If playing hockey on outdoor ice wasn’t enough of a reminder not to take a game too seriously, then skating over Cheetos in the corner that the referee spilled out of his leather jacket was.
Novelty outweighed competitiveness in other ways, too, at this past weekend’s Apex Shootout tournament. Slap shots weren’t allowed and there were no offsides or face-offs. In addition, the ice surface became so snowy Saturday morning players sometimes ended up shooting an accumulated ball of snow off their sticks while leaving the puck in front of them.
The refs — when not snacking — almost always had a beer in one hand, whistle in the other. They kept the games clean, but the hard work was shoveling snow from the ice during periods. The National Hockey League-sized rink, which once belonged to the Vancouver Voodoo roller hockey team, sits at the bottom of a ski run on the mountain located just outside Penticton. This means that if you’re from temperate Vancouver, it is the best time and place to play the first game of ice hockey in your life.
Colleen Griffin is in her mid-40s and decided she wanted to play. She started skating a few months ago for the first time in years and joined this writer’s women’s hockey team, the Vancouver-based Ice-O-Topes, for the weekend. Even though the tournament is fun to the point hardly anybody but organizer Marc Tougas keeps track of scores, it’s still an effort to get used to some aspects of the game — like being yelled at.
“It’s my first time playing on a team, really. And it’s my first tournament experience, too,” Griffin said while watching one of the men’s afternoon games. “It’s been fun and, luckily, they’re supportive girls. I think one of the hardest things is that, for me, I take things personally. It’s been a real lesson to leave things on the ice, not let it stick to you.”
Next on the ice was a women’s match-up between the Vancouver-based Hatchicks and the South Okanagan Ice Dragons.
A good indication of which team to lay the bets on came by way of Hatchicks goalie Keira Gunn, who appeared over the snowbank wearing a T-shirt in zero degree weather with a bottle of Fireball whiskey tucked into her hockey pants.
The Hatchicks had played earlier at the 9 a.m. game time dreaded by anybody who was at the mountain’s bar. They were beaten 8-0 by a team called Moonshine, Gunn relayed with a big grin.
“That green team is really good! They killed us! We had five shots all game!”
The rest of the Hatchicks poured out of an enormous truck from their nearby cabin, gear ready. Organizer Wendy Denis said she got lucky with the team as the women came from different places with different skill levels, and everybody just happened to fit together.
“To play on a hockey team, you’ve got to be with people you really want to spend time with, to laugh with,” added Hatchick teammate Tanya Durman.
“The whole team is made up of all these diverse people that we’d never ever normally hang out with, or go dancing with — ever,” said Denis. The range of people can be identified by profession — everybody from students to teachers, to a doctor to a chemist.
Most of the women agree their weekend experience might be a bit different from that of the men’s teams. Griffin, part of team conversations that ranged from such light topics as vasectomies to mental illness, noticed: “Women get to the guts pretty quickly.” While Denis pointed out: “I don’t think any of the guys would come running down the hill to ask if anybody has an emergency tampon!”
However, as hockey players — regardless of gender — they all say it’s the experience of skating on ice in the great outdoors.
“I mean the ice isn’t great. It’s one step up from shinny, right? Nobody’s coming here for the quality of the hockey,” said Durman. “It’s the Canadian experience. We have our whole hockey team coming to the games in one truck, we’re like little kids.”
twitter.com/rebeccablissett
