The Joys of Ice Hockey

When I was a schoolboy, I had a particularly crabby English teacher. If she wasn't giving long-winded lectures on topics unrelated to the books she assigned, she would sit at her desk and observe us while we read the book ourselves.

During one of these "reading" periods, I happened to fall asleep at my desk. I woke to that teacher slamming a hardcover book on the desk... the desk on which my head was resting. 

"I'm sorry" I said,"I had a hockey game last night, and I'm kinda tired." 

She snapped, "What's more important to you, Stephen? School or Hockey!" 

"Do you really want to know the answer?" was my reply. 

It was, of course, hockey.

That day, I made an enemy of that teacher. But, I made a classroom of friends (most of them were at that game). 

It seems like ice hockey was in my blood from a young age. Even though my parents didn't play themselves, they took me to Kent State NCAA Division-I hockey games as a kid, because we happened to live very near an ice rink in Kent, Ohio. My father actually got to be an extra in the film Slapshot which was filmed in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. I played in a tournament in that same rink more than a decade later.

I could go on at length about my hockey stories... Meeting the legendary Czech, and hall-of-fame Pittsburgh Penguin, Jaromir Jagr; Billeting in Embro, Ontario for a US-Canada Hockey exchange; and playing on the ice of Nationwide Arena, home of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets. But, I digress.... 

Basically, in my younger years, I was a pretty good hockey player. Not great, but good. I believe my peak was going to the Mid-American USA Hockey Development Camp tryouts. It was a big deal. I even got to skip two days of school to travel to Toledo, Ohio to participate. I didn't really have any goals in-mind other than to do the best I could, and get some extra skating time in. Yet, I found myself skating, and competing with the best hockey players of my age-group. They towered over me and out-weighed me. I knew I was not going to be selected from the first minute I stepped on the ice. But, I participated, and I actually made some good plays -enough to get a nice pat on the shin pads from my bench-mates, and a slap on the helmet from a few coaches. 

I didn't get selected. Afterwards, I was more tired than I have been my entire life. I was glad I did my best, and I skated with future NHL and AHL players. I could share the same rink with them, and get their acknowledgements when I did make a (rare) nice play. And, when I went back to playing high school hockey, I played like I was on fast-forward, and the rest of the players were on slow-motion. It was one of the best learning experiences I've ever had in any subject, professional or otherwise.

When we valiantly bowed out of the OHSAA playoff to a far-superior team my Senior year, I was more relieved than sad. There was college and marching band to look forward too; but mostly, I was grateful that I never had to do another practice, sprint or conditioning drill ever again. With my evenings free, there lay ahead of me a multitude of possibilities: jobs, colleges, girls, partying, golf? They all seemed a lot better than watering the ice rink with my sweat. So, that was it, I gave-up hockey.

Wish me luck, boys.

Yet, I miss the salty smell of sweat on my fingers. It lingers after games and practices, even when you've showered and and scrubbed with soap. I miss the smell of the rink, and the flavor your car gets after hauling hockey pads around all week. I miss the calluses that build up on your palms from tightening your skate laces each night. And, I miss the boys. My teammates. 

Apparently, hockey is, in-fact, in my blood. Because, in-spite of all logic, at 38 years of age,  I have signed up for an upper-level men's league hockey team. According to my doctor, I'm overweight and have high blood pressure. I'm pretty sure I can't jog a mile without stopping, and I have aches and pains that happen randomly whether or not I workout. 

Could hockey really be the answer? Could it really be better than eating healthy, taking my doctor's prescriptions, and having a brisk walk every morning? 

Do you really want to know to the answer? 

I'll let you know after our first game.