The Genesis of a Hockey Family

In what could be construed as the inevitable conclusion to our hockey path in life, R has finally joined in on the fun, and not a moment too soon. It all started with N, then I jumped on the wagon, followed by A, and now R has expressed some interest. To be honest, it sort of came out of nowhere, because I never really thought she’d be interested, but I should have seen it coming. She really enjoys watching hockey, with either the kids playing or at Dartmouth. Hockey is also one of those sports that women excel at but don’t necessarily have to have to built like linebackers, which I can appreciate. Plus, there is a big hockey community out here that spans the entire spectrum of abilities.

With this in mind, I had to once again spring into action to round up some equipment. Not the easiest thing to do when the season is practically over, but like many things in life, if you are willing to do some exploring and put in the time and effort, things can happen. The first order of business was to get A some skates. When I first picked up skates for her, I went to Listen and got a nice pair of hockey skates figuring she’d use them for public skate or on KB’s rink, but nothing serious. They were a bit big on her, but for casual skating, no big deal, right?

Once she started to get into hockey, however, it became clear that her skates were too darn big. To her credit, she never complained, but when R tried them on and they fit her, I felt bad for A. Now we could have gone out and gotten her brand new skates, but in addition to being cheap, I didn’t think it wise to buy new skates before she had really decided whether or not she liked hockey. We did the same thing with N, he wore second hand skates his first year, and once it was clear that hockey was here to stay, we bought him new skates.

Anyway, where the heck do you find used skates at this time of year? If it were fall, there would stuff all over town, but I was way behind the curve here. I started to ask around and after a few inquiries, I managed to score a pair from our good friend MF. She had a pair that she handed over and they fit perfectly. Talk about a score, I was really grateful, and now R could wear A’s “old” skates.

The next task at hand was getting equipment for R. She is actually an accomplished figure skater, but she’s a little less sure of herself on hockey skates. Plus, when you add in a stick and handling a puck, the whole world changes. The first thing to do was get her a helmet. She could have worn A’s helmet, it fits her, and the simplest thing would have been to buy A a new helmet and give her old helmet, which we got from KB, to R. The same issue came up, however, of whether A was going to stick with it, which I think she will, but didn’t know this back then.

I contacted some hockey gurus, i.e, DF and GG, and sure enough, they came through in a big way. DF lent us a helmet that he had lying around. A few months back I unloaded a bunch of equipment to him, kicking myself afterward because I had a perfect helmet for R, I just assumed she’d never use it. Now I couldn’t go and ask DF for it back, but I figured I could at least inquire about any extra stuff he might have, which turned out to be the case.

GG was my hero, the guy lent us a full set of gear, not to mention two sticks. I was floored, that was more than I could have ever expected. Of course, being the neurotic nutcase that I am, I felt really guilty because the stuff belonged to his son. What was he going to use? GG assured me that it was okay, but I still felt bad. Plus, you could see that, unlike me, GG bought the good stuff. No trips to the Listen Center for this guy, he’s a real hockey player. R was able to try out the gear and she liked it and wants to do it more, it’s just a question of when. We were able to return the equipment to GG because I have full gear and won’t be needing it while R is on the ice, and vice versa. That may change if and when we start playing on opposing teams, but by that time I’ll hopefully be able to assemble some equipment for her. I think once the season ends and over summer more stuff will become available, I’ll keep my eyes and ears open.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Wendy Pilling for the pic.