Being a Nomad

Sometimes, you just have to leave ...

In another month, I'll be starting to play in a new hockey league.  This will be my fourth season playing hockey and my third league, somehow when I started to play this sport, I never envisioned that a nomadic existence would become part of the process.  

I have played on some great teams, with some incredible people.  I've forged new friendships and won championships.  I've learned new skills, as well as recognized some limitations.  In short, I've discovered so much through hockey, but what still eludes me is finding an appropriate league to play within. 

My illustrious (said firmly with tongue in cheek) hockey career began in a league called True North Hockey.  Its primary attraction stemmed from the fact that it offered adult beginner hockey.  The first half of the season was spent acquiring basic hockey skills and the second half of the season was spent playing games against other beginners in the same league.  It was an idea situation for me.  I was also lucky, in that I was placed on a team that consisted of many wonderful people.  I played in True North for two years, the arena wasn't the greatest (on one of the ice surfaces, the gates to the bench would barely open), the change room washrooms only had urinals (quite the logistical problem for a female), but what became fairly obvious fairly quickly, was that adult recreational hockey was really about the social aspect as well as about the hockey (in that order).

Regretfully, John and I had to leave the league after the conveners of the league agreed to let Jamie play with us in their summer league and then suddenly reneged on their agreement, yet refused to refund our money.  In short, they took our money, but wouldn't let him play all the games that were paid for.  In the end we were put in the untenable situation of being right, but if we protested any further our team would be penalized. 

It's a life lesson;  in that being right doesn't necessarily equate with being treated in the right way.  We couldn't teach our kids a lesson about the honour of standing by your words if we didn't live by the same tenets ourselves.  Our teammates tried to argue with the league on our behalf and did threaten to leave the league, but in the end, being right is sometimes lonely and our team chose to stay in the league whilst John and I moved on.  We knew it was our battle and not theirs, and there were no hard feelings on our part, but it doesn't lessen the disappointment that we felt in having to leave.

Luckily we landed on our feet (or skates as the case may be) in a new league called Hockey Toronto.  It was a loosely run league for low to mid level players that was suitable for my skill level.  Again we were fortunate in that we were placed on a team that coalesced well.  There was also another married couple on the team (which is rather rare in hockey) as well as another female who played while her very patient husband faithfully watched from the stands.  The six of us soon formed the core group at the bar, with the other members of the team joining in at various times. 

Like True North Hockey there were issues with this league as well.  The schedule was rarely posted more than a week ahead of time, which made it difficult to plan around with regards to work, meetings and picking up kids from work.  It was supposed to be a co-ed league, yet some of the teams didn't have any female members and at times the rosters seems to be somewhat elastic from week to week, since some teams would have highly skilled players come out to play which would result in a less than enjoyable experience for a low level player like myself.  On the whole though, I enjoyed the league and decided that it was better to accept it for what it simply was, rather than what I wanted it to be.

Unfortunately, Aaron, who is half of the other married couple on our team, as well as being a key component in our social circle (he's really good at pouring the big team pitchers that we get at Boston Pizza), had a run in with the convener of Hockey Toronto.  To be honest, I'm still confused as to what the issue might have been and since I wasn't privy to any of their conversations and interactions, it wouldn't be fair for me to comment on them.  In the end, Aaron was asked to leave the league.  Suffice it to say, I was faced with the decision of leaving with Aaron (lets be honest, John would play wherever I wanted to play) or stay with the team.  It all became somewhat similar to the song I know an old lady who swallowed a fly ...  Aaron leaving meant the his wife Meghan would leave,  Aaron and Meghan leaving meant that Leela would leave (which meant her husband Randy would leave too) since the three (+ 1) of them joined the league together.  Leela was the one that gave our son Jamie a summer internship at her company ... So job and beer pouring ... it was a simple decision - John and I decided to leave the league too.

So once the dust settled, it appears that we'll be playing in the Russell Hockey league.  I'm now under no illiusions that there won't be issues with this league too.  At least it's a league for players who are over the age of 30, which should be a bit better for us.  I'll let you know how it works out - I know Toronto is a big city, but I think I'm running out of hockey leagues ...