pace than the visually impaired, or sighted game, but we continue to get better and better at this.
See everybody next week, back out on the blue rink!
We now have seven blind players who can play the game at a high level. Of course, the total blind game is slower pace than the visually impaired, or sighted game, but we continue to get better and better at this.
See everybody next week, back out on the blue rink!
Friday, February 7, 2020, 5:00-6:00 pm, Nations-Tobin big rink
Today was Mickayla shooting practice. Just shooting, and a lot of it. Mickayla and Coach Danny ran five segments of about fifty shots each. Probably was a little less than that, but not by much.
We worked on a variety of ways that shots occur in a game: catch & shoot, find the puck, turn and shoot, shoot off rebound, and some rapid fire sequences...all of the above.
We set the 8" pad from the volleyball pole against the wall and shot away. Any puck that just cleared the pad's edge would go in the far post, and any shot that cleared the top of the pad would simulate going over the goalkeeper's leg pad very authentically. Easy to gauge success!
Mickayla only missed the designated, 6' goal area three times in total! 27 shots beat the dummy goal pad and would have scored in a game, eight more went off the pad edge to simulate going off post and in. Very good percentage. Especially that almost EVERY shot was actually on goal to begin with. Shots were taken from 7-15 feet out from a variety of angles, so her accuracy was extraordinary.
Good shooting practice. See you next time, back out on the blue rink!
We worked on a variety of ways that shots occur in a game: catch & shoot, find the puck, turn and shoot, shoot off rebound, and some rapid fire sequences...all of the above.
We set the 8" pad from the volleyball pole against the wall and shot away. Any puck that just cleared the pad's edge would go in the far post, and any shot that cleared the top of the pad would simulate going over the goalkeeper's leg pad very authentically. Easy to gauge success!
Mickayla only missed the designated, 6' goal area three times in total! 27 shots beat the dummy goal pad and would have scored in a game, eight more went off the pad edge to simulate going off post and in. Very good percentage. Especially that almost EVERY shot was actually on goal to begin with. Shots were taken from 7-15 feet out from a variety of angles, so her accuracy was extraordinary.
Good shooting practice. See you next time, back out on the blue rink!
Saturday, February 1, 2020; Nations-Tobin small rink, 11:00 am - 12:30pm
This was a great pass play. Craig has tracked the puck into the corner. Carina, as his teammate (pay no attention to sweater colors for this training session), has set up in the high slot. Craig makes the perfect pass to her stick. Carina then taps the puck onto her stick blade, and sends it into the goal.
Saturdays at Nations-Tobin are always a great day for Blind Hockey, and now they're about to get even better! The El Paso Mooses, together with the El Paso Parks and Recreation Department, are hosting the Mooses Hockey League (The MHL) beginning in March.
This will be the first organized blind hockey league participation for players in the U.S. The league will organize four teams to play a slate of 3-on-3 games March through May on the small rink at the Nations-Tobin Sports Center. This will be a lot of fun!
Saturdays at Nations-Tobin are always a great day for Blind Hockey, and now they're about to get even better! The El Paso Mooses, together with the El Paso Parks and Recreation Department, are hosting the Mooses Hockey League (The MHL) beginning in March.
This will be the first organized blind hockey league participation for players in the U.S. The league will organize four teams to play a slate of 3-on-3 games March through May on the small rink at the Nations-Tobin Sports Center. This will be a lot of fun!
David settles the puck on his stick blade, looks up, calls to his teammates, and prepares to center his pass into the slot. This was an efficient play component, completed in about three seconds.
This Saturday, David, Danny, Carina, and Craig ran offensive pattern plays on the small rink. Coach Danny was finally able to skate again for the first time in several weeks. Injury and illness had kept him off the floor for a while.
The four teammates rand through five full segments of play, concentrating in passing and communicating in different combinations of plays. What these players are getting real good at is their ability to set up support for the next component of each play. One player has the puck, and each of his teammates moves to set up for the next possibile play. This gives each offensive player a lot of creative options in how they complete each play. More creativity makes the game infinitely more fun!
This Saturday, David, Danny, Carina, and Craig ran offensive pattern plays on the small rink. Coach Danny was finally able to skate again for the first time in several weeks. Injury and illness had kept him off the floor for a while.
The four teammates rand through five full segments of play, concentrating in passing and communicating in different combinations of plays. What these players are getting real good at is their ability to set up support for the next component of each play. One player has the puck, and each of his teammates moves to set up for the next possibile play. This gives each offensive player a lot of creative options in how they complete each play. More creativity makes the game infinitely more fun!
Carina in a standard position (for her), setting up her pass/shot from the right point. She always does an excellent job of focusing her hearing on her intended target.
Our new Mooses Hockey League (The MHL) will keep individual player and goalkeeper statistics over the season. Won los records and championship recognition will also be unique.
Our new Mooses Hockey League (The MHL) will keep individual player and goalkeeper statistics over the season. Won los records and championship recognition will also be unique.
Craig takes the puck off the back of the net, in set up to wrap it along the back wall to David, waiting in the corner. Quickly moving the puck to an open teammate is a hallmark of high level team play, even more so in the focus of the blind game.
The Mooses are going to use the month of February to encourage each of our players to come out for a practice session or two each week, in preparation for game play on Saturdays. We have 13 players currently, although any given player can't necessarily make every practice and game session.
See everybody this week, out on the blue floor.
Saturday, January 25, 2020; 11:00 am - 12:30 pm; Nations-Tobin Sports Center little floor
Carina readies her shot on goal. Both Craig and Mickayla have set up in support positions on the goal. If Carina is off target in either direction, her teammates have the next play covered.
For several months the El Paso Mooses have worked diligently on their technical-tactical progression training. Saturday, Carina, Craig, and Mickayla engaged in level one tactical playmaking drills.
The group ran four segments in over an hour of work, and the hockey playmaking was first rate. This is really the state of the art for the sport of total-blind hockey play. The game is slow paced, to be sure, because in total-blind hockey, in each component of the play, the player must do more things. Namely, each player making a part of the group play must find, acquire, and possess the puck, and that takes time.
In regular, sighted hockey a player can get the puck and make the play in under a single second. In blind hockey, just locating the puck, particularly if it's errant and not in anyone's possession, can take up to thirty seconds. An intermediate-skill level will make the play in 10-15 seconds, and an advanced performance will complete the play in under five seconds. A good pass, stick to stick will enable the player to make that under-a-second play just like a sighted player. On occasion, the Mooses will string together three passes and a shot in under ten seconds aggregate, and the entire play looks like we were sighted.
For several months the El Paso Mooses have worked diligently on their technical-tactical progression training. Saturday, Carina, Craig, and Mickayla engaged in level one tactical playmaking drills.
The group ran four segments in over an hour of work, and the hockey playmaking was first rate. This is really the state of the art for the sport of total-blind hockey play. The game is slow paced, to be sure, because in total-blind hockey, in each component of the play, the player must do more things. Namely, each player making a part of the group play must find, acquire, and possess the puck, and that takes time.
In regular, sighted hockey a player can get the puck and make the play in under a single second. In blind hockey, just locating the puck, particularly if it's errant and not in anyone's possession, can take up to thirty seconds. An intermediate-skill level will make the play in 10-15 seconds, and an advanced performance will complete the play in under five seconds. A good pass, stick to stick will enable the player to make that under-a-second play just like a sighted player. On occasion, the Mooses will string together three passes and a shot in under ten seconds aggregate, and the entire play looks like we were sighted.
Craig tracks down the puck along the wall. Working from a position against the wall, he trails his stick blade along til he clears the puck off the wall, in possession.
When we first approached USA Hockey about our total-blind program back in 2014, all the "blind hockey" programs in the USA and Canada were designed to be played by visually impaired players, each of whom had some, minimum vision. The only requirement for participation was that the player be "legally blind," and some players have quite a lot of actual vision, with fairly high acuity level.
Actual totally blind players (designated on an international scale as "B1's") have a difficult time playing effectively in the visually impaired environment. Many programs, in fact, relegate total-blind players to minimal-play, static defensive positions, where they don't get to contribute much to their team's effort or success.
When we first approached USA Hockey about our total-blind program back in 2014, all the "blind hockey" programs in the USA and Canada were designed to be played by visually impaired players, each of whom had some, minimum vision. The only requirement for participation was that the player be "legally blind," and some players have quite a lot of actual vision, with fairly high acuity level.
Actual totally blind players (designated on an international scale as "B1's") have a difficult time playing effectively in the visually impaired environment. Many programs, in fact, relegate total-blind players to minimal-play, static defensive positions, where they don't get to contribute much to their team's effort or success.
Mickayla runs onto a loose, still puck in the high slot. This is her best skill, hearing the puck's location with pinpoint accuracy.
The Mooses have designed the game strictly for the total-blind player. Players with other levels of vision are welcome to play, as long as they are willing to participate totally blind as well. This produces a fair, "even playing field," everybody plays blind.
The first question USA asked us was, "How do the players know to remain onside?" We explained our tactile blue lines, sounding devices for the puck and goals, and our player communication system. This combination of aural and tactile elements gives every player all the information they need to effectively perform all the skills of hockey, from any position on the rink. This produces a great game!
The Mooses have designed the game strictly for the total-blind player. Players with other levels of vision are welcome to play, as long as they are willing to participate totally blind as well. This produces a fair, "even playing field," everybody plays blind.
The first question USA asked us was, "How do the players know to remain onside?" We explained our tactile blue lines, sounding devices for the puck and goals, and our player communication system. This combination of aural and tactile elements gives every player all the information they need to effectively perform all the skills of hockey, from any position on the rink. This produces a great game!
Carina takes the puck in the back zone, and turns it. Her "looking up" is the same as a sighted player, but it is her ears, and not her eyes, that are focusing on her potential target's location.
The Mooses are about to set up some regional level activities with other players in other cities. It is worth noting, that players from all over the world have expressed interest in our game play.
Total blind players have been quick to realize that the total-blind game, as designed by the Mooses, does indeed make the game fair and even for all players to play. With an equal chance to make all the plays of hockey, who wouldn't want to play?
See everybody out on the blue floor in the coming week!
The Mooses are about to set up some regional level activities with other players in other cities. It is worth noting, that players from all over the world have expressed interest in our game play.
Total blind players have been quick to realize that the total-blind game, as designed by the Mooses, does indeed make the game fair and even for all players to play. With an equal chance to make all the plays of hockey, who wouldn't want to play?
See everybody out on the blue floor in the coming week!
Tuesday, January 21, 2020; Nations-Tobin little floor, 3:00-4:00 pm
Coach Jesus, back to the camera, sending one of his patented back hand clearance passes up the wall.
Jesus and Danny went out onto the floor for some experimentation practice. First, they took the siren baffle and circuit board, and fixed them into our previous, regulation size puck ("Bub"). This experiment would determine if simply cushioning the sounding baffle inside the puck would keep it working without the sounding assembly case intact. This enables Bub, who is 3" diam by 1" height, to be used with the 9-volt battery. We can play with an actual, regulation size puck!
Well, it worked great, the whole hour practice, all 4 segments of play. Danny and Jesus didn't carry on any extended plays (We gotta get back into shape), but both noted that passing and shooting were spot on the whole day. Not very much chasing of loose pucks when your passes are accurate. We note that Dave, a new player, joined us for the last part of practice. He became oriented to floor movement and communication jargon. Dave is a sighted player willing to play blind, and is looking at coming out 1-2 times per week. So, very good productive training session all 'round.
Jesus and Danny went out onto the floor for some experimentation practice. First, they took the siren baffle and circuit board, and fixed them into our previous, regulation size puck ("Bub"). This experiment would determine if simply cushioning the sounding baffle inside the puck would keep it working without the sounding assembly case intact. This enables Bub, who is 3" diam by 1" height, to be used with the 9-volt battery. We can play with an actual, regulation size puck!
Well, it worked great, the whole hour practice, all 4 segments of play. Danny and Jesus didn't carry on any extended plays (We gotta get back into shape), but both noted that passing and shooting were spot on the whole day. Not very much chasing of loose pucks when your passes are accurate. We note that Dave, a new player, joined us for the last part of practice. He became oriented to floor movement and communication jargon. Dave is a sighted player willing to play blind, and is looking at coming out 1-2 times per week. So, very good productive training session all 'round.
Monday, January 20, 2020; Nations-Tobin little floor, 3:00-4:00 pm
Carina and Craig came out to play on Monday. With just the two of them, they were able to work on passing, receiving, turning the puck, and especially shooting. With a small number of players, you can get a higher number of repetitions of playmaking, and both players can get more plays on the puck each.
By reports, this was a good-effort practice, and both players were happy to have gotten in the extra work. Good job. Everybody pointing now to Saturday, and hopefully another game set!
Although, we will no doubt have practice sessions Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. See everybody back out on the blue floor!
By reports, this was a good-effort practice, and both players were happy to have gotten in the extra work. Good job. Everybody pointing now to Saturday, and hopefully another game set!
Although, we will no doubt have practice sessions Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. See everybody back out on the blue floor!
Saturday, January 18, 2020; Nations-Tobin Sports Center, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm, little floor
Game Time! we got to engage in some very good level three game play on Saturday!
Above, Mickayla (#2) is able to center the puck past David (44). Craig, white sweater to the right looks to run onto the puck to clear it. To the left, Carina and Daniela are cutting off David's potential clearance pass.
David, Craig, and Shawndale played 3v3 against Daniela, Carina and Mickayla. 3v3 on the little floor at Nations-Tobin is always a good game. As usual, the first period of play was slow, but everybody got into a rhythm fairly quickly. The boys started out sending the puck and attacking well, scoring the first two goals early in the game.
David sent the puck in from the high slot, and Craig sniped a backhand from the right side point the slid just inside the right post. The first period ended Boys, 2-0.
Above, Mickayla (#2) is able to center the puck past David (44). Craig, white sweater to the right looks to run onto the puck to clear it. To the left, Carina and Daniela are cutting off David's potential clearance pass.
David, Craig, and Shawndale played 3v3 against Daniela, Carina and Mickayla. 3v3 on the little floor at Nations-Tobin is always a good game. As usual, the first period of play was slow, but everybody got into a rhythm fairly quickly. The boys started out sending the puck and attacking well, scoring the first two goals early in the game.
David sent the puck in from the high slot, and Craig sniped a backhand from the right side point the slid just inside the right post. The first period ended Boys, 2-0.
This is a brilliant touch of the puck. Daniela has moved the puck outside both Shawndale (93) and David so she can get outside to it first.
In the second period of play, the girls made some headway, getting the majority of shots, although the boys had some opportunities as well. Mickayla sent a white zone pass cross court to Carina who made a 40 foot shot from the right side point inside the near post of the goal. The second stanza showed 2-1, yet in the Boys' favor.
In the second period of play, the girls made some headway, getting the majority of shots, although the boys had some opportunities as well. Mickayla sent a white zone pass cross court to Carina who made a 40 foot shot from the right side point inside the near post of the goal. The second stanza showed 2-1, yet in the Boys' favor.
1-on-1 confrontations occur frequently, and here, Mickayla and David jockey for possession low on the far wall. Variations on this theme were repeated in the white zone all game long.
The girls got one more, from Mickayla in the slot, and Craig took a pass from David to bang home a third tally for the guys. The final on the scoreboard read Boys 3, Girls, 2, but nobody really cared about the score.
This was the most fun we have had in a long time. Our game play, as a group has dramatically improved once again, and all agreed that this was literally the best we have ever played! This was very cool!
Player Statistics:
Goals Assists Points
David 1 1 2
Craig 2 0 0
Shawn 0 0 0
Daniela 0 1 1
Carina 1 0 1
Mickayla 1 1 2
Looking for more and more of these games on Saturdays as we head through the last of winter and into spring.
The girls got one more, from Mickayla in the slot, and Craig took a pass from David to bang home a third tally for the guys. The final on the scoreboard read Boys 3, Girls, 2, but nobody really cared about the score.
This was the most fun we have had in a long time. Our game play, as a group has dramatically improved once again, and all agreed that this was literally the best we have ever played! This was very cool!
Player Statistics:
Goals Assists Points
David 1 1 2
Craig 2 0 0
Shawn 0 0 0
Daniela 0 1 1
Carina 1 0 1
Mickayla 1 1 2
Looking for more and more of these games on Saturdays as we head through the last of winter and into spring.
Saturday, January 11, 2020; Nations-Tobin Sports Center, little floor, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
El Paso Mooses, State of the Antlers
El Paso Mooses, State of the Antlers
How're we doin'? What's going on, now and in the near future for the El Paso Mooses? Let's See:
First, the above illustration...Daniela turns the puck to make the play. Daniela is coming up on the anniversary of her first year playing blind hockey with the Mooses. She is total-blind, and works very hard. Her avowed focus is to become the complete player. The result is that she is learning all the defensive plays as well as the offensive ones. This year, she will work on her skating and stick-on-puck techniques. Daniela, like all our Mooses, is truly ready for a regional/national event in blind hockey.
Blind Hockey in the USA and the world is almost where it was this time last year. The game itself remains largely unchanged. All the more than 30 hockey clubs in North America, and now Europe, consist of mostly visually impaired players, each of whom has some minimal vision. Each club has only one or two (and rarely a third) total blind player.
This game played by these 30-odd clubs is made to be played by players who have that minimal vision level. They can see the oversize ball-bearing puck to locate it even when motionless on the rink. USA Hockey and Hockey Canada presently do not sanction any total-blind play. The total-blind players in these clubs are relegated to either play in goal, or stationed as a token defender, not even allowed to participate in the team's offensive play.
In contrast, the Mooses continue to play the game where all players play with no use of vision. We use paralympic-level, opaque goggles manufactured by the Swans Company in Japan. 6 of our 13 Mooses are total blind. Everybody wears the goggles, ala the olympic sports of swimming, track and field, and goalball. All payers participate in their team's plays from all positions, in all parts of the rink.
First, the above illustration...Daniela turns the puck to make the play. Daniela is coming up on the anniversary of her first year playing blind hockey with the Mooses. She is total-blind, and works very hard. Her avowed focus is to become the complete player. The result is that she is learning all the defensive plays as well as the offensive ones. This year, she will work on her skating and stick-on-puck techniques. Daniela, like all our Mooses, is truly ready for a regional/national event in blind hockey.
Blind Hockey in the USA and the world is almost where it was this time last year. The game itself remains largely unchanged. All the more than 30 hockey clubs in North America, and now Europe, consist of mostly visually impaired players, each of whom has some minimal vision. Each club has only one or two (and rarely a third) total blind player.
This game played by these 30-odd clubs is made to be played by players who have that minimal vision level. They can see the oversize ball-bearing puck to locate it even when motionless on the rink. USA Hockey and Hockey Canada presently do not sanction any total-blind play. The total-blind players in these clubs are relegated to either play in goal, or stationed as a token defender, not even allowed to participate in the team's offensive play.
In contrast, the Mooses continue to play the game where all players play with no use of vision. We use paralympic-level, opaque goggles manufactured by the Swans Company in Japan. 6 of our 13 Mooses are total blind. Everybody wears the goggles, ala the olympic sports of swimming, track and field, and goalball. All payers participate in their team's plays from all positions, in all parts of the rink.
Coach Jesus, player-coach, patrols the back corner. Coach Jesus has worked on his mobility and defensive zone coverage in earnest this past year. Heading into his fourth year of participation, he continues to develop his hearing and puck skills.
USA Hockey reports that they are interested in total-blind play when and if they can locate a continuously sounding puck that would work. Apparently, different agencies keep developing electronic pucks that fail to work in the moisture of an ice arena.
The Mooses' current puck, Babs, as well as her brother pucks, Hobbs and Bub, all continue to work perfectly with the continuous, 108db sounding device. The sounding device is fastened into an assembly with a 9-volt battery, and then placed into the stainless steel puck shell. The assembly is removed, and the battery replaced every hour of play. The siren device itself, does succumb to the rigors of play every 6 hours of usage or so. At $15 per unit, the siren is cost effective to use in general play. The stainless steel puck casing has lasted more than 100 hours of play, and there is no predicted end point for its usage. The overall puck, with siren assembly, weighs 12 ounces, exactly the same is the much flimsier ball-bearing puck, which lasts through only 1-2 hours of steady play.
USA Hockey reports that they are interested in total-blind play when and if they can locate a continuously sounding puck that would work. Apparently, different agencies keep developing electronic pucks that fail to work in the moisture of an ice arena.
The Mooses' current puck, Babs, as well as her brother pucks, Hobbs and Bub, all continue to work perfectly with the continuous, 108db sounding device. The sounding device is fastened into an assembly with a 9-volt battery, and then placed into the stainless steel puck shell. The assembly is removed, and the battery replaced every hour of play. The siren device itself, does succumb to the rigors of play every 6 hours of usage or so. At $15 per unit, the siren is cost effective to use in general play. The stainless steel puck casing has lasted more than 100 hours of play, and there is no predicted end point for its usage. The overall puck, with siren assembly, weighs 12 ounces, exactly the same is the much flimsier ball-bearing puck, which lasts through only 1-2 hours of steady play.
Carina, one of the driving forces behind the Mooses, transitions into the attack zone for the next play. Carina has worked on being a total, 200-foot player more than anybody on the Mooses this past year. All of her skills on the puck are first rate, she continues to work on her skating. Carina was the second player ever on the Mooses, having skated with the club since the Fall of 2012.
The Mooses' continue to promote their "no use of vision" game of hockey," as the game is tailor-made for the total-blind player.
In fact, we point out that this is the game for the total-blind, and everybody else is welcome to join in, as long as they, too, are willing to play total-blind, without any use of their vision. Everybody plays even.
When USA Hockey, and Canada, and England, and Finland, and Russia, and anybody else, finally gets around to it, we believe that the B1, or total-blind hockey game will need to be exactly what we are playing right now, or pretty close to it!
The Mooses' continue to promote their "no use of vision" game of hockey," as the game is tailor-made for the total-blind player.
In fact, we point out that this is the game for the total-blind, and everybody else is welcome to join in, as long as they, too, are willing to play total-blind, without any use of their vision. Everybody plays even.
When USA Hockey, and Canada, and England, and Finland, and Russia, and anybody else, finally gets around to it, we believe that the B1, or total-blind hockey game will need to be exactly what we are playing right now, or pretty close to it!
Professor Craig continues his phenomenal work in his hearing and puck acquisition skills. He has been playing hockey only for the single year, and his learning curve continues to be geometric. Craig also personifies another component of the Mooses' game: he is a tremendously empathetic teammate. The Mooses truly enjoy a family camaraderie with each other and Craig is a big part of that.
We will continue to promote our game to players and coaches all over the world. Possibilities exist for us to approach USA Roller Sports about making the game an inline game. USARS already deals with roller sports in the Olympics.
We essentially have both a New Mexico and a Texas team should we want to approach State Wars about a blind division of play in their national event. Similarly, we can present two teams to the Inline Cup in Las Vegas and invite other players to join us. either of these two opportunities would enable us to promote the sport effectively.
We will continue to promote our game to players and coaches all over the world. Possibilities exist for us to approach USA Roller Sports about making the game an inline game. USARS already deals with roller sports in the Olympics.
We essentially have both a New Mexico and a Texas team should we want to approach State Wars about a blind division of play in their national event. Similarly, we can present two teams to the Inline Cup in Las Vegas and invite other players to join us. either of these two opportunities would enable us to promote the sport effectively.
David is perhaps the hardest working of all the Mooses. He does work on his offense, both skills and tactics, but he takes pride in his defense as well. He is easily the fastest skater on the team. As a B2/B3, he is willing to play total-blind, but could also play in the visually impaired game at the national level successfully.
Already the consumat goal scorer, Mickayla continues to work tirelessly on her offensive game. Her puck acquisition skills continue to set the standard. Her hearing on the puck is the best. She will probably spend the coming year on her shooting skills, particularly lifting the puck.
So the El Paso Mooses will continue a multi-pronged promotion of the game of total-blind hockey. We will work toward higher level game play locally. We will preach the gospel to as many other players and teams as we can. We will work with national organizations to get events going, perhaps even hosting our own invitational effort.
2020 can be an extremely formative year, if we can accomplish even half of this ambitious schedule. Starting into the year, we see only great things ahead, well see how it goes!
So the El Paso Mooses will continue a multi-pronged promotion of the game of total-blind hockey. We will work toward higher level game play locally. We will preach the gospel to as many other players and teams as we can. We will work with national organizations to get events going, perhaps even hosting our own invitational effort.
2020 can be an extremely formative year, if we can accomplish even half of this ambitious schedule. Starting into the year, we see only great things ahead, well see how it goes!
Saturday, January 4, 2020; Nations-Tobin little floor, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
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Couldn't resist: Here's Mickayla and David from Saturday's 3v2 practice session, looking an awful lot like the Dallas Stars' Jason Dickinson and the Red Wings' Frans Nielsen in their Saturday night game!
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Carina has cleared the puck from the defensive zone, while Craig heads back to corral the puck, she turns to set up for the next defensive play.
Back into the fray! After two weeks of no skating, the El Paso Mooses got back into the practice arena. Our blue floors at the Nations-Tobi Sports Center have had special events going on for the fortnight, so we were all glad to get back out there!
Back into the fray! After two weeks of no skating, the El Paso Mooses got back into the practice arena. Our blue floors at the Nations-Tobi Sports Center have had special events going on for the fortnight, so we were all glad to get back out there!
Craig has just perfectly received the pass up into the neutral zone. He is about to turn the puck to complete his part in the play.
After getting rid of all the New Year's jokes..."Hey, I haven't skated since last year!"... we set up for some 3v2, offense-defense scrimmage. It turned out really well.
Everybody got very good at shielding an opponent off the puck. There were both very good offensive shots and passes, and defensive clearances. All the elements of a good, balanced scrimmage sesion came into play.
After getting rid of all the New Year's jokes..."Hey, I haven't skated since last year!"... we set up for some 3v2, offense-defense scrimmage. It turned out really well.
Everybody got very good at shielding an opponent off the puck. There were both very good offensive shots and passes, and defensive clearances. All the elements of a good, balanced scrimmage sesion came into play.
This is what Mickayla does better than anybody, track down a loose puck in the offensive zone. She usually gets there before anybody else, this time by more than ten feet.
Every player continues to build on their strengths. As we changed the combination of who played defense each ten-minute segment of play, players created new ways to make plays. This is what the game of hockey is all about...figuring out new ways to outwit your opponent. It was very telling that every player had moments of creative success, and sometimes what you tried didn't work.
Every player continues to build on their strengths. As we changed the combination of who played defense each ten-minute segment of play, players created new ways to make plays. This is what the game of hockey is all about...figuring out new ways to outwit your opponent. It was very telling that every player had moments of creative success, and sometimes what you tried didn't work.
David gets the puck. He is about to carry it over the blue line to fire it on goal. David has improved in all aspects of his game. He is both a consumat defender as well as offensive sharpshooter.
David is becoming a very good two-way player, Carina is having great success playing the whole floor, Mickayla is expanding her offensive playmaking, Craig is better than ever at finding the puck, and Danny is really working on his passing and playmaking.
This was a great first-of-the-New-Year session, and now everybody is looking forward to the coming week. We are going to try to skate every day, although we won't have every player there every day.
New Year, new outlook, all our Moose peeps are very confident and optimistic going down the road...see everybody this coming week!
David is becoming a very good two-way player, Carina is having great success playing the whole floor, Mickayla is expanding her offensive playmaking, Craig is better than ever at finding the puck, and Danny is really working on his passing and playmaking.
This was a great first-of-the-New-Year session, and now everybody is looking forward to the coming week. We are going to try to skate every day, although we won't have every player there every day.
New Year, new outlook, all our Moose peeps are very confident and optimistic going down the road...see everybody this coming week!
Saturday, December 28, 2019; Nations-Tobin Center
Haven't been able to skate this week. Nations-Tobin Center has been closed with both rinks receiving a re-painting of all their striping. In the interim, we continue to look at experiments to install a tactile blue line on the big floor.
We have tried taping solid surface material to the surface of the floor. Some of these applications have worked somewhat. Adding "bumps" to the top of the floor is not as good as the grid concept. Also, the Center administration has asked us not to apply tape to the surface anymore.
Sportcourt makes a grid-like panel for outdoor play - basketball in particular - that we have used for a couple of years to create a tactile blue line on the small rink. But that won't work on the big floor. The small rink surface is composed of the metric size, 25-centimeter tiles. The big floor is the larger, 12-inch size tiles. For whatever reason, the grid-like panels are not manufactured in the 12-inch size.
So we have taken it upon ourselves to try creating a post-manufacture tactile tile panel. Last year, we tried to put quarter-inch holes in a full panel. That's 288 holes per panel, and a lotta work. The staff reported that some hockey player complained about the resultant surface, and we were directed to remove the panels we had installed as such.
We are now looking for approval of the above panel, with the amount of holes reduced to a 2-inch line. Not sure if this will provide the level of discernable "feel" for the blind player's skate wheels or not. It will, however, not interfere with hockey puck movements, roller derby wheels, nor soccer footwear. We look to install a couple next week and check it out. We'll see...back out on the blue floor Monday. Should be able to skate everyday next week, except Wednesday, New Year's Day. See you then...
We have tried taping solid surface material to the surface of the floor. Some of these applications have worked somewhat. Adding "bumps" to the top of the floor is not as good as the grid concept. Also, the Center administration has asked us not to apply tape to the surface anymore.
Sportcourt makes a grid-like panel for outdoor play - basketball in particular - that we have used for a couple of years to create a tactile blue line on the small rink. But that won't work on the big floor. The small rink surface is composed of the metric size, 25-centimeter tiles. The big floor is the larger, 12-inch size tiles. For whatever reason, the grid-like panels are not manufactured in the 12-inch size.
So we have taken it upon ourselves to try creating a post-manufacture tactile tile panel. Last year, we tried to put quarter-inch holes in a full panel. That's 288 holes per panel, and a lotta work. The staff reported that some hockey player complained about the resultant surface, and we were directed to remove the panels we had installed as such.
We are now looking for approval of the above panel, with the amount of holes reduced to a 2-inch line. Not sure if this will provide the level of discernable "feel" for the blind player's skate wheels or not. It will, however, not interfere with hockey puck movements, roller derby wheels, nor soccer footwear. We look to install a couple next week and check it out. We'll see...back out on the blue floor Monday. Should be able to skate everyday next week, except Wednesday, New Year's Day. See you then...
Saturday, December 21, 2019; Nations-Tobin Center, Big Floor, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Carina has the puck, she "looks up," facing her teammate, focusing her hearing to her intended target.
Well..... We finally got back out onto the floor this week. The El Paso Parks and Recreation Department schedules us to use the facility at the Nations-Tobin Center daily for free! Except when either or both of the floors are needed for something else. As you might imagine, the week before Christmas is fraught with Community events, most of which this year seemed to occupy our rink time. So, we had to wait til Saturday to get back out there.
Well..... We finally got back out onto the floor this week. The El Paso Parks and Recreation Department schedules us to use the facility at the Nations-Tobin Center daily for free! Except when either or both of the floors are needed for something else. As you might imagine, the week before Christmas is fraught with Community events, most of which this year seemed to occupy our rink time. So, we had to wait til Saturday to get back out there.
Carina has cleared the puck into the neutral zone from the defense. Craig takes the puck at mid-rink and sends it up to Mickayla. Just your basic passing format and technique on display. Kayla has actually set up almost exactly where the blue line will be. Not bad for a total blind player: outstanding spatial awareness!
As usual when its been several days between play, the first segment of our action was rather disjointed. Everybody needed to "get back into it," to reset their hearing, passing, receiving, and communicating skills. The second through fourth segments were pretty good.
Full rink passing, catching, playing off each other, running onto the puck, centering the play, and shooting on goal were all well done by each player.
This was a very good training session overall. We are working on getting our tactile blue line set up on the big floor. Hopefully it will be fully installed in a few weeks. That will enable us to play full floor games and practice with optimal player tactile movement. See everybody next Thursday, December 26th. This is the day that kids all over the world come to the rink to display all the new hockey equipment they got for Christmas. Happy Christmas and such to everybody!
As usual when its been several days between play, the first segment of our action was rather disjointed. Everybody needed to "get back into it," to reset their hearing, passing, receiving, and communicating skills. The second through fourth segments were pretty good.
Full rink passing, catching, playing off each other, running onto the puck, centering the play, and shooting on goal were all well done by each player.
This was a very good training session overall. We are working on getting our tactile blue line set up on the big floor. Hopefully it will be fully installed in a few weeks. That will enable us to play full floor games and practice with optimal player tactile movement. See everybody next Thursday, December 26th. This is the day that kids all over the world come to the rink to display all the new hockey equipment they got for Christmas. Happy Christmas and such to everybody!
Saturday, December 14, 2019, Nations-Tobin Sports Center little blue floor, 11:00am - 12:00 pm
Our newly transplanted Mooses sweater crest...original from 1998, these pro-weight, satin tackle-twill crests will soon be affixed to the front of the Black Mooses' shirts, along with numerals on sleeves (4") and back (12").
