Exhaustion, The Boys & Booty

How I felt after two hours of shinny with a short bench

(I know they're stretching, but they still look tired)



On Saturday night, John and I went to play some shinny at York University.  We're lucky, in that we're a married couple who think that spending time playing hockey and drinking beer with friends, is the perfect way to spend a Saturday night.  Little did we know that this particular evening would provide such unique and interesting insights into the mating rituals of the North American university student, but before I digress into the bizarre, let me first deal with the shinny, which was incredible - in length, fun, intensity and laughs.

Our friend Anooj had booked the ice time, he managed to secure two hours of ice starting at a decent time (7:45 pm), which is a rarity in our hockey crazed city.  For $20, we could play for two hours, plus get a pitcher of beer and wings, heck, how could you turn down a deal like that?  Usually when Anooj books shinny time, he gets a pretty good turnout, yet for some reason or another we were short players.  We did have two goalies, but only eleven skaters which meant a lot of ice time, but a lot of ice time takes up a lot of energy, by the end of the two hours, everyone was pretty exhausted.

We played four on four, which allowed one team to have one on the bench and the other team to have two on the bench (that's the team I played on, hey I'm old and I need as much as a break as I can get).  Playing four on four is fantastic, especially when you're like me and just learning, it gives you more space and time to make decisions.  I had the opportunity to carry the puck and make some rushes, it wasn't pretty, but I'm getting better.  It was heartening to receive some compliments from Sunny & Dave over my improved abilities, Sunny even took the time to make some suggestions to better my play while we sitting on the bench (it was hard to hear him while I was trying to keep my lungs from collapsing).   Of the thirteen of us playing, I was the only female and was clearly the weakest player, but these guys were great.  They adjusted their level of play to my level when playing directly against me.  Some females might have taken that as an insult, insisting that they be treated as one of the guys, but I accepted their treatment in the spirit of goodwill of which it was given.   Let's be real, with all of 2 1/2 years of hockey under my belt and being a 48 year old premenopausal female, there's no way I could go one on one with a guy 20 years younger with ample playing experience.  The boys went at it hard when playing against each other, no quarter was given to my 52 year old husband, his advanced skills let him deal with the younger more fit guys, but even John was exhausted by the end and had a hard time recovering Sunday.

Two hours of hockey, with little time on the bench is exhausting.  My skills level went down as my exhaustion level went up.  Even the guys started to rely upon stretch passes and rarely challenged during breakaways that occurred in the last half hour.  We even left the ice before the Zamboni came out, there wasn't anybody on the ice afterwards, so we could have kept playing, but a body can only take so much!

Afterwards we went upstairs for the wings and beer.  The rink as I mentioned is located at York University, yet whenever we played there, we wouldn't see any students in bar, which seemed to cater exclusively to the hockey crowd.  This night was an exception.   They were carding for ID at the door (I was crushed when they didn't ask me for mine), and there was a DJ playing extremely loud bizarre dance mixes, he seemed to specialize in mixing vocals and underlying rhythms that didn't match.  To make it even more annoying the bar hadn't turned off their canned 'muzak,' so we had that emitting from a dinky speaker over our heads, though it was no match for pounding sounds coming from the DJ's speakers.  Now I live with a 16 year old female and watch Much Music every morning,  I know my Katy Perry and Taylor Swift - but there wasn't anything that this guy played that I recognized,  we all commented that we felt old and out of it.   When we first entered, there were only confused, somewhat sweaty hockey players in the bar, along with rather large security men wandering about and the only person dancing were the DJ and his assistant.  We would have left, but remember that our price to play hockey included beer and wings and though the music may have been annoying, we weren't crazy enough to walk away from beer!  As time passed a trickle of students started to enter the venue, I thought Jeff's head would swizzle off as he turned to watch the parade of scantily clad girls that entered the bar.  The unifying aspect of dress for these girls seemed to be an attempt to display as much of their bodies as possible in micro minis, short shorts and plunging neck lines.  Jeff didn't even try to be circumspect as he watch them saunter by, squealing as them met their friends, his attitude was that girls dress this way for attention and he was merely providing it!

It was quite the dichotomy, older sweaty hockey players and young exhibitionist females.  Sure there were a few university aged males in the mix, but they seemed to lack the desire to reveal as much skin as possible (remember I had just left the change room with a bunch of guys, I had seen as much male skin as I needed).  It was like entering a bizarre subculture where you thought you belonged (hockey bar), but you ended up feeling like Alice in Wonderland.  In a way it all made sense, since the hockey players clear out around midnight, the bar added to its income by holding a university event that would go till the wee hours.  I have a live and let live attitude, if the girls wanted to dress this way (and especially those that had the body for it), hey it's their lives.  I just wonder if they would have put the same wares on display, knowing that their audience would be an aging group of hockey players, who may have been shaking their heads, but enjoyed the spectacle none the less. 

