If You Look Good - You Feel Good

A New Jersey and A New Year

All told, I didn't play hockey for about 6 weeks.  I missed it a great deal.  Sure, I went to the rink with John to watch our team play.  Sure, I went to the rink to watch Madie play (my women's team was playing on the rink beside her's).  But it's really not like actually taking part, you're not really part of the team.  Of course, that didn't stop me drinking with the team (my co-ed adult team, not Madie's house league team, I have some standards)!  I'm not a 100% yet, but I'm close enough that I'm out there trying.  Plus, our co-ed team got new jerseys and I had to get in on that!

There's something about a new uniform that gives you a sense of a new beginning.  It reminds me of choosing what to wear for your first day back at school.  Why it really mattered what you wore for the first day back somewhat eludes me now ~ probably it was a remnant of your mother choosing your first day of school outfit so that you made your best first impression.

Our new hockey jerseys are pretty 'stylin,' there not quite as impressive as my old team's Thrasher jerseys, but then again, they only cost me $30.00, as opposed to more than triple that for the Thrasher jersey.

we did look good!

The new team (which is called The Blues) is slowly coming together.  Like the Thrashers, we were a 'put together' team by the league.  It doesn't have the cohesiveness of the Thrashers yet, but at least we're starting to hang out together after the game having a few beers (which is really the whole point of adult recreational hockey).  I think the reason the Thrashers got along so well since the inception of the team, was because we went through the beginner program together and plus we had Anooj who made it very clear that the bar, not the rink, was the focal point of the team!

But I digress, yet since this is my blog, I guess I can digress as much as I like!

The new jerseys go extremely well with my gloves - the same dark blue, lighter blue and white.  The gloves I bought on sale ages ago, but it looks like I was trying to match things up and of course, looking good means you play good (I know it should say play "well", but as I said, it's my blog).  For one second of madness I considered buying a new stick to go along with my new 'outfit.'

this one has just the right shade of blue to match the jersey

Yes, it was only a second of madness, since the price tag of this stick was $269.00.  Sigh.  All the style magazines tell you that accessorizing is so important, but I don't think my level of play really justifies this level of stick.  Flex is rather unimportant to someone who can't for the life of them do a slap shot - plus I play in a league that slap shots aren't allowed! 

Hmmmmm, maybe I could do something with my laces .....

Accessorizing

I've been playing actual hockey games for about 2 1/2 years now.  Before that, I took a year to take a basic adult skills class through Canlan Icesports.  OK, for those of you who've seen me play, you doubt the veracity of the adult skills segment, but I assure you it's true!

Now with each new team, one inevitably ends up with a new jersey.  My first actual team jersey was from a short lived stint in the ASHL adult instructional games session.  I signed up, showed up for the first session, got my jersey and then the lessons were cancelled the next week onward.  Well at least I got my jersey!  After that I received my all time favourite jersey, from my first real team, The Toronto Thrashers.  This was the team that was formed in a beginner adult hockey league (the actual name of the league is the league who can't be named - John and I had major issues with this league and one day I'll blog about it when I can figure how to do so in a way where I won't be sued for libel, even though I'd be in the right).  The jersey was arbitrarily assigned to our team by the league, and was frequently, but lovingly refered to by our team as a "poopy yellow" in colour.  When our team graduated out of the beginner league into the next league up, we decided to get a new jersey and thus the Thrasher symbol on the Tampa Bay Lightning coloured shirt was born.  The guys on our team loved this jersey thinking the black made them look tough, the only problem was that many of the other teams echoed the same sentiment which created problems since the league did not require home & away jerseys, so both teams would show up wearing black! 


Because of our issues with the aforementioned League who cannot be named, I'm now on two new teams, ironically one of them is has the same colours as the original Thrasher's jersey!  This works out because I had yellow/black/white socks that went with my original uniform.  Which brings me to my main point - I know you were wondering if any of these musing were actually leading anywhere?  My point is "Accessorizing in Hockey" cause when you stop and think about it, hockey is a highly accessorized sport.

In the NHL teams need three sets of jerseys (Home/Away/Alternate).  Each jersey requires separate accessories in the form of socks, helmets, pants, and gloves.  When you think about it, these NHL jocks are more accessorized than some of the ladies my mother plays bridge with at the Country Club!

Of course, at the level at which I play; there is neither the interest nor more importantly, the funds to have so many choices.  Plus we don't have guys that carry our gear around for us either!  Thus one follows the basic tenets that any fashion savvy woman knows and that's black goes with everything!  I have a black helmet, black pants and black socks.  I actually have blue/white/black gloves, but that's just because they were on sale, which is also important as any fashion savvy woman knows!

So it just goes to show you, that you can succumb to your fashion instincts and still play hockey!  Who knew?