Everything was like new this Saturday...except not actually...it just felt like it. Probably because we hadn't played for an entire week, which hasn't been the case in many months, everything felt kinda new.
Mickayla is back on skates! After being in orthopaedic leg braces for four months, Mickayla played on skates for the first time since August. That was cool.
Not having played for a full 6 days-plus was a new experience. Nobody could remember how to put their equipment on...
Babs' siren assemble performed just like new, operating the full hour perfectly, so that was great! Fourth hour consecutive for this assembly!
As illustrated, we have the Mooses crests/numerals to affix to our black and white sweaters for this new season. The white shirts will have a varsity-style "M" in the purple, black, and white-border layout as the front crests. The black shirts will be numbered 1 through 9, the white shirts will take whatever numerals are left over, as there are some odd combinations.
Everything was like new this Saturday...except not actually...it just felt like it. Probably because we hadn't played for an entire week, which hasn't been the case in many months, everything felt kinda new.
Mickayla is back on skates! After being in orthopaedic leg braces for four months, Mickayla played on skates for the first time since August. That was cool.
Not having played for a full 6 days-plus was a new experience. Nobody could remember how to put their equipment on...
Babs' siren assemble performed just like new, operating the full hour perfectly, so that was great! Fourth hour consecutive for this assembly!
As illustrated, we have the Mooses crests/numerals to affix to our black and white sweaters for this new season. The white shirts will have a varsity-style "M" in the purple, black, and white-border layout as the front crests. The black shirts will be numbered 1 through 9, the white shirts will take whatever numerals are left over, as there are some odd combinations.
Craig passes from the 1-wall to Carina in the center-2 zone.
Also "re-newing," was our return to simple offensive pattern play. Haven't been able to do this with Mickayla on skates for four months, and haven't done the exercise with any combo of players for three weeks. Its good to get "back to basics" every once in a while. We have played level-2 and level-3 tactical play for many consecutive sessions, its good to just go back to the "simple," basic playmaking without defenders. Just make the play, do your part, and hone the skills in every part of the play.
Also "re-newing," was our return to simple offensive pattern play. Haven't been able to do this with Mickayla on skates for four months, and haven't done the exercise with any combo of players for three weeks. Its good to get "back to basics" every once in a while. We have played level-2 and level-3 tactical play for many consecutive sessions, its good to just go back to the "simple," basic playmaking without defenders. Just make the play, do your part, and hone the skills in every part of the play.
Carina's turn to send the clearing pass to Mickayla in the neutral zone.
Passing, receiving, skating onto the puck, shooting, changing lanes in floor movement, and communicating with teammates were all done very, very well by all four players. A lot of our plays truly looked like we were sighted. That's cool!
Passing, receiving, skating onto the puck, shooting, changing lanes in floor movement, and communicating with teammates were all done very, very well by all four players. A lot of our plays truly looked like we were sighted. That's cool!
Mickayla doing what she does at the elite level: acquiring and turning the puck for the shot on goal. Blind since birth, Kayla looks absolutely fully sighted when she makes these plays.
Ran our usual 4 segments of play, each segment 8-12 minutes long. However, the first segment was 16 minutes; we were getting warmed up and were all excited by getting into it once again.
Ran our usual 4 segments of play, each segment 8-12 minutes long. However, the first segment was 16 minutes; we were getting warmed up and were all excited by getting into it once again.
Professor Craig corrals and then centers the puck from behind the net. Craig's ability to locate the puck and make the play has improved the most of anybody on the team. He was about 30% optimal performance about 6 months ago, he is now into the 80-85% range in acquiring the puck.
As often happens, when everybody is concerned that their personal performance is going to be "rusty," actual playing only proved to be the opposite. Each player was focused and determined on their playing skills, and that only produced high quality play from the get go. It was like we hadn't taken a break at all.
As often happens, when everybody is concerned that their personal performance is going to be "rusty," actual playing only proved to be the opposite. Each player was focused and determined on their playing skills, and that only produced high quality play from the get go. It was like we hadn't taken a break at all.
Here's the mock up of the new shirts, with the Moose crest and the sleeve numerals. We note that the white borders really accentuate and highlight the decorations, these are pro-level, sewn-on, and are rather striking when viewed in person or in electronic imagery.
Sponsor decorations will be added over the next few months as we get these lined up.
Barring illness, family obligations, and school or work schedules, we will look forward to getting out on the floor with much higher regularity in the coming weeks. See everybody out on the blue floor!
Sponsor decorations will be added over the next few months as we get these lined up.
Barring illness, family obligations, and school or work schedules, we will look forward to getting out on the floor with much higher regularity in the coming weeks. See everybody out on the blue floor!
Saturday, December 7, 2019, Special Events Center ice rink, 4:00-5:00 pm
The team photo following our Saturday ice session at the El Paso County Coliseum Special Events Center: Craig, Shawndale, David, Carina, Daniela, Vianca, and Jorge.
The El Paso Mooses have moved our ice play up to a new level!
We had enough players to play a legitimate 4v4 (albeit without goalkeepers), and play full ice! Danny and Jorge played in coaching/defender mode, calling zones and making plays eyes-closed.
As usual, it took about ten minutes of play for everybody to get oriented to spaces and directions on the larger surface. Fact is, the sounding devices sound different in every rink you play in. We note that ice actually absorbs sound somewhat, making the puck especially quieter than on an inline rink.
C
No matter, the siren assembly in the puck performed the entire hour perfectly, players were very adept at pinpointing and acquiring the puck the whole time. This particular siren has now lasted for three full hourly sessions without failure. we are hoping that our continual efforts to cushion and pad the interior of the puck are helping the siren mechanism to increased use. So far, so good.
In game analysis, player communication was so good, that when somebody did not communicate, it caused problems for their teammates. The black Mooses ended up with three guys on the puck, and dispossessing each other a few times. Good technical plays, but poor communication caused them to mis-connect on the play.
We had occasion to play "Girls vs. Boys" today. This is always a lot of fun, as the game of Sonic Hockey gives no reward to a player's size and strength, but rather rewards skill and tactical abilities. In this game, everybody's equal, game on!
The White Mooses had about a dozen shots at the goal, while the Black Mooses had three. We will continue to work on player movement into the offensive zone on attacking plays. We all make special note that this was Shawndale's first time on ice, and only his third hockey session ever, and he played at everybody else's level very well!
All in all, this was a good game of hockey, full-rink, plays back and forth, finding the puck, contesting for the puck. The White team especially at having teammates up ahead of the play, available for a pass to advance into the attacking zone.
Back to the practice floor for the coming weeks, and we are looking at hosting a full rink game again in January. See everybody out on the bloor floor this week!
The El Paso Mooses have moved our ice play up to a new level!
We had enough players to play a legitimate 4v4 (albeit without goalkeepers), and play full ice! Danny and Jorge played in coaching/defender mode, calling zones and making plays eyes-closed.
As usual, it took about ten minutes of play for everybody to get oriented to spaces and directions on the larger surface. Fact is, the sounding devices sound different in every rink you play in. We note that ice actually absorbs sound somewhat, making the puck especially quieter than on an inline rink.
C
No matter, the siren assembly in the puck performed the entire hour perfectly, players were very adept at pinpointing and acquiring the puck the whole time. This particular siren has now lasted for three full hourly sessions without failure. we are hoping that our continual efforts to cushion and pad the interior of the puck are helping the siren mechanism to increased use. So far, so good.
In game analysis, player communication was so good, that when somebody did not communicate, it caused problems for their teammates. The black Mooses ended up with three guys on the puck, and dispossessing each other a few times. Good technical plays, but poor communication caused them to mis-connect on the play.
We had occasion to play "Girls vs. Boys" today. This is always a lot of fun, as the game of Sonic Hockey gives no reward to a player's size and strength, but rather rewards skill and tactical abilities. In this game, everybody's equal, game on!
The White Mooses had about a dozen shots at the goal, while the Black Mooses had three. We will continue to work on player movement into the offensive zone on attacking plays. We all make special note that this was Shawndale's first time on ice, and only his third hockey session ever, and he played at everybody else's level very well!
All in all, this was a good game of hockey, full-rink, plays back and forth, finding the puck, contesting for the puck. The White team especially at having teammates up ahead of the play, available for a pass to advance into the attacking zone.
Back to the practice floor for the coming weeks, and we are looking at hosting a full rink game again in January. See everybody out on the bloor floor this week!
Thursday, December 5, 2019, Nations-Tobin little floor, 4:00-5:00 pm
Coach Jesus backhands the puck up the 1-wall to the neutral zone. Coach's clearing passes are steady and sure. His backhand remains better than his forehand.
Jesus, Danny, David, and Carina hit the little floor at the Nations-Tobin Sports Center this afternoon. We worked on our offensive pattern play and performance was excellent. All of our players are very sure in their passing, finding the puck, shooting, and communicating. Plays flow seamlessly from one to the next . We ran four, 8-12 minute segments during the hour of skating time.
Jesus, Danny, David, and Carina hit the little floor at the Nations-Tobin Sports Center this afternoon. We worked on our offensive pattern play and performance was excellent. All of our players are very sure in their passing, finding the puck, shooting, and communicating. Plays flow seamlessly from one to the next . We ran four, 8-12 minute segments during the hour of skating time.
David carries the puck across the blue line to set up for the shot from the left wing. He has developed this play to a very high level.
During this pattern play, each play ends in a shot into the goal. Without a goalkeeper, of course, the goal is scored, but this is a good way to mark the end of each play.
On occasion, a shot goes wide, but this gives the opportunity to quickly retrieve the play and advance for a second shot. Kinda like regular sighted hockey, eh?
During this pattern play, each play ends in a shot into the goal. Without a goalkeeper, of course, the goal is scored, but this is a good way to mark the end of each play.
On occasion, a shot goes wide, but this gives the opportunity to quickly retrieve the play and advance for a second shot. Kinda like regular sighted hockey, eh?
Carina fires the puck on goal. Good follow through and focus on the play! She has been deliberately working on lifting the puck on her shooting, and is progressing nicely with this effort.
All our players are now pointing to our monthly ice session this Saturday. See everybody at the Coliseum!
All our players are now pointing to our monthly ice session this Saturday. See everybody at the Coliseum!
Tuesday, November 26, 2019; Nations-Tobin little floor, 3:00-4:00 pm
Team photo from our Florida trip to "the Nationals," the USA Hockey National Disabled Hockey Festival 2019, last March.
From Left, Craig, some Florida rink staff guy, Sgt Mark, Daniela, Mickayla, Danny, Carina, David, Mark. Not shown: Jesus, Edgar, Vianca, Jorge...and Shawndale hadn't joined us yet...
Now going into our eighth year of play, the El Paso Mooses headed out onto the little floor at Nations-Tobin Sports Center on Tuesday. We are continuing our offense-defense tactical level-2 playmaking. Each segment of play, two skaters play as defenders for the White squad vs. the offensive Black team. We rotate the defensive assignments between segments. This day, Carina, Craig, Danny, Jesus, and David took turns going each way.
Playing hockey is a lot of fun! Hockey is perhaps the most creative of all team sports. Every play, you must figure out a way to make the play to increase your team's success, and limit the success of your opponent. Every play is unique, every play is new. Each player must create their part of the play, and the parts must all work together to achieve that elusive success. In the NHL, statisticians will note that each team makes roughly 300 plays in a game, and each team scores 2-3 goals each game. That means that total team success is realized but less than 1% of the time, and failure occurs more than 99% of the time. A player must have a great, positive attitude to persevere in such a face of adversity! That is also what makes it fun: the player is totally free to try something new, to create, to be unique on each and every play! When the play does succeed, that is a tremendous accomplishment.
Now add into that playmaking mix, the fact that Sonic Hockey players do all of it while playing totally blind. The feeling of accomplishment is heightened to a very high degree! This game is a tremendous amount of fun! Hope we can continue to get more players to play with us!
Each of our Mooschachos has noticed that we are indeed figuring out new ways to make plays. As we have moved from strictly offensive pattern playmaking, into the realm of "figuring out how to make plays to beat the bad guys," every player is finding themselves doing things they never have before. Each play segment of the practice hour, we find new ways to make plays, to stymie the offense, and to outwit the defense.
All of us are very thankful for the ability to play this game. We say, "Thanks!" to all our teammates for the opportunity to play together, and we will continue our creative offense-defense playmaking on Saturday, back out on the little blue floor!
From Left, Craig, some Florida rink staff guy, Sgt Mark, Daniela, Mickayla, Danny, Carina, David, Mark. Not shown: Jesus, Edgar, Vianca, Jorge...and Shawndale hadn't joined us yet...
Now going into our eighth year of play, the El Paso Mooses headed out onto the little floor at Nations-Tobin Sports Center on Tuesday. We are continuing our offense-defense tactical level-2 playmaking. Each segment of play, two skaters play as defenders for the White squad vs. the offensive Black team. We rotate the defensive assignments between segments. This day, Carina, Craig, Danny, Jesus, and David took turns going each way.
Playing hockey is a lot of fun! Hockey is perhaps the most creative of all team sports. Every play, you must figure out a way to make the play to increase your team's success, and limit the success of your opponent. Every play is unique, every play is new. Each player must create their part of the play, and the parts must all work together to achieve that elusive success. In the NHL, statisticians will note that each team makes roughly 300 plays in a game, and each team scores 2-3 goals each game. That means that total team success is realized but less than 1% of the time, and failure occurs more than 99% of the time. A player must have a great, positive attitude to persevere in such a face of adversity! That is also what makes it fun: the player is totally free to try something new, to create, to be unique on each and every play! When the play does succeed, that is a tremendous accomplishment.
Now add into that playmaking mix, the fact that Sonic Hockey players do all of it while playing totally blind. The feeling of accomplishment is heightened to a very high degree! This game is a tremendous amount of fun! Hope we can continue to get more players to play with us!
Each of our Mooschachos has noticed that we are indeed figuring out new ways to make plays. As we have moved from strictly offensive pattern playmaking, into the realm of "figuring out how to make plays to beat the bad guys," every player is finding themselves doing things they never have before. Each play segment of the practice hour, we find new ways to make plays, to stymie the offense, and to outwit the defense.
All of us are very thankful for the ability to play this game. We say, "Thanks!" to all our teammates for the opportunity to play together, and we will continue our creative offense-defense playmaking on Saturday, back out on the little blue floor!
Saturday, November 23, 2019, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm, little floor, Nations-Tobin Center
Even without skates, Mickayla practices her positioning. Here she sets up in the slot, effectively lining up her teammate for the shot on goal. She is available either to receive the shot as a direct pass, or should a deflection or rebound occur, she is ready to make the second shot on the play.
Nothing particularly flashy in today's practice session. Mickayla, Carina, Craig, and Danny set up for offensive pattern play, and ran the usual four segments, total of 65 minutes of training.
Mickayla reminded us of what turning the puck looks like. She is excellent at this skill. 90% of the time, when a player acquires the puck, the player is facing away from the next target objective of the play. You must turn around with the puck in your possession, to face the next place you want to send the puck. This "turning the puck," play is particularly difficult if you are totally blind. Mickayla looks sighted as she performs this drill with seeming ease.
Nothing particularly flashy in today's practice session. Mickayla, Carina, Craig, and Danny set up for offensive pattern play, and ran the usual four segments, total of 65 minutes of training.
Mickayla reminded us of what turning the puck looks like. She is excellent at this skill. 90% of the time, when a player acquires the puck, the player is facing away from the next target objective of the play. You must turn around with the puck in your possession, to face the next place you want to send the puck. This "turning the puck," play is particularly difficult if you are totally blind. Mickayla looks sighted as she performs this drill with seeming ease.
Carina prepares the neutral zone pass into the attacking, "white" zone.
Frankly, Carina is another excellent practitioner of the turning the puck skill, and she uses it all over the floor to make plays continually. Carina continues her determined effort to become a true two-way player, in every part of the rink. So she works on getting the puck anywhere, in any part of the play, and completing the play in whatever direction is necessary.
Frankly, Carina is another excellent practitioner of the turning the puck skill, and she uses it all over the floor to make plays continually. Carina continues her determined effort to become a true two-way player, in every part of the rink. So she works on getting the puck anywhere, in any part of the play, and completing the play in whatever direction is necessary.
Craig turns the puck in the back corner, and sets up the clearance pass to the neutral zone. This starts the play up the floor.
Craig works on his release of the play, getting rid of the puck as efficiently as possible. He performed this skill with a high level of success today. So much so, that his directionality was off a couple of degrees occasionally, but that didn't detract from the play. HIs passes and shots linked plays in all parts of the floor repeatedly.
We note that the current siren assembly sunding device died today, right at the end of the hourly session. This siren therefore lasted 7 hours of total use time, which is the most ever of the present assembly method. So, we're getting better, and we go to the next siren unit in line, ready to go for the sessions next week. Hope to get this one to go for at least ten hours, if not more. We'll see.
Craig works on his release of the play, getting rid of the puck as efficiently as possible. He performed this skill with a high level of success today. So much so, that his directionality was off a couple of degrees occasionally, but that didn't detract from the play. HIs passes and shots linked plays in all parts of the floor repeatedly.
We note that the current siren assembly sunding device died today, right at the end of the hourly session. This siren therefore lasted 7 hours of total use time, which is the most ever of the present assembly method. So, we're getting better, and we go to the next siren unit in line, ready to go for the sessions next week. Hope to get this one to go for at least ten hours, if not more. We'll see.
Tuesday, November 19, 2019; Nations-Tobin little floor, 4:00-5:00 pm
Coach Jesus sending the clearing pass up to the neutral zone. You can note from his angle of follow-through that he has sent the puck from the back 1-corner into the 2-lane neutral zone area, thus changing lanes on the puck, one of our new tactical play components.
Danny, Carina, Craig, and Jesus worked on offensive pattern plays. Today we added some work with the third Principle of Play: "The puck and the players must change lanes.
(You can refer to all six Principles of Pay in the Sonic Hockey Tactics section of this website).
Danny, Carina, Craig, and Jesus worked on offensive pattern plays. Today we added some work with the third Principle of Play: "The puck and the players must change lanes.
(You can refer to all six Principles of Pay in the Sonic Hockey Tactics section of this website).
Carina has the puck in the neutral zone. She feels it on her stick and deliberately turns her head to face her teammate. By using both ears toward the play, she can zero in on her target more effectively.
Within the third principle of play of the El Paso Mooses' Tactical playbook, the puck should never (almost never) be sent straight up the floor. Rather the puck on a diagonal or even square across the floor (in the white zone) are the preferred passing angles.
Within the third principle of play of the El Paso Mooses' Tactical playbook, the puck should never (almost never) be sent straight up the floor. Rather the puck on a diagonal or even square across the floor (in the white zone) are the preferred passing angles.
Craig is far post slot waiting for his teammate to run onto the puck by the side of the net and center it to him. He is in perfect position for the pass to come slightly behind him, so he can shield it from any bad guys that happen to be goalside of his position.
Similarly, each player must change lanes as the play moves through the defensive, neutral, and offensive zones. Never go straight up the floor on offense, always come straight back toward the goal when recovering to defense.
Players this afternoon found that adding this component of floor movement to their decision-making gave them a myriad of new ways to create plays.
Ya know those teams that it always seems like loose pucks come to them? This is one main component of those teams' play. Our players got the chance to scratch the surface of this tactical concept, and we did create some pretty good offensive patterns out of it.
At the risk of jinxing it, we can report that Babs' current sounding device performed to perfection today the whole hour, the sixth consecutive hour for this assembly.
We'll look into some more ideas in the next few days, back out on the blue floor.
Similarly, each player must change lanes as the play moves through the defensive, neutral, and offensive zones. Never go straight up the floor on offense, always come straight back toward the goal when recovering to defense.
Players this afternoon found that adding this component of floor movement to their decision-making gave them a myriad of new ways to create plays.
Ya know those teams that it always seems like loose pucks come to them? This is one main component of those teams' play. Our players got the chance to scratch the surface of this tactical concept, and we did create some pretty good offensive patterns out of it.
At the risk of jinxing it, we can report that Babs' current sounding device performed to perfection today the whole hour, the sixth consecutive hour for this assembly.
We'll look into some more ideas in the next few days, back out on the blue floor.
Saturday, November 16, 2019; Nations-Tobin little floor, 11:00 am-12:00 pm
Shawndale attempts (successfully, as it happened) to acquire the puck in his triangle. In only his second ever hockey session, Shawn ran effectively on both offense and defense. His finding the puck was stellar, beating his opponent to the loose puck time and time again. Shawn's clearing passes, turning the puck, and defensive positioning were all first rate and definitely belied his novice experience level.
Wow, a ton of good things happened today! Shawndale was not the only Moose doing things way above his experience level. We haven't played offense v. defense very often since last spring. Most of our tactical practice has been Level One, offensive pattern play. Today was certainly different! We decided to play tactical level two, 3v2 offense v. defense, and the result was excellent.
The first marked and noticeable trait was that the one-on-one confrontations for the puck and the play happened all over the floor. Players had to make decisions about their play in a wider variety of circumstances than ever before. That made for excellent learning, both in failures and successes.
Wow, a ton of good things happened today! Shawndale was not the only Moose doing things way above his experience level. We haven't played offense v. defense very often since last spring. Most of our tactical practice has been Level One, offensive pattern play. Today was certainly different! We decided to play tactical level two, 3v2 offense v. defense, and the result was excellent.
The first marked and noticeable trait was that the one-on-one confrontations for the puck and the play happened all over the floor. Players had to make decisions about their play in a wider variety of circumstances than ever before. That made for excellent learning, both in failures and successes.
Mickayla, with both leg braces in function, played in the back zone today, starting each play with a clearing pass up to the offense. She did a tremendous job of "quarterbacking" the offense playmaking.
We note that the entire group, both as individuals and as a team, created new ways to play today, more so than our usual level of creativity. Defensive positioning, puck dispossessing, turning and shielding the puck against an opponent, sending the puck effectively to teammate-controlled spaces, and shooting on net highlighted plays that we hadn't accomplished before.
Mickayla continues to be the epitome of the elite player in finding the puck. Her general direction, selective direction, and specific location hearing abilities are each first rate. She appears sighted when she closes on the puck to acquire it, on skates or not.
We note that the entire group, both as individuals and as a team, created new ways to play today, more so than our usual level of creativity. Defensive positioning, puck dispossessing, turning and shielding the puck against an opponent, sending the puck effectively to teammate-controlled spaces, and shooting on net highlighted plays that we hadn't accomplished before.
Mickayla continues to be the epitome of the elite player in finding the puck. Her general direction, selective direction, and specific location hearing abilities are each first rate. She appears sighted when she closes on the puck to acquire it, on skates or not.
Daniela fires a wicked backhand shot on net. This was a great play. The puck was on goal with pace. Daniela typified all the Mooses' play today in that she released the puck early in the play. We all did that better than ever before.
Craig makes a recovery run back into the neutral zone to set up for the next play. He is skating particularly low to better hear his teammate on the puck, and is also intent on making sure he has crossed the blueline into an onside position.
Craig today displayed a new level of defensive ability. His goalside positioning especially was top level. In 3v2, of course, the offense has the man-up advantage in numbers. Craig recovered into the slot to deflect shots and passes, in effect covering both his wing and the center lanes with clarity and purpose. Best defense ever!
Craig today displayed a new level of defensive ability. His goalside positioning especially was top level. In 3v2, of course, the offense has the man-up advantage in numbers. Craig recovered into the slot to deflect shots and passes, in effect covering both his wing and the center lanes with clarity and purpose. Best defense ever!
Carina lines up her shot from the left point. Carinas' passing and shooting are approaching advanced level abilities. Although she will tell you that some of her shots are not hard enough (from wimpy land?), every release of the puck today was totally accurate, going right to where she intended.
We note that Babs' newest Siren sounding device performed perfectly today! This was the fifth continuous hour that the current siren has functioned without failure. The little sirens are not tremendously sturdy, and get bashed around inside the puck in the normal course of play. We have gotten better at positioning and cushioning the siren inside the puck. The little (but LOUD) siren devices, which sound like a smoke alarm, make the puck very easy to find, and a lot of plays that involve finding the puck, our players look almost sighted!
So, today, creative level of play, teamwork, defensive ability, passing and shooting and releasing the puck, and puck distribution were all at new levels of excellence. Even though we hadn't skated onto the rink since last Sunday's ice session, everybody did great. The puck and sounding assembly performed perfectly. To quote Mr. Johnson, today was "a great day for hockey," at least in Mooseville!
See everybody in the coming week.
We note that Babs' newest Siren sounding device performed perfectly today! This was the fifth continuous hour that the current siren has functioned without failure. The little sirens are not tremendously sturdy, and get bashed around inside the puck in the normal course of play. We have gotten better at positioning and cushioning the siren inside the puck. The little (but LOUD) siren devices, which sound like a smoke alarm, make the puck very easy to find, and a lot of plays that involve finding the puck, our players look almost sighted!
So, today, creative level of play, teamwork, defensive ability, passing and shooting and releasing the puck, and puck distribution were all at new levels of excellence. Even though we hadn't skated onto the rink since last Sunday's ice session, everybody did great. The puck and sounding assembly performed perfectly. To quote Mr. Johnson, today was "a great day for hockey," at least in Mooseville!
See everybody in the coming week.
Sunday, November 10, 2019, 4:15-5:15, El Paso Rhinos Event Center, El Paso County Coliseum
Edgar came to play today. Aside from being a very good goalie, Edgar is a true friend. He is a sighted player. He has played hockey since the age of twelve in 1995. There is no reason that Edgar should want to play blind with us, he just does. We are very grateful and appreciative of his joining us. Edgar has now played in each of the four seasons that we have been on ice.
Today was the first session we have played on ice in the 2019-2020 ice hockey season. This is our fourth season of ice play. We play around a dozen ice practices/games each year.
Our last time out to the Coliseum was May 24 of this spring. In the five and a half months in between then and today, we have played more that 80 hourly sessions of inline play.
It was fantastic to get back on ice...after about twenty minutes! It took us that long to re-acclimate ourselves to the touch and feel of the ice surface...and the distances between positions...and the pitch and tenor of the sounds on the rink. It was amazing how well we did after that first twenty minutes. The final 40 minutes of the hour went excellently!
We ran our five-man pattern plays between the neutral zone and the attack ("white") zone. Got over 40 shots, and we managed (luckily, accidentally) to beat Edgar 4 or five times for goals. Which puts Edgar's save percentage close to 90%, in an environment where all the shots were straight on the keeper, with no defenders. Great job Edgar!
Today was the first session we have played on ice in the 2019-2020 ice hockey season. This is our fourth season of ice play. We play around a dozen ice practices/games each year.
Our last time out to the Coliseum was May 24 of this spring. In the five and a half months in between then and today, we have played more that 80 hourly sessions of inline play.
It was fantastic to get back on ice...after about twenty minutes! It took us that long to re-acclimate ourselves to the touch and feel of the ice surface...and the distances between positions...and the pitch and tenor of the sounds on the rink. It was amazing how well we did after that first twenty minutes. The final 40 minutes of the hour went excellently!
We ran our five-man pattern plays between the neutral zone and the attack ("white") zone. Got over 40 shots, and we managed (luckily, accidentally) to beat Edgar 4 or five times for goals. Which puts Edgar's save percentage close to 90%, in an environment where all the shots were straight on the keeper, with no defenders. Great job Edgar!
Sgt. Mark picks the puck off the end board and prepares to center it. Sarge really worked on his playmaking today, centering pass after pass to teammates.
As we tentatively hit the ice this afternoon, everybody was of the mindset, "Gee, can I even remember how to skate on ice?" Yeah, we all got back into it, slowly and then with more bearing as we went along.
As we tentatively hit the ice this afternoon, everybody was of the mindset, "Gee, can I even remember how to skate on ice?" Yeah, we all got back into it, slowly and then with more bearing as we went along.
Carina has just passed the puck across the neutral zone to the far wall. She has pivoted and is assessing which lane to cut into to set up the next play. She is listening to where her teammates are to determine the open position in the attack zone.
A couple of our players had trouble at the start with hearing the puck. Touching the puck off the wall was also a little difficult at times. Even though the puck weighs 12 oz, a simple light touch, when finding it, sends it sliding, making it hard to control. Everybody did a good job at getting better at this as we went along.
Today our puck, Babs, worked perfectly. In our final, 60th minute of play, snow from the ice clogged up the sounding holes on the face of the puck, and the sound dimmed somewhat. We note that we should probably disassemble and reassemble the sounding device from the puck at the twenty minute point in the hour. That should keep the puck sounding perfectly the entire time. As it was, the siren sounding device lasted a full 60 minutes, and we had backup assemblies if needed.
USA Hockey, our continuously sounding puck works perfectly for blind hockey play. We would love for you guys to give it a try.
A couple of our players had trouble at the start with hearing the puck. Touching the puck off the wall was also a little difficult at times. Even though the puck weighs 12 oz, a simple light touch, when finding it, sends it sliding, making it hard to control. Everybody did a good job at getting better at this as we went along.
Today our puck, Babs, worked perfectly. In our final, 60th minute of play, snow from the ice clogged up the sounding holes on the face of the puck, and the sound dimmed somewhat. We note that we should probably disassemble and reassemble the sounding device from the puck at the twenty minute point in the hour. That should keep the puck sounding perfectly the entire time. As it was, the siren sounding device lasted a full 60 minutes, and we had backup assemblies if needed.
USA Hockey, our continuously sounding puck works perfectly for blind hockey play. We would love for you guys to give it a try.
Craig controls the puck at the left circle, preparing to send it toward the goal. Craig continues to improve in every aspect of the game. Today, he was an integral part of every play, finding the puck, setting up teammates, and shooting on goal.
All six players did a great job of producing game-level playmaking. We had seven players that could not get here for this session. We are all able to play a full-rink game. Hopefully that will come soon. We are ready for it.
All six players did a great job of producing game-level playmaking. We had seven players that could not get here for this session. We are all able to play a full-rink game. Hopefully that will come soon. We are ready for it.
David lines up his shot from the top of the circle. David's shooting was spot on today, testing Edgar time and time again. His set-up passing and positioning was first rate.
Didn't get any pictures of Danny today, as he was the one taking the pictures. Hard to get a selfie of yourself doing anything other than standing there. Danny did have one puck, 12 feet out in the slot. He took one stride outside the right post and backhanded it about two feet in the air into the net. Edgar had come out, but the puck went over the leg, under the glove, a perfect play by all.
Our next ice session will be Saturday, December 7, at 4:15-5:15, back at the Coliseum rink. If we can get 8 skaters and one or two goalkeepers, we will have that full-ice game for sure. See everybody the coming week, back out on the blue floor at Nations-Tobin.
Didn't get any pictures of Danny today, as he was the one taking the pictures. Hard to get a selfie of yourself doing anything other than standing there. Danny did have one puck, 12 feet out in the slot. He took one stride outside the right post and backhanded it about two feet in the air into the net. Edgar had come out, but the puck went over the leg, under the glove, a perfect play by all.
Our next ice session will be Saturday, December 7, at 4:15-5:15, back at the Coliseum rink. If we can get 8 skaters and one or two goalkeepers, we will have that full-ice game for sure. See everybody the coming week, back out on the blue floor at Nations-Tobin.
Tuesday, November 5, 2019; Nations-Tobin Center, big floor, 4:00-5:00 pm
The basic three-player, pattern play on the big floor:
1. Carina comes back, finds the puck in the defensive zone, turns it, and sends the pass diagonally up the right wing to Jesus in the neutral zone.
1. Carina comes back, finds the puck in the defensive zone, turns it, and sends the pass diagonally up the right wing to Jesus in the neutral zone.
2. Jesus shields the puck on the wall, and backhands the pass up the right wing into the attack zone for Danny to run onto.
3. Danny runs onto the puck and centers it to the slot for Carina to run onto.
4. Carina acquires the puck in stride and shoots on goal, on the floor, far post.
Puck travels about 150 feet in total through the three passes and the shot. Total elapsed time from first touch in the defensive zone to the shot into the goal, about twenty seconds total. That's pretty good!
This was a good big floor, three player practice. Jesus worked on passing from the back. Danny worked on floor movement and slot positioning. Carina worked on shooting. All three turned in a solid performance.
We tried a new tactile blue line on the polymer inline floor: textured tape. This application had to pass three tests:
A. the tape had to go onto the floor and remain in place effectively. It did.
B. the tape had to suffer skates and the puck studs travelling over it without damage. It did.
C. The whole idea was that the texture of the tape would be felt under the skates, thus alerting the players directly to the location of the blue line. ...uh...that didn't work at all. Couldn't feel it under your skates even the slightest bit. The tape was just too thin to produce a tactile feel. Oh, well, we will try other ideas for the tactile blue lines on the big floor. The outdoor Sportcourt(tm) tiles that work on the little floor (25cm, abot 10.02 inches square) do not come in the 12" size of the tiles on the big floor...and no other manufacturer makes them, either...a real industry failure, if you ask any random Moose.