I'm lucky that a lot of the guys I play hockey with read my blog ... I bet the next time we have shinny at York University we'll have a few more players.

Where's the Intensity?

It's not easy being a Leaf fan.  Back in October when the NHL season was dewy and fresh, I blogged about the Leaf winning streak of four games http://madwomanofhockey.blogspot.com/2010/10/jumping-on-bandwagon.html, and how so many people were jumping on the Leaf's bandwagon.  Now it's a month later and the bandwagon is getting rather lonely due to the Leaf's record of 5-7-3.  The Toronto media continually lambastes the team and its management, the fans bemoan the dearth of ambition and grit on the team and many people have simply shrugged and chalked it up to another typical Leaf's season.  Just today, the Toronto Star questioned where the leaf's intensity was.  The team may lack intensity, but its true fans do not.

There are very, very few true Leafs fans, but my friend Anooj has to be at the forefront of them.  Like a true love affair, it hasn't all been smooth sailing, in fact love affair with the Leafs is like trying to have a love affair with a skunk; sure they can be cute at times, but often they stink!

Anooj carries out his affair with the Leafs in the very public forum of Facebook.  Sometimes one has to wonder how his long suffering wife Jalpa feels about this other spectre in their marriage.  As you can see by the above status update he has also promised to love the Leafs "Till death do us Part!!!".  Actually that statement was made in uppercase letters, a technique that Anooj often employs.

According to "netiquette", writing in capital letters is akin to shouting.  Anooj shouts a lot. 

Anooj will vehemently defend his team, usually employing quite descriptive and visually evocative language, though frequently a comparison to some type of excrement is usually made as may be seen by the above reference to llama excretions or rhino turd.  In the interest of family viewing, I've chosen not to include any reference to human excrement, but yes, that finds its ways into his updates too.

The language may be puerile and adolescent, but you have to admit that it's really funny and amusing.  Frequently I find myself on Facebook during a Leaf's game, simply because Anooj's running commentary is more entertaining than the play-by-play commentary of the so called experts.  If I miss watching the game, there's no need to tune into TSN's updates, I simply have to log into Facebook and I have access to all the information that's pertinent to the game, plus emotional input such as the Billy Madison and a orifice reference with regards to the parking cone, as seen above.

A passionate love affair is never a smooth and simple process.  Anooj readily admits the faults of his team, but steadfastly remains loyal in his support.  One can only hope that the Leafs win a Stanley Cup in his lifetime as a reward for such staunch loyalty.

In Anooj's succinct reply to his own status update (a rather unique process that I've really only ever seen employed by Anooj, along with 'liking' his own updates), he tells the world that "HATERZ SUUUUK IT!!!!!!"  No matter what, he'll stand by his team, though it may require vast quantities of alcohol  to do so, though I do worry that if the Leafs ever do win the Stanley Cup, he won't now how to deal with such a popular girlfriend; right now it's easier to vehemently defend the honour of the girl who doesn't look like she'll ever win a beauty contest.  Somehow, you've got to like a guy like that, I know I do.

Remembering

Sometimes it's not all about hockey.

I lead an incredible life.  I'm blessed with a loving husband and family; I have a wonderful circle of friends; I enjoy good health and financial security.  I am free to worship God in the way and manner that is right for me.  I live in a country that is controlled by an imperfect democracy (I've never been able to figure out a viable alternative).  I am at peace with myself and the world around me. I sleep soundly in my bed each night, knowing that I and my family are safe and protected.

I never forget that the reason I enjoy so many of the above mentioned items, is because people fought and died to protect them for me and for my family.  I am thankful and I remember.

My father, Michael Joseph Mooney was 17 when he became a Flight Officer (a temporary rank that created during W.W II) in the Royal Canadian Air Force.  As a bombardier/navigator, he flew numerous missions over Germany in a Halifax bomber.  My father would never really talk about the war, like many others who fought, they couldn't convey the actual horror of war in mere words.  I know he left the Catholic Church at some point during the war, his loss a faith, which had to have been deeply ingrained within him during his upbringing in Southern Ireland, was simply another casualty of the the war. 

