Some of you might know that I've been playing on a women's ice hockey team that has been working our way towards the USA Hockey nationals at the Women's Senior B level. We're the San Jose Lady Sharks and this is our second year together. Last year we earned our way to nationals in Buffalo but we didn't place. This year we had a get-in-free ticket to nationals because we hosted in San Jose. Unfortunately, we got knocked out and we didn't place. Arghhhh!!!

KTVU did a news story on nationals. My teammate Carrie was interviewed, and the Lady Sharks are the team in black. (I'm #2.)

It turns out that the two teams we lost to early in the tournament went head-to-head in the finals. Congratulations, Minnesota J Hawks and O'Leary Hawks!

By the score sheet: We soundly lost our first game 1-4, getting down 0-4 in the first half and then holding strong in the second half. We soundly won our second game 7-4, with an amazing comeback after being down 0-3 in the first 10 minutes of the game. We just lost our third game 0-2, it was 0-1 up until the last minute of the game when they scored an empty netter when we pulled the goalie to try to tie things up. We needed to win this game to make it to the quarter-finals, so it was a heart-breaking loss! But, we did play a solid game.

As you can see, our team had our moments, but we still have some work to do to become champions.

Why am I writing about this on my work blog? Because while it's not fun to lose, you can learn a lot from it. And as you know, I think these learnings apply to sports and to work and to life! Sometimes you need to lose to learn how to win.

Here are some of my learnings from the tournament.

I (re-)learned...

... how to learn in real time... when it counts! The coach switched me from offense to defense for the entire tournament- Yikes! Fortunately, my teammates were giving me real-time tips between shifts and between games, and they were very supportive, too. Thanks, Ling! Thanks, teammates!

... that I can count on my teammates. I made one colossal mistake in our final game where I came around the net in the defensive zone, got pressured, and lost the puck in front of the net to two of their forwards. My goalie came out with a BIG SAVE, thus saving me and the team from my mistake. Thanks, B!

... that you can learn a lot by how a team behaves when they're losing. Do they blame each other or support each other? Emotions fly high when you're losing. If we start blaming each other when we're losing, then we know we better snap ourselves out of it in order to have any chance of winning. If we hear the other team blaming each other when they're losing, then we know we can win!

... that when a team is losing, any player of any ability can create the spark needed to energize the team and turn the game around. We had a number of sparks in our big turnaround in Game 2.

... that losing is easier to take if you know you gave it your all. When you lose, it's natural to go through all of the if-only's, "If only we [this]. If only I [that]". But, you have fewer of them if you know you gave it your all during the game and if you know you gave it your all in preparing throughout the season! 

... that it is easier to lose to a good team that plays hard, plays well, and plays clean.

... that great sportsmanship is very special! The Minnesota J Hawks beat the O'Leary Hawks 6-1 in the championship game. As soon as the game ended, the O'Leary Hawks goalie skated across the ice to the Minnesota J Hawks goalie and congratulated her. Wow!

... that I can talk about losing. I knew I would write a blog entry if we won. I wondered if I would write one if we lost. Well, here it is!

... that many of my teammates were born in the 80's. I was born in the 60's. So, next year I'm going to have them do all the skating. ;) Just kidding!

... how great our fans are! We have the most incredible fans! We had friends, parents, husbands, partners, relatives, and teammates (from our other teams) who were really rooting for us, throughout! Some fans flew in from Detroit and Boston. Some fans took off work to watch us play. One fan bought roses for the team! One fan came to our early Friday morning game to watch us play before going to work. Some fans came to watch in person, even if they didn't know that many people on the ice. Some fans closely kept up with the stats on the web and one fan sent emails throughout.

THANK YOU, FANS and TEAMMATES!!!

Teammates and Fans- Do you have anything to add?

All- Do you think any of these lessons apply to work?

Tags: Hockey, losing, teamwork, HP

---

Posted 03-26-2007 4:26 AM by susie.wee