It's almost six years since I came to hockey after a twenty-five year hiatus and reading my post from 2013, I was excited and nervous about putting on goalie gear again and wondering if I could find a team. I was resurrecting my hockey life by joining an instructional league and I knew almost nobody who played hockey in Dallas-Fort Worth.
At 53 years old have I blossomed into a top division goalie? No. Let's be honest. I have good nights and bad nights and I mostly don't embarrass myself whether its a 'C', 'B' or even 'A' division game. Like most goalies, probably more than most, I ride the tide of my teammates. I battle hard with whatever skills I have learned and the experience I've gained playing somewhere north of 750 games since coming back. But it's my teammates that do the heavy lifting when we win and I try my best not to let them down.
That's the secret as to why I played 10 games in the 'A' division this season and why I'll be standing there in a few nights hoping we can sneak a win by the top team. I don't remember a single time in any of those 750+ games where I didn't get the support of my teams whether it was a tap on the pads after I let a bad goal go by or a comment in the locker room that talked about a bad bounce or bad play by them- never blaming me. And it's their play that has taken my teams to championships and higher and higher divisions because they hustle, they have skills and play like a team.
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| "Getting all the support on a 3-on-0" |
I doubt they know, all of those players on all of those teams, how grateful I am for being able to play net those nights. For being able to enjoy being on a team. For wins and losses and beer and laughs and for being able to compete.
I had my wish fulfilled. It wasn't to play 'A' league.
It's not about becoming something I should have been. It's about finding out what I am now and getting self-satisfaction for leaving everything out there today- something I didn't do back then. Don't most of us want that chance?
-Ancient Netminder, January 2013
