Growing up, I was a big New York Islanders fan. I don’t remember exactly what drew me to them instead of the Leafs or Habs, which were probably the favourites of 8 out of 10 kids back then. Nor do I remember when exactly they became my team. However, I suspect it had something to …
Author: Rich Crowley
Shinny Armageddon
Is there anything worse in recreational hockey, (I mean ANYTHING), than having only one goalie show up? This is a rhetorical question of course because anyone who has ever slapped on skates at 11:00 PM on a -18 degree night in January (in a rink that feels much colder than that) will tell you that …
When Old Hockey Nets Die
I'm not one of those handyman, McGyver types. I hold my own when it comes to fixing busted clothes-dryers, replacing panes of broken glass and I'll even change the oil on my own cars but I don't build entire rec rooms, turn 4 cylinder engines into V-8's with popular mechanics kits or wire the cottage …
This Cannot Have Helped Olympic Advertisers
Here's a beautiful blog post about how the folks in the city of Edmonton, presumably a pretty good proxy for the rest of Canada, timed their pee breaks during the men's gold medal hockey game in Vancouver.
What Makes a Great Rink Attendant?
The first half of this year's summer season is on Wednesday night's in New Hamburg from 10:00 -11:00. A couple of weeks back, we noticed that the garage door hiding the zamboni opened around 10:48 and the rink attendant appeared at the glass behind the net. We knew our time was up in two minutes …
Collapsing Boxes and Smoked Meat Sandwiches
It started out as an idea we talked about a year or so back in the dressing room after a pickup game. This idea was to attend a tournament out of town. Make a weekend of it. Perhaps even a week over March break where those with significant others could combine a beach vacation with …
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Time Warp
I was out walking the dog in the neighourhood this morning and came across two young boys playing hockey in their driveway. I actually heard them before I saw them. It was that distinct sound that occurs when a hockey stick hits a paved driveway as a tennis ball or one of those orange ball …
The Greatest Comeback
There are many flavours of memories that come with playing, coaching and watching hockey over the years. There are the people themselves that you remember, the strange plays, the great goals, saves and hits, the funny one-liners heard in the dressing room and then there are those memories involving a specific game. One of my …
The Orange Team Winter 2010 – A Team for the Ages
Perhaps the last part of the title of this post should read "...- A Team of Old-Agers" given the way we played last night. But I digress. This isn't about last night's game, with it's massive comeback derailed just short of a tie in the dying seconds. This is about the Orange team, a great …
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3 on 3 Tourney
I played my first 3 on 3 tournament this weekend. Geez boy, am I ever tired after four 20-minute games of that in a 24 hour period. And what a different game it is. We ended up playing for all the marbles, (the over-50 consolation final after finishing 4th in a 5 team round robin) …
Rink Tales 