Battered and Bruised

This is what I get for trying to skate with the big boys, or at least ones that are 30 years younger than me. We were at an open stick the other day and many of our friends were not present, which is a bummer because that’s what hockey is all about. A, N, and myself hung out on one end of the ice while some really good players were at the other end. These guys are prep-school bound teenagers who could potentially play college hockey, they’re that good.

One of them asked us if we wanted to play a game, and we politely declined, choosing instead to just practice shooting and skating. At some point A left the ice because none of her friends were there and let’s face it, without her buddies hockey is just another game. The guy asked us again if we wanted to play, and we said sure, why not? 

The two pros had N on his team, and I played with the other guys. With the exception of me and N, they are all teenagers and really good, so the skill level was high. I was way out of my league. The two pros were cool about including N and setting him up with passes, while I skated around like a fool. Now I’m a reasonably competent skater, but at some point I caught an edge and came crashing down to the ice on my back. Ouch! This isn’t the end of the world, everyone falls, but then it happened again within 10 minutes, and at that point, I was in pain, especially on the right butt cheek, where my wallet was.

To make matters worse, I also got hit by a slapshot from one of the teenagers, and that was really painful. My elbow swelled up like a balloon, enough so that R and the kids freaked out when they saw it. I came off the ice battered and bruised, and the next day I felt awful. It was like motion sickness, with a slight headache, and from that I surmised that I might have sustained a mild concussion. The headache and malaise went away the next day, but I wasn’t so keen on getting back on the ice. It’s good to get some sleep and let the body heal. I had a game on Wednesday, too, but a massive storm hit and I couldn’t get out of the driveway. That, however, is a story for another time.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Steve for the pic.