Monday through Fridays at Westhills Arena a bunch of hockey players get together and play.
Seems pretty standard, except that they are ages 60 and up.
There are two groups, one for ages 60 and up and one for ages 68 and up. “It’s all about fun, exercise and sportsmanship,” Norman Arden said. Between the two age categories there are 60 players.
Arden had a public accounting practice and he does the budget for the group every year, he has been with the group since it started up eight years ago. It started as a 60 and up league that played Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, but as players aged out or slowed down, they figured they should make an older division.
There is one 73 year old that plays in both divisions, five days a week, and a 75 year old that plays four days a week.
Ice time is at a premium in the evenings, but many of the players are retired or have more flexibility within their day, so the group plays at 11 a.m. for an hour and 20 minutes.
There is a different co-ordinator each day of the week that makes sure that there are two goalies and a minimum of 20 players, and selects the teams based on skill level. They have home and away dressing rooms, but most of the guys sit in the same play each week regardless of which team they are on, Arden said.
“We have as much fun in the locker room as we do playing hockey,” he said. They crack jokes with each other, and talk about their wives, but what’s said in the dressing room stays in the dressing room, Arden said.
No score is kept and there are no refs, they call their own offsides and nobody charges the net or tries to knock the puck in once the goalie has it.
There are no periods and they split the time in half, and goalies switch teams midway through the ice time.
There isn’t much chirping between teams, if someone makes a great play, he is congratulated even by the opposing team.
This group has provided a way of expanding one’s circle of friends in retirement and no matter the age. At an age when your circle of friends can start to contract, Arden said he has met some fascinating people in the group and enjoys making new friendships and meeting new people.
Some players in the group play in an annual tournament at the end of March at G.R. Pearkes Recreation Centre and includes teams from Panorama, Parksville, Juan de Fuca, Esquimalt, Japan and Edmonton.
Arden participates in the 68 and up group and at the end of this season, had a silver trophy fashioned, similar to the Stanley Cup, but smaller, with all the names of the players who play 68+ engraved in it. He surprised his teammates with it and some of them hoisted it above their heads, championship style. The trophy reads “The winners – those who play hockey at 70 have won the game life.”
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