I had a hockey game last night. We only had three games left in the season, and while I believe we had already clinched our playoff spot, this was another team that would make the playoffs so it was important for us to be able to dominate them. Of all the teams in our division, I believe this is one of the few teams who is pretty evenly matched against us - no real ringers, just a strong team overall. Unfortunately, we were missing some very key players and had a short bench, as well - we only had 9 skaters. I figured we'd probably lose, and just try to win our last two games. Luckily for us, the other team showed up with only 6 skaters. It was still a tight game, but we ended up winning 4-1 and I had another goal. Whoo-hoo!

A small group of us have gotten into the habit of going to IHOP for breakfast after the game. Since there are no women's showers at the rink, I usually have to go eat my pancakes covered in a nice sheen of my own sweat. The way the rink is configured, there is a block of 4 locker rooms with doors that open into a shared shower area with 6 stalls. Usually, the games are staggered and it works out so that, even though there are 4 locker rooms to that one shower area, only one team is usually in there at a time. Since I've already seen all the guys on my own team in various stages of nakedness, I've taken my chances by undressing in the stall, showering, then redressing in dry clothes in the stall. That way, the guys on my team can go on showering and not be bothered, and I trust them to be in there while I'm in there. I mean, we're all adults, we've all seen it all. Last night, by some fluke in scheduling, the game on the other ice ended at the same time as ours, so we'd be sharing the locker room with another team. I thought I'd take my chances - I can usually shower in just a couple of minutes and I thought I could probably get out of there before any of the other guys got in. A guy on my team, Charley, told me he'd be my lookout and started showering in the stall next to me.

Just as I was finishing up, and about to get dressed, I hear a loud group of guys from the other team burst into the shower area. All the stalls quickly filled and some guys were standing out there waiting to shower. I thought if the other guys were still in their stalls, I could just sneak out. But a quick peek around the edge of the shower curtain revealed two or three guys standing in the middle of the shower ally, naked and toweling off. I thought, I've still got Charley. He'll say something to them so I can get out of here, but he never did. This is because Charley, upon hearing all the big guys coming into the shower, had bailed back into our locker room. The guys waiting to shower were getting impatient. One of them yelled, I assume toward my stall, "Stop jerking off in there and get out so the rest of us can shower!" Finally, I got the attention of the naked guy toweling off right in front of my stall to let him know I was in there so he could tell the other guys. I stepped out of the stall, grabbed my clothes, and walked past the 4 guys waiting with towels wrapped around their waists.

I honestly don't mind showering in the same room with the guys because the stalls are curtained off. However, it becomes a little uncomfortable when the room is full of guys I don't know who don't know I'm in there. Truly, wasn't there a Title 9 thing some time back? How hard would it be for them to put in a small women's showering area? It's the rink of the Kings, for god's sake, it's not like they don't have the money. At any rate, it was an interesting way to end the evening.

The song of the day is "Shadows of the Night" by Pat Benatar off her 1982 album Get Nervous. I've never been really into many female singers, but Pat Benatar rocks my socks off. I always remember this song for it's heavy rotation in MTVs first year. (In fact, another Benatar hit, "You Better Run," was the second video played on MTV right after "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles). The video featured then unknown actors Judge Reinhold and Bill Paxton. I saw her in concert once from the second row, and not only does she rock, her whole band rocks. Husband Neil Giraldo is an amazing guitarist.