Ah, the beauty and the beast of the Great White North's winter season. The cold being the beauty that gives life to the treasured outdoor rink. The beast being the snow, sleet, rain and combinations thereof that transform the act of shoveling the rink to something between a minor annoyance and a heart-attack inducing hell-on-blades …
Category: people and places
A Hockey Friend Gone
I received word today that a childhood friend and teammate passed away this past Thursday. His name was John Cowling. The news has saddened me terribly. Although I had not seen him in 20+ years, nor kept in touch with him, I know that he was a very good man. It is funny how there is …
A Bit of Canadiana
There isn't any Scottish lineage in this old bloke but when friends invited my better half and I to a Robbie Burns gig scheduled for tonight, I was all in. It was at a local golf club and I guess one doesn't eat haggis in jeans and a sweatshirt so we had to throw on …
Hockey Smells
I have an awkward back door and landing area which makes it difficult to get my gear into and out of the house. As a result, I leave it in the garage. This works pretty well except in the really cold months because it just freezes and when I get to my games late at …
Last Minute of Play in this Period
A couple of posts ago, I dug up a memory on Roger Doucet, the Habs Anthem singer. On the same night this memory popped to the surface, we also dug up that famous nasally voice that used to announce the goals and penalties at Leaf games and of course, notify one and all thrice …
Blue Wins Again
As athletes are fond of say after a hard fought victory, "We battled hard out there tonight." And so it was with Blue last night. We were down a couple of times but managed to tie it mid way through the final period and then Colonel nailed a beauty with a couple of minutes to …
January
January is the time of year that even when playing hockey inside at an arena, it is so cold that your feet get almost as cold as they do when playing outside. I've noticed over the past few games that by the end of the game, the toes on my right foot, which had a …
Roger Doucet
One of the things I've always loved about the anthems sung at hockey games is how the crowd and players all break into action before the last verse is complete. The players on the ice start to move and the fans start to cheer, clap, scream etc. It's game-on baby now that the anthem has …
Puckette
Several years ago, when the Crowley backyard rink was the centre of family action in the winter months, my youngest flipped a stick upside-down and attempted to control the puck with the end of the stick instead of the blade. She was imitating a neighbourhood friend who played ringette, but given our rink was always …
Big League
Big League, a great hockey song by Tom Cochrane, is a sad one if you listen to the lyrics. A young player's life cut short by a drunk driver and based on a true story. The word have always resonated with me because I have always loved playing hockey outside. Hearing the ice crack, the …
Rink Tales 