Having grown up with a mile of pond in front of my house that was frozen five months of the year, you might think I played a lot of ice hockey as a youngster. If you did, you would be right. Right except for one catch. I played in boots.
It isn't as though I did not try to learn to skate. I did. I wanted nothing more than to fly up and down the shiny ice like my heroes of the day. I wanted to be the next Bobby Orr or Phil Esposito.... it just wasn't in the cards. Try as I did, skating was so difficult for me. I have flat feet and had to wear corrective shoes until I was 12 years old. (Yeah, I know, that's hot!) Wearing skates caused me excruciating foot pain. So much that being on them for more than five minutes at a time was impossible to bear.
Fast forward thirty-five years. It is December '04 and my good friend Eric emails me to ask if I want to be his guest at the Crunch Fantasy Camp being put on by his employer and major Crunch sponsor, Wynit. Eric had mentioned the camp from past years, so I knew it involved skating with the players and participating in some drills. I didn't give it a second thought. I didn't take into account that I could not skate. I wanted to do it so bad I immediately answered the email with a resounding "Yes!" That was the easy part. I then said to myself, "Now what, hotshot?"
Step 1 - Find some skates
Skates are the most important piece of a hockey player's armor. Why should it be any different for a wannabe? Off to Play It Again Sports to see what I can dig up. I took the advice of the sales person there and bought a pair that I thought were way too tight. "That is how they are suppose to fit", he said. Fair enough, he's the expert, so off I go with my skates and a date with destiny that upcoming Sunday at Clinton Square.
Step 2 - Practice makes perfect?
The rink opens at 10 AM, so I make it a point to be the first one there. I want to make my return to the ice with as few others around for their safety and mine! I lace up and out I go. It took less than 30 seconds to realize my skates, even if they fit "the way they should", were just not big enough for me. I was in horrible pain, put gutted it out for a half hour, stopping constantly to raise my legs to try to relieve the pain. I was able to move around the rink so-so, couldn't stop or cross over and took a painful fall that had me seeing stars. A smarter man might have quit there, but I have never been accused of being a quitter! (or accused of being smart, for that matter!)
Play it Again Sports was great about allowing to swap the skates back in for a bigger pair. I got a pair two sizes larger and waited for the following Sunday to try it again. I hit the ice at 10 AM sharp and the skates felt a lot better, but still the horrible foot pain I remember from my youth. I lasted an hour this time and worked on my stopping and crosses. I was still an awful skater, but felt pretty good about myself when finished that day.
Step 3 - Do I have a stick?
Yeah, I have a lot of them! Only one problem... they are all game used sticks given to me by Crunch players over the years. I'd be dammed if I would risk breaking one of those. I then remembered I did have a Labatt's Beer promo stick kicking around. Problem solved.
The Day of Reckoning
Fantasy Camp day arrived, so I packed up some pics and
pucks to be signed, the strongest pain killer I could find and headed off
to the War Memorial. In no hurry to take the ice, I
chatted with Vance and Jim from the Crunch office and waited for Eric to arrive.
When he did. the time had come to put up or shut up. I
laced up, grabbed my stick and headed out on the ice. I put the fear
I had about embarrassing or hurting myself out of my mind and I was determined
to have a great time, come what may. I made it to the the
other end of the rink without falling, so I felt pretty good about that.
It felt good to have a stick in my hand and I was surprised to find that I could
move around relatively well and stickhandle a bit. I tried a
few shots on Rick Cummins, a Wynit employee, who had come in full
goalie gear. His many years of goaltending experience in men's
"A" Division leagues was much more than he needed to call upon to stop my weak
wristers. I was not discouraged. I was not there to
compete, only to survive!
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen slips a back hand behind Rick Cummins
... photo by Dave
The event gave me a new perspective on the game. I don't think I fully realized the incredible skill level of an AHL hockey player. Granted, Brad Moran is a gifted scorer, but to see players not known for their offense like Brandon Sugden shoot a puck 94 MPH and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen able to pick corners and bury the puck at will gave me a new understanding of the game I love. When I attend the Crunch game this Wednesday and one of the guys makes a mistake, sure, I will still wish it didn't happen, but I will understand the level of competition that may have caused the mistake to happen. I will now understand how much the skill level of any AHL player dwarfs the skill level of the ex-high school star, weekend warrior or guys like me, who just write about it.
Great Event!
I will be forever grateful to Eric, the Crunch and Wynit for the opportunity to participate in the Crunch Fantasy Camp. I have been told by many that Wynit is a great company to work for and after this event, have no doubt that is true. They put on a first class event for their employees and you could tell it was appreciated by all in attendance. "So Dave, does this jump start your hockey career?." you ask. No, not by a long shot, but I hope to get out and skate a bit more before winter ends and maybe even knock a few pucks around. Hey, got to keep in tune, just in case they invite me back next year!