Righteous indignation... kind of

Open hockey was unreal this morning. Apparently the entire Russian Federation came out (and were all on the same team, thanks guys), and combined with the guys who are usually there, the game was one of the fastest I've seen. I just about had that shark tank feeling, but then I settled in and actually stopped some shots. There was another female there today, a girl who's on her way to her freshman year of college in a New England school (after spending high school in a New England prep school). She's freakin' good. And sneaky. Usually she stands out a little bit- not today, she blended right in. And her team (white) had some of the most seamless passing and breakouts and plays around the net that I've seen in open hockey. Unfortunately half the time I was playing against them and couldn't really appreciate the beauty of it all that much. But I didn't do too badly.

So where does the righteous indignation come in? Off the ice. You see, I go to work after playing on Friday mornings. So I kinda need to get cleaned up after the game. So do a lot of the guys, but they have no problem with that, their locker rooms have showers in them. The "womens' locker room" is a modified closet, with no facilities. Normally, this is not a big deal. If we're on Rink 1, I just go over to Rink 2 where the figure skaters are flitting around and shower over there. But during the summer there are rugrats everywhere, because it's hockey camp season. So both rinks' locker rooms are packed to the gills. What I end up having to do is hunt around for a locker room that isn't being used at that moment (i.e. all the players are out on the ice) and shower in there as quickly as possible before the occupants return for their stuff. So far, that's worked for me.

Today, I almost got walked in on. I found a locker room that had bags in it but no people. I locked the door, put the garbage can in front of it (as Phantom instructs me to do), and took the quickest shower of my life. No shampoo even. Of course, while I was in the process, someone was banging on the door trying to get in. I dried off (mostly) and jumped into my clean clothes and was just leaving as one of the rink staff was coming toward the locker room with the key in her hand.

Now, I'm not a rabble-rouser. But my feminist leanings got all rankled when I thought about what a colossal pain in the ass it is for me to take a shower, when it's not even an issue for the guys. I could go to management and make a big deal about how there legally have to be equal facilities. But in all honesty, this is only a problem two months out of the year, and I'm not even there every single week because work sometimes interferes. (Imagine! Work interfering with hockey!) After bitching about it on Facebook and IM, I felt a little better. But I still think we should at least have a freakin' shower.

What the womens' locker room lacks in sanitary facilities though, it makes up for in entertainment. As I think I've mentioned before, the ref's/coach's room is on the other side of the wall. And there's a big hole in the sheetrock way up at the ceiling. (Yeah, no one's got a camera in there AT ALL...) So I get to hear all kinds of amusing "guy conversations". Today there were several dudes in there, by the sound of it. As I'm packing my gear away I hear...

Voice: Oh come on! Are you fucking kidding me?!?!? FUCK! [pause] Who stole all the goddamn toilet paper????

There was uproarious laughter from the other dudes, accompanied by more swearing from the poor soul stranded in the bathroom stall.

Dude: Hey Kevin how's it going in there?

Voice: Fuck you, man.

More laughter.

Yeah.... sometimes I'm glad I'm a chick after all.