Hockey Builds Memories that Last a Lifetime
Growing up on a farm in Lachute, Quebec, I did not have too many opportunities to play organized hockey. To tell the truth, I was a horrible skater. For several years, my dad made a rink each winter and I would skate around for about ten minutes ‘helping’ our hometown hockey hero Kevin Lowe win the Stanley Cup. After we had scored the winning goal, I would sit in the snow pretending to interview all of my teammates.
Since I barely used the backyard rink, my dad eventually gave up. If I was happiest when sitting in the snow pretending to do interviews, why go through the effort of maintaining a rink? While I obviously never made it to the NHL, we never thought that one day I would be doing the interviews for real as the NHL Alumni Association’s resident writer. Remembering those pretend interviews still brings a smile to my face – it is one of those memories that will stick with me for the rest of my life.
So for me, there is something special about being at the rink – the crispness of the air, the sound of skates cutting into the ice and pucks rattling off the end-boards. It is not something I experienced much as a kid, so it still has a new and exciting feeling. At an event like the Canadian Tire NHL Junior Skills competition, there is an added bonus to the sounds of the rink; it is the hundreds of smiling faces. The children participating were grinning from ear to ear and the NHL Alumni members guiding the youngsters through the various challenges couldn’t help but smile too. That is what’s so great about an event like the Junior Skills – it was one of those magical moments that you never forget. That seemed to be the theme of my conversations throughout the day.
As I sat on the bench across from the stands, several parents arrived on my side of the rink in search of better camera angles as their son or daughter took to the ice when the cross-Canada tour arrived in Ottawa on November 25th. Striking up a conversation with the proud parents, they told me how much this meant to their child. Not only at that moment, but what it would mean to them for the rest of their lives. In our conversations, the phrase I repeatedly heard was, “This is something that they will never forget!”
Adding to the excitement of the day was the fact that many of the parents I spoke with surprised their children with the news they would be taking to the ice with NHL Alumni members. One parent told me that when her son heard about being part of the Canadian Tire NHL Junior Skills he exclaimed, “I get to do what? Wow!”
For the 7 to 12-year olds in attendance, it was as if Christmas arrived a month ahead of schedule. The wide-eyed kids looked on as Peter Ing, Shaun Van Allen, Laurie Boschman, Tom Fergus and Patrick Lalime interacted with them and demonstrated the various events, which tested their shooting accuracy, passing accuracy, timed skating and puck control.
Parents, grandparents and the young hockey players were all equally impressed with the Fan-tastic Sports and XHockeyProducts used in the events as well. The quality of the innovative equipment was mentioned many times. It was fun for me to watch too, as the smiling faces of the participants took on a serious look when it came time to take part in each drill. While it was a fun-filled day, you could see that they were all business when it cam time shoot, skate and pass the puck. Once they had taken their turn, a pat on the head or shoulder from an Alumni member and they were all smiles again – looking towards the stands for their parents with a ‘that was so cool’ expression on their face.
Building memories that will last a lifetime – that’s the beauty of our game!
Andrew Rodger
Andrew Rodger is the resident writer for the NHL Alumni Association (www.nhlalumni.net), operates his own website (The Voice of Sport.com) and he is a contributor on CBC News Now. You can also follow him on Twitter (@ARodgerTVOS). He shares his thoughts from inside the NHL Alumni Association and from around today’s NHL every Wednesday here at blog.xhockeyproducts.com.
