Saturday, December 20, 2008

How do I play hockey?

After months of harassing phone calls and threatening e-mails, my friend Berk decided to give the slippery side of life a try. "OK! I give in! Tell me Mr. Dominican Daddy, how do I play hockey?"
"Meet me at the rink and I'll show you." I said. Finally! I had the opportunity to catch a stick and puck session with him. As I took in a deep breathe to sigh my sigh of victory, I realized that my nose hairs were stuck together. The thermometer was stuck at -10. What a great day for hockey! I wonder if I should have told him to dress warm. Never mind. He will bring gloves for sure... I was just happy to set him up on a kickstand and let him wander with a puck. He is an exceptional athlete when it comes to turning wide right. I see great potential. At first he struggled a little with reverse. No big surprise. I know many people that have been trying reverse now for 2 seasons without success. Berkley is a quick study of hockey though. By the end of the session he could go from end to end backward and turn wide to the left. What can I say? He was coached by a goalie..."Knees bent! Head up! Get your glove up! Watch the angle. Butterfly Position!" I am not sure how much it helped, but at least he can skate backward now.

So the basic principle of hockey is simple. Hockey is a game played on ice in which two opposing teams of skaters, using curved sticks, try to drive a puck into the opponent's goal. It seems pretty simple and most should agree that this is what you do when you play hockey. But my friend Berk wanted to know how to play hockey. There are so many ways to play hockey. My suggestion would be either goalie, skater, fan, or referee. The nice thing about hockey is that hockey fits most anyone. Here are a few guide lines to help you decide how to pick your style of how to play:

The goalie job is pretty simple.


An incredibly short memory helps. Forget the last goal and play the here and now. Glove up, stick flat on the ice. Stop the puck. That is the Dominican Daddy's perspective anyway.


Skating on the other hand is a little different...


If you ask a skater how to play hockey, a likely response might be "Take the puck down to the other end of the ice. Protect the blue line and do whatever you have to do to get the puck in the net. Don't let the guy in all those sissy pads keep you from putting it in the net. Ignore him. Pretend he is not there. Shoot around him. He can't move with all those pads on..."



To be a fan takes great energy and time...




"Fans" are marked or motivated by an extreme, unreasoning enthusiasm for hockey. Fans can get a little emotional at times. No one loves hockey more. They are as much a part of the game as the player is. The fan knows more about hockey than the players, coaches and refs combined. The best fan sees every play and every missed call. They know all the rules that aren't even in the rule book yet. They know the best match ups and have the best advice for the players. All things considered though, I am not sure if I would really want to ask a fan how to play hockey.



Hopefully the referee would have the best advice when asked how to play hockey...



This advice comes from the best seat in the house. The referee skates up and down the ice, in and out of the game. If the ref sees a part of the game he does not like, he toots his whistle and they do it again until he does like it. A good ref does not care who wins or loses. They just love to help facilitate a great game of hockey. A good ref should probably advise you to play any way you want as long as its within the guidelines of the rules. One of the nice things about being a ref is the help you get from the peanut gallery. Its nice to know that someone far more educated on the rules of hockey and their application is always there to help the ref make a decision. Especially when the ref is not sure what to do.




So, that is the best info I could give Berkley on how to play hockey. For certain there is something for everyone in hockey. He may not be ready to go out and buy a pair of skates yet but there is time yet this season for another round. Next time will see if he likes a size 42 boot better, and I will bring an extra pair of gloves.

1 comment:

  1. Wow..I like knowing I have so many people that can teach me to play hockey...what about the squid on the ice? He seems to know what's up. Thanks again for the lesson.

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