Top Ten Reasons

Why am I doing this? There’s no one answer, but a bunch of little things that have added up. In no particular order, here are ten reasons:

1. I am an equipment and gear junkie. I just love gear and work out clothes. In particular I have always loved hockey gloves!
2. Excuse the hubris, but I think I could be good at it. If only at whatever poor level I can end up playing at.
3. I have always wanted to be shown how to skate and thus skate better.
4. It may help better understand why Wade Redden plays the way he does.
5. Another night of physical activity equals a few more burned calories.
6. My two-year old son is displaying a freakish amount of coordination and ability with a hockey stick on the street. I think I’ll need to be prepared.
7. How can a fit and athletic Canadian male not know how to play hockey?
8. I want to be able to get some guys together to rent out ScotiaBank Place.
9. I want to be able to head out to my local rink for shinny and not feel like a complete poser.
10. What’s it like to throw somebody into the boards!!!

Hello Hockey Fans

Welcome to ‘Me Like Hockey’, a blog about this aging jock’s first experience with playing hockey.

In just over a month from now I will be stepping out on to the ice at McNabb Arena in downtown Ottawa for the first night of a Hockey for Adult Beginners Course.

And it’s about damn time. After years of jockdom that has involved a lot of sports, it is time I laced ‘em up and honoured the birth rite this great nation has bestowed on me.

Sure, I have played the odd game of shinny each winter and the theme song from Hockey Night In Canada always produces a small lump in my throat every Saturday night, but I have never ever had the equipment on in an indoor arena with the full intent of actually playing (and learning to play) hockey.

But playing is one part of it.

The other part is I want to experience the game and all the little things which help tie it into the fabric of this country. From the steps along the rubber mat to the gate to the rattle of the puck along the edge of the boards to the god awful smell of a hockey bag, I just want to know the game more than I do.