It's 4:55AM EST. In a little over an hour, I will be playing ice hockey again for the first time in almost five years. Seems sort of inconsequential, but for me, it's a pretty huge deal. I've been wanting to get back on the ice for a loooooong time. It's weird as hell... I'm actually as nervous as I was the first time I ever played.

Anybody ever given something up for a long period of time then picked it back up again?

Bummer update: When I got to the rink (30 mins away), they already had four goalies (all of which were aged 40 or over... GD old guys). In most open hockey situations, the rink stops allowing goalies to play after there are already four. As such, my re-indoctrination into playing will be put on hold for a week. I'm far too amped to put it off any longer. Once I get back to school, I'll play at our team's rink.

GPFontaine wrote:

I think I'll be just fine if I never play again. I love the sport, I can't stand the majority of other people who play it.

Without making this too much of a sports-related thread, let me say that I agree with you. There are generally two types of people that play ice hockey: (1) those that understand the finer points of the game like playing positionally, the beauty of a fast breakout, and the flow associated with a well-designed play, and (2) those that think hockey should be all about putting your head down, stick handling, and fighting.

Typically, most people I've played with have fallen into category 1. Unfortunately, at any open hockey, you're going to run into a hell of a lot of category 2s. They're the ones playing without shoulder pads and hovering around the attack zone blue line the entire game.