Rolf Devinci

My ball hockey season has been complicated by a wonky shoulder but I have not been satisfied with my goal tending this year regardless of the injury. I'm moving around too much (happy feet) and have been giving up some bad goals from mid court and from both the left and right wings. While scaling back my participation this last month hoping to "fix" my shoulder issues with some down time I decided to look at my fundamentals and do some research. Lo and behold I discovered two bad habits.... Staying Square Often you would hear the phrase "stay square to the shooter" when referring to goal tending but that is not really true. It is much better to stay square to the puck, or in my case, the ball. " It is important to remember that it is the puck that is most important, not the shooter.  Frequently, goalies will square to the shooter, and although the puck is very close to the shooter, this is still not correct.  Remember, it is the puc...

While I am definitely looking forward to Spring I still enjoy hiking through the woods in winter. With some snowfall yesterday but sunshine today with moderate temperatures it was a perfect chance to do some late winter bushwhacking. The woods were absolutely beautiful today with a light snow cover over the terrain, underbrush and trees. With the sunshine streaming through the canopy of tall softwoods it made for a postcard kind of hike. Obviously I was not the only critter out and about with lots of canine(dog/coyote?) prints along the game trails. The area has lots of rabbit activity so it should not be surprising to see evidence of predators.The coyote has made quite the comeback in the province and, in some cases, have been implicated in attacks upon people. They certainly seem to be more aggressive of late, perhaps the result of losing their fear of us as they and we encroach on each others habitat. The woods in winter is simply unbeatable. The blanket of snow m...

What does a Canadian do during the long Northern winter? Besides drinking wine and shovelling snow this Canuck, a self proclaimed history nerd, constructs a Viking shield. After completing my Norse spear and acquiring a Hanwei antiqued Viking axe it seemed a logical step to take After researching Norse shield designs I decided to take a few liberties with my first shield. Rather than use planks I opted to purchase a solid sheet of hardwood to avoid the need to glue since I don't possess wood clamps.Often a shield was rimmed with rawhide but I substituted suede from an old jacket. Might not be historically accurate but it worked. In true Canadian fashion I created the handle from an old hockey stick wrapped in some leftover suede. A shoulder strap from an old briefcase became the shoulder sling because I did not possess any suitable rope. Since I did not use planks it was not necessary to place supporting strips of wood on the belly of the shield other than the two small str...