A Year in Hockey.... I hope. Part One

This isn't necessarily a geek subject, but if you've seen the pics of the 'record room' you know I've been a huge fan of hockey for a long long time.

On New Year's Day, 2014 I went to Evergreen Lake with Alisha and a bunch of friends.  It was the first time I'd ever been to Evergreen in winter and the first time I'd visited Evergreen Lake.  When the lake is iced over during the winter, the 'swimming pond' is open for public ice skating.  In front of the lake house, the majority of the pond is cleared as a huge rink for all skaters.  To the North of the large rink there are 8 or so smaller rinks, used for pick up hockey.  I used to skate on occasion when I was in college, and my memory was that I wasn't all that bad.  I was excited to get some skates and see if my memory was true.  It wasn't.  Right off the bat, I fell in the slush in front of the rink.  

I would say my skating ability is just below competent.  I made it around the big rink a couple of times and then went into the lake house to sit for a bit.  Eventually I went back out and found that some of my friends had gotten one of the small rinks all to themselves.  I didn't bring a hockey stick with me (I have several, that I've collected from thrift shops over the years, hoping that I'd be able to use them), but got ahold of a spare that a friend had brought.  There were four of us and we just passed the puck around.  It was amazing!  I wasn't really skating around much, because the rental skates I had were pretty uncomfortable, but I still had the most fun.  Until I twisted my ankle.  I limped off the ice, turned in my skates and changed.  Then, I had a couple of beers.  I decided over the first beer to see if I could finally do what I'd been hoping to do for ages, but had just never gotten to-  I decided to start ice skating on a regular basis and, if possible, to play a season in a beer league. 

I am currently waiting impatiently to get a pair of skates.  My ankle is still sore.  There is a large public rink less than a mile from my house, and they not only have public skating, they have an organized recreational league and an 8 week course to learn the game.   I plan on skating as often as possible and then see if I have reached a level of comfort that I think will be necessary to play (ie- not embarrass myself to much), starting next October or so.  Besides, I need to lose weight and get into shape.  I have a long way to go, but I'm really excited to do this!