Being in “hockey shape” is its entirely own thing lol

So I’ve been getting in shape lately, lost like ~35 lbs, been going to the gym consistently, all that good stuff. Pretty much the best shape I’ve been in years. But I haven’t really been playing hockey nearly as much as I used to. Decided to change that and jumped into a pickup game tonight. First 10 minutes I actually felt amazing and despite some rust buried a nice goal early and was making good plays etc, legs and hands felt great. But i got a little excited and did not pace myself. I dug myself such a hole like, cardiovascular-wise, that I never recovered. The second half of the game I was a total pylon. 30 lb heavier me would have been absolutely fine and would have blown the DOORS off current me.

There’s really no replacement for hockey when it comes to having your wind. I’m excited to get it back because those first few shifts felt so good, but boy oh BOY was that a wake-up call. I guess you really just have to play hockey in order to get in shape to play hockey.