My father died when I was 11.  I remember poking around in his desk soon after his death, I guess in some way looking for a connection to a man that I deeply loved, yet barely knew.  I discovered a notebook that he had kept during the war.  It wasn't a journal, more a study guide for his lessons in bombing and navigation.  I was struck by the intricacies of the work and job that he had to complete.  With only a slide ruler to help, he had to figure out the trajectories of bombs in order to hit his targets.  Targets that meant the loss of human life. 

It wouldn't be till years later that I would travel through Germany after graduating from university.  I remember being struck by the war memorials - one forgets (or perhaps you don't want to think about), how many young men died for the other side.  How many 17 year old boys like my father, were doing what they thought was best for their country. 

I think of Jamie at the age of 17 and I'm thankful that he never had to face the choice of choosing to enlist. 

Today, I remember and I am thankful.

Making a Legend

Sittler taking the face off at the Legends of Hockey Game



John and I attended a fundraiser for a family friend a few weeks ago and one of the items that I bought via the silent auction were two tickets to the Hockey Hall of Fame Legends of Hockey game.  I have to admit that I didn't realize what I was purchasing; it was simply a chance to donate money to a young man who suffered an unfortunate diving accident and ended up as a paraplegic.  My main intent was to bid on only small items in the silent auction and though there were Leaf tickets that were garnering some hefty bids, I was attracted to the Legend tickets, because they were small (I've recently gone through the process of downsizing my mother from her home, into a retirement residence and am very aware of "stuff") and because no one else was bidding on them.  At the end of the night I had bought numerous items for the kids but the tickets were the only thing for John and me.  Thus on Sunday November 7th, John and I headed off downtown on one of our 'dates' to watch the game.

What a great game we saw!  Angela James and Cammi Granato, the first two women ever to be inducted into the Hall of Fame (about time women's hockey was recognized!), were playing in the game, along with some other highly recognizable names in women's hockey, such as Lori Dupuis, Shelly Looney and Sue Merz.  It was fantastic to see them skate alongside Daryl Sittler, Glen Anderson, Paul Coffey, Dino Ciccarelli and Bryan Trottier.  It must have been a really satisfying experience for these incredible women to play alongside some of the game's big names; a real justification of all their hard work and sacrifice.

If you've ever been to one of these Old Timer exhibitions, you know that the game is more about entertainment, than real hard core hockey.  There's absolutely no body contact and no slap shots either (sounds a lot like my Friday night league, except these guys have skills).  Think if hockey was professional wrestling and you have an idea what the game was like.  This is not to say that there weren't a lot of hockey skills demonstrated, those were still there in abundance.  These players can pass incredibly well.  Their eye hand co-ordination is remarkable, as demonstrated by Anderson knocking a waist high shot out of the air and into the net.  You just had to watch Coffey skate effortlessly backwards in smooth and graceful strides - the muscle memory of these players is still definitely there.  Maybe a few of them, like Sittler, were carrying a few too many pounds to accelerate effectively, but then again, I have that problem too.


As the game progressed, I was struck by the fact that the women fit in perfectly well on the ice.  The had the skill and knowledge of the game to work well with the Legends.  Sure they were smaller, plus they all wore helmets with face shields, whereas the most of the men didn't even wear a helmet or wore one quite loosely, but the women were more than capable of putting on a good show.  You would only the notice the difference in quick flashes when the men would loose the puck and either instinctively or consciously turn up their level of play to get the puck back - usually at will they could take the puck off the women, which when you think about it, really isn't unusual since most of them spent their careers doing such a thing at a very high level of play, whereas the woman didn't have the same level of competition or longevity of a hockey career.

At the end of the day it was a win-win situation for all involved. I got to give my money towards a worthy cause, a young paraplegic man is getting another shot at life, women were recognized in the realm of hockey, a lot of people were entertained, John and I got to eat a delicious hot dog, watch a game we love and spend the afternoon enjoying each other's company.  Life is good.



A Bit of a Difference!

John coaching in the Scarborough Shark's Open League

(notice how closely the girls are paying attention to him)

It can be hard to coach a girl's hockey team at the house league level.  It can be really hard coaching a bunch of girls in the 15 to 20 age group (Open).  All the coaches in the Open level are middle-aged males, not only do they have a hard time remembering what it was like to be a teenager, they're pretty much stymied when it comes to how a teen girl thinks.  They didn't get teen girls when they were teens, they're sure not going to get it now, that they're middle-aged.  Not only are they handicapped by mindset and age, they coaches have to extremely careful about entering the dressing room, along with watching any undue physical contact with the players (how many male coaches have you seen swat their male players on the bottom without a second thought?).  Nevertheless these stalwart group of men are out there twice a week, making line ups, making sure everybody gets a fair amount of ice time and opening and closing the bench door.  It takes a special kind of man to venture into that realm.

