Beer League Goalie "living the dream"

[bc-chris]

I know… cheesy thread title but I don’t care.

One of my best friends works at a rink here in Kelowna. This afternoon he called me up and asked if I had any plans for this evening. Thankfully I did not, so he asked if I’d like to play goal for a ‘shiny’ group. I asked him which group, to which he replied, “they’re the juniors/pros!”

Are you freakin’ kidding me?!?!?

I was curious as to which players would be there and was informed that there would be a bunch of kids from the bchl along with Luke and Brayden Schenn, Josh Gorges and Blake Comeau!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

Now I need to give a little back ground about myself…. I’m 40 years old and only started playing goal about 5 years ago. Last week I took my first ever ‘hockey camp’ – first time in my life I’ve ever had someone work with me on how to play. It was awesome – the goalie coach was Amanda Tapp from the University of Calgary Dinos – she was a fantastic instructor!! Anyways - the highest level of hockey I’ve ever played is in men’s beer league hockey (for the past 4 years).

So part of me was absolutely giddy with excitement and part of me was thinking… I hope I don’t get hurt ‘cuz I take FOREVER to heal!! Ha! ha!

The pros and goalies get a separate change room – so to my right was Gorges and the Schenn brothers. To my left was Comeau!

We chatted about a ton of stuff. One of the guys is looking to buy a place in town… asking price is “2 point 2” (I like how a property for $2.2 million is just sorta, yea… I’m thinking about it – ha!) . I asked how they feel about the Olympic break and they like it except that they have more games compressed into less days over the course of the season. Talked about kids and family – lots of everyday stuff.

Brayden was apparently going to have a little chat with the pool boy – he went to put his skates on and they were laced backwards… so the ends of the laces were at the toe instead of the ankle. It sounds like the pool boy likes playing pranks on him.

Onto the game…. holy crap can they shoot!!!! And I’m just talking snap/wrist shots! Gorges gave me a scouting report on Comeau… he goes glove high almost every time… he was pretty much bang on! Comeau’s first shot on me he was cutting across the net and put it in off the post, but after that it was glove high almost every shot! I missed his one wrist shot and it rattled off the post. When the play was at the other end I noticed the net had moved…. his wrist shot moved the post & peg back about 2”!!!! I’m sorta glad that one didn’t hit me!

I must confess that I felt like a Greek god when I stopped Brayden on a break away… I’m sure he totally let up – but it still felt good. I don’t think I should have chirped him becuz the next shot he wired right by me! Ha! ha!

At the half way point myself and the other goalie switched ends…. Now the pros were on my team. After one of my saves the rebound was bouncing around Gorges’ feet and it felt weird, but there I am on the ice yelling, ‘feet Josh!!! Feet!’ to let him know where the puck was. Oh… and on the topic of rebounds – holy crap do they bounce far when the guys let the shots go. I guess I’m used to men’s league where most of them hit you and bounce only a couple feet… not way past the faceoff dot!!

So yea – that was my evening! Totally awesome! Apparently they‘re short a goalie in a couple nights, so if Reimer and Price are both busy I might be getting the call again!!! Ha! They must REALLY be desperate!!


Onto some pics....


sticks in the room:




me getting ready to start getting bruised....




Gorges hanging out at the other net...




Gorges passing it out front trying to get me lit up!




right when this pic was taken i was sorta crapping my pants seeing the Schenn brothers ripping up the ice towards me




me stopping Comeau!! yea baby!!! The girl in the pic is home right now from the University of Ohio (i think)




and another one for Comeau





So there you go!!! Thanks for reading about my awesome evening! It's not every day that a 40 year old beer league goalie gets to slap on the pads and play hockey with a bunch of pros.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Gonna go on and assume Comeau didn't score on you.

[nickerjones]

Holy Crap dude... that's awesome. Congrats. You are now beer league famous .. Can I have your autograph?

