| I Grew up in the Boston area in the sixties when the | | | | cold, but none of us felt it. We loved what we were |
| National Hockey League consisted of only six teams | | | | doing. |
| and the Boston entry was something less than a | | | | When I got to high school, things changed. The Big Bad |
| source of pride for its followers. Mired in mediocrity for | | | | Bruins had already won their last championship and the |
| years, a savior cam from Parry Sound, Ontario in the | | | | team was going in a different direction. We had a new |
| form of a skinny sixteen year old kid named Bobby | | | | coach, but not a better one. The same guys were |
| Orr. Shortly thereafter via some clever trades and | | | | playing against a lot of our previous opponents, but we |
| sound draft picks, a whole new crop of players | | | | started losing. But it was still hockey and we all still |
| arrived, meshed almost instantly and the Big Bad Bruins | | | | loved the game. |
| were born. | | | | There were four high schools in my city. Our biggest |
| Suddenly, every kid in New England asked their | | | | rivals were from across town. They were coached by |
| parents for skates and hockey sticks for Christmas. I | | | | the guy who also ran the only hockey rink in town. His |
| was bitten by the hockey bug in a big way. My | | | | team always got the best ice times while our team |
| brothers and I built a rink in my back yard so we could | | | | was forced to practice many times at 3:00AM. I was |
| play after school. I made a scoreboard out of a piece | | | | a goalie and many nights I had to walk several miles |
| of plywood I found in my basement. We hung flood | | | | from home to the rink for practice carrying all my |
| lights from the old pine tree in our yard. We even built | | | | water soaked goalie equipment. I did it without |
| stands out of snow and some of the neighborhood | | | | complaint because I loved the game. |
| kids who didn't play would sit and watch the games. | | | | Speaking of equipment, much of the equipment we |
| While this was great fun, my appetite for hockey was | | | | used back then was made of leather. If you don't |
| not satisfied, so I joined my junior high school hockey | | | | know, leather soaks up water like a sponge and |
| team. Our coach was a crusty old guy with a booming | | | | doesn't dry very quickly. As a result, by season's end |
| voice who, in his sixties, was still tough as nails and still | | | | all our equipment was water logged and unbelievably |
| played in some of the many amateur leagues in the | | | | heavy. We all used to carry it around in canvas duffel |
| area. He would tell stories about recent games when | | | | bags. Imagine a locker room in which twenty guys all |
| he would go into the corners against a couple of | | | | open their duffel bag at the same time and dump out |
| young guys and he would be the only one to skate out | | | | their sweat-soaked leather padding! The odor was |
| of the corner. Knowing him the way I did, I believe he | | | | overpowering but we did it because we loved the |
| was telling the truth. Occasionally, he would bring his | | | | game. |
| brother and his two sons to practice so they could | | | | After high school, I started playing in various local |
| provide us more personal attention. One of the sons | | | | leagues. My friends and I also played a lot of pickup |
| had played on the US Olympic hockey team. These | | | | games, renting ice time at the local rinks. Just to give |
| guys really whipped us into shape and taught us the | | | | you an idea of how different hockey players are, two |
| finer points of the game. | | | | of the guys I played with were best friends. One night, |
| In my last year with my junior high school team, we | | | | they were playing on opposing teams and they got |
| won the league championship. It was extra special | | | | into a fight. There was blood everywhere and the two |
| because the Bruins won the Stanley Cup that year. It | | | | combatants ended up sitting on the ice from |
| seemed like the greatest time to be a hockey fan in | | | | exhaustion. They stared at each other for a brief |
| Boston. I can vividly recall the bus rides back home | | | | moment. Everyone thought they would start fighting |
| from the games. The music was blasting, the guys | | | | again. Instead, they both smiled, then started laughing |
| were singing and we were all talking about yet another | | | | hysterically. After the game, they went out for a beer |
| win. Even the practices were fun. We had late night | | | | together and talked about how much they loved the |
| practices in a rink with a roof but no walls. January and | | | | game. I guess you'd just have to play hockey to |
| February practices at 1:00 or 2:00AM were brutally | | | | understand. |