Craig MacTavish coaching the Edmonton Oilers

(notice he's getting a little more attention, but there's still players who

aren't paying attention - shows hockey player are pretty much the same)

When you think about it, NHL coaches have it a bit easier.  Sure they have to deal with the media frenzy and some huge player's egos.  Yet they can enter the team's dressing room at will, they don't have to knock frenziedly on the door, unanswered, since the girls are too busy talking, giggling and squealing to hear the knock.  An NHL coach doesn't have to worry if he'll have enough players on Halloween (John's game was defaulted since only 2 players on each team showed up).  The typical NHL star doesn't send out an email to their coach an hour before the game, saying they're parents won't let them play because they haven't finished their homework (I agree with the parents - homework first).  Lets be honest, the NHL coaches don't have to deal with players having their period and accompanying mood swings.

Alright, I admit that the NHL coaches are under huge pressure to produce winning teams, but when was the last time they had to deal with someone not wanting to be on their team, because they thought they didn't look good in a certain coloured jersey?  Of course, there's the issue of trades, these are carefully scrutinized in the NHL, but in girls hockey, if a girl is traded to another team in order to balance out the league, well then her friend has to go with her and if her friend has a friend ....

I'm not saying that the NHL coaches don't deserve their heft salaries, but maybe what I am saying is that the volunteer behind your daughter's bench deserves a lot of thanks - maybe buy him a beer at Christmas!

Looking Pretty

Life Magazine

An Artist's rendition of how goalie Terry Sawchuk would look

with all the injuries he received during his NHL career

I have learned that when John gets the puck at the point to get out of his way.  I know I'm supposed to be blocking the goalie's view and looking for a  rebound, but sorry, I'm not about to get in the way of the projectile that the puck becomes when he takes a shot.  In the co-ed league that we're playing in right now, slapshots aren't even allowed, but I still stay out of the way of his wrist shot.  Goalies on the other hand, do not share my viewpoint and willingly put themselves in front of such dangerous shots.  I have learned during my two and half years of playing hockey, that goalies are force unto themselves. 

A slap shot is when a player winds up his stick by raising it behind his/her body, then the player violently "slaps" the ice slightly behind the puck and uses his/her weight to bend the stick, storing energy in it like a spring. It is this bending of the stick that gives the slapshot its amazing speed. Just like a bow and arrow, the stick's desire to return to being straight is transferred to the puck, giving it much more speed than just hitting it alone could. When the face of the stick blade strikes the puck, the player rolls his/her wrists and shifts his/her weight so that the energy stored in the stick is released through the puck. Finally, the player follows through, ending up with the stick pointed towards the desired target.

I can't do a slapshot to save my life, during my few attempts, I've ended up on my butt.  It's a perfect example or how one can understand the theory, yet lack the ability to transfer the theory into reality. 

During an NHL skills competition, Zdeno Chara's slapshot was clocked at 168 Km/H.  Bobby Hull, during an era where goalies rarely wore a mask, was clocked at 190 Km/H, his wrist shot was purported to be even harder!  I know John's shot isn't anywhere near those lofty amounts; but all I know, is when he shoots, the puck travels at amazing speeds and makes a very loud sound when it hits the boards.  Thus I get out of the way

In 1927, Elizabeth Graham, a goaltender with Queen's University (my Alma Mater - Go Gaels!), strapped on a fencing mask during a game, supposedly because her father was worried about her mouth, since he had recently paid for extensive dental work.

Elizabeth Graham in the centre

(and we think young girls today all have the same hair style)

Elizabeth's actions, predate Clint Benedict, the first NHL goalie to wear a mask, by three years.

Clinton Stevenson "Praying Bennie" Benedict

Benedict wore the mask because of a broken nose, but chose not to continue wearing it due to the fact that the large nose piece obstructed his vision.  It wouldn't be till 30 years later that Jacques Plante would become the first NHL goalie to wear the mask on a regular basis.  Plante was only allowed to start wearing the mask (which he used for practice) during games, because his nose was broken by a shot from Andy Bathgate.  Plante refused to return to the game without the mask, and since he was the only goalie the team had, he was allowed to do so by the Canadien's management.  He was only supposed to wear the mask until his nose healed, but as the Canadien's winning streak mitigated the process, allowing Plante to integrate the mask into continual play.

Jacques Plante (1959)

Don't you love the his pads?

The goalie mask has changed the way modern goalies play the game.  In the pre mask days tried to remain standing, in order to protect their face from skates and sticks.  Today, goalies can make saves on their knees without fear of head or facial injuries. 

