A New Beginning

On Sunday, November 15, 2009, a new group of adult hockey players took part in their first game of the season.

A bit over 4 years ago, Alien Hockey wanted to get more new adults playing the sport. With the help of Brian Wierson (the remarkable rink manager at the time) we put on a few beginner camps and and formed the first ever D League. The first games had approx 20 players show up and the same 2 teams faced each other every weekend. But through referrals, friends, spouses, co-workers, etc, the league continued to grow. League of 4-6 teams were running for beginning adults. This also fueled the growth of what is now the popular C League.

A "bump in the road" knocked the D League off track in the past few seasons, but with Derek Hickey's help, the dedication of several C League players as well as the new crew of adult players has started the powerful tradition again! (There is already word of potentially a 4th team ready to form just around the corner)

The league has started with 3 teams (Tony's Tigers, Gannon's Cannons & Cox's Crushers) and the first game had the Cannons win 6-5 over the Tigers. The great thing is that the team that does not play has 1.25 hour of ice time prior to the league game to practice. Skating, stick handling & strategy are all incorporated into these practices.

Some join for the exercise, some for the competition, some for the challenge, but hopefully all join for the camaraderie and great friendships that are formed. I just checked the current C League rosters of the ABC League and 38 players got their start in D League. That's approx 40% of our current league coming from new adults added to the sport.

If you get a chance, come out and watch a game. The D League plays on Sundays at 4 PM. They had about 30-40 fans at the last event! Keep recruiting others and have them come and watch a game so they can see how much fun it is. I admire every one of the new adult players that started playing even though they may never have played as kids or even skated! To get on an ice surface while standing on 2 pieces of thin steel while trying to move around a small rubber puck using a long stick takes bravery and everyone one of you has it!

Keep up the great work.