Nick Cleroux...Sledge Hockey Player

As you will read in past postings, I was given the opportunity to try my hand at playing Sledge hockey. Well, I actually took them up on the offer this past week.

Tuesday night, Steve and I, along with Natasha to 'cheer' us on, made our way to Chedoke Arena to join a Sledge hockey team during one of their practice sessions. Now, Steve was able to get out on the ice on a Sledge the previous Saturday, so I was really the green rookie on the ice. Steve and I were the first to arrive at the arena, so we went into the equipment room and selected out Sledges and sticks. Steve has been playing hockey for as long as I can remember, so of course he has all of the appropriate safety equipment to play hockey in, I on the other hand don't. So, on our way out of the equipment room, I grabbed a helmet, the biggest I could find, it was still too tight for my liking, but I had to use it...no helmet...no hockey.

So, Steve and I made our way into the arena and waited for the ice to be cleared. When the Zamboni was done, we went out onto the ice and strapped ourselves into these Sledges and away we went. I soon realized how dramatically out of shape I really was, I was gassed in about 10 minutes. These guys on the team that we were practicing with are all top notch guys, they really had some fun with us...some actually skated circles around me as I tried to get the puck off of him. Picture this, me scrambling like a mad man to get my Sledge stay upright, and this other player on the team literally skating around me in a circle playing keep-away. I was half amazed that he could maneuver his Sledge with such ease, and half pissed that I couldn't get the puck from him.

The other problem that both Steve and I ran into was something that we didn't really think about until it was kind of too late...how do we stop? This thought ran through my mind as I was picking up some momentum skating for the puck in the offensive zone. I missed the puck of course, but luckily the boards stopped me pretty quick...ouch.

After all was said and done, Steve actually scored a goal, and I got an assist on someone else's goal. The team that Steve and I played on lost 11-2...I think Steve and I were supposed to play defence.

When we got off the ice, all of the guys were laughing and telling us that they had a blast playing with us, they seemed like a great bunch of guys. I think that this is something that will go down as one of the most entertaining things I have been a part of.