NO THANKS! We do need to get a hockey arena close by though. I really loved hockey but could never play it because of how far away the ice arenas are. We were able to bring professional hockey back to Maine this year after a two year absence though, but I have yet to get our schedule and theirs to line up with some home games so Katie and I can make a date of it. I was able to get my youngest daughter into watching hockey on the computer. Of course being on the computer we can just watch the Hockey Fights from the night before. so she has no clue they actually use a stick, stakes and ice to get a puck into the net.
I played a little bit of hockey in my youth. We had an outdoor rink that the local fire dept flooded for us kids and we had to shovel it off when it snowed. Our goals were 2 pieces of wood laid on the ice about 4 feet apart. We sat on a bench or the snow pile to change into our skates. Hockey skates, hockey stick and puck, that is all you need for a quick pickup game of hockey. No adults in sight. Ice got rather hard when temps dipped below zero F. We had to watch out for those not playing hockey.
Oh yes, they call that pond hockey. We did that as well! Great memories. Around here many people set up their own skating rinks, or shovel off their farm ponds as we did. (I say "shovel" as our shovel/zamboni was a garden tractor with plow.) The fun part was having a massive bon fire from the slabs left over from the sawmill, then skating around the cattails and lighting them on fire after dark.
What is this garden tractor and plow you speak ofIn addition to our skates and hockey stick, we had to bring a snow shovel from home to help clear the rink. This all took place back in the late 50's and early 60's in a town of 200. You are right about having great memories and having lots of fun.
We had a pond the was our outdoor rink. No fire dept to flood it. My dad would come down. Chop a hole in the ice and use a 5gal bucket to "flood" it. Next day....just like glass.....until it snowed again. Good times.
Wheel Horse, old clunker of a thing with 8 HP that would not stop with its cast iron transmission. The thing was HEAVY.
Hockey. Love it live hate it on TV. I get all cranked up when I come home from a hockey game and can't wait until the next time it is on the tube. Tune the game in and don't even last a period. Just appears to be one of those sports that don't televise well.
Yeah there is nothing better than live hockey. I can watch it on TV, BUT a person really has to be into it. The trick is to watch where the puck is going, and not where it currently is. When you see that, then you watch the plays develop and can figure out why and where the players will be. That is when the whole game gets to be fun. It was said Wayne Gretzky was the best at that. He could take the puck on the far end, size up the situation and figure out where everyone was going to be and head down the ice to the net. He sucked as a coach though as he could just not get his players to see what he could. He was a great, but unfortunately being small, he hated fighting and wished it was taken out of the sport. Me, I love it as it is part of the game. Talk to any sports caster and they will say the best pro players are hockey players as they get their aggression out. Okay; so Goon, Tie Domi and Forward, Todd Bertuzzi took things a bit far, but over all if there is a problem, they handle it themselves.
Well all good things must come to an end. I did mow again today. In shorts but I had a small coat on this time. That was the last one. We have had 3 frosts so that will sum up the grass growing but it grew longer that it ever had this year. Saturday’s low is 27. One thing that separates me from you northern fellas is the afternoon temps. They still get pretty high and extends our warm season. Today it was 70. Time to head down to the woods and pick out the old stock. Gonna start with some 3 year old Norway maple. See how it works.
I snowblow the pond each winter for a few games of hockey. More work than play, but I like to do it anyway. No picks but will have some in a couple of months I'm guessing
I am glad to see Maine has a Pro Hockey team again, but I have not been able to get down to Portland and see them yet. Their schedule and mine just do not seem to be right. I would like for my youngest to see a game. She loves hockey, and even has the teeth to match...she fell on a Barbie House and knocked her tooth out at 1 year of age and had to have it surgically removed. But right now, we just watch hockey on the internet...she has no idea they actually use a puck, sticks and try to get the thing in the net; she thinks it is nothing but boxing with ice skates on. (I live for the fights).
