{"id":13543,"date":"2016-03-02T17:49:12","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T22:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=13543"},"modified":"2016-03-30T18:41:46","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T22:41:46","slug":"front-porch-perspective-old-timers-hockey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/front-porch-perspective-old-timers-hockey\/","title":{"rendered":"FRONT PORCH PERSPECTIVE: “Old Timers” Hockey"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Stephen Somerville<\/strong><\/p>\n

As one who tries to keep the effects of getting older at bay for a little while longer, I play some (very bad) hockey.
\nI am fortunate as I get on the ice twice per week; once as part of the Aurora \u201cChurch Dodgers\u201d over-fifty team on Tuesday evenings, and the other during Sunday afternoon organized pickup games.
\nWhat follows is a partial transcript of the conversation I had with a player on my Sunday pickup team a while back:<\/p>\n

Stephen: What\u2019s this on my shirt?
\nOther Player: Somerville, we haven\u2019t even got on the ice yet and you\u2019re already complaining. Sorry that you didn\u2019t get the \u201cC\u201d, but we were thinking of giving you an \u201cA\u201d \u2013 for \u2026 (can\u2019t print this due to The Auroran being a family newspaper \u2013 but the seven-letter word used has the same last four letters as foxhole. You get the picture.)
\nStephen: Thanks for that Mr. X. No, I am not complaining about my lack of team status, but how come my shirt has a small patch on the front that says \u201cold timer\u201d? I don\u2019t mind if it says \u201cterrible player wears this shirt\u201d, but not \u201cold timer.\u201d I only want to be called an old timer when I can get into the movies cheaply or get my hair cut at a reduced rate.<\/p>\n

In the game that followed, I was slightly taken into the boards by some young kid, and he then leans over to help me up and says, \u201cSorry sir, are you all right?\u201d
\nI didn\u2019t know whether to laugh or cry.
\nFor our organized \u201cpick up\u201d hockey games on Sunday afternoons, we don\u2019t have referees or timekeepers or scorekeepers.
\nOne of the guys acts as a convenor, and instead of throwing the sticks in the middle of the ice as we used to do as kids to determine the teams, he chooses the sides while we are in the dressing room.
\nWe have about twenty guys, all shapes, sizes, ages and levels of ability ranging from not very good (moi) to guys who played Junior \u201cA\u201d hockey.
\nOne of our players, Gord, has a special combination of power and speed, and I am thankful he takes it easy on us.
\nI have been playing with this group for the past eight years or so and have never had a more enjoyable experience.
\nThe guys are funny, and just like the eight-year-old boys we used to be, we still like to use a little trash talk.
\nAnd we still have the enthusiasm of youth.
\nWe forget all our cares and concerns for that one hour. And what a glorious hour it is.
\nWhat I appreciate most is no coach yelling, \u201cSomerville, for the love of God, would you pretend to back-check just once this season?\u201d, or my all-time favourite, \u201cSomerville, these are not ceremonial face-offs, you are actually allowed to win one of them, you know\u201d.
\nWe always kid each other that if you don\u2019t play well, you will be sent down. Leaf players can get sent down to the Marlies; the only thing lower than our league is public skating!
\nAnd having your friends as the goalies is always great for the ribbing and bragging rights that goes on during the rest of the week.
\nThat hour is like the fountain of youth \u2013 carefree and fun. I wouldn\u2019t miss it.
\nJust don\u2019t call me an \u201cold timer\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stephen can be contacted at stephengsomerville@yahoo.com<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stephen Somerville As one who tries to keep the effects of getting older at bay for a little while longer, I play some (very bad) hockey. I am fortunate as I get on the ice twice per week; once as part of the Aurora \u201cChurch Dodgers\u201d over-fifty team on Tuesday evenings, and the other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3wr","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 23:12:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}