More saga...

Last time I wrote, I was telling you all about my wild and crazy days as a ‘goalie girl’…it may have seemed irrelevant to the overall story I’m trying to tell, but actually it is important. You see it was through this experience that I decided that I had enough of being the “nobody” next to a “someone”. I had my fill of being some meaningless fling and my heart just couldn’t take being splattered all over the place anymore. I was done with dating – at least, dating without the purpose of a long term relationship.

It was at this time that I started working at Key Bank and met Brian. Brian was in the simplest terms – not my type. He wore glasses, was rather skinny and wore a fedora! He also talked a lot about going to strip bars and such. We had witty banter and he was nice enough, he just wasn’t the guy for me. Besides, I was on what would be my last goalie crush – Derek from Dayton.

I racked up the miles on my car zipping off to watch him play. I really liked him and through much effort had gotten to know him fairly well after the games at this little bar connected to the arena. I even had “my chance” with him when one of his very drunk roommates went in and woke him up…whispering something to him which I assumed meant I was willing and ready. With the lights still off, his roommate literally threw me into Derek’s bed and shut the door with a loud victory yell! I just sat there feeling very awkward. This was not what I had in mind. He never spoke or even moved. I sat there for what felt like an eternity and then just got up and left – my chance was over. See? Had I been the normal hockey slut, I could have gotten my man…silly me and my rules of conduct. I slunk back into the living room in time to see a friend of mine from the area doing a strip tease for a couple of the guys. They motioned me to join in; instead I just drove back to Columbus feeling like a complete loser.

Brian had made me a bet regarding Derek. He knew how much I wanted to date this guy and he told me he was willing to help…if Derek wasn’t my date for New Year’s Eve then he owed me dinner. If the date came through then I owed Brian dinner. I was so focused on Derek that I hardly noticed that perhaps Brian like me. Well, despite the fiasco in his bedroom, Derek did call me and mentioned the team’s New Year’s Eve party. It was an “official” team event – in other words, the players had to be there. I asked him if he’d like to see me there…and he said yes. To me this was a date - boy, was I wrong!

I went all out; manicure, my hair all swept up and held in place by a million bobby pins and a new dress! I showed up and was kindly informed by the team’s equipment manager that Derek was there with a date already – apparently there was at least one guy on the team with a heart and some kind of ethics still intact. I was crushed but determined not to let Derek think he had hurt me. Besides, my friends and I had already paid to get into the crappy party so we went.

I marched up to Derek and presented myself. I wish I could tell you I threw a drink in his face or something dramatic, instead I just said “Nice game, Derek” and ordered a drink. He mumbled a thanks and left to go sit at the team table with his Barbie doll date. I fled to the bathroom in tears. I was humiliated. I felt like the whole team knew what he had done. Were they all laughing at me? Plus I had traveled there with 3 of my friends from Columbus; they had a front-row seat to this embarrassing disaster. I bet they thought I made up my “date” with Derek…but I hadn’t! I felt so stupid and I was uncomfortably aware that I was overdressed and stuck out like a huge loser. In the bathroom, my Dayton friend (the strip teaser) found me and told me that Derek was not worth it. “Go out there and have a great time anyway. That will show him!” I walked out of the bathroom determined to show Derek that I was above his prank. That’s when I ran – literally - into a face from the past: Shane from Cincinnati.

I had met Shane in Columbus. He was one of many players in Columbus for a big camp to try-out for the league. Shane was a nice guy with a good glove hand. I cheered him on loudly and talked up his speed and play around the coaches. Before the camp ended Shane and I had plans to hook up…but when the time came to meet, all I found was his empty hotel room. He had checked out and left no note or anything! I was furious…and now here he was months later staring at me like he couldn’t quite place who I was (which in any other circumstances I would have forgiven because the updo made my hair resemble a small poodle sitting upon my head – so I didn’t exactly look like I did normally.) Poor Shane…I let him have it with double barrels. Maybe I wouldn’t allow myself to dump my anger on Derek, but I had no such problem telling Shane exactly what I though about his disappearing act. I let him have it for every girl who had ever been stood up or humiliated. Any sane person would have ignored me completely and walked away, instead Shane totally surprised me by apologizing. He held up a string of bar tickets and asked me to joining him in a drink – or three. I was so caught off guard that I agreed.

It turns out that Shane was acting as the Dayton team’s emergency back-up goaltender. Their normal guy had been called up to another team for a game or two and they had asked Shane to fill in until he got back. In real life Shane was a contractor (as in drywall) but he loved to play hockey. After our initial bumpy start, we actually had a very nice evening together. It was sweet justice to be brought to the team’s table by Shane as his date for the evening. We sat just a few feet from a stunned looking Derek! (Suck it up baby! HA!!) Dayton’s equipment manager winked at me from across the table. Revenge was very sweet. If there was one person that a goalie felt insecure about, it was his back-up! I couldn’t have planned it better if I had written it out in advance. The equipment manager greeted me at midnight with a kiss on the cheek…and a whisper in my ear; “Derek is so pissed off! You go girl!” It was the beginning of a short-lived affair with Shane the contractor/part-time goalie.

Back in Columbus, Brian owed me a dinner. Little did I know that it would be Brian who would steal my heart away & convince me to hang up the ol'goalie obsession for good.