Hi all, 2 years after surgery, and I finally played goalie again. The long delay wasn't so much a physical thing (worried about whether or not sufficiently recovered), and it wasn't so much a mental thing (worried about how I'd do), although those were factors. I think it was mostly a case where your schedule abhors a vacuum, and once you stop doing a recreational pursuit, you fill in your time with other things. It was probably close to 2 yrs before resurf surgery that arthritis affected my goaltending abilities to the point where I hung up the skates. So after nearly 4 years, I started thinking that hockey is something I used to do.
But I keep in touch with the boys, and a goalie got hurt in the morning pick-up league, so I told the league manager that I'd be willing to fill in.
It went much better than I expected, and after one game, I'm now a regular. The format is to assign teams based on whoever shows up, and then we play for 2 1/2 hours! (with 1 ice cut).
The hips felt fine. In fact, it almost seemed like they felt better and stronger after I played than before. Probably just the effects of adrenaline and endorphins, but maybe it's case where it takes a little push to move off the plateau.
One thing I learned: 2 1/2 hrs of hockey will make it painfully obvious where you have muscle weaknesses. Relative to hip resurfacing, the following groups were especially sore: glutes, groin (not pulled, just sore and weak; I think from lateral push-offs and maintaining a V, or butterfly, stance, and then especially contracting when down in a V and getting up), and finally those muscles that go laterally along the front, kind of right under the belt (piraformis?). If I were really serious about it, I'd devise a program to strengthen these problem areas, but more likely, I'll just go out and play and work on it that way. If anybody has any specific exercises, I'd give them a try.
It will be interesting to see where this goes. After trying to play out a few times, it was great to be back in net, back in a postion where so many of the nuances are still subconscious (handling rebounds, setting up for deflections - all that stuff).
Brian, John, and fellow once and future netminders, I hope to hear more of your recoveries. I still remember my pre-surgery question about whether I could play goalie again with resurfaced hips. My doc thought for a moment and said technically, theoretically, it shouldn't be a problem, but then he added that he's never heard of anyone playing goalie with resurfaced hip(s), and asked me to be sure to let him know how it goes. So we owe this continuing dialog to all the butterfly style goalies who will be coming along after us with arthritic hips.
I realize that this goalie thread also covers bicycling, and that's going to be where the time trade-off will have to come from if I start playing in hockey leagues again. Quick report on that topic. I did the full 108 mile Tour de Tucson this past November. There are so many variables and uncontrollables that I have a rule to avoid setting goals for this, but I got it into my mind that I'd like to get a personal best with resurfaced hips. I'm almost positive that I was in the best condition ever, but the day was cold and windy, and I think I was a bit overanxious during the first 1/2 of the ride (bridging gaps, riding at the front of groups). I ended up having hamstring cramps while walking at one of the stream-bed crossings and lost 3 or 4 minutes rolling in the sand and working the cramps out. I still finished a respectable 5:32, but missed a personal best by some 14 minutes.
Keep lookin' up,
-Dirk
Topic: Goalie Updates? (Read 18776 times)
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