geesh

so when we started the season, our team had eighteen rostered skaters.

Three of those skaters are pregnant (or recently gave birth).
Three of those skaters started the season injured.
We've since lost three more skaters to injury (one broke her arm last night at practice).

THAT TAKES US DOWN TO NINE AVAILABLE SKATERS.

Guh.

It's weird going to scrimmage night and seeing the deep, deep benches of the other teams, and we're there with our five, or six, or seven skaters who are able to show up on that given night.  (On the other hand, apparently skaters on the other teams are complaining that they're not getting enough skating time, and we're like, "okay, three jams in a row and then I'll take one off and then go back in", which I actually don't mind, and by "actually don't mind", I mean "LOVE".)

The other teams keep asking us if we want to borrow players, and we haven't, and honestly I hope that continues.  We have a good, tight knot of skaters and we work really well together.  Our practices are tight and we don't have to wait for all the little conversations to die out to hear our coaches and captains talking.

Anyway.  Last night was pretty good if you overlook the part where my teammate broke her arm.  I concentrated on agility - getting up on my toe stops, concentrating on being on only one skate at a time at any point.  Someone suggested a new way for me to get out of a cluster of opposing blockers, and if I can get it to work (i.e., not fall over), it should be pretty awesome and completely legal (I did it once, the blockers kinda looked at the ref, and he was basically like "shrug, she didn't do anything illegal").

In other news, the wart on my heel is turning into a crater.  It's fascinating in a revolting way - I was examining it with a pair of tweezers last night, picking out wart bits and seeing how far I could stick the tweezers into the hole (at least 1/4").  It doesn't hurt anymore, which is awesome, so now I can get back to doing plow stops.