Back In Business

It is often said that sometimes you have to walk away from something to really appreciate it. In many cases I believe this to be true, but in all honesty, I wasn't sure what would happen if I took a hiatus from playing hockey.

My one year sabbatical from the crease wasn't entirely intentional. I was new to the city, I didn't really know a lot of people, and I wasn't willing to commit to a league mostly because I didn't want to deal with the nonsense that I've learned inevitably comes with playing even slightly competitive hockey. So I did what I did when I moved to Alberta and had absolutely no avenues for playing hockey: I put an ad on Kijiji.

My boss suggested this when I told him I was looking for some ice, and it worked. In a town like Grande Prairie, that was so transient and constantly had people coming and going, people were always looking for goaltenders. I got calls just about every week, and some of the stories about the guys I was filling in for were hilarious (didn't you hear? Gary took off to Fort St. John with some broad last week and no one has seen him since). Hell, at one point my boss even asked me to come play with his crew.

Doing the same in Toronto didn't quite work as nicely last year. I waited too long, it was probably December before I finally realized oh shit, it's hockey season, I gotta find some ice. The problem was that I backed myself into a bit of a corner. I committed to playing basketball twice a week. I had band practice every week. When I would sit down and look at my calendar each week, there was not a lot of empty space for hockey.

Then the calls and emails started coming. Guys were always asking me to play when I was already busy with band or basketball or a concert or a plethora of other things. Sorry, I'm busy. Guys would want me to drive all the way to Scarborough or North York in the middle of the night. Sorry, can't do it. One guy asked me if I wanted to join a competitive league. Thanks, but no thanks.

Next thing I knew it was March, the snow was melting, and it was time to get ready for baseball season. The whole season and I hadn't played once. In fact, I had only put my skates on twice all winter: once at Christmas to skate with my brother in law and my nephew at the public skate, and once at Arrowhead to skate on the outdoor rink through the woods (which is awesome by the way, check it out).

In all honesty, I wasn't too broken up about it. My interest in hockey had been waning and reached a point where I didn't watch a single NHL playoff game last season. Not one. College basketball had firmly taken over as the winter sport of choice to watch and I was surprised at how well I played basketball that winter. I wasn't great, but I had some good games and felt like I still had some jumpshots and rebounds left in me.

In late April, the Altus Cup, my company's annual hockey tournament, rolled around and I saw an opportunity to at least get SOME hockey in and have some fun with co-workers. As an added incentive it was being held in Montreal and in my experience, when you get a chance to go to Montreal, you go to Montreal. I signed up immediately, dusted off my goalie pads, and was really looking forward to it.

Until the organizer announced that there were too many goalies.

Wait .. what? Too many goalies? It was not a mistake, there were nine goaltenders and only eight teams.

I took one for the team and told the organizer I would play out. When I saw the stream of emails from the other eight goalies that contained variations of "I don't have equipment and I don't know how to skate" I figured I pretty much had to. I have player equipment and I can skate. What the hell I'll chase the puck around the ice instead of stop it.

Now, don't even for a second think that I did not have an absolute blast at this tournament, because I did, but being on regular skates for the first time in probably five years was uncomfortable to say the least. I thought I did okay playing the left wing, but the frustration of missing the net with every scoring chance and having to really think about where I was supposed to be on the ice .. it wasn't the same as just skating into the blue paint and letting my instincts and muscle memory take care of the rest.


Some of you may find this hard to believe, but going into the summer I was seriously considering hanging up the skates. No really, I almost convinced myself that I was done playing hockey, that the hassle factor had outweighed the funness factor.

Yet, somehow I couldn't bring myself to get rid of my equipment. I'd look at it, my pads with the Justin Pogge colour scheme that I absolutely love (probably the only good that came from Justin Pogge); the blocker I've had for almost a decade covered in puck marks; the matching glove that is slowly falling apart and being held together with a series of Arturs Irbe-esque self-repair jobs; the sketches I've done for a custom paint job on my mask that may or may not happen some day. Much like the allure of the cool equipment possessed me to become a goaltender in the first place, it could very well be the reason I ultimately decided to stick with it.

Now here I am in late November. I've skated several times. And I'm loving it.

I got on it early this season. I took my skates to the hockey shop down the street to get them sharpened early. I put my ad up on Kijiji early. I told myself that I would give it one more honest go and make up my mind if I was done or not. It didn't take long for me to figure out that I've still got some saves left. There have been some reasonable calls for me to play, and I've enjoyed it so much that even 6:50am on a Saturday seems reasonable (kind of). Most importantly, I'm having fun with it. These guys don't care that I'm rusty, or that my rebound control isn't very good, or that my angles are not quite right. They're just glad they're not shooting at the goal posts. Those things will come, a year is a long time to be away from the crease. It feels good, I feel good. Game on.

So in the off chance you hear any rumours out there that I'm retiring from hockey any time soon, pay no attention. Completely. Untrue.

-matt