Pond Hockey, pt. 2

Yes, we made it there. No, we almost didn't make it back. It was sooooo wet; being about 32 degrees, the rain was thick. Not thick as in #drops per cubic foot of air, but rather the #pounds per drop pounding on the side of one's face. The precipitation bordered between rain, snow & sleet. Once it hit the ground though, it was just wet. The boys & I attended the US Pond Hockey Championships today @ Lake Nokomis, in south Minneapolis. Not wanting to deal with cramped parking & icky weather, we took the bus. The best route stops on the other side of the block we live on; and the walk wasn't so bad on the hockey end. On the way home, however, ... ... ... Jr.Gopher#2 was just whooped. It's a really long walk for really short legs.

Strangely, the amount of ice on the sidewalks seems to be related to the general income/neighborhood. The poor people up closer to Lake Street, just north of us, don't seem to shovel their sidewalks nearly well enough. Once you head south into our part of the neighborhood, the sidewalks are nice & clear. Further south (read: increased per capita income), they become impassable. Not just a little bit of ice, but the "I haven't gotten off my Viking-cheering-potato-derriere to shovel my sidewalk because the path between the door & the SUV is just fine" kind of ice.

Route 14, south bound, heading down Bloomington Ave. towards Lake Nokomis (sort of).











Jr.Gopher#2 forgot his scarf. Suffering for one's progeny; man, my ears were cold.



















This, boys, is the great northern sport. On ice. Well, actually today on slush.



















It's too cold; Jr.Gopher#2 just isn't quite getting into the spirit of things.















Each team is required to show up with two different jerseys: light and dark. No one said it had to be unique. (The white jerseys with the green N are the now defunct NHL Minnesota North Stars.)










This is the only good shot I got of the goal. Yes, that box on the ice is the goal. It is basically a wooden box about 2 x 4 feet and 6" high with two holes in the front of it. Now that takes skill (a.k.a. luck)!






Sledge Hockey was also being played. I've never seen this before. A nice fellow showed the boys the different sticks & how the sledge works. Now these are the people I felt sorry for ... with so much water on the ice, they are already only 5" or so above it anyway. With 2" water at one end, they are going to have really wet pants at the end of the game.
The were also the only group I noticed with mixed gender and ages. There was at least one woman in the game we watched, and the age group on the ice went from 30-something to one boy about 14 or so.


The carrot at the end of the stick this afternoon was hot chocolate at May Day Cafe. My favorite hangout. The best coffee in Minneapolis, btw. Tell them I sent you; they won't give you a discount, but they will be nice to you. Well, they'll be nice anyway as long as you don't wear an "I Love Bush" t-shirt.


Jr.Gopher#1 took this photo. I returned the favor & took this one:














I'm not sure how the odd lighting happened; it was a flash picture & there wasn't anything reflecting that should have caused it ...?

The Purity of Hockey

Lake Nokomis, just south of where we live, I assume either this morning or last year. Those are 25 ice rinks (

U.S. Pond Hockey Championships:
Get excited for hockey the way nature intended! Last year it was minus 20 degrees. This year it's mixed precipitation. Only Mother Nature knows who will win the Golden Shovel!

The boys & I are going tomorrow. Who needs the Wild?

While perusing the team names, there's
the expected: Mother Pukers
the befuddeled: Angry Chickens
the amusing: Frozen Pond Scum -- Zamboni Drivers -- Frozen Assets
The prognosticatory: Runners Up

The teams had an opportunity to describe themselves. For example:

• Six oldtimers from Grimsby Ontario Canada looking forward to some good old American hospitality. Hell we might even bring some of our beer to share with you fellas.
• Somebody told us that, win or lose, everyone in the 40+ division gets a free one-year supply of Guinness. So we've got that going for us, which is nice.

There's only 6 teams in the women's division. Surprising, given how many girls'/women's teams there are these days, especially high school teams here in Minn.

I have a totally irrational fear of skating on natural ice. Seriously. Total fear of falling through. Now ... look at the photo at the top. Look at the sheer number of people. They're not afraid... The ice is probably a foot thick ... you can drive your pick up out on to Lake Calhoun to set up your shanty ... They certainly use trucks to put the rink boards up ... right? I keep telling myself that it will be okay to let the boys out on the ice tomorrow. It's not going to collapse... right? ...

I have no idea which games we're going to see: Men's, Women's or Kids. We're just going to go. I might, however, need to find the bus schedule & $1.75, because as we drove by this evening from picking up Jr.Gopher#2, the parking lot @ Lk Nokomis was still packed. The tons of snow still lying all of the city have eliminated at least 10% of the parking spots, too. I'll try to call Lawyers A & B to see if they want to bring their kids, too.

Updates & pictures if we make it. And the ice doesn't collapse.

And ... Jr.Gopher#2 was at a substitute sitter for the day ... who took him ice skating. He was pretty happy about it, although he informed me "I fell down".