On the happy side, the little siren mechanism, with its assembly case intact, continues to work perfectly, and it's the loudest it's ever been, which makes it easy to find and play the puck! The current fixture is now three full hours of play and going strong.
See everybody back on Thursday!
3. Danny runs onto the puck and centers it to the slot for Carina to run onto.
4. Carina acquires the puck in stride and shoots on goal, on the floor, far post.
Puck travels about 150 feet in total through the three passes and the shot. Total elapsed time from first touch in the defensive zone to the shot into the goal, about twenty seconds total. That's pretty good!
This was a good big floor, three player practice. Jesus worked on passing from the back. Danny worked on floor movement and slot positioning. Carina worked on shooting. All three turned in a solid performance.
We tried a new tactile blue line on the polymer inline floor: textured tape. This application had to pass three tests:
A. the tape had to go onto the floor and remain in place effectively. It did.
B. the tape had to suffer skates and the puck studs travelling over it without damage. It did.
C. The whole idea was that the texture of the tape would be felt under the skates, thus alerting the players directly to the location of the blue line. ...uh...that didn't work at all. Couldn't feel it under your skates even the slightest bit. The tape was just too thin to produce a tactile feel. Oh, well, we will try other ideas for the tactile blue lines on the big floor. The outdoor Sportcourt(tm) tiles that work on the little floor (25cm, abot 10.02 inches square) do not come in the 12" size of the tiles on the big floor...and no other manufacturer makes them, either...a real industry failure, if you ask any random Moose.
On the happy side, the little siren mechanism, with its assembly case intact, continues to work perfectly, and it's the loudest it's ever been, which makes it easy to find and play the puck! The current fixture is now three full hours of play and going strong.
See everybody back on Thursday!
Saturday, November 2, 2019, Nations-Tobin Sports Center, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Sending the puck with a clearing pass to start the play, Daniela fires the puck into the neutral zone and at the same time, across the floor to the 3-wall. Her follow thru is a blur; this was a 60 foot pass right on the money to her teammate.
From the neutral zone, Carina pauses to determine where she wants to distribute the puck. She ended up sending the pass ahead of her left wing into the white zone, for her teammate to run onto.
The New Guy, Shawndale, does an excellent job of finding the puck in front of the goal, and finishing the play by shoveling it into the goal. Daniela, in the background, has just centered the puck ahead of him.
This was the first time that Shawndale has played hockey...ever. He came out, put on the equipment, and went to town on the little blue floor. Skating, finding the puck, moving about the rink, making the plays. Shawn is the perfect example of how a brand new, totally blind player can be playing hockey effectively with his teammates, after having gone through a mere twenty minutes of hockey orientation learning.
Anybody thinks that totally blind players can't play hockey should have been at Nations-Tobin this afternoon. Shawndale put on his skates for the first time and played hockey with great success. Daniela, Danny, Carina, and Craig joined him in our five-man offensive pattern play training session.
Five players, all playing totally blind, moving through full floor playmaking, finding the puck, passing, receiving, turning, and shooting...all the usual skills of hockey performed without the use of any vision! This was great.
Credit to Shawn, while he was a beginner-level performer, he didn't slow down the plays one bit! All the experienced players connected with the new guy in excellent teamwork, and everybody was highly effective in their play all over the floor. Very cool.
This was the first time that Shawndale has played hockey...ever. He came out, put on the equipment, and went to town on the little blue floor. Skating, finding the puck, moving about the rink, making the plays. Shawn is the perfect example of how a brand new, totally blind player can be playing hockey effectively with his teammates, after having gone through a mere twenty minutes of hockey orientation learning.
Anybody thinks that totally blind players can't play hockey should have been at Nations-Tobin this afternoon. Shawndale put on his skates for the first time and played hockey with great success. Daniela, Danny, Carina, and Craig joined him in our five-man offensive pattern play training session.
Five players, all playing totally blind, moving through full floor playmaking, finding the puck, passing, receiving, turning, and shooting...all the usual skills of hockey performed without the use of any vision! This was great.
Credit to Shawn, while he was a beginner-level performer, he didn't slow down the plays one bit! All the experienced players connected with the new guy in excellent teamwork, and everybody was highly effective in their play all over the floor. Very cool.
Professor Craig gathers the puck in front of the goal. Trying to corral a loose puck in your skates is tough even for sighted players. Craig has shortened his stick and plays the puck with the toe of the stick to effectively set it up for the shot on goal.
In our ever-continuing experimentation with our continuously sounding puck, the sounding mechanism performed perfectly today. The newly installed on-off switch, however, was knocked into the off position at one point late in the third segment of play, and had to be reset. Looking at setting the switch to the on position and just taping it there for the next time. But the sounding assembly was perfect the whole session of 75 minutes.
We skated twelve sessions total in the month of October. Hope to get out there much more in November, perhaps five or six days in the coming week. Looking to Monday, back out on the little blue floor!
In our ever-continuing experimentation with our continuously sounding puck, the sounding mechanism performed perfectly today. The newly installed on-off switch, however, was knocked into the off position at one point late in the third segment of play, and had to be reset. Looking at setting the switch to the on position and just taping it there for the next time. But the sounding assembly was perfect the whole session of 75 minutes.
We skated twelve sessions total in the month of October. Hope to get out there much more in November, perhaps five or six days in the coming week. Looking to Monday, back out on the little blue floor!
All Hallows Eve, October 31, 2019, Nations-Tobin big floor, 4:00-5:00 pm
Coach Jesus in his usual work area, the defensive zone. When you get to the puck on the wall, you can either turn it back toward your own goal to escape the bad guys, or you can send it up directly, on your backhand if you are left handed and you are on the one-wall. Coach practices this skill rigorously and probably sends 80% of his passes backhand.
Only had twelve practice sessions this month of October 2019, but they were pretty good ones. Today was the perfect example. Danny, David, and Jesus went through for offensive pattern play segments over the hour of play. Movement throughout the floor, passing, communicating, and shooting were the focus skills.
Made a couple of great plays. Dave's shot from the point deflected into the net shortside, over the leg, below the glove, actually looked like we were sighted on that one.
Babs with a new siren worked great. The previous siren conked out at the 2 hour point...not good...the siren mechanisms have been lasting five hours or more. The last two were used in the disassembled mode: the circuit board and the sounding baffle taken out of the casing before being positioned in the puck. Worked ok, but the last set had the baffle break after only two hours of use. Upon setting the new siren, this time with the assembly casing intact, we noted that the siren was much louder (way louder) while still in the casing. During the past week, we remember that both Carina and Mickayla had commented on the puck sounding dimmer than before. We will try to fully cushion the assembly and continue to keep the sounding assembly intact for the time being.
Installed a new on-off switch within the puck, attached to the battery snap. The switch is not necessarily reachable through the puck's access portal. you still need to open the puck to turn it on or off, but you don't need to manually connect the wire leads, that's already done through the switch, so this might be better...if all continues to work as well as did today. Here's hoping!
Looking at having a minimal group Friday, but more players on Saturday, and then maybe also next Tuesday! Perhaps some game-condition play, to even include Mickayla in a set position if not on skates. That would be great. See everybody next time out on the blue floor.
Only had twelve practice sessions this month of October 2019, but they were pretty good ones. Today was the perfect example. Danny, David, and Jesus went through for offensive pattern play segments over the hour of play. Movement throughout the floor, passing, communicating, and shooting were the focus skills.
Made a couple of great plays. Dave's shot from the point deflected into the net shortside, over the leg, below the glove, actually looked like we were sighted on that one.
Babs with a new siren worked great. The previous siren conked out at the 2 hour point...not good...the siren mechanisms have been lasting five hours or more. The last two were used in the disassembled mode: the circuit board and the sounding baffle taken out of the casing before being positioned in the puck. Worked ok, but the last set had the baffle break after only two hours of use. Upon setting the new siren, this time with the assembly casing intact, we noted that the siren was much louder (way louder) while still in the casing. During the past week, we remember that both Carina and Mickayla had commented on the puck sounding dimmer than before. We will try to fully cushion the assembly and continue to keep the sounding assembly intact for the time being.
Installed a new on-off switch within the puck, attached to the battery snap. The switch is not necessarily reachable through the puck's access portal. you still need to open the puck to turn it on or off, but you don't need to manually connect the wire leads, that's already done through the switch, so this might be better...if all continues to work as well as did today. Here's hoping!
Looking at having a minimal group Friday, but more players on Saturday, and then maybe also next Tuesday! Perhaps some game-condition play, to even include Mickayla in a set position if not on skates. That would be great. See everybody next time out on the blue floor.
Friday, October 25, 2019; Nations-Tobin big floor, 4:00-5:30 pm
Carina sets up to send the pass into the slot from the left wing wall. Carina's forty-foot passing and shooting are largely becoming legendary out on the blue floor. Her accuracy from the perimeter is excellent. She is 100% into the target area (defined as within 6 feet of the point you were aiming at), and about 80% spot-on (within one foot) with her sending the puck.
If you were standing outside the Nations-Tobin Sports Center this Friday afternoon about, say, 4:00 p.m. you were treated to a rather interesting sight. David, Carina, and Jesus got out of the vehicle, procured their hockey equipment from the trunk, and proceeded into the building. They went down the hall to the large-rink facility, walked to the bench area, and put on their hockey equipment. The three players skated onto the floor, set their electronic goal sounding devices, connected and set their electronic sounding hockey puck out, and played about 35 minutes of hockey practice.
The "interesting" thing about this process is that these players were all blind, and proceeded with all these actions without any aid at all from a sighted person...none...zero. That's cool.
Then Coach Danny got back with Mickayla, and the practice continued with the now five players set up into their offensive pattern play.
Around the country, we continually find hockey programs where visually impaired players are paired one-on-one with a coaching individual, who frankly does most of the "playing" on behalf of the visually impaired player. Most of this training consists of stationary catch-and-pass, or catch-and-shoot play, with the sighted coach handing the puck to the stick of the VI player.
The El Paso Mooses, on the other hand, note that our players can perform every skill of hockey without the aid of any sighted individuals, including our set up and take down of the rink equipment, and team/game administration. We run up and down the floor making the offensive plays, and work on all aspects of the game, technical and tactical, all without the aid of any sighted individuals. On the floor, everybody plays blind, including the single coaching individual.
If you were standing outside the Nations-Tobin Sports Center this Friday afternoon about, say, 4:00 p.m. you were treated to a rather interesting sight. David, Carina, and Jesus got out of the vehicle, procured their hockey equipment from the trunk, and proceeded into the building. They went down the hall to the large-rink facility, walked to the bench area, and put on their hockey equipment. The three players skated onto the floor, set their electronic goal sounding devices, connected and set their electronic sounding hockey puck out, and played about 35 minutes of hockey practice.
The "interesting" thing about this process is that these players were all blind, and proceeded with all these actions without any aid at all from a sighted person...none...zero. That's cool.
Then Coach Danny got back with Mickayla, and the practice continued with the now five players set up into their offensive pattern play.
Around the country, we continually find hockey programs where visually impaired players are paired one-on-one with a coaching individual, who frankly does most of the "playing" on behalf of the visually impaired player. Most of this training consists of stationary catch-and-pass, or catch-and-shoot play, with the sighted coach handing the puck to the stick of the VI player.
The El Paso Mooses, on the other hand, note that our players can perform every skill of hockey without the aid of any sighted individuals, including our set up and take down of the rink equipment, and team/game administration. We run up and down the floor making the offensive plays, and work on all aspects of the game, technical and tactical, all without the aid of any sighted individuals. On the floor, everybody plays blind, including the single coaching individual.
Basic connectivity: David passes to Mickayla. This is a forty-foot pass, spot on to Mickaylas' prone stick shaft. She then takes the puck, turns it, and sends it inside the far post, over the leg pad, under the glove.
She is under orthopaedist' directive not to get on skates. Mickayla still comes to practice and plays up front in her tennis shoes. She thereby performs all the stick and puck skills.
Henri and Johann, two of our little good luck mooses, hang out on the bench rail to watch the action of Friday night's play.
So another great week of training for the Mooses. Five players played 12 man-hours of hockey.
Our offensive pattern play practice is getting better and better all the time. We are going to move into a lot of offense-defense practice and game play during the last week of October and November. Should be a lot of fun.
Back Monday for another week of play on the big floor!
So another great week of training for the Mooses. Five players played 12 man-hours of hockey.
Our offensive pattern play practice is getting better and better all the time. We are going to move into a lot of offense-defense practice and game play during the last week of October and November. Should be a lot of fun.
Back Monday for another week of play on the big floor!
Thursday, October 24, 2019; Nations-Tobin Sports Center, big rink, 4:00-5:00 pm
David lines up a shot from the left side slot. David has become a real sharpshooter for the Mooses. He is diligently working on lifting the puck into the various parts of the net on his shooting.
Today, David, Coach Jesus, and Danny, the usual Thursday afternoon crew, skated out on the big blue floor. Another very good pattern play practice session. Passing through the three zones, shooting, finding the puck, the puck's performance, and especially player movement throughout the entire big floor, were all pretty darn good.
Tomorrow, Friday, will be the third and final practice session this week, as we have been shut out of the rink for the weekend. You might have noticed we were on the big floor everyday this week. Early voting is going on for these two weeks, and the Nations-Tobin Center is a polling place. The volunteers that run the polls have complained in the past about the noise level that our sounding devices make.
The complaint has been forceful enough that the Center staff has been directed to prohibit us from play on the little floor (adjacent to the room used for Polling) while voting is going on. While we might counter-complain that this is outright discrimination against our blind athletic program (in an athletic facility), we choose to comply and accept that we can move to the big floor as available. The big floor is not available on Saturday. So after tomorrow, we will skate again on Monday.
Yeah, this is a BIG inconvenience, but hey, we want to be part of the solution, not the problem. See everybody on Friday!
Today, David, Coach Jesus, and Danny, the usual Thursday afternoon crew, skated out on the big blue floor. Another very good pattern play practice session. Passing through the three zones, shooting, finding the puck, the puck's performance, and especially player movement throughout the entire big floor, were all pretty darn good.
Tomorrow, Friday, will be the third and final practice session this week, as we have been shut out of the rink for the weekend. You might have noticed we were on the big floor everyday this week. Early voting is going on for these two weeks, and the Nations-Tobin Center is a polling place. The volunteers that run the polls have complained in the past about the noise level that our sounding devices make.
The complaint has been forceful enough that the Center staff has been directed to prohibit us from play on the little floor (adjacent to the room used for Polling) while voting is going on. While we might counter-complain that this is outright discrimination against our blind athletic program (in an athletic facility), we choose to comply and accept that we can move to the big floor as available. The big floor is not available on Saturday. So after tomorrow, we will skate again on Monday.
Yeah, this is a BIG inconvenience, but hey, we want to be part of the solution, not the problem. See everybody on Friday!
Tuesday, October 22, 2019; Nations-Tobin big floor, 4:00-5:00 pm
Three Stars of the Game
Ok, it wasn't a game, it was offensive pattern practice on the bg floor. But there were three stars!
First Star: Carina!
Carina is really going downtown on her shooting work. Today she specifically worked on shots from the perimeter, all over the white zone. 40-50 footers, and made about 70% of them. In case you didn't know it, that's really good!
Ok, it wasn't a game, it was offensive pattern practice on the bg floor. But there were three stars!
First Star: Carina!
Carina is really going downtown on her shooting work. Today she specifically worked on shots from the perimeter, all over the white zone. 40-50 footers, and made about 70% of them. In case you didn't know it, that's really good!
Second Star: Coach Jesus!
Coach was roaming his back zone, as the defender who starts the play with the breakout pass, in our offensive pattern playmaking. He was everywhere, up and back, left and right, even behind the defensive net for one play start. That's a ton of movement on the big floor, very game-condition.
Coach was roaming his back zone, as the defender who starts the play with the breakout pass, in our offensive pattern playmaking. He was everywhere, up and back, left and right, even behind the defensive net for one play start. That's a ton of movement on the big floor, very game-condition.
Third Star: Babs!
or, more accurately, Bab's component-configured siren mechanism. By taking the circuit board and the sounding baffle out of the casing, taping all the leads and components firmly together, and placing four layers of cushioning such as to suspend the sounding baffle within the air space inside the puck, this just might eliminate any transfer of energy shocks to the sounding baffle, enabling it to completely withstand the rigors of play.
So far, so good, three hours of play and getting bashed around at 40-50 mph. Hoping to get ten hours of play out of this configuration, we'll see...if we do get ten hours of play, no reason that we shouldn't get 50...that would be something!
Notes on today's training session:
Danny theorized that we might not need to tactile the blue lines. We experimented without them today. Doesn't work...at all...not even...Oh, well. Yeah, we have reinforced our belief that tactile blue lines give the blind player direction and spatial orientation. They do. A lot. The original dependency on the tactile blue line was to enable the player to correctly stay onsides, it is indeed true that the lines give the player a great amount of information as to both direction and location on all movement between zones on the field of play. For those persons who don't believe that blind players can effectively move about the floor to play "real" hockey, we note the tactile blue lines, together with the goal and puck sounding devices, enable the blind player to do just that!
Other than that point, we do note that this was another in a recent series of sessions that have truly been "the best ever," in terms of group performance. Making the plays full floor: sending the puck from the back, through the neutral zone, into the attack zone and then on-goal, our playmaking components today were first rate! It seems that our past dozen or so practice sessions have each been a continued, higher performance than the previous. Looking to keep up that trend on Thursday, back out on the big blue floor!
or, more accurately, Bab's component-configured siren mechanism. By taking the circuit board and the sounding baffle out of the casing, taping all the leads and components firmly together, and placing four layers of cushioning such as to suspend the sounding baffle within the air space inside the puck, this just might eliminate any transfer of energy shocks to the sounding baffle, enabling it to completely withstand the rigors of play.
So far, so good, three hours of play and getting bashed around at 40-50 mph. Hoping to get ten hours of play out of this configuration, we'll see...if we do get ten hours of play, no reason that we shouldn't get 50...that would be something!
Notes on today's training session:
Danny theorized that we might not need to tactile the blue lines. We experimented without them today. Doesn't work...at all...not even...Oh, well. Yeah, we have reinforced our belief that tactile blue lines give the blind player direction and spatial orientation. They do. A lot. The original dependency on the tactile blue line was to enable the player to correctly stay onsides, it is indeed true that the lines give the player a great amount of information as to both direction and location on all movement between zones on the field of play. For those persons who don't believe that blind players can effectively move about the floor to play "real" hockey, we note the tactile blue lines, together with the goal and puck sounding devices, enable the blind player to do just that!
Other than that point, we do note that this was another in a recent series of sessions that have truly been "the best ever," in terms of group performance. Making the plays full floor: sending the puck from the back, through the neutral zone, into the attack zone and then on-goal, our playmaking components today were first rate! It seems that our past dozen or so practice sessions have each been a continued, higher performance than the previous. Looking to keep up that trend on Thursday, back out on the big blue floor!
Friday, October 18, 2019; Nations-Tobin, Little Floor, 5:00-6:00 pm
Nostalgia from Mooseville. In this shot from the summer of 2013, we see Andy, Roman, Sammy, Jenna, Caitlin, Rosie, Lana, Paul, and Mark, the seven Purple Mooses who participated in the 2013 NARCh Southern California Regional tournament, and Caitlin and Mark practicing with them. Interestingly, all nine of these individuals, each sighted, have participated with the Mooses' Blind team, all willing to put on the goggles and play blind. Sammy, Lana, and Mark have been instrumental in the development of our blind game. Pretty good photo, considering it was taken with an old flip phone!
Jesus has just passed the puck up on the diagonal to Danny, who has in turn caught it and backhanded it up ahead of David into the attack zone.
Today, the three amigos ran through the usual four, ten-minute segments of offensive pattern play. And "ran," would be the right descriptive verb. Last night (Thursday), we thought we were doing things a little faster-paced than usual. Today, the pace of play was downright...well, really fast. At least, that's how it seems.
Each player notes that their skills seem a lot more consistent, performance seems a lot smoother, and the result is that everything seems to go faster than it used to. So, while we can't really see how we're doing, we're pretty sure that we are doing fairly well. At least that's our confidence level.
Tried a new sounding assembly configuration. Took the circuit board and the sounding baffle out of their housing. Taped them together, taped all the wires, and then fixed six layers of cushioning around the assembly before placing it into the puck. Everybody noticed a marked loudness in the puck, and it worked the whole time, so it's looking like maybe we have a new application that might be of value.
This sounding assembly has now worked for two hours straight. Previous assemblies have conked out at around five hours mostly due to getting bashed around in the normal course of hockey play. It truly appears that the extra cushioning now employed might do the trick, that is, keep the assembly components from becoming damaged. So if this works, we might have a new level of quality in our continuous sounding hockey puck. We'll see!
Back tomorrow, out on the blue floor!
Today, the three amigos ran through the usual four, ten-minute segments of offensive pattern play. And "ran," would be the right descriptive verb. Last night (Thursday), we thought we were doing things a little faster-paced than usual. Today, the pace of play was downright...well, really fast. At least, that's how it seems.
Each player notes that their skills seem a lot more consistent, performance seems a lot smoother, and the result is that everything seems to go faster than it used to. So, while we can't really see how we're doing, we're pretty sure that we are doing fairly well. At least that's our confidence level.
Tried a new sounding assembly configuration. Took the circuit board and the sounding baffle out of their housing. Taped them together, taped all the wires, and then fixed six layers of cushioning around the assembly before placing it into the puck. Everybody noticed a marked loudness in the puck, and it worked the whole time, so it's looking like maybe we have a new application that might be of value.
This sounding assembly has now worked for two hours straight. Previous assemblies have conked out at around five hours mostly due to getting bashed around in the normal course of hockey play. It truly appears that the extra cushioning now employed might do the trick, that is, keep the assembly components from becoming damaged. So if this works, we might have a new level of quality in our continuous sounding hockey puck. We'll see!
Back tomorrow, out on the blue floor!
Thursday, October 17, 2019; little floor at Nations-Tobin Sports Center; 4:00-5:00 pm
In an image from our National Sports Day game play, David (white sweater) goes into the corner to attempt to wrest the puck from Craig. David is our lone visually impaired player. He is that rare guy that has committed to playing with the blind players, by playing blind himself.
Today was another of those rare occasions. Everything worked very well. Three man offensive pattern play. David shot the eyes out of the net. Everything he sent goalward went in. Most of his shots were also above the leg pads of the goalie as well. Remembrance was of only a couple the whole afternoon that didn't go in...
David, Danny, and Jesus played all over the floor, and play was crisp and snappy. Passing, pass catching, turning the puck and sending it, running onto the puck; all the normal offensive play components were performed solidly, and errors were few and far between. With this level of snappy play comes a higher level of speed on the play. In a ten-twelve minute segment, more plays are made. This was a good physical workout as well.
Good job, boys! on to Friday and Saturday sessions!
Today was another of those rare occasions. Everything worked very well. Three man offensive pattern play. David shot the eyes out of the net. Everything he sent goalward went in. Most of his shots were also above the leg pads of the goalie as well. Remembrance was of only a couple the whole afternoon that didn't go in...
David, Danny, and Jesus played all over the floor, and play was crisp and snappy. Passing, pass catching, turning the puck and sending it, running onto the puck; all the normal offensive play components were performed solidly, and errors were few and far between. With this level of snappy play comes a higher level of speed on the play. In a ten-twelve minute segment, more plays are made. This was a good physical workout as well.
Good job, boys! on to Friday and Saturday sessions!
Saturday, October 12, 2019, Nations-Tobin Little Floor, 12:00-1:00 pm
Every so often, but regularly, all the little incremental improvements that a player works on, add up to a marked and noticeable, quantum of change! Today, a true 200 foot player emerged within the El Paso Mooses! Carina set up on the defensive wing, moved through the neutral zone, played passes up the floor to her teammates, and shot from the wing on goal with elan: all the way up and all the way back, the consumat two-way player.
Danny, Daniela, and Mickayla joined Cartina in our offensive pattern play work out this afternoon. Everyone was sharp, quick, and snappy in their play all over the floor.
Our current little siren died in the seventh hourly session of its use. It does seem as though the siren sounding mechanisms last 5-6 hours regularly before succumbing to the rigors of getting bashed around the hockey rink. New siren in use on Monday, and we'll continue to chart this. The little sirens don't last forever, but at 5 sessions per unit before needing to be replaced, that's workable, and for the time period they do function, they fill the bill admirably!
Back Monday, out on the blue floor!
Danny, Daniela, and Mickayla joined Cartina in our offensive pattern play work out this afternoon. Everyone was sharp, quick, and snappy in their play all over the floor.
Our current little siren died in the seventh hourly session of its use. It does seem as though the siren sounding mechanisms last 5-6 hours regularly before succumbing to the rigors of getting bashed around the hockey rink. New siren in use on Monday, and we'll continue to chart this. The little sirens don't last forever, but at 5 sessions per unit before needing to be replaced, that's workable, and for the time period they do function, they fill the bill admirably!
Back Monday, out on the blue floor!
Friday, October 11, 2019; Nations-Tobin little floor, 5:00-6:00
Tonight was Mickayla and the boys, Danny, Jesus and David. Each player took one single aspect of their game and focussed effort on improvement. This was a resounding success for everybody!
Mickayla worked on lifting the puck on her shots. She took over 40 shots during the night's offensive pattern pay, and failed to lift the puck the required 6-10 inches on only a couple! Exceptional work effort!
Danny found a new play: all the way up from his defensive position into the white zone, play the x-man behind the net, guide the shot, then reclaim any missed shot off the back wall. Then recover all the way back to goalside of the puck in the black zone for the next play. Extra effort really works!
Jesus worked on skating between all three lanes in the back zone, playing a new spot for each play. Tremendous effort, best skating for him ever. Mobility rules!
For David, touch passing, into the white zone, wrapping between lanes behind the net, and especially feather-touch center passes to Mickayla in the slot. Outstanding playmaking, setting his teammates all night long!
This was really something, the whole practice. This moves the team into a new group-level of performance. Very Cool. Back Saturday for more work!
Mickayla worked on lifting the puck on her shots. She took over 40 shots during the night's offensive pattern pay, and failed to lift the puck the required 6-10 inches on only a couple! Exceptional work effort!
Danny found a new play: all the way up from his defensive position into the white zone, play the x-man behind the net, guide the shot, then reclaim any missed shot off the back wall. Then recover all the way back to goalside of the puck in the black zone for the next play. Extra effort really works!
Jesus worked on skating between all three lanes in the back zone, playing a new spot for each play. Tremendous effort, best skating for him ever. Mobility rules!
For David, touch passing, into the white zone, wrapping between lanes behind the net, and especially feather-touch center passes to Mickayla in the slot. Outstanding playmaking, setting his teammates all night long!
This was really something, the whole practice. This moves the team into a new group-level of performance. Very Cool. Back Saturday for more work!
Thursday, October 10, 2019; Big Floor, Nations-Tobin Sports Center
On August 27, 2003, El Paso Times' photojournalist Ruben Ramirez took a photograph very similar to this one on the large floor at the Nations-Tobin Sports Center. The new Center opened the following day.
Here, 16-plus years later, the three elder players of the El Paso Mooses gathered for their Thursday afternoon training session. While we obviously need some further practice in photo composition, the hockey practice went extremely well.
Jesus, David, and Danny skated for 50 minutes in four segment periods of work. WIthin our offensive pattern play, we practiced movement about the floor, shooting, passing, and hearing the goals and the puck, the latter of which is a premier skill on both the big floor and the similarly sized regulation ice surface. These Thursday, big-floor practices give the boys a great opportunity to work on their general direction hearing, specific direction hearing, and location focus hearing abilities.
A good solid practice.
Tomorrow, Friday, we should have five players in attendance, including a brand new participant player!
We haven't had a new recruit in about a year, since Daniela and Sarge joined the fray. We expect to have a lot of fun, welcoming a new Moose to the herd.
See everybody tomorrow, then!
Here, 16-plus years later, the three elder players of the El Paso Mooses gathered for their Thursday afternoon training session. While we obviously need some further practice in photo composition, the hockey practice went extremely well.
Jesus, David, and Danny skated for 50 minutes in four segment periods of work. WIthin our offensive pattern play, we practiced movement about the floor, shooting, passing, and hearing the goals and the puck, the latter of which is a premier skill on both the big floor and the similarly sized regulation ice surface. These Thursday, big-floor practices give the boys a great opportunity to work on their general direction hearing, specific direction hearing, and location focus hearing abilities.
A good solid practice.
Tomorrow, Friday, we should have five players in attendance, including a brand new participant player!
We haven't had a new recruit in about a year, since Daniela and Sarge joined the fray. We expect to have a lot of fun, welcoming a new Moose to the herd.
See everybody tomorrow, then!
Tuesday, October 8, 2019; Nations-Tobin small floor, 3:00-4:00 p.m.
Highlighting "Professor" Craig, our assistant player/coach from Las Cruces. Here, in Saturdays NBS Day game play, Craig is sending the puck to wrap around the corner and to clear the black defensive zone.
Craig Sanders' background is erudite enough, he is a staff Lecturer in the English Department at New Mexico State University. A little more than a year ago, Craig was talked into coming out to try blind hockey play by a couple of friends. The friends have since departed the Desert Southwest, kinda leaving the Professor to fend for himself in the world of sightless hockey.
Craig is a unique individual. When he came to the Mooses, he had not skated before, nor played hockey. He does have an affinity for the Pittsburgh Penguins, so his heart has always been in a hockey place. Craig put on the equipment, set his goggles, and stepped out onto the little blue floor to learn how to skate...blind!
Most of our players learned how to skate with whatever vision they have to begin with, then we put on the goggles to learn how to play hockey. Craig decided to do it all while blind, just like our total blind players have always had to do it! Wow! Just wow!
Commitment and dedication is indeed the hallmark of Craig's skill development.
Today, Craig joined Carina, Sgt. Mark, Jesus, and Danny in some very good five man offensive pattern play. We wanted to work on our hearing skills in offensive play. Carina really went on a tear, only missing on a pair of more than 40 shots at the goal on her part. That is more than a 95% on-goal shooting percentage!
Craig worked on his passing, and finding the puck skills. Coach Jesus played his usual back-zone defensive, and made the play-starter clearance passes. Sgt. Mark took one wing, and Craig took the other. Danny played the weak side defender, backing up, targeting the goal for his teammates, and making centering passes of his own. This was a very good practice for everybody. Back Thursday for some more.
Craig Sanders' background is erudite enough, he is a staff Lecturer in the English Department at New Mexico State University. A little more than a year ago, Craig was talked into coming out to try blind hockey play by a couple of friends. The friends have since departed the Desert Southwest, kinda leaving the Professor to fend for himself in the world of sightless hockey.
Craig is a unique individual. When he came to the Mooses, he had not skated before, nor played hockey. He does have an affinity for the Pittsburgh Penguins, so his heart has always been in a hockey place. Craig put on the equipment, set his goggles, and stepped out onto the little blue floor to learn how to skate...blind!
Most of our players learned how to skate with whatever vision they have to begin with, then we put on the goggles to learn how to play hockey. Craig decided to do it all while blind, just like our total blind players have always had to do it! Wow! Just wow!
Commitment and dedication is indeed the hallmark of Craig's skill development.
Today, Craig joined Carina, Sgt. Mark, Jesus, and Danny in some very good five man offensive pattern play. We wanted to work on our hearing skills in offensive play. Carina really went on a tear, only missing on a pair of more than 40 shots at the goal on her part. That is more than a 95% on-goal shooting percentage!
Craig worked on his passing, and finding the puck skills. Coach Jesus played his usual back-zone defensive, and made the play-starter clearance passes. Sgt. Mark took one wing, and Craig took the other. Danny played the weak side defender, backing up, targeting the goal for his teammates, and making centering passes of his own. This was a very good practice for everybody. Back Thursday for some more.
Here are our two current sonic hockey pucks. Babs is the below image, she continues to be the standard, is fully operational, and is functioning perfectly. At the top of the picture is the new aluminum puck, as yet unnamed. Sgt . Mark, himself is fabricating the puck; he has a great metal lathe, and he is pretty good with it. The new puck is still in the experimental stages, trying out different wiring and siren combinations as yet. We tried it our briefly on Saturday and it worked great. Sgt. Mark is machining a couple of more models, perhaps more like Babs in structure, but either way, the machined puck is going to be a great addition to the program.
We might strike off a note to USA Hockey, who continues to cast about for a "continuously sounding puck," for their visually impaired game. We offered a month ago for USA Hockey to try out our puck. We were told that "nobody has a puck that works out in trial like they promised it would." Talk about a blow-off of an answer?!
