One of the things you learn when coaching hockey is bounces in your home rink. Back at the beginning we skated in the Wagon Wheel ice rink. It had chicken wire screen around the rink. It had almost square corners which didn’t allow the Zamboni to completely clear the snow from the ice. This meant the puck would sometimes stick in the corner.
One father named John asked me why players get into so many fights. I told him that it is an emotional game. I asked him if he could skate. He replied he was from Minnesota, of course he could skate. I invited him to come on Sunday night when we played old timer hockey. He borrowed his teenage son’s equipment and showed up. We hadn’t been playing long when the puck stuck in the corner. John and I both headed in to get it. I got there first and fired it up the boards. John didn’t skate as well as we had thought. He was snow plowing to a stop, bent at the waist with his head down. My stick clipped his forehead, and a stream of blood fell to the ice. John got three punches in on me before I could tie him up. Then he says, “Oh my gosh, I’m fighting”. I reminded him that it is an emotional game.
As scruffy as this rink was, it was home ice for Janet Lynn. who was an Olympic medalist and five times women’s senior National Champion. All my players had a crush on her.
Shooting the puck off the boards led to many interesting bounces. Once the players learned them, it became almost another player on the ice for you. There was a spot on the west end which would shoot the puck right out in front of the goalie. This led to many scoring opportunities against visiting teams.
Sadly, the ice rink fell into disrepair and the hockey program moved to Rockford Riverview Ice Rink. More stories to follow on trick plays at Riverview.
