Posts with the oldtimers hockey tag

Barris Beat

Twelve days of Christmas

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Uxbridge Messiah Singers at Uxbridge Baptist Church, 2022.

About an hour into the concert, we could feel the anticipation. The church fell silent for just a few seconds. Conductor Tom Baker, all 14 musicians in the orchestra and the 80-voices-strong choir seemed to collect themselves for the climax of their performance. The singers rose in unison. Then, so did the audience in rapt attention.

 “Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,” the choir began to sing, somewhat muted at first. Then, their voices rising in crescendo, the mass choir filled the sanctuary with the final refrain: “And he shall reign forever and ever. King of kings. Lord of lords. Hallelujah!” (more…)

Barris Beat

“Movember” message just in time

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… a world unto itself.

It was an odd place for something meaningful to happen. Last Sunday, a bunch of us trudged into the hockey arena from a chilly morning outside. In our dressing room, bags of equipment were tossed on the floor, but nobody was in any hurry to put on hockey gear. Then, for some reason, we got talking about prostate exams. And initially it sparked a predictable response around the room.

“Well, if I was in that position, I wouldn’t want a doctor with long, fat fingers doing the examination,” somebody said. There was some laughter.

“Unless, maybe it was a female physician,” another said in jest.

Oldtimers’ hockey dressing rooms – since the concept of recreational hockey for men and women over the age of 40 began back in the mid-1970s – are a phenomenon unto themselves. (more…)

Barris Beat

Learning to save daylight

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Making the most of sunshine is a year-round proposition.
Making the most of sunshine is a year-round proposition.

For some of us, Sunday morning holds a ritual that’s nearly religious. I’m talking about my oldtimers’ hockey league. But what with people away on holidays and a flu bug going around, attendance last Sunday wasn’t what it should be. One of my teammates arrived just before the first game, at 7 a.m., and was surprised how few of us were there.

“There were hardly any cars in the parking lot when I came in,” he said. “It’s as if it was Daylight Saving and everybody forgot to reset their clocks.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Rules are not for breaking

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People's Climate March supporters believe world leaders have failed to live up to environmental commitments.
People’s Climate March supporters believe world leaders have failed to live up to greenhouse gas emissions regulations they agreed to at Kyoto in 1997.

I remember the shot as if it were yesterday. Just a few minutes into our friendly game of shinny, this new guy in the game came skating down the wing, pulled his hockey stick back to let a slapshot fly. In an instant, the goalie ducked and everybody in the path of this guy’s shot got out of the way; it was like the parting of the Red Sea. A second later, his blast from the wing exploded off the glass behind the goalie and ricocheted around the boards with a resounding boom.

“Hey! No slapshots!” somebody yelled. “Don’t you know the rules?” (more…)

Barris Beat

Miracle on ice

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Gold Team rep Tommy Redford hoists the UAH trophy for the Men’s Over-40 championship.

We sealed it just after 3 o’clock Sunday afternoon. None of us expected it. Everybody figured we would be on the outside looking in. But it was just the opposite. We prevailed over all the opposition and when we gathered for a victory photograph, somebody put it facetiously, but appropriately.

“We are the champions,” one of my teammates said.

“Miracle on ice, if you ask me,” I said.

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Barris Beat

How we inspire others

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Hap Harris on his Wings (Graduation) Day in August 1943. Photo courtesy Harris family.

Following a recent oldtimers’ hockey game at the arena Sunday night, my teammates and I made our way to the dressing room. The difference this night, however, was that we had won our game. For the first time in our Uxbridge Adult Hockey round-robin playoff, we had won – our first victory in four tries. We were all feeling pretty upbeat as we piled into the dressing room, where a teammate next to me suggested why we had won.

“We can thank Flying Officer Harris for this one,” he said.

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Barris Beat

What public courage deserves

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“In order for us as a team to protect our player...” Greg Walsh said, “we said that we weren’t going to play..."
“In order for us as a team to protect our player...” Greg Walsh said, “we said that we weren’t going to play..."

There’s a brave hockey coach in our midst. He’s paying a pretty severe penalty at the moment. You might have heard about him. A few weeks ago, Greg Walsh was coaching his Peterborough-area minor hockey team – a team of 16-year-old boys.

In the heat of a game, an opposing player blurted out a racial slur at one of Walsh’s players. The boy used the N-word. Walsh couldn’t believe his ears. He responded with the most demonstrative action he could think of.

“In order for us as a team to protect our player from that,” Walsh told a Toronto Star reporter, “we said that we weren’t going to play and we went to the dressing room.”

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Barris Beat

Gives with the best of them

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A few years ago, a good friend of ours in town began working on some special projects. They were pieces of handyman work. Things such as ramps alongside staircases, wider doorways inside houses and railings and handles for people with temporary or permanent disabilities. He got the work because Kate Thompson-Hawks (from Durham Access-to-Care) knew that he understood the needs of her clients.

“We knew you’d be fair,” she said, “and you’d do a good job.”

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