A couple of USA Hockey officials did observe earlier models of the puck and sounding devices when we were exhibiting our game last March in Florida at the National Disabled Hockey Festival. These officials were not impressed...at all. Their evaluation was rather short and dismissive. One of these officials proceeded to caution other teams and visually impaired hockey programs not to play with our puck, because it was "dangerous." We only found out months later that this had been told to other programs!
We might assume that it was the weight of these earlier models that were considered too heavy, but to this date, neither this individual, nor any other USA Hockey official has explained what they felt was "dangerous" about our puck...and we've asked...several times.
No matter. Babs works perfectly, sounding 60-90 minutes continuously, on an ice or inline surface. You can hear the puck's general direction at any point on the rink. You can hear specific direction to the puck within twenty feet. You can pinpoint exact location within five feet. The sounding device produces 108db of sound. The puck weighs 12 ounces. It is fabricated of 14-gauge stainless steel, and its dimensions are 1.125" high, 3.375" diameter. The sounding device costs $11.00 and lasts 5-10 hours of play (so far) before the normal rigors of play break the mechanism. The puck it self will last hundreds of hours of play, and no true prediction comes to mind yet as the puck has not shown any signs of wear in over 100 actual hours of play so far...we used previous models for more than 300 hours each prior to developing this new model, and they each had but one minor seam repair in their total time of use.
This is exactly the "continuously sounding hockey puck," that total blind players (or anybody) can hear anywhere, anytime on the ice. When USA Hockey gets around to producing and sanctioning a hockey game specifically for totally blind players, this is the puck that will work. USA Hockey, let us know when you would like to try it out?!
We might strike off a note to USA Hockey, who continues to cast about for a "continuously sounding puck," for their visually impaired game. We offered a month ago for USA Hockey to try out our puck. We were told that "nobody has a puck that works out in trial like they promised it would." Talk about a blow-off of an answer?!
A couple of USA Hockey officials did observe earlier models of the puck and sounding devices when we were exhibiting our game last March in Florida at the National Disabled Hockey Festival. These officials were not impressed...at all. Their evaluation was rather short and dismissive. One of these officials proceeded to caution other teams and visually impaired hockey programs not to play with our puck, because it was "dangerous." We only found out months later that this had been told to other programs!
We might assume that it was the weight of these earlier models that were considered too heavy, but to this date, neither this individual, nor any other USA Hockey official has explained what they felt was "dangerous" about our puck...and we've asked...several times.
No matter. Babs works perfectly, sounding 60-90 minutes continuously, on an ice or inline surface. You can hear the puck's general direction at any point on the rink. You can hear specific direction to the puck within twenty feet. You can pinpoint exact location within five feet. The sounding device produces 108db of sound. The puck weighs 12 ounces. It is fabricated of 14-gauge stainless steel, and its dimensions are 1.125" high, 3.375" diameter. The sounding device costs $11.00 and lasts 5-10 hours of play (so far) before the normal rigors of play break the mechanism. The puck it self will last hundreds of hours of play, and no true prediction comes to mind yet as the puck has not shown any signs of wear in over 100 actual hours of play so far...we used previous models for more than 300 hours each prior to developing this new model, and they each had but one minor seam repair in their total time of use.
This is exactly the "continuously sounding hockey puck," that total blind players (or anybody) can hear anywhere, anytime on the ice. When USA Hockey gets around to producing and sanctioning a hockey game specifically for totally blind players, this is the puck that will work. USA Hockey, let us know when you would like to try it out?!
Saturday, October 5, 2019; 2nd Annual National Blind Sports Day
David, Mickayla, Sgt. Mark, Carina, Craig, and Danny work on their offense-defense pattern play on the little floor of the Nations-Tobin Sports Center
David, Mickayla, Sgt. Mark, Carina, Craig, and Danny work on their offense-defense pattern play on the little floor of the Nations-Tobin Sports Center
Mickayla, in an earlier shot, her basic sniper pose, firing one into the bottom far corner of the net. Mickayla is currently working with her orthopaedist to correct a joint/growth imbalance. She lives with orthotic braces on both knees, and is not on skates for a while more yet.
Mickayla took up the black zone slot in today's exercise. She would receive the backpass following each offensive goal, take a practice shot herself, then send an offensive clearing pass into the neutral or white zone to start the next play. While she did excellent in todays pattern play, she is very anxious to get back on skates...
Mickayla took up the black zone slot in today's exercise. She would receive the backpass following each offensive goal, take a practice shot herself, then send an offensive clearing pass into the neutral or white zone to start the next play. While she did excellent in todays pattern play, she is very anxious to get back on skates...
Following the defensive clearance, David looks over to his white squad partner to set up for the next play. In the background is Reporter Dave from CBS4 News. Dave video'd our session today in honor of National Blind Sports Day.
David and Craig go at it along the end wall. The contention for possession of the puck in Sonic Hockey requires you to pay close attention to what your opponent is doing, as well as trying to locate and obtain the puck yourself. The resultant action with two evenly matched opponents is much like a board scrum you see in the NHL.
So, the 2nd Annual National Blind Sports Day, promoted by the United States Association for Blind Athletes (USABA), kinda snuck up on us. Coach Danny remembered about it last week, and fired off an email to the USABA noting that we were going to honor the event with this Saturday sonic hockey session. Apparently, the USABA does a pretty thorough job of publicizing it's activities, because they sent out a national media release, and three local El Paso media outlets wanted to check us out. Both CBS4/KFOX and KTSM sent reporters with cameras to get some info and video footage. Happy to have everybody with us.
So, the 2nd Annual National Blind Sports Day, promoted by the United States Association for Blind Athletes (USABA), kinda snuck up on us. Coach Danny remembered about it last week, and fired off an email to the USABA noting that we were going to honor the event with this Saturday sonic hockey session. Apparently, the USABA does a pretty thorough job of publicizing it's activities, because they sent out a national media release, and three local El Paso media outlets wanted to check us out. Both CBS4/KFOX and KTSM sent reporters with cameras to get some info and video footage. Happy to have everybody with us.
Carina takes the puck behind her own net, ready to wrap it around the corner up to a teammate in the neutral zone. You can note the very shiny aluminum puck casing. More on yet another new puck below.
We haven't practiced other than offensive pattern play in quite a while. Today, we decided to play offense vs. defense, one direction, tactical play. Since Mickayla could not skate, she worked in the back and started all the plays with a pass up to the black squad players in the neutral zone. The three black players would then attack the white goal, defended by a pair of white defensive players. The white guys would attempt to dispossess the black play, and clear the puck back to the black zone, from where the next play would then originate.
This was great! Everybody loved that we had bad guys to cope with. The challenge of play in this practice environment was embraced by everybody, and some really good plays -both offensive and defensive- resulted.
We haven't practiced other than offensive pattern play in quite a while. Today, we decided to play offense vs. defense, one direction, tactical play. Since Mickayla could not skate, she worked in the back and started all the plays with a pass up to the black squad players in the neutral zone. The three black players would then attack the white goal, defended by a pair of white defensive players. The white guys would attempt to dispossess the black play, and clear the puck back to the black zone, from where the next play would then originate.
This was great! Everybody loved that we had bad guys to cope with. The challenge of play in this practice environment was embraced by everybody, and some really good plays -both offensive and defensive- resulted.
David attempts to get a defensive clearance past Craig's forecheck, while Sgt. Mark tries to get out of the way. A large part of blind hockey is listening to your teammates, and not interfering with each other's efforts. On this play, Sarg did get his stick out of the way in time, and David was able to get the puck out of the zone successfully.
Carina takes the puck off the 3-wall (the left wing) and sends it up to the white zone.
Everybody agreed that we should move our practice format up to offensive v. defense on a regular basis. Well, since we can indeed start with 1v1, if that's all the players we got, all the way up to 5v5, we believe that we just might do that from now on!
Everybody agreed that we should move our practice format up to offensive v. defense on a regular basis. Well, since we can indeed start with 1v1, if that's all the players we got, all the way up to 5v5, we believe that we just might do that from now on!
Sargent Mark re-sets in the defensive zone following a play.
We have been working on players developing their skill sets for the past several months, so offensive pattern play has been the way to go. We believe we are now ready for the more difficult offense-defense set, which also brings out more creativity as part of the challenge. Sounds like a good way to go!
We have been working on players developing their skill sets for the past several months, so offensive pattern play has been the way to go. We believe we are now ready for the more difficult offense-defense set, which also brings out more creativity as part of the challenge. Sounds like a good way to go!
A new, aluminum, 3" diameter puck. Weighs the same as Babs. Worked very well for half of today's session. Upon inspection, we note the battery snap came loose in play. Didn't tape the snap in place as we usually do, so we're looking for this puck to perhaps work very well. Sgt. Mark himself turned the parts for this unit on his lathe, which is profoundly well done for a blind guy, eh?
We have a tiny bit more experimenting to do with this one, but this could very easily become a good quality puck we could use every day. If we can get the sounding assembly to function well, this is definitely the puck of the future. Frankly, it looks so snazzy, we probably do NOT want to paint it....maybe...obviously it does not matter what color the puck is to the players, but referees and spectators might be a consideration. Need to think about that.
Back out to the rinks next week, looking forward to more offense-defense and puck experimentation.
We have a tiny bit more experimenting to do with this one, but this could very easily become a good quality puck we could use every day. If we can get the sounding assembly to function well, this is definitely the puck of the future. Frankly, it looks so snazzy, we probably do NOT want to paint it....maybe...obviously it does not matter what color the puck is to the players, but referees and spectators might be a consideration. Need to think about that.
Back out to the rinks next week, looking forward to more offense-defense and puck experimentation.
Tuesday, October 1, 2019; Little floor at Nations-Tobin, 3:30-4:30 pm
Carina looks up to target a pass from the neutral zone.
This was a very good practice session for Danny, Carina, and Coach Jesus. Everybody improved on a focus skill.
Carina wanted to practice shooting, specifically, lifting the puck over a prone goalkeeper leg. We put a 8" pad in front of the goal to enable her to judge a successful shot attempt. Out of over fifty shots, she scored on 8 perfectly placed shots. A couple of more went wide, so that was very well done.
Jesus really wants to increase his mobility in the defensive zone, so he would move to change lanes with a twenty/thirty foot, cross-lane skate after starting each play with a clearing pass up to the offense. This was great, everytime we played the puck back to him, he was in a different place, very mobile the whole practice.
Danny wanted to focus on his target passing, largely on the forty-foot back passes to Jesus and the twenty-foot centering passes to Carina in the slot. Danny felt he was pin-point on about 95% of his passes, so that was probably his best effort in about three months.
Everything worked, and we are all looking forward to our trio of sessions, Thursday/Friday/Saturday, back out on the blue floor.
This was a very good practice session for Danny, Carina, and Coach Jesus. Everybody improved on a focus skill.
Carina wanted to practice shooting, specifically, lifting the puck over a prone goalkeeper leg. We put a 8" pad in front of the goal to enable her to judge a successful shot attempt. Out of over fifty shots, she scored on 8 perfectly placed shots. A couple of more went wide, so that was very well done.
Jesus really wants to increase his mobility in the defensive zone, so he would move to change lanes with a twenty/thirty foot, cross-lane skate after starting each play with a clearing pass up to the offense. This was great, everytime we played the puck back to him, he was in a different place, very mobile the whole practice.
Danny wanted to focus on his target passing, largely on the forty-foot back passes to Jesus and the twenty-foot centering passes to Carina in the slot. Danny felt he was pin-point on about 95% of his passes, so that was probably his best effort in about three months.
Everything worked, and we are all looking forward to our trio of sessions, Thursday/Friday/Saturday, back out on the blue floor.
Saturday, September 28, 2019; Nations-Tobin little floor, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
TV Day with the Mooses!
Following our practice session, from left, reporter Antonio lines up Danny, Craig, Daniela, Mickayla, Carina, David, and Jesus for some highlight footage.
True to their schedule, Telemundo television reporter Antonio came by with his cameraman in tow to shoot action footage and player interviews. In the above image, Antonio has us lined up for some group poses to highlight his production of a "3-4 minute feature" for a sportscast segment "sometime in November."
Everybody was a little "camera anxious," as we were very cognizant of the camera watching our practice performance this morning. Actually everybody did very well, just that each player was extra alert to their minor technical mistakes more than usual. We ran three segments, about 50 minutes worth of action, then Antonio conducted one on one interviews with several players. We do commend Antonio in that, as a person coming onto blind hockey for the first time, he truly wanted to find out all he could about the Mooses, team history and development, the future, the individual players...just about everything he could glean about everything! He seemed to grasp the fundamental concepts quickly and asked some good questions, not simply the cliche inquiries. We will be interested to note the resultant feature article, to be aired at some point in November. Hope to copy the video onto our website here.
Now to look at the week ahead, and maybe set up our ice schedule for the season. We'll see how it goes, starting Monday, back out on the blue floor at Nations-Tobin.
Following our practice session, from left, reporter Antonio lines up Danny, Craig, Daniela, Mickayla, Carina, David, and Jesus for some highlight footage.
True to their schedule, Telemundo television reporter Antonio came by with his cameraman in tow to shoot action footage and player interviews. In the above image, Antonio has us lined up for some group poses to highlight his production of a "3-4 minute feature" for a sportscast segment "sometime in November."
Everybody was a little "camera anxious," as we were very cognizant of the camera watching our practice performance this morning. Actually everybody did very well, just that each player was extra alert to their minor technical mistakes more than usual. We ran three segments, about 50 minutes worth of action, then Antonio conducted one on one interviews with several players. We do commend Antonio in that, as a person coming onto blind hockey for the first time, he truly wanted to find out all he could about the Mooses, team history and development, the future, the individual players...just about everything he could glean about everything! He seemed to grasp the fundamental concepts quickly and asked some good questions, not simply the cliche inquiries. We will be interested to note the resultant feature article, to be aired at some point in November. Hope to copy the video onto our website here.
Now to look at the week ahead, and maybe set up our ice schedule for the season. We'll see how it goes, starting Monday, back out on the blue floor at Nations-Tobin.
Friday, September 27, 2019; big floor, Nations-Tobin 5:00-6:00 pm
Coach Jesus works on his patented backhand passing, which on the right wing, enables his to shield the puck from bad guys. Coach is very analytical, his background as a state champion both as a wrestler and Coach, and he grasped the concept that a hockey player needs to be as proficient on the backhand as much as the forehand plays. He has therefore worked like a crazy person on perfecting that backhand, almost to the exclusion of the forehand. Aa long as it serves him well, we can expect him to turn the puck to the backhand about 75-80% of the time.
David, who professed trouble hearing the puck yesterday, did remarkable today, catching, tracking, and sending el disco with ease. Tomorrow, the local Telemundo network TV station is scheduled to do a feature on the Mooses Blind Hockey Club, or El Cub de Hockey Alces...as we work on our Spanish vocabulary prior to the video...
As evidence that the El Paso Mooses are constantly experimenting with equipment for the blind player, let's look at Danny's protective set...Mission inline skates are about the only normal thing he's got on. The leg guards are baseball catcher's shin guards (Rawlings tm). His gloves are very old (16 years old) Mission Bilt-Rites. Arm guards are lacrosse models. Stick is three pieces cobbled together from a 2013 Alkali, one of the first factory sticks they produced. Danny's helmet is a custom made, all-leather, Bauer 5000, with full face mask, one of a kind. As we are on the inline rink, neither pants nor sox are really needed for a practice session. All the protection is there.
As Danny attempts to center the puck you can see both his teammates reflected in the end board glass...David in front of the goal, and Jesus back at the point.
The boys had another very solid practice session this afternoon. Each player worked on several aspects of his skills, using the full-floor, big rink as the training environment. As ususalthe first segment was failry disjointed, as each player re-acquired the sounds and touches of the big floor...even though we were just out here yesterday. Seems like a warm-up period is necessary, just to get going.
One into the swing, the plays flowed one to the other just like they are supposed to. Passing, catching, running onto, turning the puck, and communicating all came into play and came rather naturally. Good practice. See all tomorrow.
As Danny attempts to center the puck you can see both his teammates reflected in the end board glass...David in front of the goal, and Jesus back at the point.
The boys had another very solid practice session this afternoon. Each player worked on several aspects of his skills, using the full-floor, big rink as the training environment. As ususalthe first segment was failry disjointed, as each player re-acquired the sounds and touches of the big floor...even though we were just out here yesterday. Seems like a warm-up period is necessary, just to get going.
One into the swing, the plays flowed one to the other just like they are supposed to. Passing, catching, running onto, turning the puck, and communicating all came into play and came rather naturally. Good practice. See all tomorrow.
Thursday, September 26, 2019; Nations-Tobin, big floor, 4:00-5:00 pm
In this image from an earlier game session, David shields the play well, setting up for a pass up the rink.
This Thursday resembled the previous week, with Danny, David, and Jesus skating out onto the big floor. They worked on the usual pattern plays up and back down the full rink. Jesus worked on switching lanes in his defensive position floor movement. David worked on lifting the puck when shooting on goal, and was highly successful at it! Danny worked on his pass-and-move situations through the neutral and attack zones, especially finding the goal to tack his teammate's shooting target.
All in all, this was a very solid session. Each player had majority success in their playmaking objectives, and each player discovered a few new things as well.
We will point toward tomorrow, Friday to carry the success over to the little floor once again, and perhaps Mickayla can join us for some shooting practice of her own. See everybody then!
This Thursday resembled the previous week, with Danny, David, and Jesus skating out onto the big floor. They worked on the usual pattern plays up and back down the full rink. Jesus worked on switching lanes in his defensive position floor movement. David worked on lifting the puck when shooting on goal, and was highly successful at it! Danny worked on his pass-and-move situations through the neutral and attack zones, especially finding the goal to tack his teammate's shooting target.
All in all, this was a very solid session. Each player had majority success in their playmaking objectives, and each player discovered a few new things as well.
We will point toward tomorrow, Friday to carry the success over to the little floor once again, and perhaps Mickayla can join us for some shooting practice of her own. See everybody then!
Tuesday, September 24, 2019; Nations-Tobin big floor...Craig, Carina, Jesus, Danny full floor workout...
Everybody got to work on their current focus skill today. Danny worked on his floor movement and passing. Craig worked on his puck skills all-'round. Carina worked on her slot play and shooting. Jesus worked on his defensive zone movement and outlet passing. Babs worked very well. The siren sounding device does sound different in the environment of the big floor, but of course it is much more expansive, like the ice rink. So hearing the puck is actually easier, once you become accustomed to the sound.
Movement about the rink, through the lanes and zones, in the various positions of play, is high level by all players. We are moving about the playing surface much like versions of sighted players, albeit somewhat slower. Really looks like hockey. Hopefully we will expand on this effort on Thursday, when next we skate out onto the big floor. Then the Friday/Saturday sessions look to have 4/5 players for each day. We continue to work on the game of blind hockey, hopefully moving the state of the art a little bit forward each time. See everybody on Thursday.
Everybody got to work on their current focus skill today. Danny worked on his floor movement and passing. Craig worked on his puck skills all-'round. Carina worked on her slot play and shooting. Jesus worked on his defensive zone movement and outlet passing. Babs worked very well. The siren sounding device does sound different in the environment of the big floor, but of course it is much more expansive, like the ice rink. So hearing the puck is actually easier, once you become accustomed to the sound.
Movement about the rink, through the lanes and zones, in the various positions of play, is high level by all players. We are moving about the playing surface much like versions of sighted players, albeit somewhat slower. Really looks like hockey. Hopefully we will expand on this effort on Thursday, when next we skate out onto the big floor. Then the Friday/Saturday sessions look to have 4/5 players for each day. We continue to work on the game of blind hockey, hopefully moving the state of the art a little bit forward each time. See everybody on Thursday.
Monday, September 23, 2019; Nations-Tobin little floor, 5:00-6:00 pm
Coach Jesus in an unaccustomed position, that of offensive forward. Today, Jesus and Danny hit the small rink at Nations-Tobin, looking for their usual pattern playmaking workout. A lot was pretty usual: Babs and her sounding device worked perfectly. The goal beepers performed excellently. "I could actually distinguish between all three sounding devices at the same time," noted Danny. "Usually, I must focus on the nearest device to the aural exclusion of the other two. Today, I could separate all three, each from the others, simultaneously. That was cool!"
Also, Coach Jesus stepped onto the rink, and inadvertently went left instead of right, taking up a slot position in front of the white goal. The first play was largely confusing, as he was trying to get to the far wing in the black zone, his usual defensive spot. Instead he ended up in a shooting position. Well, what the heck, let's just play this way!
Coach played the rest of the practice session in the offensive slot, catching pucks and shooting on goal! Not his usual play component. Danny actually enjoyed sending him the puck from the defense and wings as well. This was a change of pace for both skaters, and they each got to invent new play components from their respective, non-normative vectors of play. Lots of fun!
Looking to Tuesday session, on the big floor, with Carina and Craig joining today's twosome. Full floor, working on our 50-foot passing and playmaking. Should be equal fun tomorrow.
Also, Coach Jesus stepped onto the rink, and inadvertently went left instead of right, taking up a slot position in front of the white goal. The first play was largely confusing, as he was trying to get to the far wing in the black zone, his usual defensive spot. Instead he ended up in a shooting position. Well, what the heck, let's just play this way!
Coach played the rest of the practice session in the offensive slot, catching pucks and shooting on goal! Not his usual play component. Danny actually enjoyed sending him the puck from the defense and wings as well. This was a change of pace for both skaters, and they each got to invent new play components from their respective, non-normative vectors of play. Lots of fun!
Looking to Tuesday session, on the big floor, with Carina and Craig joining today's twosome. Full floor, working on our 50-foot passing and playmaking. Should be equal fun tomorrow.
Friday, September 20, 2019; Nations-Tobin little floor, 5:00-6:00 pm
David works on fundamental technique with all diligence. Note that he is always "facing" his passing/shooting target, even though he can't see it. He presents a consistent posture to enable his hearing to be consistent. He always hears things the same way in order to better identify them. This is obviously a skill that a blind hockey player needs to develop, and David has done just that. In this picture, he kinda looks like a regular, sighted hockey player lining up a shot or pass, eh?
Today was an oddity, in that we had the same three players in attendance at practice two days in a row. That almost never happens. The three boys went at it pretty good.
Every once in a while all the little increments of player development add up to a quantum of change. Today, David, Danny, and Coach Jesus noticed one such differential in their three-man offensive pattern play. "We were a lot faster in our playmaking," noted David. And he was right. All the components of play were faster, the connections were faster, and we got in about 50 sequence repetitions today, when our usual is about 40-45. That was very cool.
This was one of those days where, if we could travel back in time, and play a game against ourselves of say, six months ago, we probably would kick our own butts. Time travel paradox notwithstanding...
Back out on the blue floor next week, and then looking for some ice time in the new fall season coming up...
Today was an oddity, in that we had the same three players in attendance at practice two days in a row. That almost never happens. The three boys went at it pretty good.
Every once in a while all the little increments of player development add up to a quantum of change. Today, David, Danny, and Coach Jesus noticed one such differential in their three-man offensive pattern play. "We were a lot faster in our playmaking," noted David. And he was right. All the components of play were faster, the connections were faster, and we got in about 50 sequence repetitions today, when our usual is about 40-45. That was very cool.
This was one of those days where, if we could travel back in time, and play a game against ourselves of say, six months ago, we probably would kick our own butts. Time travel paradox notwithstanding...
Back out on the blue floor next week, and then looking for some ice time in the new fall season coming up...
Thursday, September 19, 2019; Nations-Tobin little floor, 6:00-7:00 pm
Players learn that their backhand shot/pass is just as important as their forehand play in the game of hockey. Coach Jesus is the one Mooses' player that has taken that axiom to heart. Coach has worked on his backhand relentlessly from his first day on the rink, back some three years ago.
Today's tone and timbre of play was just a solid performance. Not flashy, not earth shattering, but good, competent, solid play all round. Passing was very good all over the floor. Shooting on goal was excellent, with only one instance of those plays that the shot always seemed to go just a little wide, shot after shot. Communicating was certainly first rate.
Fact is, all our players know where they are on the floor, and also where all their teammates are, even though nobody can see anything. We know because we tell each other our positions as we move through the patterns of play. This communication system that the Mooses have developed truly is not much more that sighted players use, but our players are very good at consistently communicating floor positions and movements to each other. Danny and David crisscrossed each other as they changed lanes up the floor several times, without even a hint of a collision, because they knew where each other was and where they were moving. Sort of looks like we can see out there, even though we are all totally without any vision. Very cool when you think about it. Can't wait til next time out on the rink!
Today's tone and timbre of play was just a solid performance. Not flashy, not earth shattering, but good, competent, solid play all round. Passing was very good all over the floor. Shooting on goal was excellent, with only one instance of those plays that the shot always seemed to go just a little wide, shot after shot. Communicating was certainly first rate.
Fact is, all our players know where they are on the floor, and also where all their teammates are, even though nobody can see anything. We know because we tell each other our positions as we move through the patterns of play. This communication system that the Mooses have developed truly is not much more that sighted players use, but our players are very good at consistently communicating floor positions and movements to each other. Danny and David crisscrossed each other as they changed lanes up the floor several times, without even a hint of a collision, because they knew where each other was and where they were moving. Sort of looks like we can see out there, even though we are all totally without any vision. Very cool when you think about it. Can't wait til next time out on the rink!
Monday, September 16, 2019;
El Dia de La Independencia en Mexico;
practice on Nations-Tobin little floor, 3:00-4:00 p.m.
El Dia de La Independencia en Mexico;
practice on Nations-Tobin little floor, 3:00-4:00 p.m.
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Coach Jesus and Danny practiced their two-man passing and shooting plays today. Also tested the 3' puck, Bub, with the stripped out sounding components. Sadly, Bub didn't work. The sounding components need their protective assembly casing to protect them from damage. The sounding assembly, without the protective casing, lasted only about twenty minutes. That doesn't cut it, we must classify this attempt as a failure. So....for the time being, Babs, with the sounding assembly intact, as illustrated above, is going to be the way to go. The current sounding assembly is now in use for two hours, two sessions of hockey. We will keep count. The previous assembly lasted a full ten hours prior to getting bashed around and the circuit board fell into disrepair. Tomorrow, back out on the big floor, going for the sounding assembly's third hour in Babs. |
Saturday, September 14, 2019; Nations-Tobin Sports Center, little floor, 11:00 am-12:00 pm
From left, Daniela, MIckayla, Danny following their exhibition session in the USA Hockey National Disabled Hockey Festival this past March 30th.
Every practice is different. Daniela, Mickayla, and Danny hopped onto the little floor today to work on their skills. After a dismal showing with his passing Thursday, Danny was looking to focus and concentrate on making accurate 50 footers. Daniela worked on both her sending and receiving, and her hearing her teammates' communication. Mickayla's focus was shooting, specifically lifting the puck on her shot the requisite 8" or so to elude a sprawled goalkeeper leg pad, simulated by a 8" foam pad across the goal mouth.
Three players, three objectives. Danny was real happy with his passing. Apparently when he pays attention, his accuracy to his teammates can indeed be first rate. Daniel performed her pass-and-move components of the playmaking with elan. Mickayla took over fifty shots during the 65 minutes of work, hit the goal on all but half a dozen, and "beat the goalkeeper" on fully 7 plays.
So, yes, this was a very successful practice session. Bab's siren also performed well, but required a minor repair. After the adjustment, the siren mechanism remains in excellent operating condition. That's ten hours and counting when it comes to the durability of the sounding assembly.
Jesus and Danny are going to hit the floor Monday, to trial a new sounding component configuration in both Babs, and Bub! We'll see how it works. If this works, we can use Bub, our stainless steel, regulation size (3"x1") puck. This will be something!
Every practice is different. Daniela, Mickayla, and Danny hopped onto the little floor today to work on their skills. After a dismal showing with his passing Thursday, Danny was looking to focus and concentrate on making accurate 50 footers. Daniela worked on both her sending and receiving, and her hearing her teammates' communication. Mickayla's focus was shooting, specifically lifting the puck on her shot the requisite 8" or so to elude a sprawled goalkeeper leg pad, simulated by a 8" foam pad across the goal mouth.
Three players, three objectives. Danny was real happy with his passing. Apparently when he pays attention, his accuracy to his teammates can indeed be first rate. Daniel performed her pass-and-move components of the playmaking with elan. Mickayla took over fifty shots during the 65 minutes of work, hit the goal on all but half a dozen, and "beat the goalkeeper" on fully 7 plays.
So, yes, this was a very successful practice session. Bab's siren also performed well, but required a minor repair. After the adjustment, the siren mechanism remains in excellent operating condition. That's ten hours and counting when it comes to the durability of the sounding assembly.
Jesus and Danny are going to hit the floor Monday, to trial a new sounding component configuration in both Babs, and Bub! We'll see how it works. If this works, we can use Bub, our stainless steel, regulation size (3"x1") puck. This will be something!
Thursday, September 12, 2019; Nations-Tobin Sport Center, little floor. The El Paso Mooses continue to test their continuous sounding hockey puck, Babs, on withstanding the rigors of blind hockey play. David, Danny, and Coach ran offensive pattern plays on the little floor today for about 50 minutes. Babs did great! We actually smashed one battery, but the siren mechanism continues to fully function. That's 9 hours and counting! Looks like this siren assembly is indeed going to be the blind hockey puck that everyone can use!
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A major key to durability is the cushioning. Wrapped around the siren sounding assembly is a double layer strip of a Dr. Schole's foot pad. This protects the sounding device and battery from shocks during the battering of normal hockey play. The device has now fully functioned for over 9 hours of play. The 14 gauge stainless steel casing itself is a sturdy feat of metal engineering. Our metal pucks have each weathered hundreds of hours of hockey play. Babs is competently following in their footsteps. We contrast this durability to any other sounding hockey puck reported to date. The St. Louis Blind Hockey Club website notes that the ball bearing puck will last only but a single hour before it becomes misshapen and no longer plays well. So far, USA Hockey reports that no continuously sounding hockey puck has presented the ability to last a normal practice time period of play. Well, Babs has now lasted more than 9 hour-length practice sessions of play, including our most recent ice session. We got the puck that works. Let us know when you would like to check it out. Back out on the little blue floor tomorrow, to work on our shooting! |
Tuesday, August 10, 2019;
Big floor, Nations-Tobin Center...Danny, Craig, Carina, David, and Coach Jesus skating out onto the big floor...
Big floor, Nations-Tobin Center...Danny, Craig, Carina, David, and Coach Jesus skating out onto the big floor...
Here we are: left is the 5.5" ball bearing puck, currently used by visually impaired hockey teams, and sanctioned for national use by USA Hockey, even though everybody agrees that it does not work for totally blind players at all. Right is a regulation, 3" vulcanized rubber, ice hockey puck. Center is Babs, the continuously sounding, 3.3" puck in use by the El Paso Mooses.
First time we have had five skaters practicing full-floor on the big floor, ever. This was great! Offensive pattern play, all the way up, and all the way back. Worked on a number of things:
1. Player communication: seems like we have gotten lazy, all of us. We don't call loud enough, we don't call everything we should, we forget to say certain things...all shows a lack of focus and concentration when it comes to our communication skills. We can and will get better at this. Today, we identified several areas of concern that we need to work on in the future...like next practice!
2. Player movement about the floor...this we did great! all the way up, all the way back, coming back onside, not going offside, even without a blue line on this floor. players moving between lanes, defensive moving to 4th forward position. behind the net, everybody taking turns in the variant forward slots. very good job.
3. Good passing! after short passes the first segment, everybody got on the ball and sent the puck as far and as hard as needed. Missed passes were easy to follow onto to retrieve the play when necessary.
4. All in all, probably the most advanced training session we have ever had. Still, we did not play 3v2, or designate opponents in any form, but this was otherwise very game-condition work. good job.
We'll see if we can pick this up on Thursday, perhaps back out on the big floor.
First time we have had five skaters practicing full-floor on the big floor, ever. This was great! Offensive pattern play, all the way up, and all the way back. Worked on a number of things:
1. Player communication: seems like we have gotten lazy, all of us. We don't call loud enough, we don't call everything we should, we forget to say certain things...all shows a lack of focus and concentration when it comes to our communication skills. We can and will get better at this. Today, we identified several areas of concern that we need to work on in the future...like next practice!
2. Player movement about the floor...this we did great! all the way up, all the way back, coming back onside, not going offside, even without a blue line on this floor. players moving between lanes, defensive moving to 4th forward position. behind the net, everybody taking turns in the variant forward slots. very good job.
3. Good passing! after short passes the first segment, everybody got on the ball and sent the puck as far and as hard as needed. Missed passes were easy to follow onto to retrieve the play when necessary.
4. All in all, probably the most advanced training session we have ever had. Still, we did not play 3v2, or designate opponents in any form, but this was otherwise very game-condition work. good job.
We'll see if we can pick this up on Thursday, perhaps back out on the big floor.
