65th Birthday

On Friday, December 30th, my son Nicholas and I drove to Reno so I could play ice hockey. In addition to playing ice hockey I got to wear my Oakland Seals jersey that my son Alex gave me for fathers day several years ago. My closest friend of 52 years, Jerry aka EJ, turned 65 and all he wanted for his birthday was to play ice hockey. So he invited 30 plus people that he knew to play. I was his first invite. We had people of all ages ranging from 10 to 70 years old, boys and girls. In fact, my ice skates are older than most of the people who played. My ice skates are 47 years old. In the locker room, prior to the game, EJ showed everyone my vintage skates. One of the girls asked if during the game if one of the blades was going to fall off? We all got a good laugh out of that.

Now this is the first time in 46 years that I have played ice hockey in full pads and I have not skated in two years. When I first stepped on the ice I felt like a Weeble and fortunately I didn’t fall down. I soon gained my balance with all of my pads and it was game on. Now before the game and between the first and second periods we enjoyed watching a seven year old figure skater perform. She has only been skating for eight months, but skates like she has been skating for years.

The teams were divided up equally, dark jerseys (my team) and white jerseys (EJ’s team). I really liked the way the game began. The opening faceoff was between EJ and me. He won the faceoff but I stole the puck from him moments later. It was a fun game and the visiting team, EJ’s team, won. The final score was 6 to 5.

I really enjoyed the referee, who is the general manager of the ice rink (Reno Ice) where we played, as he was talking to the players, laughing and smiling. I don’t believe I have ever seen a referee smile before. In the end, everyone was all smiles as we did the customary hand shake (fist bump) after the game, had a group photo taken and had beer, for those of us who were old enough, waiting in the locker room.