ODR Season: Throwing It Back To Playing Pond Hockey With The Boys
Little change up today on the Throwback Hockey Gear series. Since most of the East coast is frozen right now and I’m assuming a decent amount of you out there are having yourself a snow day, it’s a great time to throw it back to when these days meant one thing and one thing only. Heading out to the nearest ODR with the fellas, lacing up the skates and playing until you can’t see shit anymore.
Whether that meant hitting up a frozen pond or maybe you were lucky enough to have a buddy who had a rink set up in his backyard, doesn’t matter. Everybody knew that once you found out you didn’t have school, that day was going to be spent on the ice. No back checking. No dump-ins. Everybody’s out there just trying to pull all the shit that would get you lined up across the goal line if you tried it at practice. And the best part about those days, at least for guys like me who were never the best out of my friends, outdoor hockey always evens out the playing field. Nobody can feel their toes. Nobody can feel their hands. The ice isn’t exactly in optimal condition as is. Everybody’s just a little worse outdoors and for guys like us, that makes a world of difference when it comes to keeping up.
Now hopefully a lot of you still have a decent sized crew you can hit the ODR with. But for most people, it gets harder to get everybody back out there as the years go by. Guys either move away or they have kids or they’ve got other shit to do or whatever. You went from being able to have a 4v4 tournament with at least 4 or 5 teams one year, to a 3v3 tournament the next year, to then just having 2 teams of 3, and now you’re lucky if you can find one other person to head out there with you so you’re not just skating alone. Either way, every time you’re out on the ODR now, you’re looking to recreate those moments from when you were out there as a kid. And regardless of how many other people are out there on the ice with you, you always find a way to come pretty damn close. It’s the frozen hands and the immediate sense of regret any time you miss the net that does the trick.