Saturday, August 7, 2019; Little floor, Nations-Tobin Sport Center
"Wooden Music," as Stephen Stills used to say...here are the non-electronic versions of Calvin and Suzie, using marbles, nuts & bolts, and jingle bells as noise makers. Worked, sort of...
Carina, Craig, and Danny went through a practice session Saturday morning that included no electronic sounding devices. The Staff at Nations-Tobin prohibited our using them this morning as the sound volume was deemed "disturbing to the other patrons" in the building. This, of course, is the wrong decision, is outright discrimination against accommodating access to the facility by disabled athletes. We will take this up with the proper authorities. But, back to the practice session at hand.
We resolved to use our puck without the sounding device, utilizing marbles ala the ball bearing puck. This was enlightening! Really did not work at all!
Our players would start a segment with the puck in possession. You would send the puck to a teammate. If you couldn't get the puck to their stick, you hoped to have it hit a wall as a sounding reference point to the puck's next location. The receiving player could hear the puck scratch along the floor and track its path by that sound. If you did not catch it, you tried to use your spatial awareness, and "the last known sound" the puck had made, to turn and try to track it down as the puck lay motionless -and silent- in its new location. Sometimes we got it, but quite a few times we did not. Either Danny or Craig would need to lift their goggles and verbally redirect a teammate to a vector toward the puck. Pretty much an unsatisfactory environment to play blind hockey in.
This does, of course, reinforce our continuous sounding devices for both the puck and the goals as definitely the way to produce an environment where the blind player can truly play the game of hockey. Note to USA Hockey: we got the continuous sounding devices for the puck and the goals that enable the blind player to play this game and play it very well! Let us know when you would like to try them out.
Below is a video of our experience today. This was from the first segment, with no prior experience so to speak, filmed live as it happened. You will get a very good idea of the limitations that playing without our sounding devices placed on us. If you view this video, please also view the video from Thursday below to compare the two. We think that you will agree with us that our sounding devices truly make blind hockey a great game!
Carina, Craig, and Danny went through a practice session Saturday morning that included no electronic sounding devices. The Staff at Nations-Tobin prohibited our using them this morning as the sound volume was deemed "disturbing to the other patrons" in the building. This, of course, is the wrong decision, is outright discrimination against accommodating access to the facility by disabled athletes. We will take this up with the proper authorities. But, back to the practice session at hand.
We resolved to use our puck without the sounding device, utilizing marbles ala the ball bearing puck. This was enlightening! Really did not work at all!
Our players would start a segment with the puck in possession. You would send the puck to a teammate. If you couldn't get the puck to their stick, you hoped to have it hit a wall as a sounding reference point to the puck's next location. The receiving player could hear the puck scratch along the floor and track its path by that sound. If you did not catch it, you tried to use your spatial awareness, and "the last known sound" the puck had made, to turn and try to track it down as the puck lay motionless -and silent- in its new location. Sometimes we got it, but quite a few times we did not. Either Danny or Craig would need to lift their goggles and verbally redirect a teammate to a vector toward the puck. Pretty much an unsatisfactory environment to play blind hockey in.
This does, of course, reinforce our continuous sounding devices for both the puck and the goals as definitely the way to produce an environment where the blind player can truly play the game of hockey. Note to USA Hockey: we got the continuous sounding devices for the puck and the goals that enable the blind player to play this game and play it very well! Let us know when you would like to try them out.
Below is a video of our experience today. This was from the first segment, with no prior experience so to speak, filmed live as it happened. You will get a very good idea of the limitations that playing without our sounding devices placed on us. If you view this video, please also view the video from Thursday below to compare the two. We think that you will agree with us that our sounding devices truly make blind hockey a great game!
Thursday, September 5, 2019; Little floor, Nations-Tobin Sports Center, 4:00-5:00 pm
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From Thursday's practice this week, we have video of Danny, David, and Carina running offensive pattern plays. This video gives you a good idea of the different skills and tactics that the players get to practice in this training environment:
1. moving capably through the different positions on the rink, 2. communicating and connecting with teammates, 3. sending and receiving passes, 4. sending passes to space for teammates to run onto, 5. shooting on goal, 6. hearing and finding the puck, 7. turning the puck to set up for a pass or shot, 8. knowing where you are on the rink. The players noted today that we hadn't played together as this specific three Mooses in quite a while, if ever. We really do seem to have a different combination of our twelve players at any given practice session. It takes a little while to settle in to the playing rhythm with your teammates, so the first five minutes or so of the play is sometimes disjointed. The highlight is that you get to create new combinations of plays together. Every practice, each player finds things to accomplish successfully that they have not come across before. You get a very good sense of self-satisfaction with your performance in this environment. Everybody walks way feeling pretty good about their part in the game. Looking for another round of fun, back on the little floor Saturday. See you there. |
Tuesday, September 3, 2019; We skated fifteen sessions in August. We have our rink facilities available to skate 26 or 27 total sessions in September, depending on ice availability. Here's hoping we can get out on the floor and ice as often as possible.
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Only Coach Jesus and Danny could make it to skate today, so they did some offensive pattern play on the little floor. On the second segment, Danny taped the video camera to his face mask. Taped about five minutes of their pattern playmaking. The resulting video does a very good job of "showing" what a blind player hears and feels as they move about the floor. The goal beepers, the puck siren, the teammates, all play upon the player's hearing, and together with the walls and the tactile blue lines, allow the players to know where they are on the floor at all times.
As you view the video, keep in mind that both players are playing sightless, using only their hearing and sense of touch to move about the floor, find the puck, make and receive passes, run onto the puck, turn and stickhandle the puck, shoot on goal, then get the puck out of the goal and start the next play. We really want players in those programs throughout North America that demand sightless players play only goalkeeper or static defensive positions, to observe how well the player can actually play any aspect of offense, with no use of vision, when you have a game that enables them to do so. This is hockey played with no use of vision. We love this game! |
Saturday, August 31, 2019; Nations-Tobin Little floor, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Here's a shot from Friday's big floor session, but it is indicative of the team skill we were employing on Saturday on the little floor. Sgt. Mark and Daniela both made the play on the puck in the black zone. Daniela claimed it, Sarge turned to skate up to the neutral zone, getting out of her way. This resulted in a successful clearance of the puck.
Saturday, Danny, Daniela, and Sgt. Mark performed a blind version of the offensive pattern play, "Three, down and back..." As the puck is sent back to the defensive zone, all three players recover to the black zone. While one player claims the puck, the other two move up to the neutral zone setting up to receive the pass. From there, the play is headed into the white zone and a shot on goal. Send the puck again back into the black zone, and the play process repeats. From time to time, the players change lanes, and communicate to avoid getting in each other's way. The first segment was rather dis-coordinated, but each subsequent segment of play produced better and smoother play. The fourth and final segment was darn near perfect playmaking the whole ten minutes. Very good practice. Everybody is taking Labor Day weekend off, and we'll regroup for the next practice probably Tuesday.
Saturday, Danny, Daniela, and Sgt. Mark performed a blind version of the offensive pattern play, "Three, down and back..." As the puck is sent back to the defensive zone, all three players recover to the black zone. While one player claims the puck, the other two move up to the neutral zone setting up to receive the pass. From there, the play is headed into the white zone and a shot on goal. Send the puck again back into the black zone, and the play process repeats. From time to time, the players change lanes, and communicate to avoid getting in each other's way. The first segment was rather dis-coordinated, but each subsequent segment of play produced better and smoother play. The fourth and final segment was darn near perfect playmaking the whole ten minutes. Very good practice. Everybody is taking Labor Day weekend off, and we'll regroup for the next practice probably Tuesday.
Friday, August 30, 2019; Nations-Tobin Center Big Floor, 5:00-6:00 pm
Sergeant Mark tracks down the puck in the black zone.
Every rink is different. Every sounding system is different. Every blind hockey puck is different. These three variables sort of guarantee that you are going to spend at least the first few minutes of any blind hockey session orienting, or "getting used to" what the game sounds like. That was certainly the case today. We tried a new puck out today. We were on the big floor, which makes hearing some sounds easy, and some more difficult. We used two different pucks over the course of the 60 minutes of play.
Every rink is different. Every sounding system is different. Every blind hockey puck is different. These three variables sort of guarantee that you are going to spend at least the first few minutes of any blind hockey session orienting, or "getting used to" what the game sounds like. That was certainly the case today. We tried a new puck out today. We were on the big floor, which makes hearing some sounds easy, and some more difficult. We used two different pucks over the course of the 60 minutes of play.
Coach Jesus zeros in on the puck behind the net in the black zone.
Over the course of the coming hockey season, the El Paso Mooses plan to play on maybe six new ice hockey rinks. Each one will have a different set of acoustics, which will take some getting used to. That's all part of your development as a blind hockey player.
Each player today, Danny, Jesus, Sarge, and Daniela, worked on a different aspect of their full floor, playmaking game. We ran four 15 minute segments of offensive pattern play.
Coach worked on moving the width of the floor in the defensive zone, sending the puck to the offense, and playmaking communication.
Sargeant Mark worked on his general and location hearing on the puck. Sarge wears hearing aids, which are highly adjustable, and the best adjusted level of amplification is different for each environment he plays in. He did a great job of experimenting with a hearing combination that would work for today's setting.
Daniela has truly come into her hearing on the puck at an advanced level. She has the level of certainly in both her specific hearing range and her focus location hearing that the best players have. Her ability to make the play is now a sure thing. She is working on her speed in making the play, and also zeroing in on the goal.
Danny continues to work on conditioning, making the 100 foot runs required on the wing in good, two-way hockey playmaking.
Over the course of the coming hockey season, the El Paso Mooses plan to play on maybe six new ice hockey rinks. Each one will have a different set of acoustics, which will take some getting used to. That's all part of your development as a blind hockey player.
Each player today, Danny, Jesus, Sarge, and Daniela, worked on a different aspect of their full floor, playmaking game. We ran four 15 minute segments of offensive pattern play.
Coach worked on moving the width of the floor in the defensive zone, sending the puck to the offense, and playmaking communication.
Sargeant Mark worked on his general and location hearing on the puck. Sarge wears hearing aids, which are highly adjustable, and the best adjusted level of amplification is different for each environment he plays in. He did a great job of experimenting with a hearing combination that would work for today's setting.
Daniela has truly come into her hearing on the puck at an advanced level. She has the level of certainly in both her specific hearing range and her focus location hearing that the best players have. Her ability to make the play is now a sure thing. She is working on her speed in making the play, and also zeroing in on the goal.
Danny continues to work on conditioning, making the 100 foot runs required on the wing in good, two-way hockey playmaking.
Daniela turns the puck in the defensive slot to send it into the neutral zone offense.
Not usually on the big floor on Fridays. There was no roller derby training session, so we commandeered the opportunity. Also tried out a new battery, size "A23" which is a very small, 12-volt battery. The smaller size enabled us to use a 3" by 1" regulation size, metal casing that we had previously used three years back with the buzzers/lithium ion batteries. Worked excellently! But the battery could only keep up the siren's sound volume for about 20 minutes. Might try two batteries tomorrow, see if that would make it last longer. We used Babs perfectly for the final 40 minutes of play. It's nice to have two pucks (three, if you include Hobbs) that work well.
All in all, this was a quality practice. A lot more errors were made in the course of play than lately has become the norm. Because players were not afraid to fail, valuable learning from these mistakes was in very good stead. Everybody goofed up, but everybody got better, adapted, adjusted, and the team success rate increased every one of the four segments of play. This was a good practice.
Hope we can continue this tomorrow, and maybe back out on the big floor.
Not usually on the big floor on Fridays. There was no roller derby training session, so we commandeered the opportunity. Also tried out a new battery, size "A23" which is a very small, 12-volt battery. The smaller size enabled us to use a 3" by 1" regulation size, metal casing that we had previously used three years back with the buzzers/lithium ion batteries. Worked excellently! But the battery could only keep up the siren's sound volume for about 20 minutes. Might try two batteries tomorrow, see if that would make it last longer. We used Babs perfectly for the final 40 minutes of play. It's nice to have two pucks (three, if you include Hobbs) that work well.
All in all, this was a quality practice. A lot more errors were made in the course of play than lately has become the norm. Because players were not afraid to fail, valuable learning from these mistakes was in very good stead. Everybody goofed up, but everybody got better, adapted, adjusted, and the team success rate increased every one of the four segments of play. This was a good practice.
Hope we can continue this tomorrow, and maybe back out on the big floor.
Thursday, August 29, 2019; Nations-Tobin Sports Center Big Floor, 4:00-5:00 pm
The Black Box:
The electronic tool kit of the El Paso Mooses Blind Hockey Club. Actual tools, Black goal and White goal beepers, two blind hockey pucks; Hobbs and Babs, two extra sounding device assemblies, Gorilla Tape. Everything you need to play a great game of Blind Hockey out on the full size ice or inline hockey rink. These tools represent hundreds of hours, and thousands of dollars, spent experimenting with devices, wiring, outer casing configurations, and trial and error on both inline and ice surfaces.
Today Danny, David, and Coach Jesus ran through 60 minutes of offensive pattern plays on the big floor. Like Tuesday, the players ran the whole floor, all three zones and all three lanes. All the way up and all the way back. Did great, in fact did excellent. So well that David and Danny spent the entire second segment attacking the white goal with the goal sounding device turned off. Forgot to turn it back on following the break. Apparently, these guys did hear the Black Goal beeper echoing into the white zone, because they played thinking they had some idea where the goal was. Just couldn't zero in exactly where the slot was, and couldn't figure out why they couldn't. Danny shot one directly into the corner. That's where he heard the echo coming from. David shot one straight up into the end wall for the same reason. All the other 8-10 plays, however, were right on goal. It appears that when you are in the slot, you hear the echo right in the center, which is where the goal is. Anyway, after discovering at the following break that the goal was never turned on, they mentally rewound all the plays they had just made, now realizing where the mistakes were and what caused them. Amazed at all the plays that went right, however. Playing from wing wall, skating on the diagonal, finding the end wall and the goal strictly by spatial awareness and touch does seem to be a skill. Maybe we need to analyse that in more detail. Anyway, it worked for an entire 10 minutes with no directional goal sounding device this afternoon. We note that Babs' siren assembly has worked continuously for three hours now.
Back to the Little Floor tomorrow. Working on our selective hearing, which is more difficult on the little floor, and thereby is good practice. See everybody there.
The electronic tool kit of the El Paso Mooses Blind Hockey Club. Actual tools, Black goal and White goal beepers, two blind hockey pucks; Hobbs and Babs, two extra sounding device assemblies, Gorilla Tape. Everything you need to play a great game of Blind Hockey out on the full size ice or inline hockey rink. These tools represent hundreds of hours, and thousands of dollars, spent experimenting with devices, wiring, outer casing configurations, and trial and error on both inline and ice surfaces.
Today Danny, David, and Coach Jesus ran through 60 minutes of offensive pattern plays on the big floor. Like Tuesday, the players ran the whole floor, all three zones and all three lanes. All the way up and all the way back. Did great, in fact did excellent. So well that David and Danny spent the entire second segment attacking the white goal with the goal sounding device turned off. Forgot to turn it back on following the break. Apparently, these guys did hear the Black Goal beeper echoing into the white zone, because they played thinking they had some idea where the goal was. Just couldn't zero in exactly where the slot was, and couldn't figure out why they couldn't. Danny shot one directly into the corner. That's where he heard the echo coming from. David shot one straight up into the end wall for the same reason. All the other 8-10 plays, however, were right on goal. It appears that when you are in the slot, you hear the echo right in the center, which is where the goal is. Anyway, after discovering at the following break that the goal was never turned on, they mentally rewound all the plays they had just made, now realizing where the mistakes were and what caused them. Amazed at all the plays that went right, however. Playing from wing wall, skating on the diagonal, finding the end wall and the goal strictly by spatial awareness and touch does seem to be a skill. Maybe we need to analyse that in more detail. Anyway, it worked for an entire 10 minutes with no directional goal sounding device this afternoon. We note that Babs' siren assembly has worked continuously for three hours now.
Back to the Little Floor tomorrow. Working on our selective hearing, which is more difficult on the little floor, and thereby is good practice. See everybody there.
Tuesday, August 27, 2019;
Nations-Tobin Center, Big Floor, 3:00-4:00 pm
Today Daniela, Craig, Jesus, and Danny went onto the big floor and ran offensive pattern plays. Usually we just play half or 2/3's of the floor, full width. Today, we ran full-floor and it was great! This was one of those "best practices ever" days!
Offensive pattern plays, full floor. This was truly the best practice ever. Not perfect, plenty of flubs, long list, but the plays ran one into the next, passes, puck finding, shots, all were made extremely well.
Four people, skating out onto the big floor, using a continuously sounding hockey puck, and two sounding goal beepers, running plays up and down the floor, and playing the whole time, totally blind! This is amazing.
The litany we have had to hear from people all over the country: "How can blind players find the puck, how can blind players keep onside, how can blind players make passes to each other, How can blind players move around on the floor? Don't blind players crash into each other? Are there enough blind players to make a hockey team? Aren't that puck' and the goals' sounding devices too noisy?" ...and all these things have been said to us by well-meaning, persons who are already playing with visually impaired players of all levels! Seems that nobody believes that fully blind players can play hockey!
Well, you need to see the El Paso Mooses play the game. We will keep playing hockey, in spite of what anybody else says we can or cannot do. So there!
Nations-Tobin Center, Big Floor, 3:00-4:00 pm
Today Daniela, Craig, Jesus, and Danny went onto the big floor and ran offensive pattern plays. Usually we just play half or 2/3's of the floor, full width. Today, we ran full-floor and it was great! This was one of those "best practices ever" days!
Offensive pattern plays, full floor. This was truly the best practice ever. Not perfect, plenty of flubs, long list, but the plays ran one into the next, passes, puck finding, shots, all were made extremely well.
Four people, skating out onto the big floor, using a continuously sounding hockey puck, and two sounding goal beepers, running plays up and down the floor, and playing the whole time, totally blind! This is amazing.
The litany we have had to hear from people all over the country: "How can blind players find the puck, how can blind players keep onside, how can blind players make passes to each other, How can blind players move around on the floor? Don't blind players crash into each other? Are there enough blind players to make a hockey team? Aren't that puck' and the goals' sounding devices too noisy?" ...and all these things have been said to us by well-meaning, persons who are already playing with visually impaired players of all levels! Seems that nobody believes that fully blind players can play hockey!
Well, you need to see the El Paso Mooses play the game. We will keep playing hockey, in spite of what anybody else says we can or cannot do. So there!
Coach Jesus using his patented backhand passing skill. On the big floor, like on ice, you need to be able to pass the puck completely across the rink from one side to the other, and know where you are putting it. Coach accomplished this time after time today. Great big floor performance!
Daniela successfully passed the puck today all over the floor, all three lanes and three zones. Her shooting was spot on as well. In fact, she was like eight for ten in shots on goal accuracy.
Craig's movement through the zones was first rate today. He did so well, and consistently, that the single time he was somewhat lost in direction stood out noticeably. The rest of the entire session he was GPS to the max, playmaking par excellence.
Danny got to practice his skating today. When you are running plays "all the way up; all the way back," you get in a lot of 100 foot runs up and down the floor. Danny worked diligently on sending the play and then finding the goal. This sets up plays for teammates. "Best I've ever done at that," notes Danny.
We next skate on Thursday, hopefully back out on the big floor. See everybody then.
Danny got to practice his skating today. When you are running plays "all the way up; all the way back," you get in a lot of 100 foot runs up and down the floor. Danny worked diligently on sending the play and then finding the goal. This sets up plays for teammates. "Best I've ever done at that," notes Danny.
We next skate on Thursday, hopefully back out on the big floor. See everybody then.
Friday, August 23, 2019;
Nations-Tobin Center, Little Floor, 4:30-5:30 pm
Nations-Tobin Center, Little Floor, 4:30-5:30 pm
Haven't taken any current pictures in a week or so, will get on that this coming week...
Here we are, back at Mooseville. Sammy, in the foreground, is practicing blind hockey passing, stick to stick at 20 feet, to Lana in the corner. This image, from the Fall of 2011, shows two dedicated, sighted hockey players who really helped us out with our development of blind hockey. At the time, Lana was eleven years old, and Sammy was ten, but they played like adults. Lana was valedictorian of her high school class, and they are both in College now.
Here we are, back at Mooseville. Sammy, in the foreground, is practicing blind hockey passing, stick to stick at 20 feet, to Lana in the corner. This image, from the Fall of 2011, shows two dedicated, sighted hockey players who really helped us out with our development of blind hockey. At the time, Lana was eleven years old, and Sammy was ten, but they played like adults. Lana was valedictorian of her high school class, and they are both in College now.
A (very) close up image of a blind hockey puck, circa 2011. This construction consists of a regulation, Ideal Design Sports (IDS) Pro-Shot inline hockey puck. The buzzer, to the right, was a 1" Radio Shack, 6-volt buzzer, with three 3-volt lithium ion batteries taped to the leads. The buzzer was simply stuffed into the 1" hole cut into the puck's center. Worked pretty good at Mooseville, but not so good on ice.
This is a screen shot from a ten-second video of Mickayla practicing her shooting back in the fall of 2014 (the timestamp on the photo is not accurate). She was ten years old at the time and even then a true sniper from anywhere in the slot. Still using the regulation puck/buzzer at the time. You can also see the smaller goal beepers we used back then. It would be another year before we would get on ice at the coliseum, and we had to change to better, more moisture resistant, and louder sounding devices.
Practice this Friday was very good. Daniela, David, and Danny (you were only allowed to play if your name started with a "D") skated though 50 minutes, three segments of offensive pattern play. We worked on quickness, and connecting with each other in our playmaking. Today was a perfect example of our incremental improvement in player development. We each try to get a little bit better in every practice session. After a few months the "little bits" add up to a quantum improvement. It is always fun when a player realizes that, "Hey, I really have gotten better at that!" ...and this happens frequently and continually with the Mooses.
No Saturday practice again, the Center is occupied with another activity for the weekend. Hopefully, we'll get back out on the floor more for the next week.
Practice this Friday was very good. Daniela, David, and Danny (you were only allowed to play if your name started with a "D") skated though 50 minutes, three segments of offensive pattern play. We worked on quickness, and connecting with each other in our playmaking. Today was a perfect example of our incremental improvement in player development. We each try to get a little bit better in every practice session. After a few months the "little bits" add up to a quantum improvement. It is always fun when a player realizes that, "Hey, I really have gotten better at that!" ...and this happens frequently and continually with the Mooses.
No Saturday practice again, the Center is occupied with another activity for the weekend. Hopefully, we'll get back out on the floor more for the next week.
Thursday, August 22, 2019;
Nations-Tobin Center, 4:00-5:00 pm
Good practice...except short practice...only got through about 40 minutes in two segments, as both sirens broke during play. These two units had logged ten-plus hours of play with no problems, until they both went dead, the one after the other. Darn it! This makes this new siren, which is the only one we have come across that truly works on ice (is very moisture resistant, apparently), much less workable...
So...took one apart. The red lead from the siren casing has broken off from its tiny solder joint to the siren's internal circuit board. Took the second one apart...same thing. Touching the red wire to the solder joint does produce a working siren, full force. So that's the thing that broke. Now, can't tell for certain if pressure on the lead (pulling, yanking on it) outside the casing caused the lead to pull off and break from its soldered position inside the case, or if it was internal pressure that caused the break. One thing we can try is to secure the leads to the casing so they don't get yanked around regardless of pressure. That should immobilize their position and prevent any movement inside the casing...we hope. We will try this out with a new siren, although tempted to go buy a solder gun and try to remember seventh grade electric shop soldering procedures...At least we know that these two sirens died from a wiring problem and not a problem with the vibrating sounding mechanism...and the wire could be re-soldered if need be.
So, Friday night practice, we will try a new siren. The leads from the casing will be taped, and the leads will be fastened to the battery so as to not put any pulling pressure on them. "This should work." We'll see. We really want to use Babs. The weight and size of our new puck are ideal for playing blind hockey, but we need a sounding mechanism that will work for 50-plus hours without any needed repair. Also to try: perhaps a re-soldering of the joint would be stronger and a thus-repaired siren would actually serve the purpose...We'll see...
Nations-Tobin Center, 4:00-5:00 pm
Good practice...except short practice...only got through about 40 minutes in two segments, as both sirens broke during play. These two units had logged ten-plus hours of play with no problems, until they both went dead, the one after the other. Darn it! This makes this new siren, which is the only one we have come across that truly works on ice (is very moisture resistant, apparently), much less workable...
So...took one apart. The red lead from the siren casing has broken off from its tiny solder joint to the siren's internal circuit board. Took the second one apart...same thing. Touching the red wire to the solder joint does produce a working siren, full force. So that's the thing that broke. Now, can't tell for certain if pressure on the lead (pulling, yanking on it) outside the casing caused the lead to pull off and break from its soldered position inside the case, or if it was internal pressure that caused the break. One thing we can try is to secure the leads to the casing so they don't get yanked around regardless of pressure. That should immobilize their position and prevent any movement inside the casing...we hope. We will try this out with a new siren, although tempted to go buy a solder gun and try to remember seventh grade electric shop soldering procedures...At least we know that these two sirens died from a wiring problem and not a problem with the vibrating sounding mechanism...and the wire could be re-soldered if need be.
So, Friday night practice, we will try a new siren. The leads from the casing will be taped, and the leads will be fastened to the battery so as to not put any pulling pressure on them. "This should work." We'll see. We really want to use Babs. The weight and size of our new puck are ideal for playing blind hockey, but we need a sounding mechanism that will work for 50-plus hours without any needed repair. Also to try: perhaps a re-soldering of the joint would be stronger and a thus-repaired siren would actually serve the purpose...We'll see...
Babs, with her new coat of paint, and her new, "side-terminal" battery connector snap, ready to go out onto the rink. In her new form, Babs is only barely higher than the regulation, 1" height ice hockey puck. With the reduced space inside this new, shorter battery casing, the top-terminal battery leads cross-circuited, causing the battery to short out. The new side-terminal leads completely avoid any pressure, and no cross-connection occurs. This development is a perfect example of how continually improving the blind hockey puck design and operation bring the need for constant supervisory maintenance. As each new concept comes about, you need to work out the problems that arise. Looks like we got Babs in good order now!
The sounding assembly siren has now functioned the 10+ hours without damage, which was the initial target minimum performance level. The initial attempts to use this siren failed after 3-6 hours of use, in each of three units. The fourth unit has now lasted beyond the desired minimum. With proper cushioning inside the puck casing, the sounding mechanism does not get battered as easily as before. This seems to have resolved the issue. We are now shooting for that magic, 50 hours+ usage, at 10+ and counting!
The sounding assembly siren has now functioned the 10+ hours without damage, which was the initial target minimum performance level. The initial attempts to use this siren failed after 3-6 hours of use, in each of three units. The fourth unit has now lasted beyond the desired minimum. With proper cushioning inside the puck casing, the sounding mechanism does not get battered as easily as before. This seems to have resolved the issue. We are now shooting for that magic, 50 hours+ usage, at 10+ and counting!
Friday, August 16, 2019; Nations-Tobin Sports Center, little floor, 5:00-6:00 pm
Brand new continuously sounding hockey puck! Babs has joined the El Paso Mooses as our newest innovation in the blind hockey equipment field. She'll get her coat of black paint tonight, but for today, she will debut on the rink as her shiny, stainless steel self. Babs is the smallest full siren puck we've used, and the lightest at only 12 ounces. Specs: 3.375" diameter, 1.125" high, 14-guage stainless steel, 12 oz. weight, including sounding assembly.
The new puck was tremendous! The weight and heft of the puck on your stick was the most manageable we have ever had. Every player noticed and commented how easy this puck was to play with on your stick! The glide pins are made out of solid stainless steel, and the puck sailed along the floor with ease, so much so, that players over-hit their passes and shots for a while til we settled into it. The glide pins reduce friction on the co-polymer plastic playing surface of the inline rink, but they serve a second purpose on both the inline and the ice surfaces: the glide pins raise the bottom face of the puck above the surface, so sound escapes both faces of the puck, increasing the volume of the sounding device. Better to hear and locate the puck!
Maybe since the sounding assembly in Babs is the same as was used last in Hobbs, but nobody had any trouble locating the puck at all. The smaller size seems to have no deleterious effect on the sound, so that's good sound in the lightest metal puck ever. Great! Only trouble was a battery short from the battery snap, happened twice. Easily corrected both times, but this means we need to arrive at a working configuration of the wiring in the new puck before we can proclaim total success. Working on it...
Every practice is different. David, Jesus, Sargent Mark, and Danny went into action for 75 minutes on the little floor. Sgt. Mark rejoins us after a couple of months out from back surgery. He stepped right in and produced steady, solid play for the entire session!
On to Saturday, see everybody out on the little blue floor.
The new puck was tremendous! The weight and heft of the puck on your stick was the most manageable we have ever had. Every player noticed and commented how easy this puck was to play with on your stick! The glide pins are made out of solid stainless steel, and the puck sailed along the floor with ease, so much so, that players over-hit their passes and shots for a while til we settled into it. The glide pins reduce friction on the co-polymer plastic playing surface of the inline rink, but they serve a second purpose on both the inline and the ice surfaces: the glide pins raise the bottom face of the puck above the surface, so sound escapes both faces of the puck, increasing the volume of the sounding device. Better to hear and locate the puck!
Maybe since the sounding assembly in Babs is the same as was used last in Hobbs, but nobody had any trouble locating the puck at all. The smaller size seems to have no deleterious effect on the sound, so that's good sound in the lightest metal puck ever. Great! Only trouble was a battery short from the battery snap, happened twice. Easily corrected both times, but this means we need to arrive at a working configuration of the wiring in the new puck before we can proclaim total success. Working on it...
Every practice is different. David, Jesus, Sargent Mark, and Danny went into action for 75 minutes on the little floor. Sgt. Mark rejoins us after a couple of months out from back surgery. He stepped right in and produced steady, solid play for the entire session!
On to Saturday, see everybody out on the little blue floor.
Thursday, August 15, 2019; Nations-Tobin little rink, 4:00-5:00 pm
Didn't get any new pictures today...Here's an older image of Mickayla, older phone didn't catch the action very well, her stick is a blur...is a good shot to demonstrate focus and concentration, however...
So there's hardly ever a poor practice with the Mooses. Everybody always puts in the effort, puts in the work. There is always some success along with the failure. So all is generally good. Sometimes everything is fairly ordinary in outcome, that was certainly today.
There is a reason for this seeming mediocrity, however. When all our players are so consistent in the efforts, and the outcomes are generally successful, with very few failures, it may not be spectacular, but it is very worthwhile. Carina, Craig, Jesus, David and Danny did indeed go through the motions of four pattern play segments in one hour of today's training session. They did have a lot of success. The failures were very few. Everybody did so well, that these successful outcomes did seem commonplace as opposed to spectacular. So we are guilty of achieving a level of very successful median performance. Our successes have become commonplace. A normative level of success is now mediocrity. Hmmm...
So, we're all getting pretty good in skills and tactical play making. So good, that we seem ordinary. We'll have to figure out some new challenge environment for Friday and Saturday to make things a little more spectacular in appearance. See everybody tomorrow.
Hoping to pick up Babs at Dominguez tomorrow about noontime. Back with the pronouncement early tomorrow afternoon!
So there's hardly ever a poor practice with the Mooses. Everybody always puts in the effort, puts in the work. There is always some success along with the failure. So all is generally good. Sometimes everything is fairly ordinary in outcome, that was certainly today.
There is a reason for this seeming mediocrity, however. When all our players are so consistent in the efforts, and the outcomes are generally successful, with very few failures, it may not be spectacular, but it is very worthwhile. Carina, Craig, Jesus, David and Danny did indeed go through the motions of four pattern play segments in one hour of today's training session. They did have a lot of success. The failures were very few. Everybody did so well, that these successful outcomes did seem commonplace as opposed to spectacular. So we are guilty of achieving a level of very successful median performance. Our successes have become commonplace. A normative level of success is now mediocrity. Hmmm...
So, we're all getting pretty good in skills and tactical play making. So good, that we seem ordinary. We'll have to figure out some new challenge environment for Friday and Saturday to make things a little more spectacular in appearance. See everybody tomorrow.
Hoping to pick up Babs at Dominguez tomorrow about noontime. Back with the pronouncement early tomorrow afternoon!
Tuesday, August 13, 2019; Nations-Tobin Center, 3:00-4:00 pm
The El Paso Mooses blind hockey team plays four segments, each of 15 minutes during an hour of offensive pattern practice. We run plays for 10-12 minutes, then take a 3-5 minute rest break. Here, Daniela, Jesus and Carina take the first break of the afternoon.
Each practice is decidedly different. Either a different combination of players is present, or we are trying some new piece of equipment, or we introduce a new pattern process into our training. Something is always different.
Today Daniela, Jesus, Carina, and Danny went through the usual hour of playmaking. We are all working on making our hearing better. The combination of the siren sounding puck with the back-up alarm goal beepers does take a defined effort to use efficiently in locating the position of the various parts of the rink.
