With hockey, we appreciate nostalgia
It was curiosity that got me off the couch Sunday afternoon and over to Memorial Arena for a senior hockey game. I’m glad I went.
The Silver Bullets are the first senior hockey team to operate in Penticton in more than 30 years. Playing an abridged schedule, they’re drawing a few hundred fans each game.
The two words I can use to describe the experience of attending a Silver Bullets game are old school.
To clarify, I do appreciate the new generation of hockey... state-of-the-art arenas, luxury boxes and live updates on the internet.
Old school isn’t necessarily better than new generation hockey, it’s just different.
When I walked in, I wasn’t asked for a ticket but noticed a giant jug for donations. It’s “by donation.” Anybody can afford to go to a game.
Following the pre-warmup flood, two players with the home team went out to peg the nets.
Much of the Silver Bullets’ appeal is the nostalgia of watching a game in Memorial. This is the house the 1955 Vees built, the rink our juniors played out of until moving to the SOEC in 2008.
Wow, a press box that you access by climbing ladder steps, not an elevator.
When you walk into an old arena like Memorial you feel connected – connected to the game of hockey, connected to history, to being Canadian.
A visit to the concession stand costs $2 for a can of pop, $2 for candy and $3 for a bag of popcorn. You’d be hard pressed to spend 10 bucks.
Old school doesn’t have to be Slap Shot (thank God). The game is so much better today. In the old school days, girls didn’t play. Sledgehockey hadn’t been invented. Arenas never considered things such as handicap accessibility.
Even though hockey has progressed, it will forever remain timeless, at least for Canadians. It seems that old school hockey was everywhere you looked over the past several weeks.
The BCHL’s 60th anniversary all-star celebrations — hosted by Penticton this past weekend — moved outdoors. An all-star three-on-three tournament was perfect because it was snowing and man, was it cold. Adam Konanz, long-time chiropractor for the Vees, brought a barbecue and hosted his own tailgate party.
In addition to featuring the league’s best players, all-star weekend showcased Penticton’s new outdoor rink located beside City Hall.
Ever since The Cold War in 2001, a gimmick featuring the University of Michigan and Michigan State, everybody wants to host an outdoor game. First college, then the NHL and now minor hockey.
Simultaneously and unrelated, a pond hockey tournament was held at Apex Mountain Ski Resort, raising $48,000 for kids’ charities.
As cool as this all sounds, oldtimers don’t look back on the days of outdoor rinks fondly. They’d have to stop their minor hockey games and players would shovel snow off the rink. It was the 1950’s answer to a TV timeout.
Oldtimers tell me outdoor hockey was indeed nostalgic, but never glamorous. Their happiest day was when indoor rinks were built. Who cares if you were on the ice at 5 a.m., you were indoors.
With a column devoted to old school hockey, I will conclude with the Vancouver Canucks which made national headlines twice this month, both times for very sad reasons.
There was nation-wide grief with the passing of Gino Odjick, one of the most popular players to ever wear the Canucks jersey, at the young age of 52. Odjick was an enforcer, one of the league’ best fighters. He was highly regarded for his volunteer efforts off the ice with charities, especially his work with First Nation kids.
It’s often the enforcers who give the most back to the game. Despite his personal challenges, Bob Probert, arguably the toughest guy to ever play in the NHL (sadly he died all too young at 45), had a reputation for spending more time signing autographs and chatting with kids than any of his other teammates in Detroit.
To end a terrible week for the Canucks, Bruce Boudreau was fired. The love shown by fans was remarkable considering he had been in Vancouver for only a short period of time.
Sacking Boudreau the way they did is rotten in any generation of hockey.