The most Canadian team at Skatetown

Canada is to hockey like the ocean is to the world.  From and to the ocean does all water flow, and similarly, from and to Canada does all hockey flow around the world.

So, how Canadian is your team?

I took up playing ice hockey when I first moved from Canada to Sacramento about seven years ago (!).  I was an avid fan back then but never played on the ice when I lived in Canada.  It was out of boredom after just moving here that motivated me to enroll in the adult hockey class – probably because hockey was at least one thing familiar to me after I moved to the new city.

What I didn’t expect at the time was the number of Canadians at the rink, and looking back now, it makes sense. Hockey is in our soul and so Canadians will migrate to where they can find it.  Any rink is really an unofficial Canadian embassy.  It is here where we can talk about loonies and toonies, have our coffee crispy and talk about how we enjoyed Tim Bits – and it all makes sense.

Last Friday, I discovered that three of our players are half-Canadian.  So, I did a little tally of our 19-man roster to determine our Canadian-ness.  In addition to the three who are half-Canadian, we have one player who is a quarter Canadian.  Another five of us are full Canadians.  That gives us 7.75 FCEs (Full Canadian Equivalents), for a FCE percentage of 40.7% on our team. 

That’s pretty wicked, eh?

Singh10.

How not to be seen

It’s been a good few months since I’ve posted here.  Since May, I’ve only had one post.  It’s a far cry from the hey-days of this blog when I posted multiple times a week.  I didn’t think anyone noticed that I wasn’t blogging much anymore (or maybe they did notice but didn’t want me to start up again).

Last night, someone on another team asked me why I hadn’t posted in a while and wanted me to start posting again.  There are a variety of reasons why I stopped – lack of personal time, lack of motivation, lack of new material, other stuff that I’ll not get into in relation to blogging about our league/rink – but I’ve missed writing about our little world of hockey.

I also had a conversation with another player in our league about the frustration this person felt in the direction of the league and sandbagging talent-level disparity just-having-fun-let’s-all-be-friends issue in Silver B.  We discussed how it’s a sad state of affairs when even the referees (yes, several) recognize and comment on certain players who are blatantly sandbagging and yet nothing is being done about it.  Despite my silence on the blog in recent months, I’ve not stopped bringing the sandbagging issue up to the other captains or the league’s administration, and I continue to work in that regard.  It’s an uphill battle but I feel things will only improve if we don’t give up on the issue.

It also just so happened that I coincidentally received an e-mail from an anonymous source this morning on the same topic.  I just had to post it on the blog.  This individual sent me a video called “How Not to be Seen“.  It could easily be called “How to Hide Your Ringer”:

In the rec hockey world, you hide your ringer on defense and hope that they don’t rack up enough stats to catch anyone’s attention.  But, even then, sometimes a player is so talented that such a strategy is still not enough to hide their talent.

For better or worse, I’m back.

Singh10.

Steelheads declare war on the Puck Hogs

Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2010 13:47:12 -0700
Subject: FW: I have in my possession the key to demoralizing your team.
From: Singh10
To: Puck Hogs

I just received the following message from the captain of the Steelheads. He has apparently absconded with a pair of coveted orange skate laces that allegedly belongs to one of our players.

This heinous act is nothing less than a declaration of war on the Puck Hogs. For this, the Steelheads captain and the rest of his crew must pay. And, they must pay dearly.

To the Hog who allowed these laces to reach the hands of our enemy: step forward and identify yourself. Your punishment, while brutal, will be quick and humane.

See you all tonight,

Singh10.

——————————————————————————–

Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:51:12 -0700
Subject: I have in my possession the key to demoralizing your team.
From: Steelheads Captain
To: Singh10

One of your more careless teamates has let his sloppy tendencies get the best of him.  I am sorry to tell you this way but I now possess a pair of your treasured orange laces……one of your teamates does not.
 
I will return said TROPHY when I you have satisfied my three demands.
 
$100,000 cash.
 
Getaway vehicle.
 
The letter M stricken from the English Language.
 
You have one week.

Homeless, the Singh10 Hat Trick, the Big Return, and Congrats

Homeless Hogs

A couple of weeks ago, after our first early (i.e. the 6:15 PM slot) game of the season, we discovered that our usual post game hangout, Roseville Family Pizza, had closed up shop.  It was  a bit of a surprise, but perhaps not so unexpected.

This pizza place was great for us because it accommodated our large group rather well.  There was a lot of room, and with the video games and kid-friendly area, the players’ kids enjoyed the place as well.  The restaurant’s business hours would end too soon for us to go regularly, but it was always our default destination after early games.  No matter what our game outcome was, it was like a party there and we really enjoyed it.

When the economy turned, we started noticing that the restaurant was getting emptier, and often we would be one of the few or the only ones in there.   Perhaps the inevitable has come to pass, but it’s too bad that a local business that we enjoyed has been forced to close their doors.

These days, during our later games, we’ve been assembling at a local diner that is open late.  The staff treats us very well there and we enjoy the food.  But, we’re now on the lookout for a more permanent home for HogTown, USA.

The Singh10 Hat Trick

A miracle occurred for Silver B’s Bronze League Tripod (aka yours truly) during our game against Roughriders A last Friday.  I scored two goals after my teammates set me up very nicely - Jones3 and Kinney33 each gave me nice passes in front of the net that I just had to tap in.  I also picked up an assist on one of Kinney33‘s goals as well. 

There is something called a Gordie Howe Hat Trick, which is an unofficial hockey term given to when a player gets a goal, an assist and into a fight in one game.  Now, I didn’t get into a fight, but I’d like to introduce a new hockey statistic for all to track.  It’s called the Singh10 Hat Trick: getting a goal, an assist, and a death threat all in one game.

During the second period, I was in front of the Rough Riders net and was jostling for position with their captain.  I was knocked down by another Rough Riders player, and when I fell, my legs were tangled up with the first player, who was still standing. I was trying not to move my legs for fear of being stepped on. 
 
As I was on my back, the other captain leaned over me and told me to release his legs.  I don’t remember how we were tangled up (and couldn’t even see it), but he then put his stick on my chest and held me down.  He got in my face and began repeating “I’m going to kill you” .  He must have repeated this about four or five times, and each time I dared him to do it.  But, all he could do at that point was to continue to issue threats.  I believe he also made another threat, but he later denied making it, and so I’ll leave that one be.  

[5/26 update: according to the other captain, the reason he said what he did was because I had apparently wrapped my legs around his recently injured ankle, and this was causing him pain.  He claims to have warned me about this and out of frustration he told me he would kill me if I didn't let go.  It is entirely possible that he said something about his injured ankle, however I did not hear this at the time. ]

When the play stopped, the referees had us separate and I got back to my feet.  Later, I confronted him about it, and he said that he didn’t mean it. My bad.  I guess when I wasn’t laying on the ice anymore, the death threat was no longer valid.

In any case, I have informed our rink of this event and they can do with this information what they choose.

The Big Return

This Friday will mark the big return of Phillips15 on the ice with us.  A year after his leg was broken when a Roughriders player ran him into the boards during the first game of the Summer 2009 regular season, Phillips15 finally has medical clearance to play.  We’re really looking forward to it, but probably no more so than him.  Even when he couldn’t play for the past year, he still came out to almost all our games and coached us from the bench.   That’s dedication, and I couldn’t be happier that he’ll be back.

Congrats to Haviland55

Our youth movement continues in full swing.  A week and a half ago, Haviland55 and Mrs. Haviland55 had their second child.  Congrats to the Havilands!

Singh10.