Let's see how that works.
To start each play, somebody sends the puck back into your defensive zone, so you turn from the attack and head back toward your goal. You cross the attacking zone blue line and feel it under your skates. You call out, "Black. Clear!" to let your teammates know that you are back onside. You progress over to the right wing wall, calling in a fifteen-foot-voice, "Black coming back one, black coming back one..." You use your stick out ahead of you to find the dasher wall, and proceed back over the defensive blue line, so you are now at the right-wing point. You hear your teammate, back in the right-wing corner, calling out, "Go three!" as he passes the puck on the crossing diagonal, up to the neutral zone left wing. You hear your teammate on the opposite rink side calling, "Black looking!" You call in return, "You go, you go!" To set up for the next play, you turn again and head up ice to hold at the attacking blue line once again. Your teammate acquires the puck, calling "Black, where are you?" You call out to her, "Black One, Black one!" She sends the puck across the rink ahead of you into the attacking zone. The referee calls "White zone, white zone!" You hear the puck strike the wall ahead of you on the wing. You skate for it, calling, "Black looking!" As you hear yourself coming closer to the puck, you try to skate slightly to the right of it, so you can find the puck quickly with your left-handed forehand. As you contact the puck, you quickly one-two, stickhandle it to get the feel of it, then call out "Black, Center!" sending the puck to the slot for a teammate to acquire. You then head for the side of the goal, listening to the goal beeper, and the echo off the end wall to alert you that you are even with the net. You strike the post with your stick loudly, calling to your center teammate, "Right post! Right post!" Your teammate fires the puck on goal, and it clanks loudly against the back rail of the goal frame.
Now repeat all that action about 40-50 more times over the next hour, and you have a pretty good blind hockey practice. It's the same play over and over, but each play in combination happens differently from every other. You create something unique every time, you do it with hearing and touch, and you do it all blind. That's blind hockey.
Each practice is decidedly different. Either a different combination of players is present, or we are trying some new piece of equipment, or we introduce a new pattern process into our training. Something is always different.
Today Daniela, Jesus, Carina, and Danny went through the usual hour of playmaking. We are all working on making our hearing better. The combination of the siren sounding puck with the back-up alarm goal beepers does take a defined effort to use efficiently in locating the position of the various parts of the rink.
Let's see how that works.
To start each play, somebody sends the puck back into your defensive zone, so you turn from the attack and head back toward your goal. You cross the attacking zone blue line and feel it under your skates. You call out, "Black. Clear!" to let your teammates know that you are back onside. You progress over to the right wing wall, calling in a fifteen-foot-voice, "Black coming back one, black coming back one..." You use your stick out ahead of you to find the dasher wall, and proceed back over the defensive blue line, so you are now at the right-wing point. You hear your teammate, back in the right-wing corner, calling out, "Go three!" as he passes the puck on the crossing diagonal, up to the neutral zone left wing. You hear your teammate on the opposite rink side calling, "Black looking!" You call in return, "You go, you go!" To set up for the next play, you turn again and head up ice to hold at the attacking blue line once again. Your teammate acquires the puck, calling "Black, where are you?" You call out to her, "Black One, Black one!" She sends the puck across the rink ahead of you into the attacking zone. The referee calls "White zone, white zone!" You hear the puck strike the wall ahead of you on the wing. You skate for it, calling, "Black looking!" As you hear yourself coming closer to the puck, you try to skate slightly to the right of it, so you can find the puck quickly with your left-handed forehand. As you contact the puck, you quickly one-two, stickhandle it to get the feel of it, then call out "Black, Center!" sending the puck to the slot for a teammate to acquire. You then head for the side of the goal, listening to the goal beeper, and the echo off the end wall to alert you that you are even with the net. You strike the post with your stick loudly, calling to your center teammate, "Right post! Right post!" Your teammate fires the puck on goal, and it clanks loudly against the back rail of the goal frame.
Now repeat all that action about 40-50 more times over the next hour, and you have a pretty good blind hockey practice. It's the same play over and over, but each play in combination happens differently from every other. You create something unique every time, you do it with hearing and touch, and you do it all blind. That's blind hockey.
Saturday, August 10, 2019
On the one week anniversary of the El Paso shooting, Lady and Roget, two of our little good luck mooses, observe the Cotton Sreet - Arizona Avenue, #elpasostrong mural.
We did not skate today. We will be back out on the little blue floor on Monday afternoon.
We did not skate today. We will be back out on the little blue floor on Monday afternoon.
Friday, August 9, 2019; Nations-Tobin little floor, 5:00-6:00 pm
One of our favorite images of Sgt. Mark, going very low to listen to what is happening about 15 feet inside of his position on the ice. Sarge is excellent at determining what the next play will be and setting himself up for it. This makes all his teammates better at working together for playmaking success. Sgt. Mark continues on the mend after a couple of successful back surgeries. He will hopefully be back to skate with us in a couple of weeks.
Today, Daniela, Mickayla, David, and Danny went through four segments of offensive pattern playmaking. We now have our white goal, black goal, and puck siren sounding devices set up in combination with each other, and players can take the opportunity to develop their hearing these devices simultaneously on the rink. The first segment was rather disjointed in the players connecting the play components together with each other. But, from the second segment through the fourth and final sequence, things went much better. Until you become used to hearing the specific sounds from each device, it is difficult to get your bearings as to position and direction on the rink. Once you do figure out what's what, however, it's like a fog is lifted, and everything starts to fall into place. The final three segments were an excellent example of playmaking, with play after play clicking, the puck moving as through a pipeline, and high-level teamwork on display. This was a very good practice, each player had a lot of success. Our group level play was very competent. Let's see if we can carry this success over into our next training session.
Today, Daniela, Mickayla, David, and Danny went through four segments of offensive pattern playmaking. We now have our white goal, black goal, and puck siren sounding devices set up in combination with each other, and players can take the opportunity to develop their hearing these devices simultaneously on the rink. The first segment was rather disjointed in the players connecting the play components together with each other. But, from the second segment through the fourth and final sequence, things went much better. Until you become used to hearing the specific sounds from each device, it is difficult to get your bearings as to position and direction on the rink. Once you do figure out what's what, however, it's like a fog is lifted, and everything starts to fall into place. The final three segments were an excellent example of playmaking, with play after play clicking, the puck moving as through a pipeline, and high-level teamwork on display. This was a very good practice, each player had a lot of success. Our group level play was very competent. Let's see if we can carry this success over into our next training session.
Thursday, August 8, 2019; Nations-Tobin small floor, 4:00-5:00 pm
The schematic for "Babs," our new, even smaller and lighter than Hobbs, continuously sounding blind hockey puck. Babs is in the process of being fabricated as we speak. We will be on the lookout for her at Dominguez Sheet Metal, down on Alameda Street, to be delivered next week.
Perhaps now that school is coming back into session, some volleyball coach did not rent the small floor at Nations-Tobin this Thursday. So we got to skate on it today. Carina, Craig, David, Danny, and Coach Jesus went through four segments, a couple of longer than usual ones at that, of offensive pattern play. On one of them, David and Carina played white team defenders, and did very well. At the bench, we discussed the fact that yes, defense was sometimes more successful than offense; it is "easier to destroy than create," so goes the cliche.
Couple of times, specific location hearing got the best of our players...some had occasional difficulties finding the puck. Got to the puck, got the puck in the triangle, and couldn't get the stick-to-puck touch to save your life. It is a fundamental skill that you must use your hearing to pinpoint the exact location of the puck in relation to your body. Trying to use the stick-sweep to pinpoint it is a sucker bet - that only works some of the time, you can't rely on it. As players develop their hearing, they sometimes truly use their hearing until they've "got the puck right there," and then rely on their stick to actually locate it. Doesn't work a large part of the time. Keep using your hearing until you get the puck!
All in all, however, a very good practice session. Five players got to work on their selective hearing, floor movements, passing and receiving, and shooting. Carina and David especially got some great low angle shots in from the far wings, Craig solidly shot from all parts of the slot, and Danny is really working on lifting the puck into the net from the mid-slot with some success. Back out on the small floor again tomorrow. Friday night blind hockey at Nations-Tobin can be the best!
Perhaps now that school is coming back into session, some volleyball coach did not rent the small floor at Nations-Tobin this Thursday. So we got to skate on it today. Carina, Craig, David, Danny, and Coach Jesus went through four segments, a couple of longer than usual ones at that, of offensive pattern play. On one of them, David and Carina played white team defenders, and did very well. At the bench, we discussed the fact that yes, defense was sometimes more successful than offense; it is "easier to destroy than create," so goes the cliche.
Couple of times, specific location hearing got the best of our players...some had occasional difficulties finding the puck. Got to the puck, got the puck in the triangle, and couldn't get the stick-to-puck touch to save your life. It is a fundamental skill that you must use your hearing to pinpoint the exact location of the puck in relation to your body. Trying to use the stick-sweep to pinpoint it is a sucker bet - that only works some of the time, you can't rely on it. As players develop their hearing, they sometimes truly use their hearing until they've "got the puck right there," and then rely on their stick to actually locate it. Doesn't work a large part of the time. Keep using your hearing until you get the puck!
All in all, however, a very good practice session. Five players got to work on their selective hearing, floor movements, passing and receiving, and shooting. Carina and David especially got some great low angle shots in from the far wings, Craig solidly shot from all parts of the slot, and Danny is really working on lifting the puck into the net from the mid-slot with some success. Back out on the small floor again tomorrow. Friday night blind hockey at Nations-Tobin can be the best!
Monday, August 5, 2019; Nations-Tobin small floor, 3:00-4:00 pm
A new herd of mooses has arrived...every El Paso Mooses' player has a good luck moose, except that some have lost theirs (many stories) or some newer players don't have one yet. Mooses for everybody!
Today, Carina, Criag, and Danny skated through four segments of offensive pattern play. As we were on the little floor, with its inherent echoes, this was a great opportunity to zero in on the now three distinct sounding devices. The white goal beeper, the black goal beeper, and the puck siren are now each distinguishable from the other. This enables the player to "tune out" the other two sounds when focusing on one specific one. This enhances passing, shooting, and player communication. This was a good practice, as all three players were able to enhance their hearing-specific abilities during the hour on the floor.
Coach Danny also notes that the new batch of little Mooses came in the mail, and that we have commissioned our new, 3.25" diameter, 1.125" height metal puck casing from Dominguez sheet metal. The new puck, "Babs," will hopefully be ready to play this week. Back tomorrow out on the big floor.
Today, Carina, Criag, and Danny skated through four segments of offensive pattern play. As we were on the little floor, with its inherent echoes, this was a great opportunity to zero in on the now three distinct sounding devices. The white goal beeper, the black goal beeper, and the puck siren are now each distinguishable from the other. This enables the player to "tune out" the other two sounds when focusing on one specific one. This enhances passing, shooting, and player communication. This was a good practice, as all three players were able to enhance their hearing-specific abilities during the hour on the floor.
Coach Danny also notes that the new batch of little Mooses came in the mail, and that we have commissioned our new, 3.25" diameter, 1.125" height metal puck casing from Dominguez sheet metal. The new puck, "Babs," will hopefully be ready to play this week. Back tomorrow out on the big floor.
Saturday, August 3, 2019; 11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Nations-Tobin little floor
Today is the day of the Walmart shooting in El Paso, Texas. The El Paso Mooses were about 7 miles away at the Sport Center, skating through our practice session. We were rather in the shock of confusion when we first heard of the events, as alerts came through on our phones. Information reached us after we had come off the floor.
Today is the day of the Walmart shooting in El Paso, Texas. The El Paso Mooses were about 7 miles away at the Sport Center, skating through our practice session. We were rather in the shock of confusion when we first heard of the events, as alerts came through on our phones. Information reached us after we had come off the floor.
Group level tactical play. Carina shoots on goal from the right circle. MIckayla is on the line between the puck and the center of the goal. Carina uses Mickayla's position as a target, and indeed, her shot found the goal just inside the far post.
Danny, Mickayla, Craig, Carina, Vianca, and Jorge skated onto the floor today to work on offense patterns vs. defenders. When you add "bad guys" to the mix, it presents new, different challenges to the offensive players.
Jorge and Carina did a stellar job of being bad guys today. They played a white zone defense very well. Vianca, Craig, Danny and Mickayla had to figure out how to avoid, play around, or overcome the bad guys to make plays. This was a very good practice, everybody appreciated playing in opposition to others for a change. Hobbs and the goal beepers performed admirably as well.
Everybody went home and we spent this afternoon in observing the somber reality of our fellow El Pasoans living through the disturbing events of this morning. We wish the best for all our families.
Danny, Mickayla, Craig, Carina, Vianca, and Jorge skated onto the floor today to work on offense patterns vs. defenders. When you add "bad guys" to the mix, it presents new, different challenges to the offensive players.
Jorge and Carina did a stellar job of being bad guys today. They played a white zone defense very well. Vianca, Craig, Danny and Mickayla had to figure out how to avoid, play around, or overcome the bad guys to make plays. This was a very good practice, everybody appreciated playing in opposition to others for a change. Hobbs and the goal beepers performed admirably as well.
Everybody went home and we spent this afternoon in observing the somber reality of our fellow El Pasoans living through the disturbing events of this morning. We wish the best for all our families.
During the second segment, Carina and Jorge played two-man defense vs Craig, Vianca, Danny and Mickayla working offensive patterns. Here Craig prepares to center the puck, and Carina positions herself as a defensive obstacle to Craig's attempt to move the puck.
Craig corrals the puck off the 3-wall while Vianca positions herself in a back-up posture at the point. Notice she is hugging the wall to easily trap a pass, should Craig elect to drop the puck back to her.
Vianca turns the puck just inside the blue line, and Carina patrols the defensive high slot.
The puck is out of the white defensive zone, and Jorge intently listens to from where it might re-enter the zone. Notice that his head is down, and he positions his entire body as low as possible, which moves his ears, as listening devices, into the foremost position to hear effectively.
The Mooses held 18 practice and game sessions during the month of July. We'll try to have more in August, and add some intermittent ice play again in September.
The Mooses will regroup on Monday, and begin the next weekly cycle of practice and game play, continuing to develop our game of blind hockey.
The Mooses held 18 practice and game sessions during the month of July. We'll try to have more in August, and add some intermittent ice play again in September.
The Mooses will regroup on Monday, and begin the next weekly cycle of practice and game play, continuing to develop our game of blind hockey.
Friday, August 2, 2019; 5:00-6:00, Nations-Tobin little floor
Check out this comparison image of the two siren sounding devices. Left is the previous model, right is the newer, just delivered model. Both were purchased online from Radio Shack, part number 2730057. The smaller, "shorter" in height device will enable us to fabricate an outer puck casing of 3.5" diameter, and only 1.125 " in height. This will bring down the overall weight of the puck to 10-12 ounces. Excellent!
Well, this daily journal of Mooses' highlights usually contains a glowing account of player skills and plays: how the day's activities went. We hardly ever recount any of the program's failures. To be sure, these daily sojourns into the hockey lives of our mooses are normally very positive in nature; rarely does something go wrong. Today we tried out four, 3-volt lithium ion batteries connected to our new, smaller siren sounding device. If these worked to power the device for the hour or so of play, the resultant sounding assembly would enable us to construct a puck of only 3" diameter by 1" high - which is the actual size of a regulation hockey puck! Well, it did work, but only for twenty minutes. The siren just draws too much power. The little lithium ion batteries quickly ran low on power and the intensity level of the siren was greatly diminished after only that twenty minute period. We could simply put in fresh batteries every twenty minutes, but at $8.64 per twenty minutes, that ain't financially feasible. The 9-volt battery costs about $1.35 and lasts up to two hours. We must chalk up this lithium ion battery experiment as a failure. The 9-volt battery remains the power source of choice.
On the little floor, Jesus, Mickayla, David, Daniela, and Danny ran offensive pattern plays. This was a very successful training session. Players all made passing, stickhandling, and shooting plays with great success. As the consistency of each individual player increases, the overall level of "group level" play moves up a notch. Several players commented on how our teamwork appeared to become much better over the day's workout. We hope to continue this increased rate of success into tomorrow's practice session. Perhaps we can introduce the "three down and back," level-one pattern play activity. See everybody tomorrow, back out on the little blue floor.
Well, this daily journal of Mooses' highlights usually contains a glowing account of player skills and plays: how the day's activities went. We hardly ever recount any of the program's failures. To be sure, these daily sojourns into the hockey lives of our mooses are normally very positive in nature; rarely does something go wrong. Today we tried out four, 3-volt lithium ion batteries connected to our new, smaller siren sounding device. If these worked to power the device for the hour or so of play, the resultant sounding assembly would enable us to construct a puck of only 3" diameter by 1" high - which is the actual size of a regulation hockey puck! Well, it did work, but only for twenty minutes. The siren just draws too much power. The little lithium ion batteries quickly ran low on power and the intensity level of the siren was greatly diminished after only that twenty minute period. We could simply put in fresh batteries every twenty minutes, but at $8.64 per twenty minutes, that ain't financially feasible. The 9-volt battery costs about $1.35 and lasts up to two hours. We must chalk up this lithium ion battery experiment as a failure. The 9-volt battery remains the power source of choice.
On the little floor, Jesus, Mickayla, David, Daniela, and Danny ran offensive pattern plays. This was a very successful training session. Players all made passing, stickhandling, and shooting plays with great success. As the consistency of each individual player increases, the overall level of "group level" play moves up a notch. Several players commented on how our teamwork appeared to become much better over the day's workout. We hope to continue this increased rate of success into tomorrow's practice session. Perhaps we can introduce the "three down and back," level-one pattern play activity. See everybody tomorrow, back out on the little blue floor.
Thursday, August 1, 2019; 4:00-5:00, big floor at Nations-Tobin
Carina, in a two year old picture...This is a good example of how things change, yet stay the same. Carina is the one who suggested we first try out the siren puck on the big floor. This idea has turned out to be a brilliant one, as we now are looking at our siren sounding device as the puck sounding device of the future, perhaps the one best suited to play with on ice.
Carina, Coach Jesus, and Danny skated through 4 training segments in 55 minutes on the big floor. Hobbs' new, smaller siren worked perfectly in conjunction with the goal beepers. Carina worked in the slot today, she is sizing up to be a pretty good Center. Jesus manned the back line and the neutral zone, and we saw an increased mobility and strong passing from him. Danny worked on 60-foot runs from the wings to the slot and back out, involved in the three-man pattern playmaking. Skills in this session were first rate, all three players did things at levels better than ever before.
Looking at the new siren, perhaps with 12 volts of lithium ion batteries, which, if they work, means a smaller sounding device assembly which might fit in a 3" diameter, 1" high metal puck casing. We'll see if the batteries would work with the siren tomorrow. This might get us directly to a metal puck which, in both weight and size, replicate a standard ice hockey puck. That would really be something. We'll see.
Carina, Coach Jesus, and Danny skated through 4 training segments in 55 minutes on the big floor. Hobbs' new, smaller siren worked perfectly in conjunction with the goal beepers. Carina worked in the slot today, she is sizing up to be a pretty good Center. Jesus manned the back line and the neutral zone, and we saw an increased mobility and strong passing from him. Danny worked on 60-foot runs from the wings to the slot and back out, involved in the three-man pattern playmaking. Skills in this session were first rate, all three players did things at levels better than ever before.
Looking at the new siren, perhaps with 12 volts of lithium ion batteries, which, if they work, means a smaller sounding device assembly which might fit in a 3" diameter, 1" high metal puck casing. We'll see if the batteries would work with the siren tomorrow. This might get us directly to a metal puck which, in both weight and size, replicate a standard ice hockey puck. That would really be something. We'll see.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019; Nations-Tobin big floor, 3:00-4:00 pm
From the "House of Jesus," a.k.a. the neutral zone, Coach lines up his pass into the attack. Coach has become an ace at the hockey art of puck distribution. He is able to make the play to the 1,2, or 3 positions, either ahead or behind the forward positioning for the attack. This ability to set up the next component of the play is an invaluable asset for his Mooses' teammates. His passing, especially his backhand, is becoming steady and firm. Not bad for over 70 years old.
Carina back touches the puck to set up her shot at the net. Carina is working on her presence all over the floor. She has become the most adept at making the different tactical play decisions that a player must make in playing the 200 foot game. Today, within our offensive pattern play, she concentrated on her puck skills, and shooting.
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With your leg in a straight-leg brace, this is what practice looks like. You can't get on skates, but you can play the slot, find pucks, and finish the play with the shot on goal. Mickayla is working on her game daily til we get back to school, which for her is next week. So, all this shooting practice is bound to pay off when we get the doctor's ok to get back into it.
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Daniela shifts her weight to get into her shot at the net. Unafraid to shoot from any angle, Daniela is concentrating on working from the left wing today, although she just as easily gravitates to the 1-wall area. Her puck finding is excellent, and she did noticeably better in her direction finding today. She prides herself on being a two-way player, and does a good job of playing both a defensive and offensive presence in the game.
Big Floor Tuesday! Daniela, Carina, Jesus, Mickayla, and Danny worked through offensive pattern plays on the big floor. Happily, nobody had any trouble hearing the puck or the goal today, albeit along with a couple of self-professed mis-touched or mis-heard plays. our overall floor abilities are improving noticeably. we are all getting used to Hobbs' new siren, the current item of which is now up to four hours of play undamaged. We love the 16 oz of weight, which will carry well on ice. [Only to editorialize for the tiniest bit] this has got to be the puck that every team in the world of blind hockey wants to use! Once you have played with Hobbs, you don't want to play with anything else! |
Saturday, July 27, 2019, Nations-Tobin little floor, 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
An earlier image of Mickayla setting up in the slot about 12 feet out from the goal ...She has caught the puck, turned it, and is lining up her shot. She is no longer facing down toward the puck, but outward, toward the goal. She continues to feel the puck on her stick, keeping it slightly back toward the heel. While she appears to be visually focusing on the goal, she is, of course, bi-aurally listening to the goal sounding device. This image looks like any sighted, hockey-playing kid, about to fire one on net. Mickayla is totally blind, since birth. She does this all by hearing, and touch control. She is about three inches from the direct center line of the slot. No one has directed her to this spot on the floor, she gets herself there via her own sense of space and location. She is phenomenal at this, she is perhaps the best in the world at it, at age 14.
Back in the present, Mickayla has come to two practice sessions with her therapeutic, straight-leg brace on. She works out with the team in sneakers. So she has had but two hours hearing the new siren puck in combo with the two goal alarm-beepers. Both hours have been on the little floor, which is the more difficult of the environments we play in, because of the tight wall areas, and therefore multiple echoes. Mickayla is already better than the rest of us at hearing this new sounding device combination. Way better. Maybe some day, the rest of us will catch up...
Saturday training session always brings out something new, some new discovery. Today, for sure, we had seven players skating out, going through our simple offensive pattern play. We held off scrimmaging offense-defense, because Mickayla could not skate. She worked the slot in tennis shoes, with her focus on hearing the puck/goals, and worked on keeping her shooting shooting sharp.
"So, seven skaters," thought Coach Danny. "This is going to be a real crowded playing surface. The first thing in my mind was: we're going to have a lot of people getting in each other's way. Not collisions, mind you, just people being a nuisance to each other, interfering with each other's trying to make the play."
Well, didn't happen that way...at all! Not a single instance of two players both trying to make the play, one causing the other to mis-play. Not even close. In fact, everything went the other way. Players called each other off, got out of each other's way, helped to position each other to make the play with the best inter-play communicating we've ever done! Wow! We saw Mickayla in tennis shoes, lined up between the puck and the goal, and when a teammate came onto the puck, Mickayla pivoted to the far post, ready for the rebound play...in tennis shoes...knowing that was exactly the position to move to. Everybody else played off their teammates' position with equal skill, finesse, and elan.
When we happen on to somebody who first learns that we play hockey blind, the thing they always asks us is, "Don't the players run into each other, and get in each other's way?" The usual thought is that blind players cannot possibly know how to move about the playing surface, know where to go, and what to do, in a game like hockey! Blind players cannot possibly make plays! ...wrong...as it happens, you're out on the floor, moving from zone to zone, lane to lane, up and down, back and forth, and you know exactly where you are, and where the puck is, and the goals, and everybody else, all from our system of communication. [see the Blind Hockey Communication section on this website] Coach Danny, "As a sighted player, when I play blind within this communication system, it's just like I can see, it's great, I know everything I need to know to play the game. Whenever we have that great play where all the connections of the play happen perfectly, the play even looks like we're sighted out there, even though everybody is playing with no use of vision."
So we will continue to educate people as to exactly how blind people can indeed play hockey, and play it very well. Thanks for asking. See everybody on Monday!
Back in the present, Mickayla has come to two practice sessions with her therapeutic, straight-leg brace on. She works out with the team in sneakers. So she has had but two hours hearing the new siren puck in combo with the two goal alarm-beepers. Both hours have been on the little floor, which is the more difficult of the environments we play in, because of the tight wall areas, and therefore multiple echoes. Mickayla is already better than the rest of us at hearing this new sounding device combination. Way better. Maybe some day, the rest of us will catch up...
Saturday training session always brings out something new, some new discovery. Today, for sure, we had seven players skating out, going through our simple offensive pattern play. We held off scrimmaging offense-defense, because Mickayla could not skate. She worked the slot in tennis shoes, with her focus on hearing the puck/goals, and worked on keeping her shooting shooting sharp.
"So, seven skaters," thought Coach Danny. "This is going to be a real crowded playing surface. The first thing in my mind was: we're going to have a lot of people getting in each other's way. Not collisions, mind you, just people being a nuisance to each other, interfering with each other's trying to make the play."
Well, didn't happen that way...at all! Not a single instance of two players both trying to make the play, one causing the other to mis-play. Not even close. In fact, everything went the other way. Players called each other off, got out of each other's way, helped to position each other to make the play with the best inter-play communicating we've ever done! Wow! We saw Mickayla in tennis shoes, lined up between the puck and the goal, and when a teammate came onto the puck, Mickayla pivoted to the far post, ready for the rebound play...in tennis shoes...knowing that was exactly the position to move to. Everybody else played off their teammates' position with equal skill, finesse, and elan.
When we happen on to somebody who first learns that we play hockey blind, the thing they always asks us is, "Don't the players run into each other, and get in each other's way?" The usual thought is that blind players cannot possibly know how to move about the playing surface, know where to go, and what to do, in a game like hockey! Blind players cannot possibly make plays! ...wrong...as it happens, you're out on the floor, moving from zone to zone, lane to lane, up and down, back and forth, and you know exactly where you are, and where the puck is, and the goals, and everybody else, all from our system of communication. [see the Blind Hockey Communication section on this website] Coach Danny, "As a sighted player, when I play blind within this communication system, it's just like I can see, it's great, I know everything I need to know to play the game. Whenever we have that great play where all the connections of the play happen perfectly, the play even looks like we're sighted out there, even though everybody is playing with no use of vision."
So we will continue to educate people as to exactly how blind people can indeed play hockey, and play it very well. Thanks for asking. See everybody on Monday!
Friday, July 26, 2019, Nations-Tobin little floor, 5:00-5:45 pm
One of our favorite action shots. This image is from a game scrimmage of a couple of months ago. Craig (black sweater) and Daniela (white sweater) were still fairly new players at the time. This is a perfect example of how to confront an opponent for possession of the puck. Craig is going as low as possible, and trying to sweep the puck away from his opponent. Daniela is trying to finesse herself around Craig to dislodge the puck from his sweeping. Neither player is fouling the other, and neither is giving any quarter. Both balanced, both with two hands on the stick, both fully concentrating and focused on the puck. We don't even remember who ended up with the play, they both performed so well.
David, Coach Jesus, and Danny went into offensive pattern practice on the little floor. Absolutely no trouble hearing the puck and goals today! We must be making some kind of breakthrough. Another siren sounding device broke, however, so we need to keep working on buffer cushioning between the sounding device and inner puck wall to cushion the impact shocks.
Mickayla is currently on injured reserve, in a straight leg brace to hep remand bone and tendon growth in her knee joints. She is able to come out onto the floor in sneakers, and worked on her hearing the puck/goal sounds, so that is certainly good practice for her. Shooting the new lighter Hobbs is a good thing as well. Her work in the offensive slot was first rate. It is ridiculous how she looks sighted as she runs though her routines in front of the goal.
So a good practice to be had by all. Hobbs second siren assembly suffered cut wires after about ten minutes of use, so we really only got in abut 50 minutes of work tonight, but we'll get back out there tomorrow morning.
David, Coach Jesus, and Danny went into offensive pattern practice on the little floor. Absolutely no trouble hearing the puck and goals today! We must be making some kind of breakthrough. Another siren sounding device broke, however, so we need to keep working on buffer cushioning between the sounding device and inner puck wall to cushion the impact shocks.
Mickayla is currently on injured reserve, in a straight leg brace to hep remand bone and tendon growth in her knee joints. She is able to come out onto the floor in sneakers, and worked on her hearing the puck/goal sounds, so that is certainly good practice for her. Shooting the new lighter Hobbs is a good thing as well. Her work in the offensive slot was first rate. It is ridiculous how she looks sighted as she runs though her routines in front of the goal.
So a good practice to be had by all. Hobbs second siren assembly suffered cut wires after about ten minutes of use, so we really only got in abut 50 minutes of work tonight, but we'll get back out there tomorrow morning.
Thursday, July 25, 2019; Nations-Tobin Big Floor, 4:15-5:15 pm
"Hearing the puck!"
is probably the most important physical ability of the blind hockey player. This ability -to hear the puck- manifests itself in a variety of ways:
General Direction; is the puck on the rink to this side of me, or the other side of me. Is the puck in front of me or behind me.
Specific direction; as I skate toward the puck, I hear myself approaching it.
Focus location; as I arrive within playing distance, is the puck in front, left, right, how far to reach it with my stick.
Redundancy recognition; did I just go past the puck? Do I need to turn left or right and turn 90-180 degrees to reacquire a focus position on the puck?
As the stick comes into contact with the puck, Touch takes over from hearing, and in fact, you re-focus your hearing to a teammate's voice or the goal.
Hobbs and his new 108db siren sounding device allow the player to perform all of the above very well. Hobbs' 17 oz of weight enable the stick touch to be firm and focused as well.
Today, David, Danny, and Jesus set up on the big floor to work on their components of hearing ability...and their touch and control with Hobbs new lighter weight. Gotta say, Hobbs is excellent. Best Hearing and touch practice ever! Hobbs is the perfect puck! We absolutely swear by this puck for blind hockey!
Four segments of 3-man, offensive pattern play, great passing, very good communication, great player movement about the rink. ON the minus side, uncertain of exactly where the goal was a couple of times. The new goal beepers are very omni-directional and sometimes hard to pinpoint directly...fumbled around for the goal once or twice. Well, something to work on next time. This was a very good training session for hearing practice. These three players have a new level of confidence in their hearing abilities on the big floor, and by extrapolation, on the ice in the fall. See everybody tomorrow on the little floor for some more work!
is probably the most important physical ability of the blind hockey player. This ability -to hear the puck- manifests itself in a variety of ways:
General Direction; is the puck on the rink to this side of me, or the other side of me. Is the puck in front of me or behind me.
Specific direction; as I skate toward the puck, I hear myself approaching it.
Focus location; as I arrive within playing distance, is the puck in front, left, right, how far to reach it with my stick.
Redundancy recognition; did I just go past the puck? Do I need to turn left or right and turn 90-180 degrees to reacquire a focus position on the puck?
As the stick comes into contact with the puck, Touch takes over from hearing, and in fact, you re-focus your hearing to a teammate's voice or the goal.
Hobbs and his new 108db siren sounding device allow the player to perform all of the above very well. Hobbs' 17 oz of weight enable the stick touch to be firm and focused as well.
Today, David, Danny, and Jesus set up on the big floor to work on their components of hearing ability...and their touch and control with Hobbs new lighter weight. Gotta say, Hobbs is excellent. Best Hearing and touch practice ever! Hobbs is the perfect puck! We absolutely swear by this puck for blind hockey!
Four segments of 3-man, offensive pattern play, great passing, very good communication, great player movement about the rink. ON the minus side, uncertain of exactly where the goal was a couple of times. The new goal beepers are very omni-directional and sometimes hard to pinpoint directly...fumbled around for the goal once or twice. Well, something to work on next time. This was a very good training session for hearing practice. These three players have a new level of confidence in their hearing abilities on the big floor, and by extrapolation, on the ice in the fall. See everybody tomorrow on the little floor for some more work!
Monday, July 22, 2019; Nations-Tobin little floor, 3:00-4:00 p.m.
Hobbs! You're back!
Illustrated are: Bub, ABS casing at the top of the picture, Hobbs, Stainless steel casing, bottom...
