But you could have used a few more lessons in playing goal:
1. Never, ever show pain in front of the other players. Relish the pain, and wear it with pride. I played goalie in floor hockey in high school, and I was pretty good at it. Better yet, a lot of the jocks in my gym class who never thought much of me suddenly had a ton of respect for me in the locker room after gym class when they saw all the welts all over me. They couldn't believe that I would stay in goal for an entire gym period after getting peppered like that.
2. Acquire a strange, eccentric habit that will make other players (opponents and teammates alike) certain that you are a lunatic. This is one of the defining characteristics of hockey goalies. LOL.
I played as a defenseman in my younger days, and I had my share of blocked shots that did some damage. I took one shot high on my ankle -- right below the bottom of the shin pad on the front of the skate -- that made my foot completely numb for two hours. I had to take two Tylenols several times every day for a week just to deal with that pain.
You must definitely be a fan of "Slapshot"!
Before I fell victim to kidney stones, being hit in the big toe by a blistering slapshot ranked up there pretty high in the pain level, even wearing the goalie skates.
LOL, defensemen and blocked shots, now THAT is hazardous. At least I had padding in the right places...my best friend played hockey in league when we were in High School, and the night I told him I was joining the Navy, he had shown up at my house while I was working on my van, and he stuck his head in the door...his nose was twice its normal size and on one side of his face! I had to take him to the hospital where he got the forceps, cocaine drops and cotton up the nostrils!
This is in the days before they made the kids wear face cages...he had been skating backwards as a guy came in on him. He had his stick out in front of him, the guy fired the shot, it hit the shaft of his stick and ricocheted right into his nose!