Novice skater turns rink rat

Page 17

In the beginning it was just a joke, and in the end, well it turned out to be a joke. Tuesday morning, Jocelyn Wasacase tells me about the Saskatchewan's Indian Federated College women's hockey team, and how I should come to the practice.

Well, I'd never skated on boy's skates before, and I had no equipment. Being the conversationalist, I continue to ask about the game.

"You don't need to be able to skate. We all start off like that,"Wasacase encouraged "Just come out, you'll have fun. Besides, we need the players."

Somehow, she managed to persuade me, or perhaps, it was decided after I started to drift off into my imaginary dreamland...

And Pelletier's on a breakaway,...she shoots, she scores!! The rink is echoing with cowbells and the crowd is ecstatically cheering! Wow, what a night! Pelletier is being carried off the ice on the player's shoulders...

So, I smile at Jocelyn and say, "Sure, I'll give it a try."

The first thing I need to do is get some skates and equipment. I pull out the ole handy directory and start flipping. the time I hit "Z", I realize that I have no athletic hockey buddies. Knowing that somebody must know someone that has a hockey buddy,

I start dialing.

"Do you have some hockey skates? What size?! Nope, doesn't matter, I'm not picky. Whattabout a stick? Which hand?!...Jeez, I dunno. All right, I got a broom. Yup, I'm swinging it...right handed, okay, sounds good."

It turns out to be my lucky days - seems that cousin Pernell crushed his kneecaps, and I can use his equipment for the season. So, I'm all set, except for a hockey stick. I'm told that I could get a cheap one at Canadian Tire.

Or, another one was saying, "While you're phoning around for a stick, I'll phone around for a camcorder. Ha-ha-ha!"

Even cousin Pernell was wishing he could see me play after I curiously asked him whether the can would fit me. I mean, I haven't done this before. Even after all the heckling, I still managed to be positive and enthusiastic.

Jocelyn promptly picked me up, and we were off to the rink. Arriving at the Sherwood Twin Arena, I'm feeling professional with the hockey bag slung over my back and hockey stick in one hand. In the dressing room, still feeling like a pro, I think, "Yeah, this is all right."

Staring at this equipment, I run into my first dilemma: getting dressed and how to do it. Well, I managed by peeking at the other women and copying them, until I tried to put on the jersey. It was twisted around my neck and I humbly ask no one in particular if there was a trick in putting it on.

Someone answers, "Yeah, a friend." So, my only friend, Jocelyn helps me out. All in all, the process itself was quite easy...until I stood up, and nearly fell. I was practically standing on my ankles. It didn't dawn on me, that at the time cousin Pernell was fitting his whole hand in the skate that it would make a difference on my skating ability.

It was the first step on the ice that my confidence and sense of humor disappeared and panic set in.

I thought, "Who am I kidding? I can't skate." I haven't use girl's skates since elementary school, let alone boy's skates. Still thinking positive, I started to skate around the rink with the others. Trailing behind the speed-skaters, I started to concentrate on my stepping. Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right foot. Left foot, oh oh, losing my balance, gonna fall. Good thing for hockey equipment. Left foot, right foot. In fact after a couple of rounds, I was doing all right. I started to get a hang of it, getting into the rhythm. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. Until I had to stop. Well, let's just say that I still don't know how to stop. It's a certain technique that I haven't mastered yet.

I'll elaborate. Coach decides to have a scrimmage. But this time, my glasses are all foggy, my face is feeling drippy, and my ankles are giving out. The scrimmage was the best part, I wasn't an unintentional goon. I kept slamming into any player wo had the puck and was near me. Even though I had no time to notice the ability of the other players, considering that my concentration was duly focused on the left-foot, right-foot thing, I assumed that Christine must be good because she plays center.

So, she was looking like she needed a break and Coach gives me the opportunity to play center. I had the perfect set-up, when unthinkably, the puck was passed to me, and I had my first break-away. There was no goaltenders, so the net was open, and I was on my own with no one in proximity of me.

Feeling like Theoren Fleury, I was skating real fast, and I hear, GO TINA! so I skate even harder. She shoots, she...I raise my stick, big mistake and I lose my balance and sprawl into the goal posts. My first reaction was to cover my head (I was having a hard time with my hockey helmet on, because I was seeing double with the combination of my face guard and my foggy glasses, so I took it off) and one of the players that can skate and shoot in synchronicity, swiftly shoots the puck in, and scores.

And that was my first assist. Soon after, Coach calls it quits, and later I hear in the dressing room, how the coach was pretty easy on us, "for a change."

Never in my life have I felt such excruciating pain as when I took off my skates. The next day I wondered if there was a type of exercise you can do to strengthen your ankle muscles. I'll ask Mr. Weightlifter himself, Tyson. I'll be on one of the benches with weights on my feet. And in a couple of months, I'll have real strong thick ankles. Is that possible? Maybe instead, I'll just get smaller skates that fit.