We finished our Friday Night Hockey last week at Goulding Arena. We played 25 games in the past 6 months missing only the Boxing Day week.
As usual there was some drama involved. Right before the season started we lost one of our goalies, Dave, who had knee problems. It's been an ongoing issue for him over the past two or three seasons. I only found out he couldn't play a week or two before we were due to start, so I was in sort of a bind.
One of our goalies, Rob, had committed to playing every week. But, our other goalie, Godfrey, could only play every other week. So, right off the bat, I was scrambling to find a replacement every other Friday. Luckily we had a number of back ups in Donald, Caitlin and Benson who were willing to fill in when they were available.
The goalie problem was solved when Rob found Lance (another goalie he played with on occasion). Lance didn't live too far away and loved playing net. He was a dependable backup opposite Godfrey. That was until the very end of the season when his car gave up the ghost. Then he needed a ride (which I happily provided) to get to the game.
Another big change was when, part way through the season, I let Gord and Jan pick the teams. After that initial game Gord picked the teams from that point on. But, not only did he pick the teams, they suggested a best 2-out-of-3 tournament. So, instead of changing teams from week we played a short series.
We even bought a small scoreboard and kept stats (on who scored). Gord set up a simple website and posted all the info there along with everyone's photos (which I took one week). We even had a few videos that one of the subs, Eddie, made whenever he came out to play.
It upped the competitive spirit between teams. I think it made everyone try harder. At least initially it did. Forwards skated back a little more often trying to help their defence. It was great.
We also saw a few people returning from a year or two away. It was good to see old familiar faces again. And some of the guys started bringing out their kids to fill in from time to time. They were fast. All us old timers had a tough time chasing them down.
So the game is evolving which is good. Hopefully things will go relatively smoothly next year.
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