[bc-chris]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Gonna go on and assume Comeau didn't score on you.

oh no... he blew a couple by me. it is unbelievable how stinking fast the shots come off their sticks - the power and speed are ridiculous!!!

it was either Comeau or Gorges that let one go and it caught me in the upper right chest... that thing STUNG!!! and that's where the chest gear is the thickest... 3 layers of padding!! i can't imagine what taking a Chara slap shot would be like!!!


....oh.... that reminds me - i asked Gorges what it's like to play against Chara and he looked me straight in the eyes and said, 'that is one HUGE man!!'

[KelVarnsen]

That was nice of you to let Comeau score a couple of goals.

[tempz]

I love how ####ty Comeau's name looks on his stick in that pic. Its like he used a stencil and white out because he wanted to fit in.

[krynski]

Very cool. You should give some CPers a bit of a notice so we can all creep them next time

EDIT: By the way, I stood in line for like 4 hours trying to sign up my friends' kid for hockey last year in Kelowna. That place needs some more hockey facilities.

[blender]

Awesome story. Good job for standing in there. A number of years ago I was fortunate enough to play with some really good players. No NHLers, but a couple of guys who had been drafted and some NCAA players and some euro pro players and man, was it fast.
I always get a kick out of the posts that say "Comeau sucks" or "Butler sucks"or whatever. Nobody in the NHL sucks at hockey.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Kelowna is awesome like that.

[flames_fan_down_under]

That's awesome man! I just think it's great that these guys still get out to play in the summer.

[Miniac]

Congrats that's very cool!

[trublmaker]

very cool, barely even a once in a lifetime chance

[sun]

Cool story, bro.

No, seriously. Cool story.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Very cool. Gotta give you kudos on your blocker too, looks awesome.

[Anduril]

Wow, congrats on an amazing experience.

Also, did you get dizzy from seeing Comeau go around the zone in first person?

[Bezer]

Freakin awesome.. nice work

[T@T]

Did the chick score on you?

[icarus]

Great story, and probably one that wouldn't happen in any other pro sports.

[bc-chris]

hey guys

thanks!!!

Originally Posted by krynski

Very cool. You should give some CPers a bit of a notice so we can all creep them next time

EDIT: By the way, I stood in line for like 4 hours trying to sign up my friends' kid for hockey last year in Kelowna. That place needs some more hockey facilities.

i totally agree that kelowna needs more ice, but it's unlikely to happen anytime soon. the complete lack of private rinks in kelowna means the city can keep demand high, which means they can keep the prices right where they want them! high demand + low supply = cash cow!

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Very cool. Gotta give you kudos on your blocker too, looks awesome.

thanks!
my blocker.... there's a guy in town who repairs goalie gear - he hooked me up with a custom front for my blocker. i also did some customizing on my trapper too! i might suck as a goalie but at least i look good

when my men's team played in provincials a couple months ago, one of the head guys from planet ice from vancouver was watching our game. he asked my buddy something like, 'who's the guy from kelowna in goal? he's got a painted up mask and pro gear with custom blocker/trapper... which all match his team jersey.' my buddy said, 'oh that's chris - that's his leftover gear from when he played pro in europe!' the guy looked back at me, then at my buddy, then back at me, then turned to my buddy and said, 'there's no f-ing way that guy EVER played pro!!' ha! ha! ha! ....like i said... at least i look good!

Originally Posted by Anduril

Wow, congrats on an amazing experience.

Also, did you get dizzy from seeing Comeau go around the zone in first person?

not sure if this is a shot a Comeau or not?? they were all ridiculously fast and the moves they had were unreal... even the bchl kids!! as an example, i made one save to my left, the rebound came off me, one kid tipped the puck over me then another kid tipped it out of the air into the net! just crazy hand/eye coordination!

Originally Posted by T@T

Did the chick score on you?

i don't think so

i'm pretty sure this is who she is: http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/spo...on_812163.html

[GrrlGoalie33]

Awesome story!

I got called to be the "target" for some skills clinics last spring, and Danielle Goyette was the instructor. It's pretty cool to be able to say that you stopped their shots - even if they did let up on you