Like many of us, I've played competitive sports for as long as I can remember. Baseball from Little League through high school. Basketball from the time I was eight years old through the pickup games I still slog through today. Soccer from the AYSO days through whenever I decided soccer was pointless. Flag football and tennis. Golf and slow pitch softball that still continues today (shoutout to the Ducks staff team I pitch for that captured the co-ed City of Orange Lower Division championship last summer!).
I'm 49 and I've Just Started to Learn to Play Hockey
But despite working for an NHL team for the last 17 years, I had never laced up a pair of hockey skates in my 49+ years on this planet - until two nights ago.
When I was growing up as a kid in South Orange County, pretty much everyone played soccer, many played baseball and some played basketball and football. But absolutely nobody played hockey.
Thankfully that's changed in a major way thanks to the presence of the Ducks for the past three decades and Fan and Hockey Development departments that are good as any in the league. There's also a robust and ever-growing grassroots hockey pipeline, local rinks program, a high school league and countless opportunities for kids and adults to learn the game at
The Rinks & Great Park Ice
.
I used to joke to my hockey-playing friends that since I never played my entire life, "What if I'm naturally incredible at hockey and I'll never know it?" and they'd inevitably say, "You're not."
Boy, did I realize that last Monday night, when I joined about two dozen fellow employees in a special Learn to Play Hockey seminar at Honda Center, meaning the first time I ever tried the game would come in a 17,000-seat NHL arena.
Learn to Play Photo Gallery
The Ducks staff has always included hockey players of various skill levels, many of whom play in a weekly early Thursday morning pickup game at a local rink. Over the years I had occasionally mentioned I'd like to learn the game and join them one day, but my inability to skate was a pretty significant stumbling block. More than once I heard from them, "You should come out anyway!" which is an amusing insight into the nature of hockey players. If someone told me they had never stepped on a basketball court before, the last thing I would do is invite them to our pickup games.
There have been many Learn to Play opportunities over the years, and for one reason or another, I never signed up - probably for a crippling fear of embarrassing myself. Somehow this time around, I got over it, reminding myself that every other person out there would be just as fledgling as I was.
I learned the need for patience even before the Learn to Play event started. With pickup basketball, you throw on a shirt, some shorts and some high tops, and you're on the court in no time flat. But for my first try at hockey, I soon learned it takes about 15 minutes to put all the gear on - shin pads, elbow pads, socks, pants, jersey, skates and helmet. Finally I gingerly made my way to the rink, where a handful of fellow students were already making their way around the ice and handling pucks.
I stood in the Zam tunnel watching for a bit, wondering how long I could stand there before having to actually step on the ice. It was like finding the bravery to jump into a cold swimming pool, only with the added fear of falling on your face.
I flashed back to the last time I could remember ice skating, probably 20 years ago on the small rink at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. I had a vague memory of taking to it pretty well at the time, but once I got on the ice at Honda Center, I realized I may have invented that in my head. I tiptoed my way around the rink while gripping onto the dasher boards for dear life before making my way out to the middle of the ice to get a better feel for it, nearly losing my balance about a dozen times.
Someone noticed my skates weren't tied tight enough, so one of the guys helping with the session sat me down and laced them for me, kind of like a dad does for a four-year-old.
Finally it was time to start the session, led by Rick Hutchinson, The Rinks & Great Park Ice's Hockey Director, who asked everyone to take a knee at center ice (even that was a challenge). The first thing "Hutch" taught us was the vital skill of getting up after falling, instructing everyone to dive on their stomachs and then get up as fast as they could using their sticks as leverage. The ice actually felt great as I had already started sweating tremendously just from the warmup.
Next came skating drills, as we attempted to go from one goal line to the other using methods Hutch demonstrated. I struggled to keep my balance while trying to maintain enough speed to get to the other end of the rink before they turned the lights off in the arena. As I was desperately trying to catch my breath before the next starting whistle, I suddenly realized why hockey players take shifts of about 45 seconds.
Next came puck drills, where we worked on passing and catching with a partner, then played games of keep away to practice puck protection and defense. Controlling the puck was harder than I thought, not to mention trying to pass it tape-to-tape, even though we couldn't have been more than 30 feet apart.
Hutch was incredible throughout the hour-plus session, as were fellow instructors Eric Priebe (Adult Hockey Coordinator, The Rinks - Yorba Linda ICE), Nico Santoro (Youth Hockey Coordinator, Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena) and Jeff Lawless (Rinks Staff Coach).
They ended the night with about 15 minutes of scrimmages, breaking the rink up into thirds for sets of 3-on-3 battles. Before most of us ran out of energy and confusion developed as to who was on which team, I got to experience the small thrill of assisting on a goal into one of those mini nets (admittedly with no goalie). That was a much better feeling than when mid-game I was trying to get back on defense and slipped and tumbled to the ice for about the 10th time, this time on my back, even though one of the first things they teach you is to lean forward to avoid that calamity.
We finished with some encouraging words from Hutch, some details on how to sign up for future Learn to Play sessions, and the obligatory group photo. I was soaked with sweat by this time, and one of my female co-workers pointed out that steam was rising from my helmet.
My ankles were killing me (probably from lack of skating skill), and after we trudged back to the locker room, taking off my skates felt like finally going to the bathroom after you've been holding it for five hours. As I gathered my things, I couldn't find my phone, only to realize it had been in my pocket the whole time (a mistake I doubt NHLers make). How I didn't shatter the screen during one of my falls I'll never know.
The experience was so grueling yet so unique and fun, I haven't simultaneously hated and loved something so much since the last season of Cobra Kai. I told some of my hockey playing friends I have a whole new respect for them. Now maybe I'll think twice the next time I have the urge to complain about a Duck turning the puck over or missing an open net.
But despite the fatigue, the soreness and the constant embarrassment, I loved being out there and I'm so glad I finally tried it. My co-worker Kirstie, who works in our Hockey Development department and was helping out with this session said it perfectly: "Learning how to play hockey is hard, but the most fun you will ever have not being good at something."
My only regret was not doing it years ago. But hey, being the oldest player ever drafted in the NHL will be an honor, and I'm sure after about four or five more sessions I'll be ready. The next step is actually figuring out how to skate.
And if you're someone like me who's always wanted to try the game, the
Anaheim Ducks Adult Learn to Play
program is offered at seven of The Rinks locations (five ice and two inline). Spots fill up fast, but you can get more information and register at
www.anaheimducks.com/adultlearntoplay
.