Picked up Hobbs after he had gone into the puck hospital for seam repair. After more than 400 hours of play, he's like brand new, need to put a new coat of paint on his stainless steel body. Golly, was everybody so glad to see Hobbs return to Mooseville. Yes, we're keeping Bub as an excellent back up. Hobbs, with his reduced casing hardware, and the reduced weight of the new siren sounding device now weighs only 17 ounces, which compares to the 14-oz. ball bearing puck. Hobbs is only 3.5 inches in diameter, and 1.75" in height, so he is very close to actual regulation ice hockey puck dimensions!
All (as in everybody, every...single...one) of our players agree: Hobb's weight, now the 17 ounces, is the perfect weight to touch, control and stickhandle with the best efficiency! We hope that USA Hockey agrees.
...and that was a weird practice. Daniela, Carina, Craig, and Danny went into the little rink at Nations-Tobin to acclimate to the new Hobbs, the siren sounding device, and the super loud goal beepers. The first period was terrible. Looked like none of us knew what we were doing, which pretty much describes our playmaking and skills for the first ten minutes. Then, as bad as the first segment was, the following three segments were that excellent! Geez, everybody found the puck, made the pass, the shot, the play, moved to the next play, knew where the goal was, their teammates were, the blue lines, the walls, everything! That was great! Guess it just takes us ten minutes to get it together...
We will certainly keep Bub as a back up puck, but Hobbs is our buddy, we love him, and we will be playing with him forever. See you tomorrow, back out on the big floor!
Illustrated are: Bub, ABS casing at the top of the picture, Hobbs, Stainless steel casing, bottom...
Picked up Hobbs after he had gone into the puck hospital for seam repair. After more than 400 hours of play, he's like brand new, need to put a new coat of paint on his stainless steel body. Golly, was everybody so glad to see Hobbs return to Mooseville. Yes, we're keeping Bub as an excellent back up. Hobbs, with his reduced casing hardware, and the reduced weight of the new siren sounding device now weighs only 17 ounces, which compares to the 14-oz. ball bearing puck. Hobbs is only 3.5 inches in diameter, and 1.75" in height, so he is very close to actual regulation ice hockey puck dimensions!
All (as in everybody, every...single...one) of our players agree: Hobb's weight, now the 17 ounces, is the perfect weight to touch, control and stickhandle with the best efficiency! We hope that USA Hockey agrees.
...and that was a weird practice. Daniela, Carina, Craig, and Danny went into the little rink at Nations-Tobin to acclimate to the new Hobbs, the siren sounding device, and the super loud goal beepers. The first period was terrible. Looked like none of us knew what we were doing, which pretty much describes our playmaking and skills for the first ten minutes. Then, as bad as the first segment was, the following three segments were that excellent! Geez, everybody found the puck, made the pass, the shot, the play, moved to the next play, knew where the goal was, their teammates were, the blue lines, the walls, everything! That was great! Guess it just takes us ten minutes to get it together...
We will certainly keep Bub as a back up puck, but Hobbs is our buddy, we love him, and we will be playing with him forever. See you tomorrow, back out on the big floor!
Saturday, July 20, 2019 Nations-Tobin small floor, 11:00 am-12:00 pm
Here is Coach Danny, having just corralled the puck ("Hobbs"), he is about to center it to Mickayla in the slot. The El Paso Mooses are involved in a discussion with USA Hockey about the use of our 14-gauge, stainless steel metal casing in the construction of Hobbs. Without explanation or details, USA Hockey has announced to several visually impaired hockey clubs in North America that the use of Hobbs to play hockey is "dangerous." We are asking for clarification of that pronouncement, and are using "Bub," our same sounding device, but with an ABS plastic casing, in the meantime.
This is what a practice session should be! Today, Daniela, Craig, Carina, and Danny went through four periods of offensive pattern play in the little rink at Nations-Tobin. Our focus was on getting used to hearing the siren sounding device and the louder goal beepers in the smaller, and more echo-ey confines of the small floor area. It did take some work!
First segment, just figuring out the sounds. Second segment, some breakthrough plays. Third segment moved up to our usual par in individual and group playmaking. Fourth segment, wow! Really good, better than ever before, in both skills and playmaking. That was something!
Craig displayed a textbook progression of his ability to play the puck as the hour session went on. Carina is really perfecting her two way play, making the play on the puck both back in the defensive black zone, and up in the white attack zone. Danny now has the hang of hearing the new sounding puck, and just skated onto it directly several times. The accolades of the day, however, go to Daniela. Her ability to simply find the puck was phenomenal, easily a whole level better than the rest of us! As a blind player, she played as though she were sighted, always knowing what direction to head, and where to zero in on the puck. Amazing! She was good in the first segment of practice, and just got better as we went on, always a level better than the rest of us. Wow.
Yeah, this is what a practice should be! See everybody on Monday! We're going to play with both Hobbs and Bub!
This is what a practice session should be! Today, Daniela, Craig, Carina, and Danny went through four periods of offensive pattern play in the little rink at Nations-Tobin. Our focus was on getting used to hearing the siren sounding device and the louder goal beepers in the smaller, and more echo-ey confines of the small floor area. It did take some work!
First segment, just figuring out the sounds. Second segment, some breakthrough plays. Third segment moved up to our usual par in individual and group playmaking. Fourth segment, wow! Really good, better than ever before, in both skills and playmaking. That was something!
Craig displayed a textbook progression of his ability to play the puck as the hour session went on. Carina is really perfecting her two way play, making the play on the puck both back in the defensive black zone, and up in the white attack zone. Danny now has the hang of hearing the new sounding puck, and just skated onto it directly several times. The accolades of the day, however, go to Daniela. Her ability to simply find the puck was phenomenal, easily a whole level better than the rest of us! As a blind player, she played as though she were sighted, always knowing what direction to head, and where to zero in on the puck. Amazing! She was good in the first segment of practice, and just got better as we went on, always a level better than the rest of us. Wow.
Yeah, this is what a practice should be! See everybody on Monday! We're going to play with both Hobbs and Bub!
Friday, July 19, 2019, Nations-Tobin small floor, 5:00-6:00
David Fierro, left wing, El Paso Mooses.
David is a charter member of the Mooses, in his fifth year of play. He learned to skate and play hockey with the Mooses. He is perhaps our most mobile skater on the ice. David is the single player who is a B2, visually impaired player, who willingly dons the opaque glasses and plays blind. Every day he plays, all the other Mooses get better because his play helps everyone. David is at the forefront of our learning new sounding devices in our never ending quest for a continuously sounding hockey puck.
Today, David, Daniela, Danny, and Jesus worked on the little floor of the Nations-Tobin Sports Center, acclimating their hearing to the new siren, ABS casing, blind hockey puck. We ran through three segments of play, performing our offensive patterns over and over. Bub worked great, although one of his sound devices broke internally, and will need to be replaced. These devices have a metal flange inside, that the electric current vibrates rapidly to make the siren sound. If the flange becomes detached from its mounting, it won't vibrate correctly. It appears that Bub has lost one of his devices after 6 hours of use. That ain't good, but we'll see how it goes with the replacement. Monitoring performance of new components, especially durability, how long they hold up to the battering they receive during hockey play, is one of the continuing efforts of the Mooses in their blind hockey program.
In spite of the equipment problem, the Mooses continued to perform their pass, catch, and send play components very competently. We continue to work on echos, which is a big factor on hearing the puck correctly on the little floor. Everybody felt they did get better at it as the practice progressed. So we are indeed looking forward to play tomorrow. Saturday hockey tomorrow!
David is a charter member of the Mooses, in his fifth year of play. He learned to skate and play hockey with the Mooses. He is perhaps our most mobile skater on the ice. David is the single player who is a B2, visually impaired player, who willingly dons the opaque glasses and plays blind. Every day he plays, all the other Mooses get better because his play helps everyone. David is at the forefront of our learning new sounding devices in our never ending quest for a continuously sounding hockey puck.
Today, David, Daniela, Danny, and Jesus worked on the little floor of the Nations-Tobin Sports Center, acclimating their hearing to the new siren, ABS casing, blind hockey puck. We ran through three segments of play, performing our offensive patterns over and over. Bub worked great, although one of his sound devices broke internally, and will need to be replaced. These devices have a metal flange inside, that the electric current vibrates rapidly to make the siren sound. If the flange becomes detached from its mounting, it won't vibrate correctly. It appears that Bub has lost one of his devices after 6 hours of use. That ain't good, but we'll see how it goes with the replacement. Monitoring performance of new components, especially durability, how long they hold up to the battering they receive during hockey play, is one of the continuing efforts of the Mooses in their blind hockey program.
In spite of the equipment problem, the Mooses continued to perform their pass, catch, and send play components very competently. We continue to work on echos, which is a big factor on hearing the puck correctly on the little floor. Everybody felt they did get better at it as the practice progressed. So we are indeed looking forward to play tomorrow. Saturday hockey tomorrow!
Thursday, July 18, 2019, 4:00-5:00 pm at Nations-Tobin Big Rink...
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Bub on the Big Floor! Here we go!
Jesus, David, and Danny took Bub out on the big floor today, complete with both new (way louder) goal beepers. This is what we will be working with for the foreseeable future on any rink we play on. Yes, the cacophonous roar from the rink was so loud, the Center Staff guys did close the entry doors to the arena. So, we have arrived, making our mark on the world. The video is much like yesterday's, and gives you a very good idea of what our three-skater practice segments are like. The camera "sees" what the blind player is hearing, moving about the rink making the play.We skated our offensive pattern plays. Finding Bub with the siren sounding device was actually easy. Very easy. We discovered we were not used to the louder goal beepers (formerly Hobb's sounding devices). Took some time to mentally reset the identification of the goals that used to be the puck! Did four 10-12 minute segments, although the first one was only 8.5 minutes, kinda the warm-up period. As mentioned, finding the puck, passing, shooting, all the skills were easy, but re-orienting to a new sounding goal device was difficult. Repeatedly lost our bearings on where the goal was. The new beeper also sounds very different from the side of the goal and the back of the goal, so that made it harder yet. The new sound was very intense, which was great to distinguish from the new puck sound, but the goal sounds bounced off the walls, frequently to the point of mis-orientation. Recognizing these limitations, we deliberately and successfully set about acclimating to them, and overall, we did get better as we went through the practice, so this was indeed a good practice. Got a ways to go before we reach perfection, but this was ok! See everybody again tomorrow, on the little floor! |
Wednesday, July 17, 2019: Nations-Tobin small floor, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
This six minute video shows our blind hockey practice from a unique perspective. Danny played blind today with the video camera attached to the front of his face mask. In essence the camera is "seeing" what the player is hearing as he moves about the floor making the plays. Most of the time, the player is facing the sound he is listening for: could be a teammate, the goal, the puck, or an echo off a wall. You can see both successful plays and plays that missed. You can also observe how the three players move about the rink, going from play to play in sequence, setting up in relationship to each other to make each play. This was six minutes of the twelve minute segment we played with the back up alarm puck beeper in the new ABS casing. Did not get any video of the new siren beeper in the new puck. We used the siren puck the later segments of today's practice, and decided to use the siren from now on. We must get proficient hearing the siren in any possible environment. Remember that all these players are playing blind, and this video will give you a very cogent idea of what a player focuses on while playing blind.
Today, Carina, Danny, and Jesus tried out the new siren puck with the ABS casing out on the little floor. The smaller space lends to more echos, and pinpointing any sound is a little more difficult. The louder sounds were especially troublesome when hearing out of the parabolic corners. In spite of the acoustics troubles, all three players performed at a high level, and more important, things got way better and easier as the hour's effort progressed. We really did better as we went along. Not from the sounds being different, but because we acclimated to the acoustics as we went along. Over the next ten years or so, we are going to play on more than fifty hockey rinks, and every one is going to be different from every other. We must learn how to acclimate to a new environment efficiently as part of our abilities!
Looks like we can certainly look toward using the siren puck regularly on any of the three rinks we usually play on. USA Hockey is actively evaluating different sounding pucks this summer. They acknowledge that a continuously sounding puck is a must for blind hockey to continue. We're not exactly sure what they are looking for; USA Hockey has never published specific parameters of performance in what a sounding puck should be. We think our pucks are the perfect tools, but if somebody comes up with some alternative that works as well, or better, we would certainly support that. More, better hockey for everybody! Looking at skating on the big floor again tomorrow.
Today, Carina, Danny, and Jesus tried out the new siren puck with the ABS casing out on the little floor. The smaller space lends to more echos, and pinpointing any sound is a little more difficult. The louder sounds were especially troublesome when hearing out of the parabolic corners. In spite of the acoustics troubles, all three players performed at a high level, and more important, things got way better and easier as the hour's effort progressed. We really did better as we went along. Not from the sounds being different, but because we acclimated to the acoustics as we went along. Over the next ten years or so, we are going to play on more than fifty hockey rinks, and every one is going to be different from every other. We must learn how to acclimate to a new environment efficiently as part of our abilities!
Looks like we can certainly look toward using the siren puck regularly on any of the three rinks we usually play on. USA Hockey is actively evaluating different sounding pucks this summer. They acknowledge that a continuously sounding puck is a must for blind hockey to continue. We're not exactly sure what they are looking for; USA Hockey has never published specific parameters of performance in what a sounding puck should be. We think our pucks are the perfect tools, but if somebody comes up with some alternative that works as well, or better, we would certainly support that. More, better hockey for everybody! Looking at skating on the big floor again tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 16, 2019; 3:00-4:00 pm, Nations-Tobin big floor
Say, "Buongiorno," to Bub, our new Blind Hockey puck. Coincidentaly, we were planning to try Bub out again with the ice siren sounding device, so when USA Hockey nixed our sanctioned use of the metal puck casings, we were all set to test Bub in the big floor environment. Bub did great!
Daniela, Jesus, and Danny skated onto the big floor at Nations-Tobin to test several things. Our new Blind Hockey puck, nicknamed "Bub" was tested in two models. The current back up alarm beeper was centered in the 4" ABS plastic casing that we tried out a few years back. We have used this plastic casing to practice outdoors, inline, on concrete surfaces, so we were pretty sure it worked. We also got to try the casing with the new, ice siren inside. Good news: both models worked perfectly. Yes, on the big floor (just like ice) you can hear the siren device better than the back up alarm device, as we suspected.
Our players went through four, 10-12 minute segments today, and we were focused on orienting our hearing effectively to the big floor and to the new pucks. First segment was somewhat less than successful, but each subsequent segment, players improved dramatically in playmaking performance. The fourth segment was excellent, with players catching, finding, turning, and sending the puck efficiently, and everybody oriented to floor direction and teammate location almost to perfection. This was a solid practice, everybody incrementally improved their skills, and our newly reacquired puck models worked just like we expected. Back at it tomorrow, out on the little blue floor!
Daniela, Jesus, and Danny skated onto the big floor at Nations-Tobin to test several things. Our new Blind Hockey puck, nicknamed "Bub" was tested in two models. The current back up alarm beeper was centered in the 4" ABS plastic casing that we tried out a few years back. We have used this plastic casing to practice outdoors, inline, on concrete surfaces, so we were pretty sure it worked. We also got to try the casing with the new, ice siren inside. Good news: both models worked perfectly. Yes, on the big floor (just like ice) you can hear the siren device better than the back up alarm device, as we suspected.
Our players went through four, 10-12 minute segments today, and we were focused on orienting our hearing effectively to the big floor and to the new pucks. First segment was somewhat less than successful, but each subsequent segment, players improved dramatically in playmaking performance. The fourth segment was excellent, with players catching, finding, turning, and sending the puck efficiently, and everybody oriented to floor direction and teammate location almost to perfection. This was a solid practice, everybody incrementally improved their skills, and our newly reacquired puck models worked just like we expected. Back at it tomorrow, out on the little blue floor!
Saturday, July 13:
Nations-Tobin Little rink, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Nations-Tobin Little rink, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Mark controlling the White defensive zone, looking to clear the puck up to his teammates in the neutral zone. It's great for a club to have a player who is just as good on ice as he is on wheels. Mark is an excellent two-way skater, lending the hand to the offense, adding that extra player on attack.
Incremental improvement! You come out to skate day after day. You work at skills, over and over and over. You repeat the performance hundreds of times. Little by little, every part of every play gets better and better. Old plays improve, new play variations develop. Each little improvement adds to the whole, and after a while, you have a marked and noticeable quantum change.
This Saturday, Carina, Craig, Jesus, and Danny jumped into offensive pattern play with great focus and concentration. Everything worked; everything happened like it was supposed to. Everything was perhaps the best it has ever been, certainly a bunch better than ever. Skating was at a noticeably better level by all players. Effective zones were expanded from anything previous. Players were making plays they hadn't made before. Passing was remarkably consistent. This was a very rewarding practice session, we all headed home very happy with our high level, hockey playing selves. Good job.
Incremental improvement! You come out to skate day after day. You work at skills, over and over and over. You repeat the performance hundreds of times. Little by little, every part of every play gets better and better. Old plays improve, new play variations develop. Each little improvement adds to the whole, and after a while, you have a marked and noticeable quantum change.
This Saturday, Carina, Craig, Jesus, and Danny jumped into offensive pattern play with great focus and concentration. Everything worked; everything happened like it was supposed to. Everything was perhaps the best it has ever been, certainly a bunch better than ever. Skating was at a noticeably better level by all players. Effective zones were expanded from anything previous. Players were making plays they hadn't made before. Passing was remarkably consistent. This was a very rewarding practice session, we all headed home very happy with our high level, hockey playing selves. Good job.
Friday, July 12:
at Nations-Tobin Sports Center, 5:00-6:00 pm:
at Nations-Tobin Sports Center, 5:00-6:00 pm:
Mickayla sends the puck from center ice. This young veteran of the El Paso Mooses has been playing blind hockey for the seven years that we have been skating. She is arguably the most skilled center in blind hockey in the world. Her focus hearing array: depth, direction, and selection are all first rate. She is fastest to find the puck, fastest to turn the puck, and fastest to release the puck. These are qualities that determine a hockey player with high level skills, blind or otherwise.
Back on the familiar confines, today, of the little blue floor at Nations-Tobin Sports Center, everybody breathed a sigh of relief. This "cross-ice" sized hockey rink has been around since 1995. With the Athletica Border Patrol 5000 dasher boards and glass, and Sportcourt playing surface, the facility is professional quality...just small.
This is the facility that the Mooses practice on 80% of that 16-24 hours per month that they get to skate. It is familiar, we are very used to the acoustics, we know where everything is, it's like our backyard, its comfortable. So its very easy to perform our hockey practice plays successfully. Finding the puck, catching or sending a pass, shooting on goal all come naturally to us in this environment.
Daniela, David, Jesus, and Danny ran through offensive pattern plays for an hour this afternoon. Ran the pattern over and over and over. The plays just went from one to the other smooth as ABEC 9 bearings. It is fun to work like this, it makes for a personally rewarding afternoon of hockey play. Everybody spoke about how much we accomplished and how enjoyable it was. This is a good group of players who enjoy each other's company. See everybody again tomorrow for Saturday hockey.
Back on the familiar confines, today, of the little blue floor at Nations-Tobin Sports Center, everybody breathed a sigh of relief. This "cross-ice" sized hockey rink has been around since 1995. With the Athletica Border Patrol 5000 dasher boards and glass, and Sportcourt playing surface, the facility is professional quality...just small.
This is the facility that the Mooses practice on 80% of that 16-24 hours per month that they get to skate. It is familiar, we are very used to the acoustics, we know where everything is, it's like our backyard, its comfortable. So its very easy to perform our hockey practice plays successfully. Finding the puck, catching or sending a pass, shooting on goal all come naturally to us in this environment.
Daniela, David, Jesus, and Danny ran through offensive pattern plays for an hour this afternoon. Ran the pattern over and over and over. The plays just went from one to the other smooth as ABEC 9 bearings. It is fun to work like this, it makes for a personally rewarding afternoon of hockey play. Everybody spoke about how much we accomplished and how enjoyable it was. This is a good group of players who enjoy each other's company. See everybody again tomorrow for Saturday hockey.
Thursday, July 11: at Nations-Tobin, big floor, 4:00-5:00 pm.
Tracking down the puck: from our May 11, 2019 ice session, here is a great shot of Craig (black) and Daniela (white) contesting for the puck along the end wall. Both these players have done an excellent job over the past several months at improving their puck finding, skating, and passing/receiving skills. They are the perfect example of a high degree learning curve. Neither one had ever skated, nor played hockey before deciding to join the Mooses' program.
David, Danny, Carina, Coach Jesus, and Craig skated onto the big floor today, and all of us pretty much got lost...Playing blind, you really become attenuated to sound. You gain a comfort in the aural familiarity of certain environments, and stumble around a little in unfamiliar ones. That was certainly true today. The big floor just doesn't have the same acoustics as the little floor at the Nations-Tobin Sport Center. But then again, we must get used to this lack of familiarity. Every rink in the country is going to sound different from every other one. We sure had this problem in Florida at the Nationals. We are going to need to learn to pay special attention and focus on the acoustics wherever we go, so we can determine puck, goal, and zone location effectively.
Having said that, our skating, puck finding, passing to area, and shooting were all first rate. Everything just "felt a little off, " and this was an anxiety we couldn't shake. But our overall playmaking was ok, and everybody did put in the effort to learn a few things incrementally. So this was a good, big floor practice. Hoping either tomorrow or Saturday to have some 3v3 game scrimmage. We'll see how it goes.
Having said that, our skating, puck finding, passing to area, and shooting were all first rate. Everything just "felt a little off, " and this was an anxiety we couldn't shake. But our overall playmaking was ok, and everybody did put in the effort to learn a few things incrementally. So this was a good, big floor practice. Hoping either tomorrow or Saturday to have some 3v3 game scrimmage. We'll see how it goes.
Monday, July 8: at Nations-Tobin, small floor, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Over the next 18 months or so, the El Paso Mooses are going to travel to a half-dozen cities throughout the United States. At each city, they will set up their blind hockey rink equipment, grab their sounding hockey puck, and skate out onto the ice. They will show the local blind players how we play blind hockey. At each city there may only be two or three blind or visually impaired or sighted players willing to learn to play blind. No matter. Those few players will learn how much fun it is to play hockey where anybody can play any position, and anybody can make saves, complete passes, skate with the puck, and score goals. All while playing blind!
Over the next 18 months or so, the El Paso Mooses will reach that few players in each of those half-dozen cities, adding each player to the list that would like to play in a total-blind division at the 2020 USA Hockey Disabled Hockey Festival...and maybe play on an all-B1, Team USA Blind Hockey team in the 2024 IIHF World Championships, and the 2026 Olympics.
Today, Coach Danny got to skate with Daniela, Carina, and Mickayla, each young woman pointing toward that Olympic Dream. How do you do that? You come to practice three-to-six times a week, you skate, pass, shoot, and make plays. Coach Danny has set up the Mooses' training environment to do exactly that: skills training within the tactical play framework. Each of these young ladies will skate 10-15 hours this month. They will participate in making over 500 hockey plays each month within this technical/tactical format. They are working on their hockey abilities diligently. They are performing with consistent, dedicated effort. They are getting good. Casual observers at the rink comment every day that these players are really getting good at this.
Every four years we watch the Olympics on television. We see feature after feature highlighting the career development of a variety of Olympic athletes. How did these athletes get to the Olympic stage? We watch as the camera shows us the years of dedication, diligence, and just plain work that go into the development of Olympic abilities. That's what Daniela, Carina, and Mickayla did today: skills training, tactical playmaking, and just plain working at it, all the while having fun. Will one or more of these three young ladies actually make it to the Olympic Team? Hard to say, but if you look back at any of those television vignettes highlighting the development of past Olympians, and you look at what these three players are doing right now in their hockey lives, they look to be right on track...and they're having fun doing it.
Over the next 18 months or so, the El Paso Mooses will reach that few players in each of those half-dozen cities, adding each player to the list that would like to play in a total-blind division at the 2020 USA Hockey Disabled Hockey Festival...and maybe play on an all-B1, Team USA Blind Hockey team in the 2024 IIHF World Championships, and the 2026 Olympics.
Today, Coach Danny got to skate with Daniela, Carina, and Mickayla, each young woman pointing toward that Olympic Dream. How do you do that? You come to practice three-to-six times a week, you skate, pass, shoot, and make plays. Coach Danny has set up the Mooses' training environment to do exactly that: skills training within the tactical play framework. Each of these young ladies will skate 10-15 hours this month. They will participate in making over 500 hockey plays each month within this technical/tactical format. They are working on their hockey abilities diligently. They are performing with consistent, dedicated effort. They are getting good. Casual observers at the rink comment every day that these players are really getting good at this.
Every four years we watch the Olympics on television. We see feature after feature highlighting the career development of a variety of Olympic athletes. How did these athletes get to the Olympic stage? We watch as the camera shows us the years of dedication, diligence, and just plain work that go into the development of Olympic abilities. That's what Daniela, Carina, and Mickayla did today: skills training, tactical playmaking, and just plain working at it, all the while having fun. Will one or more of these three young ladies actually make it to the Olympic Team? Hard to say, but if you look back at any of those television vignettes highlighting the development of past Olympians, and you look at what these three players are doing right now in their hockey lives, they look to be right on track...and they're having fun doing it.
Sunday, July 7; at Nations-Tobin, small floor 8:30-9:30 am...(Coach Danny's note) All right! We get to skate on Sunday this week! Nations-Tobin had scheduled an extra open play session for the rec league guys on the big floor, and they let us jump onto the little floor concurrently. About 15 guys came to skate on the big floor, so Daniela and I took the opportunity to do some skills training. We worked on 1-2 touch stickhandling, catching and sending, catching and running into the white zone, catching and shooting, and turning the puck. Did three segments all together for an hour! This batch of batteries has done very well, so far, into the third in the pack of eight. Daniela probably got three hundred touches to the puck for the session. Good skills practice, now looking to Monday afternoon session. Hope to skate every day this week!
Saturday, July 6; at Nations-Tobin, 11:15 am - 12:15 pm: Every practice is a different thing. With fully ten skaters now and (two goalkeepers) committed to playing regularly with the Mooses, we always have 4-7 or more skaters in attendance at any given daily session. Individual home, work, and school schedules, however, dictate that any given session will have a different attendance combinatoric of players than any other: different players on different days, every day. Today our Saturday morning had but the four of us; Mickayla, Carina, Vianca, and Coach Danny skated out onto the little blue floor. We alternated two offense pattern playmaking segments with an offense-defense segment, giving us 65 minutes of play and breaks. Calvin produced excellent sound performance, dropping the usual quarter-level in the final 15 minutes only.
Vianca, who, along with her Dad, Jorge, had sorta dropped out for a while, has rejoined the antlered gang for regular weekend play. She and Jorge are sighted players that have participated with us since 2011, when our blind program first began. Jorge plays part-time goalie for us as well as skating out, while Vianca is an excellent forward primarily and defender second. This is rather a paradox in that she is a stalwart defender on ice at both the house league and travel league, sighted, age group levels. She has also played goal over the past two ice seasons. So, she can play any position on the team. Her blind skills are excellent, and adds a high level of competency whenever she works out with the Mooses. Vianca is 13 years old (I think)...Need to get some good action images of our two returned players...
Jorge is one of the few people who has witnessed this program since its beginnings, but has not seen us play for the past year or so. From this perspective, he today directly noticed a quantum improvement in our playmaking ability over that time period. In truth, our component playmaking has greatly improved over the past six months. Each player now makes their component of the play in about 5 seconds or less, way improved from the 30-second beginner level, and the 10-15 second developing level of play. A play up the floor used to take 1-2 minutes. Now the play takes 15 seconds, sometimes even less. There are some plays that three passes and a shot go so well, the unaware observer would think we were playing sighted. So, we're working on it...and achieving a higher and higher degree of playmaking success all the time.
Vianca, who, along with her Dad, Jorge, had sorta dropped out for a while, has rejoined the antlered gang for regular weekend play. She and Jorge are sighted players that have participated with us since 2011, when our blind program first began. Jorge plays part-time goalie for us as well as skating out, while Vianca is an excellent forward primarily and defender second. This is rather a paradox in that she is a stalwart defender on ice at both the house league and travel league, sighted, age group levels. She has also played goal over the past two ice seasons. So, she can play any position on the team. Her blind skills are excellent, and adds a high level of competency whenever she works out with the Mooses. Vianca is 13 years old (I think)...Need to get some good action images of our two returned players...
Jorge is one of the few people who has witnessed this program since its beginnings, but has not seen us play for the past year or so. From this perspective, he today directly noticed a quantum improvement in our playmaking ability over that time period. In truth, our component playmaking has greatly improved over the past six months. Each player now makes their component of the play in about 5 seconds or less, way improved from the 30-second beginner level, and the 10-15 second developing level of play. A play up the floor used to take 1-2 minutes. Now the play takes 15 seconds, sometimes even less. There are some plays that three passes and a shot go so well, the unaware observer would think we were playing sighted. So, we're working on it...and achieving a higher and higher degree of playmaking success all the time.
Wednesday, July 3; at Nations-Tobin small floor, 4:00-5:00 pm; (Coach Danny's notes) Throughout the week I get to play with different combinations of players. Of our ten skaters total, Sgt Mark is out pending back surgery, and the others each have different weekly attendance. Every once in a while, I get to play with Mickayla and Carina, just the three of us. While I truly have fun playing with a variety of player combinations, skating with our two youngsters is an outright joy. Mickayla and Carina were our first two blind players. Mickayla started in the late Summer of 2011, Carina began in March of 2013. At the outset, they each "hesitantly attacked" the learning necessary to grasp the game, but even with their hesitation, their enthusiasm was top level.
On this day, at this practice, we filled in a segment of catching and shooting practice, and then went to our offensive pattern play. We sent the puck back to the defensive zone, retrieved it, played it up through the neutral zone to the attack zone, centered it, and shot it on net. No defenders, we play as all on the same team. We create plays. We work together, using the puck, passing, and movement off the puck to create ways to make the plays. I usually play in a coaching mode, sighted to observe the players, but make my segments of the plays with eyes closed. Today, I had the most fun ever. We made play after play, creating as we went. Our player to player communication was excellent. Our passing was pinpoint. Our shooting was nine out of ten. Things went very well.
The most difficult, and most important skill in blind hockey, is finding the puck. Skating, hearing, touch and control with the stick all come into play. The usual blind person at the mid-beginner level will need ten to fifteen seconds to make each part of a play. Today, our average play on the puck was made in less than five seconds. Many play components were completed by a player making her part of the play in less than two seconds. Catch-touch-send: bam, bam, bam. The puck moved through the play as though we were sighted.
A criticism leveled at Blind Hockey by both sighted and visually impaired (partially sighted) persons is that the pace of the play in blind hockey is considerably slower than the pace of sighted or visually impaired hockey. To the uninformed observer, the game "looks slow." Well, the game is not slow. The rate that the puck moves up and down the floor is slower than either Visually Impaired or Sighted hockey. The game, however, is remarkably fast when you see what it is. When you play it, you are amazed at what a fast game it can be.
Today's three-player workout was the fastest pace play we have experienced yet. These girls are amazing. In the year 2026, we will witness the first Olympics to host Visually Impaired Hockey and, we hope, Blind Hockey. Carina will be 29 years old and Mickayla will be 21. They both have been pointing to the possibility of being on the USA B-1 Olympic Team for several years. So far, they are on track, doing the things they need to do seven years out, to be good enough to make our Olympic team!
We look forward to Friday and Saturday sessions with our teammates, back out on the blue floor!
On this day, at this practice, we filled in a segment of catching and shooting practice, and then went to our offensive pattern play. We sent the puck back to the defensive zone, retrieved it, played it up through the neutral zone to the attack zone, centered it, and shot it on net. No defenders, we play as all on the same team. We create plays. We work together, using the puck, passing, and movement off the puck to create ways to make the plays. I usually play in a coaching mode, sighted to observe the players, but make my segments of the plays with eyes closed. Today, I had the most fun ever. We made play after play, creating as we went. Our player to player communication was excellent. Our passing was pinpoint. Our shooting was nine out of ten. Things went very well.
The most difficult, and most important skill in blind hockey, is finding the puck. Skating, hearing, touch and control with the stick all come into play. The usual blind person at the mid-beginner level will need ten to fifteen seconds to make each part of a play. Today, our average play on the puck was made in less than five seconds. Many play components were completed by a player making her part of the play in less than two seconds. Catch-touch-send: bam, bam, bam. The puck moved through the play as though we were sighted.
A criticism leveled at Blind Hockey by both sighted and visually impaired (partially sighted) persons is that the pace of the play in blind hockey is considerably slower than the pace of sighted or visually impaired hockey. To the uninformed observer, the game "looks slow." Well, the game is not slow. The rate that the puck moves up and down the floor is slower than either Visually Impaired or Sighted hockey. The game, however, is remarkably fast when you see what it is. When you play it, you are amazed at what a fast game it can be.
