It's a very long time since I've experienced the sensation of preparing for play-off's as a kid. February makes me think of play-off's in those years. As a kid, we had great play-off formats in house league. These varied across the years but there were several years where we played two out of three …
When Your Mom Dresses You
Last night's game for Blue had an interesting twist before we even hit the ice. We were clearly missing a few player moments before the game, a development that seemed a little weird given that the missing warriors had not informed me they would be away. Suddenly the door opened and in came the two …
Down Goes Blue
We played hard and fought back from being down early but the pumpkins had us on this night and we lost 4-3. Hate those guys. Chad the new guy (sparing for someone) felt really bad that he took two penalties. I mean he felt really bad and must have apologized six times. We all …
50 Mission Cap
As a big Tragically Hip fan, this song is one of my fav's. Barilko of course, is the stuff of legend, made more so by the tragedy that ended his life so quickly after him reaching such a wonderful pinnacle of sport at such a young age. Imagine scoring the overtime winner against the Hab's …
Championships
A friend /neighbour who has a son the same age as mine, once remarked after our boys' house-league hockey team won their league championship, that it was a really wonderful thing to be part of a winning team because many kids play sports for years and never get that experience. Couldn't agree more. I …
Tying Skates in the Morning
As kids, we often had games and practices early in the morning. As parents, we often took our kids to games and practices early in the morning. For some reason, I always found tying up skates early in the morning was really hard on the hands. It feels harder on the skin for some reason. …
High Points
I've had a million moments of joy playing hockey. My memories in this emotional horn of plenty range from my earliest days of having a stick in my hand until present day. My dad claims it started even before that when I was three weeks old. He said that on a particular Saturday night, …
Ski Week Without Hockey
When I was at Uni, I would come home to Peterborough during ski (reading) week each year. I remember one particular year where I was looking forward to some R&R and a little hockey and being big time disappointed when a big thaw hit either just as the break arrived or shortly thereafter, washing all …
Playin’ with the Big Kids
My son works with young kids, ages 5- 11 approximately. He came home tonight chuckling because one of the kids asked him if he played hockey. My son replied that he had in years gone by. The youngster then asked "Did you play with the big kids?" to which my son again replied that he …
The New Guy
I played pickup with a gang in St. Jacob's last night. I've played with these guys once or twice before but that was a couple of years back and I definitely felt like the new guy in the room. However, being the new guy isn't all bad. You get to listen to a bunch of …
Rink Tales 