Old guys rule

This weekend my dad told me about some t-shirts he saw that said "Old Guys Rule" over the front pocket area, and on the back had clever slogans like "The older I get, the better I was" or "On permanent vacation". If I could make a hockey jersey with that phrase on it, and give it to someone, I'd give it to the guy I met this morning at open hockey.

"Our" rink has recently added a Sunday morning open hockey at 6:30 a.m. Since no one in their right mind would get up that early on a weekend to play open hockey, the only people that showed up were 6 other Hawks (besides me), and another goalie none of us had ever met before. He wrote "Harry" on the sign-in sheet, but introduced himself as "Mark", leading to some speculation that perhaps he was a Harry Potter fan.

Being the shy person that I am, I didn't talk to him at all in the locker room. (No one talked to anyone, it was much to early for banter). I didn't even talk to him much on the ice until our first break. With so few skaters, we played 3 on 3, which wore everyone out quite quickly. But during the first break he was kind of standing around, and so I broke the ice by asking how long he'd been playing. He looked to be in his 40's or 50's, so I figured it had been a while, but I wasn't prepared for the answer I got: 38 years. This guy has been playing hockey for longer than I've been alive. What was really interesting about him was because he'd played his best years and was trained so long ago, the butterfly is not in his arsenal of save tactics. In fact, he confessed that he couldn't even get into a butterfly if he tried. During the next "shift" I watched him more closely. He was deadly with a poke check; no one could even get close. And he used the flashy but rarely seen 2-pad-stack quite a bit as well. But not one butterfly. Not even a half a butterfly.

During the next several breaks, we talked shop. He'd probably hate to know this, but it was kind of like watching and talking to a relic. No one plays like that anymore; not that it's a bad way to play, but styles have changed. And since I didn't watch the goalies as closely when I was a teenager, it's only been since Roy revolutionized goaltending that I've really been paying attention, so I haven't seen a pure 100% standup goalie before. There are goalies in the NHL (Brodeur for example) who don't rely on the butterfly as much, but they do use it. Watching this guy was like looking back in time, and I was fascinated.


A lot of hybrid-style goalies look down on butterfly goalies. The style does have it's weaknesses, but so does any style. But Harry-Mark was supportive and encouraged me. He even said he liked that I was so strong in that style, that you had to play that way these days. He gave me a few pointers, suggested that I come out a little farther, and showed me the importance of staying low and keeping your stick on the ice. "You're on your way," he said. "You really have your angles down." Glee!!!

He gave me a lot to think about, and I think that had a negative effect on my game in that I was overthinking my responses to situations. But, as Goalie Husband pointed out, open hockey is the place to practice that stuff. Harry-Mark left about 15 minutes early, but when he left he said something like "I'll see you guys again", or something along those lines. It was obvious he was above our level, but he was helpful to other people besides just me, so it would be nice to have him around again.