Watching the world junior hockey championships on TV, I think back to the shortest phone conversation I ever heard. It was when the gang I hung around with were trying to organize a hockey game in on Elliott’s Cove Pond. I remember Derek Smith calling David Quinton and the conversation went “Hockey? Yep, when? One” That was it.
One o’clock rolls around and we are all in on the pond, which was like a sheet of glass. Teams were decided by piling sticks and throwing them in opposite directions, you were on the team where your stick went. Nets were generally a pair of boots separated by the length of a hockey stick, sometimes we had goalies, often the person or persons who had no skates, often there were none. I really don’t remember if we had any for this particular game, but I do recall one goal the puck rolled and rolled and rolled. I believe it was David Smith that skated pretty much the length of the pond, all the way to the park, to get it back, took about 10 minutes or more.
Another thing I remember was that the pond ice was so hard, that stopping like you would at a stadium was much different. If you tried it that way, you’d often dig yourself a rut and go flying over, lucky to not snap an ankle, much less spray up a sheet of snow.
Ah good times 🙂
Raised in outport Newfoundland in a town of 65 people, I pursued a post secondary diploma in Information Technology right out of High School.
I’ve always been a geek at heart, but yet I love the rural life I grew up with. Fishing, hunting, camping and the great outdoors are still loves of mine, even if I don’t pursue them as often as I once did. Sports were always a big part of our lives, and I played many (badly) and loved them all.