Gary Cheevers was the first goalie to start decorating his mask with hand drawn stitches where the puck hit his mask, representing the scars that would have been on his face. 

Gary Cheevers

I think he would have looked worse than Sawchuk

From Cheever's inspiration, goalies began to decorate the spare surface of their masks.  In 1970, Jim Rutherford of the Detroit Red Wings, added some decorative paint to his mask.

Jim Rutherford's Simple Design



Today's goalies utilize elaborate and intricate designs that are works of art in themselves.  For a sport that played by "macho" males, many goalies demonstrate their interests through the artwork on their masks.  Many goaltender's today can be identified by the motifs on their masks, often changing the colours when they're traded.

Patrick Lalime /  Marvin the Martin in Chicago

Patrick Lalime/ Marvin the Martin in Ottawa

There are thousands of google images on the Internet of goalie masks.  They're incredibly beautiful and artistic,  ... if I had the knees ...  no, there's no way I'd play goal, but I'd still love to design my goalie mask.  Hmmm, Madie has just turned 16 and will be driving soon ... think it would be appropriate to wear one, while I'm teaching her?  In the meantime, I'll be the one getting out of the way of John's shots.

The Girl is Kicking Ass

Mad in game mode!

I went to watch my stepdaughter play hockey the other night and had a blast watching the game.  Madie lives with her dad and I full-time, she's 16, and like me, started playing the game later in life (she started at 13 and I started at 45, not really the same thing, but for kid's hockey she started late, just as I did for adult hockey).  She plays in the Scarborough Shark's house league system in Toronto and it's the right level for her skills and interest.  She enjoys the camaraderie that team play brings, as well as the exercise.

As a kid, Mad's parents signed her up for the usual T-Ball and soccer, but ever since she was little, Mad's been a kid to follow her own path.  She was the kid out there picking the dandelions or looking for bugs, completely oblivious to whatever game was occurring around her.  Because of her undiagnosed ADD and learning disability in her childhood, she had a tough time following rules and verbal instructions, which made organized activities a disaster.  That her brother was a natural athlete and highly competitive made her even more adverse to getting involved in sports, especially hockey, which was/is his primary game.   Compounding the problem was her parent's acrimonious divorce, which resulted in Mad and her brother becoming a "pushmepullme" in their parent's vastly different parenting styles, as well as geographical locations.  Organized sports are difficult to maintain when you're away from home every other weekend and for a month in the summer. 

Once I came to live with John and the kids, things started to fall in to place for Mad.  As a teacher, I recognized her ADD and learning disability and those issues were dealt with appropriately.  Once she was on an even playing field with the rest of the world, Mad began to slowly realize her own potential.  She eagerly signed up for adult beginner hockey lessons with me (since she's 5'10", she easily passed for an adult and she didn't want to learn with little kids).  Because I was a beginner, she felt at ease with making the mistakes that beginners do and she no longer felt she was being compared to her brother.  After a season of lessons, I found the Scarborough Sharks for her.  It was one of the few House Leagues in Toronto that didn't play on the weekends (at that time she was continuing her visitation schedule with her mom), thus finding a league where she could play during a week night was great.  John, her dad (my husband), signed up as coach which allowed him to help Mad even more, since when she started, she was mostly playing with kids who'd played for years.  John could give her tips from the bench on positioning and how to avoid going offside (it took her awhile to get this rule, but then again, I know adults that I play with, who still struggle with it).  She took to the whole thing like a duck to water and has never looked back.  It has given her a whole new confidence that can be seen in her attitude to school and other extra curricular activities.

Mad (#13) muscling a player off the puck

Mad stickhandling

Coach John

When Mad entered High School she signed up to play girl's rugby, a game that no one in our family has ever played.  The kid who was afraid of needles and mosquitoes, signed up to play a sport where physical contact is an expected occurrence.  She took the confidence from her hockey skills and transferred them to rugby.  The attitude that she picked up in hockey about bumps and bruises being no big deal, was quickly transferred to rugby, whereby she'd proudly display her latest contusions with pride.

Mad (#6) playing rugby

.

I'm not saying that hockey is the only reason that Mad is the successful student and athlete that she is today.  The road has been a long and twisting one and certainly has much further to go.  The person who is the most responsible for Mad's success is Mad, she has proven to herself and the rest of the world that she is incredibly tenacious, simply because she believes if she tries hard enough, she'll get it.  So now Mad is an honour student; a hockey, golf and rugby player; as well as member of the school newspaper and writer's club. Not too bad for the kid who picked the dandelions!