Today's three-player workout was the fastest pace play we have experienced yet. These girls are amazing. In the year 2026, we will witness the first Olympics to host Visually Impaired Hockey and, we hope, Blind Hockey. Carina will be 29 years old and Mickayla will be 21. They both have been pointing to the possibility of being on the USA B-1 Olympic Team for several years. So far, they are on track, doing the things they need to do seven years out, to be good enough to make our Olympic team!
We look forward to Friday and Saturday sessions with our teammates, back out on the blue floor!
Monday, July 1; at Nations-Tobin, 3:30 pm-4:30 pm, Remember the last time you walked off the field after the game (in any sport) and thought to yourself, "Man, that was FUN!" What you really felt was that self satisfaction from a job well done. You really did good out there, and you know it. You can remember all sorts of stellar plays that you made, and recognized a few that you had never accomplished before. Ever! Wow! That was fun!
Daniela, Carina, Mickayla, and Danny skated onto the little floor in search of that elusive euphoria. Started off with a segment of catch and shoot. The girls stood at a arc 25 feet out from goal. Coach Danny would pass each of them the puck in turn. She caught it, turned it, and shot the puck on goal. Coach Danny re-acquired the puck and centered it into the low slot for her to run onto for a second shot, imagining a rebound play as it were. This was a good practice drill, but everybody was unhappy with their shooting percentage. One of those days where not everything worked...it was indeed real hot, and Calvin's battery wire got cut inside the puck two times...two puck timeouts in a single day was more than we had all last month, actually.
We spent the final half-hour in two segments of simple offensive pattern plays. As disheartening as our shooting performance was, our offensive playmaking was spot on! We were fast, efficient, and accurate with passing, receiving, finding the puck, and even shooting at this point. Great way to finish off the afternoon. Everybody walked out of the Center feeling pretty good overall about our performance, so all's well that ends well. Looking toward Tuesday's workout on the big floor!
Daniela, Carina, Mickayla, and Danny skated onto the little floor in search of that elusive euphoria. Started off with a segment of catch and shoot. The girls stood at a arc 25 feet out from goal. Coach Danny would pass each of them the puck in turn. She caught it, turned it, and shot the puck on goal. Coach Danny re-acquired the puck and centered it into the low slot for her to run onto for a second shot, imagining a rebound play as it were. This was a good practice drill, but everybody was unhappy with their shooting percentage. One of those days where not everything worked...it was indeed real hot, and Calvin's battery wire got cut inside the puck two times...two puck timeouts in a single day was more than we had all last month, actually.
We spent the final half-hour in two segments of simple offensive pattern plays. As disheartening as our shooting performance was, our offensive playmaking was spot on! We were fast, efficient, and accurate with passing, receiving, finding the puck, and even shooting at this point. Great way to finish off the afternoon. Everybody walked out of the Center feeling pretty good overall about our performance, so all's well that ends well. Looking toward Tuesday's workout on the big floor!
Saturday, June 29; at Nations-Tobin, 11:30 am- 12:30 pm, on the little floor...
Faceoff, or shootout at Nations-Tobin...
Like gunslingers, Craig and Carina faceoff at center to start the action on Saturday's game. The white team gained this possession after a three touch sequence by both players.
David, Daniela and Craig squared off in the white sweaters vs. Mickayla, Mark, and Carina in two 15 minute periods of 3v3 game scrimmage. Wow! Coach Danny periodically posits the fantasy that if we could go back a period in time and play a game vs. ourselves, we would kick our own butts. Danny uses this irreality to highlight a quantum level improvement in the team as a whole. Today was one of those quanta...big time.
When total blind/blinded players learn to move confidentally around the playing surface, when everybody correctly keeps track of where they are on the floor, and where the other players are, and where the goals are, then you have a new level to the game. As our newest players have been playing for about six months, every player has reached this level of ability.
Like gunslingers, Craig and Carina faceoff at center to start the action on Saturday's game. The white team gained this possession after a three touch sequence by both players.
David, Daniela and Craig squared off in the white sweaters vs. Mickayla, Mark, and Carina in two 15 minute periods of 3v3 game scrimmage. Wow! Coach Danny periodically posits the fantasy that if we could go back a period in time and play a game vs. ourselves, we would kick our own butts. Danny uses this irreality to highlight a quantum level improvement in the team as a whole. Today was one of those quanta...big time.
When total blind/blinded players learn to move confidentally around the playing surface, when everybody correctly keeps track of where they are on the floor, and where the other players are, and where the goals are, then you have a new level to the game. As our newest players have been playing for about six months, every player has reached this level of ability.
Play off the attacking wing...
Daniela corals the puck on the white team right wing wall before sending it to the corner. Mickayla's stick is just coming into the play to prevent Daniela from centering the puck into the slot like she really wanted to. Daniela had to settle for keeping the play moving to give her team time to adjust and set up the next shot.
When all the players develop a legitimate high-level-beginner ability to perform the basic skills competently, then the team produces a game that has moved out of the Learn-to-Play range. The El Paso Mooses achieved that milestone with their play today.
Daniela corals the puck on the white team right wing wall before sending it to the corner. Mickayla's stick is just coming into the play to prevent Daniela from centering the puck into the slot like she really wanted to. Daniela had to settle for keeping the play moving to give her team time to adjust and set up the next shot.
When all the players develop a legitimate high-level-beginner ability to perform the basic skills competently, then the team produces a game that has moved out of the Learn-to-Play range. The El Paso Mooses achieved that milestone with their play today.
Best action shot in a long time...
This image captures the essence of the new level of blind hockey play at Nations-Tobin. 1-on-1 fighting for the puck has become a mainstay of the action all over the floor. Here Mickayla and David each uses their strength, balance, and some finesse to gain position over their adversary to acquire the puck. Mark takes up a defensive posture in case David out duels Mickayla. Daniela (white, back left) and Carina (black back right) remain in a ready position should the puck be thrust out of the crowd.
Every player was excellent in finding the puck. Player communication is at an all time high. Players were louder and thereby more effective in their player-to-player communication than ever before.
This image captures the essence of the new level of blind hockey play at Nations-Tobin. 1-on-1 fighting for the puck has become a mainstay of the action all over the floor. Here Mickayla and David each uses their strength, balance, and some finesse to gain position over their adversary to acquire the puck. Mark takes up a defensive posture in case David out duels Mickayla. Daniela (white, back left) and Carina (black back right) remain in a ready position should the puck be thrust out of the crowd.
Every player was excellent in finding the puck. Player communication is at an all time high. Players were louder and thereby more effective in their player-to-player communication than ever before.
Daniela turns outside of Mark defending to get a shot on goal. The White team had ten shots at the nets, while the black team had more than a dozen. Defensive blocks and shots across the crease to the end wall accounted for 4-2 final score, if we were keeping score. In our intra squad scrimmage games, the objecive is to make plays, which culminate in a shot on goal. Both teams were highly successful in that endeavor today.
Player skills were at an all time high today. Passing to area, passing to stick, catching passes on stick, running onto loose pucks in area, stickhandling the puck, turning the puck, shooting, slightly lifting the puck, correct defensive positioning, setting up the play off the puck...all these skills of blind hockey look more and more like sighted hockey every day we play!
Player skills were at an all time high today. Passing to area, passing to stick, catching passes on stick, running onto loose pucks in area, stickhandling the puck, turning the puck, shooting, slightly lifting the puck, correct defensive positioning, setting up the play off the puck...all these skills of blind hockey look more and more like sighted hockey every day we play!
Carina takes the puck over the blue line and lets it fly on goal...almost...her shot missed by inches from 25 feet out. This was a great play on her part, making the whole play in less than five seconds, before any evil white-sweatered opponents could catch her. Good pass from Mickayla as well!
Today we played two 10-minute, stop-time halves, which take about 16 minutes of clock time each. That plus warm up time allowed for about a 45 minute workout. As the usual El Paso summer weather combined with an unusual, less than adequate air conditioning situation in the little gym at Nations-Tobin Sport Center, players were heavily sweating just lacing up the skates. Hot Day skating and playing competitively against opponents is very tiring.
Today we played two 10-minute, stop-time halves, which take about 16 minutes of clock time each. That plus warm up time allowed for about a 45 minute workout. As the usual El Paso summer weather combined with an unusual, less than adequate air conditioning situation in the little gym at Nations-Tobin Sport Center, players were heavily sweating just lacing up the skates. Hot Day skating and playing competitively against opponents is very tiring.
Mickayla takes a rink long through pass from Mark and skates in on goal. She shoved it across the blue line and shot from about 15 feet out, sending the puck into the net for the black team's first tally. Both Craig and Daniella are in hot pursuit, but to no avail on this play.
So, the state of the art at Mooseville is improving all the time. We note the paradox that the game of blind hockey itself has a markedly slow pace, compared to sighted hockey. Each component of the play is not slow, however. Every player makes their component of the play as efficiently as possible. The differential in pace comes from the fact, that in each component of the play, the player making that part of the play must first acquire the puck. Unless you catch a pass directly stick-to-stick, you must find the puck. Even when you catch the puck, you must one-touch it to make sure it has stayed where you caught it. Finding the puck is indeed a high level skill in itself. As the Mooses become better at it, our game will continue to evolve.
So, the state of the art at Mooseville is improving all the time. We note the paradox that the game of blind hockey itself has a markedly slow pace, compared to sighted hockey. Each component of the play is not slow, however. Every player makes their component of the play as efficiently as possible. The differential in pace comes from the fact, that in each component of the play, the player making that part of the play must first acquire the puck. Unless you catch a pass directly stick-to-stick, you must find the puck. Even when you catch the puck, you must one-touch it to make sure it has stayed where you caught it. Finding the puck is indeed a high level skill in itself. As the Mooses become better at it, our game will continue to evolve.
With Carina after him, David turns the puck in the defensive X-Box, and sets up to send a clearing pass to the neutral zone, which he accomplished well on this occassion.
Hope to maybe have our two goalkeepers next Saturday, although with it being the July 4th weekend, everybody's personal schedule is somewhat suspect. We are still looking forward to revving attendance up on these Saturday sessions to the point where we can play full-floor on the big floor. We're heading in that direction, so ok, this is the third week that we have had a very good game session on Saturday.
Next practice session, Monday afternoon. Looking for all our Mooses to get back out on the blue floor and get at it!
Hope to maybe have our two goalkeepers next Saturday, although with it being the July 4th weekend, everybody's personal schedule is somewhat suspect. We are still looking forward to revving attendance up on these Saturday sessions to the point where we can play full-floor on the big floor. We're heading in that direction, so ok, this is the third week that we have had a very good game session on Saturday.
Next practice session, Monday afternoon. Looking for all our Mooses to get back out on the blue floor and get at it!
Friday, June 28; at Nations-Tobin, 5:30 pm-6:15 pm,back on the little floor (actually a cross-ice size rink, 82' by 56') , Danny, David, Daniela and Mickayla went through a 45-minute Tactical Training progression to tune up for The Big Game tomorrow. First segment, offense patterns; second, offense vs defense; third, 2v2 full floor...to be sure, the black team of Mickayla and David was more mobile on their skates, so they held the run of the offensive play, but "the two Dan's" held their own on defense. This was very good scrimmage effort by all four players. Both teams noticed that the absence of any third linemate greatly diminished options in their playmaking. Two-on-two is a heckuva difficult thing most of the time. Coach Danny has recently asked players to increase the volume, and thereby the quality, of their communications on the floor. To their credit, all four players did a credible job of talking the game loudly and situation-specific. Hopefully, game play tomorrow will benefit from the added effort in communicating by everybody. We'll see...
Thursday, June 27; at Nations-Tobin, 4:00 pm-5:00 pm, There are players that the play doesn't just seem to revolve around, the play actually does revolve around them. Lebron James, Pele, Wayne Gretzky: yes, these players scored points, but more important, they made everybody else on their team better. On the El Paso Mooses, the player that the play pivots to, from, and around is Mickayla. Today, She, Danny, and Jesus worked offensive pattern plays on the big floor for an hour. From the wing, from the slot, from the corner, from the blue line, all the plays went to Mikayla's stick to become goals. She shot from the center slot, the wings, the blue line. Everything went in. Mickayla shoots with about 85% accuracy on goal. The ones she misses don't even miss by 6 inches. She passes skillfully. She communicates well. But what she does absolutely the best is acquire the puck. She can catch a pass, run onto a loose/still puck, she can turn on goal with the puck, she can pick up a rebound. Whatever the situation, when she moves to aurally locate and acquire the puck, she looks sighted. She is arguably the best in the world at this. She has been totally blind since birth. She is fourteen years old.
Coach Jesus and Danny certainly enjoyed the session today. They got to pass, make plays, and move about the neutral and attack zones in a very creative mode. It is always fun when you get to make plays together with Mickayla. She makes the play happen from every angle. We all look like elite level players when we skate with her. Back tomorrow with another four-player training progression session. Should be a fun Friday.
Coach Jesus and Danny certainly enjoyed the session today. They got to pass, make plays, and move about the neutral and attack zones in a very creative mode. It is always fun when you get to make plays together with Mickayla. She makes the play happen from every angle. We all look like elite level players when we skate with her. Back tomorrow with another four-player training progression session. Should be a fun Friday.
Tuesday, June 25; at Nations-Tobin, 3:30 pm-4:15 pm, Ok, here's what you can accomplish in a training session with only three players. Daniela, Danny, and Coach Jesus set up for offensive pattern play on the big floor. Moved the black goal to the blue line, just to give a sounding device cue, and played neutral zone and attacking zone. Communication was excellent, sounding devices were excellent. As the three players moved through attacking sequences, passing was not perfect, but it was high level. The big feature in today's three, fifteen minute segments was floor movement. Jesus alternated between neutral zone lanes 1 and 2, up into the white zone and back. Danny went through high slot, low slot, x-box, and corners. Daniela went through all three lanes in the white zone, concentrating on keeping herself oriented to the goal. All three players noted that keeping their directional bearings in the play was their main focus. In that, all three reported really good results. Player communication results in knowing where your teammates are on the floor, thereby knowing where you are as well. That is a huge benefit, and gives you a very accurate mental image of the spatial relationships of the floor play. Very cool. See everybody next time.
Monday, June 24; at Nations-Tobin, 3:30 pm-4:15 pm, Daniela, Carina, Craig, and Danny skated though a very good technical-tactical training progression. Three segments, each in a different tactical level format. Beginning with the simple offense pattern play. All the players playing as though on the same team. Start with the puck sent back to the black zone. Acquire the puck, send it to the neutral zone and into the white zone. Center the puck, Shoot the puck on goal. Get the puck out of the goal and send it back to the black zone to begin the next play. That's it, same pattern over and over, except that each part of each play is a new variation on the pattern. No two plays end up the same. Within the pattern, each player gets to work on their skating, stickhandling, passing, receiving, and shooting skills. Technical training within the tactical playmaking.
Next segment, we added a defender to play vs the other three on offense. Same basic pattern play concept, except the defender has the objective to clear the puck back to the black zone to end the play. Each player takes a turn being defender in rotation. As all our players are becoming competent in their skills and playmaking, especially passing, it is now very difficult (over the past month or so, when we first noticed this) for a single defender to overcome three offensive players. While it is always easier to destroy a play than to create one, our skills are getting better and the lone defender is now generally outmatched. You can always beat somebody by out-passing them.
Segment three, we broke into full floor, (albeit little floor) 2v2 game play. Daniela and Danny vs Craig and Carina. We learned to forget about not having a third teammate on either defense or offense. You have to play everybody up (when you have the puck), everybody back (when your opponents have the puck), so all players must learn to make both offensive and defensive decisions that use and support their teammates. You cannot play by yourself and be effective. Admittedly our communication was off a little at first, but the final six or seven minutes of play were excellent. You essentially need to just tell your teammate everything that you are doing, and you need to listen to your teammate. A good lesson learned.
So, a pretty good 45 minutes of 4-man practice, in three segments. For the record, teamwork was excellent. Craig was excellent on both offense and defense, particularly in his shielding 1-on-1 plays. Carina shot goal after goal in all three segments. Daniela was the consummate communicator. Danny was very good at floor movements and positioning. Everybody learned some things, everybody made mistakes, and everybody had some successes. Excellent four player practice session.
Next segment, we added a defender to play vs the other three on offense. Same basic pattern play concept, except the defender has the objective to clear the puck back to the black zone to end the play. Each player takes a turn being defender in rotation. As all our players are becoming competent in their skills and playmaking, especially passing, it is now very difficult (over the past month or so, when we first noticed this) for a single defender to overcome three offensive players. While it is always easier to destroy a play than to create one, our skills are getting better and the lone defender is now generally outmatched. You can always beat somebody by out-passing them.
Segment three, we broke into full floor, (albeit little floor) 2v2 game play. Daniela and Danny vs Craig and Carina. We learned to forget about not having a third teammate on either defense or offense. You have to play everybody up (when you have the puck), everybody back (when your opponents have the puck), so all players must learn to make both offensive and defensive decisions that use and support their teammates. You cannot play by yourself and be effective. Admittedly our communication was off a little at first, but the final six or seven minutes of play were excellent. You essentially need to just tell your teammate everything that you are doing, and you need to listen to your teammate. A good lesson learned.
So, a pretty good 45 minutes of 4-man practice, in three segments. For the record, teamwork was excellent. Craig was excellent on both offense and defense, particularly in his shielding 1-on-1 plays. Carina shot goal after goal in all three segments. Daniela was the consummate communicator. Danny was very good at floor movements and positioning. Everybody learned some things, everybody made mistakes, and everybody had some successes. Excellent four player practice session.
Scramble in front of the goal!
Vianca reaches through a pack of black Mooses to poke check the puck toward the goal. Her touch sent the puck off the post, and when her opponent tried to clear it, the puck went into the goal for the first goal of the game. Jesus, David, and Craig offered the resistance to Vianca's effort.
Saturday, June 22;
The Big Game at Nations-Tobin, 11:30 am -12:30 pm...Yes! This is what we're looking for on Saturdays from now on, "The Big Game," at least what suffices for a game with available personnel. If we point toward playing an actual game, then it happens! Today, Jorge was our lone goalkeeper, so he alternated between goals. We played two 15 minute periods, rather than three ten minute stanzas. "Girls vs Boys" is what the marquee outside the Railroad Drive entrance to the Nations-Tobin Sports Center announced: Daniela, Vianca, and Carina squared off against David, Jesus, and Craig. Daniela played blueline defense for the white Mooses, Jesus did likewise for the blacks, and away we go.
No other way to say it, this was the best game we have ever played as a group. Passes, communication, clearances, shots on goal, defense, one-on-one fights for the puck (with shielding and playmaking) were all very well done throughout the game. In fact things were so well done, that when any player forgot to communicate correctly, it was immediately noticed as a glaring error. That's a stock benchmark of player development.
Vianca reaches through a pack of black Mooses to poke check the puck toward the goal. Her touch sent the puck off the post, and when her opponent tried to clear it, the puck went into the goal for the first goal of the game. Jesus, David, and Craig offered the resistance to Vianca's effort.
Saturday, June 22;
The Big Game at Nations-Tobin, 11:30 am -12:30 pm...Yes! This is what we're looking for on Saturdays from now on, "The Big Game," at least what suffices for a game with available personnel. If we point toward playing an actual game, then it happens! Today, Jorge was our lone goalkeeper, so he alternated between goals. We played two 15 minute periods, rather than three ten minute stanzas. "Girls vs Boys" is what the marquee outside the Railroad Drive entrance to the Nations-Tobin Sports Center announced: Daniela, Vianca, and Carina squared off against David, Jesus, and Craig. Daniela played blueline defense for the white Mooses, Jesus did likewise for the blacks, and away we go.
No other way to say it, this was the best game we have ever played as a group. Passes, communication, clearances, shots on goal, defense, one-on-one fights for the puck (with shielding and playmaking) were all very well done throughout the game. In fact things were so well done, that when any player forgot to communicate correctly, it was immediately noticed as a glaring error. That's a stock benchmark of player development.
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Daniela and Craig joust for the puck in the neutral zone. In this instance, Craig prevailed, sending the puck ahead, but Daniela quickly turned, skated onto, and re-acquired the puck for the white team, sending it up into the black zone for Carina to run onto and shoot. Good play by all three players.
For the record, we think we remember that the final score was 4-3, in favor of the girls, but nobody is certain as we kept no official record. All the goals were scored on the empty net (one goalkeeper, remember?) This means that altogether the two teams did produce about twenty shots on goal, which is more or less our target objective...so good game. Everybody agreed that playing a full floor game on Saturdays is the way to go. This gives every player something to point toward after practice and training during the week. Hopefully in the fall and winter, we can add a full-rink ice game, 5v5 with goalkeepers. If we recruit one more player, then we can do it at least every other week, like we scheduled in our season two of ice play. We now have nine skaters and the two gentlemen who will happily tend goal for us, one more skater to a complete set. Although we need to find a referee so Danny can play, rather than referee. |
Daniela, on white Mooses' defense, was everywhere. Here in the first period, she clears the puck out of the slot from in front of Netminder Jorge. Jorge was stellar today as well, stopping over a dozen shots, smothering everything that came his way in either goal.
Although in refereeing, Danny was able to get some good action images from the Mooses' play.
In the coming summer weeks, we hope to get all of our skaters out for The Big Game regularly, and either play 3v3 on the little floor, or 4v4, 4v5, 5v5 on the big floor. Need to work on getting the tactile blue lines for the big floor put together however. So, hopefully by July 13th maybe, we can move up to the ultimate game: Big floor, full-floor, 5v5, with goalkeepers, a referee, scorekeeper, timekeeper, and videographer. That would be a full complement of players, officials, and game personnel...workin' on it.
Although in refereeing, Danny was able to get some good action images from the Mooses' play.
In the coming summer weeks, we hope to get all of our skaters out for The Big Game regularly, and either play 3v3 on the little floor, or 4v4, 4v5, 5v5 on the big floor. Need to work on getting the tactile blue lines for the big floor put together however. So, hopefully by July 13th maybe, we can move up to the ultimate game: Big floor, full-floor, 5v5, with goalkeepers, a referee, scorekeeper, timekeeper, and videographer. That would be a full complement of players, officials, and game personnel...workin' on it.
David on defense at the blue line, demonstrating a perfect shielding maneuver against Carina. Although Carina did get her stick to the puck, David managed to send the puck up to Craig at the forward blue line, and start the offense play.
For now, we will take Sunday off, and then maybe we can hit the floor for some good, progressive training sessions all five days in the coming week. Mickayla should be back by mid-week, and we have the possibility of a really good Big Game next Saturday. We'll look for the International Olympic Committee's announcement on Monday, and begin our quest for the 2026 Olympics. Here we go!
For now, we will take Sunday off, and then maybe we can hit the floor for some good, progressive training sessions all five days in the coming week. Mickayla should be back by mid-week, and we have the possibility of a really good Big Game next Saturday. We'll look for the International Olympic Committee's announcement on Monday, and begin our quest for the 2026 Olympics. Here we go!
Friday, June 21; at Nations-Tobin, 5:00 pm-6:00 pm,back on the little floor (actually a cross-ice size rink, 82' by 56') , Danny, Jesus, and David went through offensive playmaking practice to tune up for game play tomorrow. As disjointed as play was yesterday, that's how good it was today, with only one notable snafu: The little floor at Nations-Tobin has both Sportcourt(tm) playing surface, and Athletica Pro 5000(tm) dasher boards and glass. Both of these products are NHL quality and always have been. A peculiar thing about the rink corners is that they are ten-foot radius, befitting the studio size playing area. The dasher walls, however, set up a perfect parabola to sound waves, which focuses and throws the sound back onto the floor in unexpected ways. When you are standing midway between the slot midpoint and the wing wall, the goal beeper sound bounces out of the corner, causing you to "hear" the goal as though it were in the corner. David shot a couple of goals into this imaginary goal this afternoon. Danny couldn't find a pass that went into the left wing corner. Every time he pivoted to get a new aural perspective on the puck, it sounded like it was coming from a different position. As it happened, the puck was sitting still, three feet out from the center point of the corner curve, the parabolic sound focal point of the corner. The sound from the puck beeper would bounce off the corner curve, and seem to be coming from everywhere! Sheesh! Other than these two comical events, this practice was excellent. Finding the puck, passing, receiving, shooting, and player communication were all in good stead.
Special Mooses' News Flash!
Mickayla is absent from Mooses' activities this week, she is in L.A. at the National Braille Challenge competition at the University of Southern California. She scored well enough in the regional Braille Challenge event in Alamogordo in February to qualify as one of the top ten scores in all of North America! At the Nationals, competitors make lifelong friendships with kids from all over the U.S. and Canada. They compete in efficiency reading, comprehension, and production events. All our Mooses are rooting for her to do her best. Frankly, top ten in the country already is pretty great! Go, Mickayla!
Mickayla is absent from Mooses' activities this week, she is in L.A. at the National Braille Challenge competition at the University of Southern California. She scored well enough in the regional Braille Challenge event in Alamogordo in February to qualify as one of the top ten scores in all of North America! At the Nationals, competitors make lifelong friendships with kids from all over the U.S. and Canada. They compete in efficiency reading, comprehension, and production events. All our Mooses are rooting for her to do her best. Frankly, top ten in the country already is pretty great! Go, Mickayla!
Thursday, June 20; at Nations-Tobin, 4:00 pm-5:00 pm, Carina, Danny, Jesus, and David skated out onto the big floor today as the little floor is occupied by rental volleyball on Thursdays this month. Well, it had to happen sometime: after months of continual improvement in individual, group and team level practicing, sooner or later, there had to be an "off night," where practice wasn't spectacularly perfect. This was that session. Nothing was glaringly poor. Nothing was bad. But nothing was really sharp, crisp and snappy, either. "This was an example of what I call 'disjointed playmaking,' noted Danny. "Nothing works very well, a little off here, a little off there." Passing wasn't bad, it just wasn't as accurate as usual. All the players seemed off on directional hearing, the puck, the goal, and each other. Hobbs lasted very well, so there's that. The white goal beeper, however, was becoming suspect. Danny promised to put new batteries into it for the weekend. One great advantage that the Mooses have is the continual use of the rinks at the Nations-Tobin Sports Center, run by the El Paso Parks and Recreation Department. We can essentially skate every day, for free! We don't think there are many hockey programs anywhere else in the country that can say they have such a resource. So we try to get out there at least four days each week, if not five or six (the Center is closed on Sundays). So, with a rather mediocre session on Thursday, we can put the past behind us, and look ahead to a good practice session on Friday and then Saturday, where we hope to have another "big game" day!
Tuesday, June 18; at Nations-Tobin, 3:00 pm-4:00 pm, Just Coach Jesus and Coach Danny today...with other Mooses elsewhere, the two old guys usually get to practice their passing components of offensive pattern play: clearance passes to the neutral zone, sending passes ahead into the white zone, passes to the wing, centering passes, wrapping passes behind the net...all the passes that usually and normally occur in the course of offensive play. With the single teammate on the floor, Danny also eschewed coach mode for total player mode, wearing the goggles the entire 45 minutes. "This was great, something I hadn't done in a while," noted Danny. "I was trying out a brand new pair of skates as well. With just Zeus and I out there, it gave me a controlled environment in which to get used to the skates." With just the two payers, each player gets three times the normal touches on the puck, so the intensity level of practice is also higher than normal. "I was overjoyed to find that my hearing was better than ever," noted Danny. "I could hear the goal perfectly. The few shots I hit wide were when I didn't believe my ears, and if I had put the shot where I was hearing, without trying to compensate for what I thought was an echo, all my shots would have been into the goal." Hobbs and his battery buddy for the day worked the whole time, dropping only a quarter level the final 15 minutes or so. "Yeah, we could find the puck with no problem today, even when 30-40 feet away. Performance was excellent from both players, Yes, slow skating, but excellent playmaking. Tuesday is on the BIg Floor, as the little floor is occupied with open volleyball session. See everybody next time.
Saturday, June 15; at Nations-Tobin,11:00 am-12:30 pm, Game time! Our first blind hockey game in several months. 3v3, plus goalkeepers, on the little floor at Nations-Tobin. This was a very good game. A lot to highlight, but first, let me tell you what blind hockey is NOT! Blind hockey is not players zipping up and down the floor at breakneck speed. It is not players crashing into each other. The puck does not simply go all over the place with the players trying to keep up.
Rather, play can be described as deliberate. Each player moves about the floor based on where the puck is, and what their teammates are doing. Each player can hear the puck (equipped with sounding device), and listens to their teammates' communications. Two opposing players will come upon the puck and need to outmaneuver, out-position, and out-think each other to gain possession of the puck. You must get rid of the puck quickly when you do get possession, because that possession is tenuous. This is a passing game, and accurate passing is a must. And above all, the players' ability to correctly hear the puck is the skill that determines the superior play.
This Saturday, Vianca, Daniela, and David played for the white team, Mark, Mickayla, and Carina made up the black roster. As Edgar couldn't make it, Jorge played as the sole goalkeeper, alternating between goals. Coach Danny refereed, calling zones and puck locations, using the referee system we have developed. This was a fun game! Everybody said so!
General statistics; Jorge faced about 20 shots in total, two got by him...that's a pretty good save percentage. The white team scored two other open goal points to go with the two that got by Jorge. They pocketed a 4-1 victory on the score board. We note that each team had about ten shots on net. We also note that all five face-off circles were used in the course of the contest. Curiously, more shots were taken at Jorge, then into the open net, on both sides of the floor. Each team had about 5/6 shots off-target, and defenders blocked a couple both ways as well. So in general, there was some offense and defense on both sides of the floor. Good job.
We are going to schedule and try for another full floor game three weeks hence, Saturday, July 13. If we can get a full contingent of players, we can play all twelve of us, 5v5, plus goalkeepers, on the big floor. That will be something that we haven't done in over a year. As our program continues to develop, and player attendance improves, we all get better opportunities to play...more hockey for everybody!
Rather, play can be described as deliberate. Each player moves about the floor based on where the puck is, and what their teammates are doing. Each player can hear the puck (equipped with sounding device), and listens to their teammates' communications. Two opposing players will come upon the puck and need to outmaneuver, out-position, and out-think each other to gain possession of the puck. You must get rid of the puck quickly when you do get possession, because that possession is tenuous. This is a passing game, and accurate passing is a must. And above all, the players' ability to correctly hear the puck is the skill that determines the superior play.
This Saturday, Vianca, Daniela, and David played for the white team, Mark, Mickayla, and Carina made up the black roster. As Edgar couldn't make it, Jorge played as the sole goalkeeper, alternating between goals. Coach Danny refereed, calling zones and puck locations, using the referee system we have developed. This was a fun game! Everybody said so!
General statistics; Jorge faced about 20 shots in total, two got by him...that's a pretty good save percentage. The white team scored two other open goal points to go with the two that got by Jorge. They pocketed a 4-1 victory on the score board. We note that each team had about ten shots on net. We also note that all five face-off circles were used in the course of the contest. Curiously, more shots were taken at Jorge, then into the open net, on both sides of the floor. Each team had about 5/6 shots off-target, and defenders blocked a couple both ways as well. So in general, there was some offense and defense on both sides of the floor. Good job.
We are going to schedule and try for another full floor game three weeks hence, Saturday, July 13. If we can get a full contingent of players, we can play all twelve of us, 5v5, plus goalkeepers, on the big floor. That will be something that we haven't done in over a year. As our program continues to develop, and player attendance improves, we all get better opportunities to play...more hockey for everybody!
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To the Left, video of Daniela, David, and Mickayla going through an offensive play sequence. Daniela sends the puck up ahead of David into the white zone. David skates onto it, turns and shoots. The puck goes wide left. David retrieves it from the end wall, and centers the puck to Mickayla in the slot. Mickayla catches the pass, sets and shoots the puck into the goal. Simple, but every single component of the play...not easy. The play took about 30 seconds. Every pass went as intended, either to a space, or directly to-stick of a teammate. The first shot was errant, but the play was re-loaded and the second shot went directly on net. While we might wish Coach Danny's camera work was a little better, this gives you a good idea of what blind hockey looks like.
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Friday, June 14; at Nations-Tobin, 5:00-6:00 pm, Mickayla, Daniela, David, and coach Danny skated out onto the little rink and went through a passing play workout. As you might have noted on the Tactical Play section of this website, blind hockey really has only one basic play: get the puck, get the puck into the attack zone, get a shot on goal. That's it, that's all there is. While simple, how this play is actually accomplished can happen in a million different ways. On this day, Coach Danny oversaw the play of the three players. Daniela worked from the back zone, starting the play, sending the puck up. David, or Mickayla would get the puck, either centering it, or shooting on goal directly. Missed shots would be retrieved and re-centered for the shot at the goal. Practice would consist of three 12 minute segments, with breaks in between. The players would repeat this play sequence over and over. As a critique, we note that players are very consistently improving in finding the puck, passing, moving, and shooting within this playmaking format. We'll see just how much improved in tomorrow's anticipated 3v3 game with goalkeepers.