Reply To: Diary of a Season 2012-13

[Tom Molloy]

In Calgary there are over 500 men who play +55 hockey in arenas around the city. Each group has 2 or 3 ice times during the day per week from the start of October until the end of March. The usual format is to play games to 5 and then the goalies switch ends and you start at 0-0 again and keep track of wins. Players find the arena that has their skill level and then everyone enjoys it. The group I play with goes M-W-F and consists of shift workers like Fireman, retired Mounties, Farmers, retired Teachers, retired Pro Hockey Players and guys who own their own business and can make their own schedule.We have over 50 in our group and consistently 3 lines and 5 or 6 D per team show up. We divide the two dressing rooms into white and blue before going on the ice, so you never know who you are playing with or against.

Here is the commisioners message:
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Commissioner’s Message – January 2013

When I opened the door into Optimist Arena, the first ice time after the holidays, I could already hear laughter coming from the Blue dressing room far down the hall. As I entered the room, the usual suspects were already sharing sarcastic one-liners, bad jokes, and tall tales that no rational person would endure. The calendar had flipped over, but nothing had changed; thank goodness. It was forty-five minutes before our scheduled ice-time and the cramped change area was already full of mostly unemployed, border line seniors eager to resume their hockey careers.

Later in the week, at Crowchild Friday Hockey, my team managed to win the third game in a best of three series we had begun in December. Unfortunately, we had lost the first two games. Of course, our guys decided it should really be a best of five, or a best of seven—whatever it would take to earn fleeting bragging rights.

So at mid-season, the great cultures established in our individual rinks continue to flourish. Happy New Year. I hope good health allows you to enjoy all the benefits of playing 55+ hockey in 2013.

Keith Worthington
Commissioner

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'