Hockey, My Achillis heel: Story/Humor

Hockey is the ultimate sport. It is fast acting, a great workout, and pure excitement. To the most casual observer the game would look like total chaos. Believe it, there are rules and they are not too complicated, once you figure out what off sides and icing are, you just about got the game. Almost anybody can step into a rink and be a star. If you can’t skate very well, then hit somebody. That’s a rule I forgot to mention. There must be something to “I went to the fights and a hockey game broke out”. What other sport can make a respectable, calm, sensible person rise to the occasion of lunacy. Oh sure, the leagues I play in don’t allow checking and fighting, but that never stopped anyone. The slightest little bump, or a few offensive words, and it would be off to the fights. Even a goaltender needs to get into the mix every once in a while. Hockey is a great sport, I am so glad I learned to play it.

I began playing hockey when I was 40 years old. I'm not very good in sports, I can't dribble a basket ball, I can’t catch a high fly in baseball, forget tennis, soccer takes too much energy... you get the picture. Even hockey was hopeless. I was and I am a good skater, but hitting the puck with a stick, forget it, it wasn't going to happen.

One day, while attempting to play hockey, I was asked to play goalie. I was loaned some old beat up hockey gear and then headed off to stand in the net. It dawned on me that this was absolutely crazy. After I got hit with the puck a few times I had a greater respect for the hockey gear, and for all those who play the position. Amazingly, I was pretty good at playing goalie. Heck, if somebody could twist and turn, fall on the ground and contort into unbelievable configurations, I could. I was great at falling down. With all that gear on, how could I get hurt? I fell in love with hockey that day.

Don't be fooled by all that gear that goal tenders wear. That puck still hurts like heck when it hits you. There are places on your body that are not protected by the gear, the back of the legs, back of the neck, a few other places, and falling down and sliding around still hurts Moreover, when that puck hits you in the helmet, your head can ring for hours. .

As my skill improved, I began buying better equipment, it had better protection and increased by playing performance. Hockey gear is very expensive. For example, a new pair of leg pads can cost over a thousand dollars. Then you have a chest protector, pants, skates etc. Every 6 months or so I would replace my gear with improved gear. I was being asked to play by several teams, and I was playing a lot of hockey. More games meant more bruises, more bruises meant better gear.

With all that protection, you still get hurt. I had a skater skate over my blocker and practically gut my thumb off. A blocker is the piece of equipment a right hand goalie usually wears on his left hand, it's used for blocking pucks. It has a glove that is attached to the inside. The thumb is easily exposed while cover a puck. The helmet has to be custom fitted; another thousand plus, it needs to broken in, and provide superior protection. Here lies the problem.

I could deal with all the pain after a game. Sometimes the injuries would linger for weeks. I loved the game, so I dealt with it. Then there are the head shots. I wasn't hit in the head many times, maybe 10 times over five years. Normally, I would just get out of the way or block it one way or another. However, sometimes you got to make a save, or you just wearn’t paying attention. I only remember getting hit on the head about four times. The other times I was knocked out for a few seconds. Waking up with my team mates looking down at me trying to wake me up, and up I would get. I always continued to play. But the ringing in my head, that was unmistakably there.

Into my 4/5th year of playing I began to get real bad headaches. Nothing a few aspirins, Ibuprofen, or Tylenol, couldn't take care of. After a while they weren’t taking away the pain, and the ringing was staying around. I went to see my doctor about it and he suggested I get a CAT scan and all the associated nuero tests done. To make a long story short, the doc told me, no more hockey. I took his advice, I was devastated.

I haven't played in over five years. I have the headaches and the ringing, although as time goes by they are less frequent and painful. I also have five years of very expensive goalie gear piled up in my garage. Did I mention that my wife had also played? I have so much hockey gear that it will not fit in the back of two pickup trucks. I estimate there is about five to six thousand dollars worth of gear. .

So here sits all this hockey gear in my garage. Every day, I walk into my garage, it sits there, it reminds me of playing, and I get sad. I can't, or won't do anything with it. The wife says get rid of it. I have tried to sell the gear, but no takers, unbelievable. I agonize looking at it, I don't have the heart to get rid of it, and wife is getting mad about it being there. It will probably sit there until it rots away. There are too many great memories to part with it.