WEB EXCLUSIVE: A different perspective – Life of a Battle River Hockey League Player, by a BRHL player
I am a player in the Battle River Hockey League. Like now, sometimes when I am driving to the rink, I have time to be thinking about hockey. Sometimes I think about my younger years when I thought I had a chance to make the NHL. I think about that a lot actually. That was my dream as a kid. A lot of parents thought so too, mine included. It didn’t happen for me, like it didn’t happen for every single guy I play with and against and for various reasons.
Some guys never got big enough or fast enough, some had the wrong coaches at the wrong time. Some just plain weren’t good enough. I had a few bad breaks in Junior A hockey and I never seemed to peak at the right time. It upsets me to talk about that still. But I am pretty proud of how good I did get at hockey. Even the tough guys in the Jr. A league I played in, would be the leading scorers in most of the adult beer leagues. I wasn’t a tough guy, I was a pretty fair scorer and playmaker. So even though I didn’t make my dream, I got a lot closer than almost anyone I ever played with. Again, I am pretty proud of that.
A lot of guys who quit hockey in bantam or midget, or who played C or D level hockey, are really happy playing against guys of equal talent in the adult leagues. But for a guy like me it isn’t much fun yet. I am still in my early 20s and although I haven’t been able to continue competitive hockey since Jr. A and a couple years of college, I am way too good for the beer leagues. Not meaning to brag, but it isn’t much fun for me going around guys like pylons; and it isn’t much fun for them feeling the breeze of my jersey while going around them. It’s also a little frustrating when I am trying to set a guy up for a pass, and he is way too slow to get to where I want him; or he ends up on his butt for some reason and he wasn’t even touched.
So here I am in the BRHL. I am new here, but I have heard a lot about this senior league. I learned a lot one day sitting in the lobby of the rink, having a coffee and talking to this old-timer.
He told me that it is the oldest continually running senior hockey league in Alberta. He said it started in the 1950s and has never missed a beat. One guy on our team had his great-grandpa play in the BRHL. Daysland has won the most championships, with Irma a close second. Daysland isn’t very big, but Irma? How a town that size is competitive each year is pretty amazing let alone winning something like a dozen championships. And from what I have gathered they had a dynasty for many years and almost all their players were from Irma or farms around town. They had a big D-man, Gordie Mark, who even had a cup of coffee with the Oilers. His brother Len was a centre who played in the WHL before getting injured. One game he had something like 15 points in the Battle River League. They say he would have made the NHL if not for that injury. They were both pretty amazing I am told. But there are many stories of great players from this league. And every year new guys arrive and more stories are made.
All the BRHL teams have had their star players, mine included. We don’t get the crowds at the games like the old guys used to. In fact from what I understand back in the day, the senior players were kind of the stars of the town. And on the night of a game, the stands were filled with locals cheering-on their town’s team. A pride of town thing. Some old guys were sipping on their mickeys in the upper corner of the rink. A bunch of high school students were cheering for their friends’ older brothers, and flirting with the girls. A certain crowd liked standing around the boards on the ends of the rink and others actually hung over the glass to yell at a bad call. The barn was full, and the place was cold and smoky. Yeah it’s true, everyone smoked in those days and it was perfectly acceptable to chug away on your coffin nail during the game. The rink would be covered in a light fog. I bet it was tough to breathe, but from what I hear guys smoked in the dressing rooms between periods. Those must have been the days, take away the smoking that is. I would have loved to play then. Seems like there is too much for people to do today rather than to get up from their computers, video games or 200 channel big screens to watch us seniors play. We go through a lot for the ones who do watch us though. And we appreciate them even if we don’t get a chance to tell them so.
The Battle River League has a 20 game schedule and a lot of games are on weekends, which works pretty well for me. We do play weekday games though. I have a full-time job now, so it is tough getting to work on time the next morning after a game. We play at 8:30 in the evenings mostly, so by the time we get through the game, get our equipment off, have a beer in the dressing room and unwind talking about the game it is getting to be midnight or better sometimes. Some players live in the town they play in. I don’t. I have a bit of a drive and much of the time it is on dark, slippery winter roads that I can’t see very well because of the snow. I am not married like some of the guys, but I know their wives worry about them driving back home in the middle of the night.
It can be really bad for road games. One time we had a two hour bus ride to the other team’s barn. That meant that I had to get off work early (which cost me money), and get to my team’s town to catch the bus to the out-of-town game. Don’t get me wrong, we have a blast on the bus. I think when I get too old for competitive hockey I will miss these rides the most. After the game we try to hustle back on the bus so that we can leave for our home town by 11:30 if we’re lucky and get there by 1 or 2 am. Then I have to drive home, try to unwind and get a few hours sleep before I have to head back to work. It’s not bad for me on weekends but weekdays are a killer. The married guys have commitments with their kids, so even on weekends they don’t get much sleep.
One thing spectators don’t understand or think about are injuries. Battle River Hockey is full speed, full contact. A lot of the guys who play in our league have played high level junior. They can skate. They can hit. Sometimes we play back-to-back games on weekends and my bruises from the night before have barely turned blue before I am getting bruises on top of my bruises during the next game. Guys routinely have to go to work limping or with a broken nose, or maybe their shoulder isn’t quite right from that weird collision into the boards during last night’s game. Sometimes guys have to take time off work because of an injury and that costs them money too. Speaking of money, I broke my composite stick the last game and it cost me $200 to replace. Cross my fingers this stick lasts me to the end of the season.
I love playing in this league though. Don’t get me wrong. Most of us players’ lives have been going this way for years. I can remember several times in school where I was limping from class to class because of hockey. So that hasn’t changed much. Except it can cost me money now that I work, but hopefully doesn’t cost me my job. A lot of us rely on understanding bosses.
One thing that has impressed me in the BRHL – and it is the same for every team – is the amount of people who help us out. I mean we play hockey. We get something out of it. But the coaches, trainers, managers, people who help out on the bench getting water, people who sell 50/50s, take tickets, organize our rides, food (sometimes), games, and who go to league meetings for us so that we can keep playing – what do they get?. These people are amazing. I think about them a lot. I want to thank them but mostly I forget. Here’s a story: There’s nobody on our team like this, but I have heard of guys on other teams acting like rock stars and being ungrateful and even rude to these volunteers. But not our team. We need to do more to show our appreciation though. I will beginning the next game.
We start playoffs soon. I took a puck right off the ankle of my skate blocking a shot last game, so I am walking a little tenderly this week. I hope I am okay for the game. Even if I am not, I will still play. Everyone does. I was lucky though. Earlier in the season I was winding up for a slapshot when a guy dove in front of me to block it and took the puck right off his chin. He was cut pretty good. Our trainer went out right away and so did the other team’s coach. They managed the bleeding and took him to the bench. He was pretty groggy. One of our fans took him over to the hospital and stitched him up while the game went on. He’d have to get the dental work done when he gets back home. I am always amazed at how many working guys like me dive in front of shots to stop a scoring chance in the BRHL. We don’t even get paid!
Sometimes I wish it was more appreciated by people. A lot of things aren’t these days. Sometimes I wish I could time-travel back to the 1950s, 60s, 70s, or even 80s before all the technology. Before people had so much to do. You know what, in the early days of the BRHL the players jumped on the train to get to other towns some nights and crashed at the local hotel until the next train came along. The roads were impassible, but not the train tracks. Yeah it’s true. The old timer told me. It would have been so much fun to play in those days with hundreds of crazed fans watching because it was the best entertainment in town that week.
But even playing today, even in 2013, the Battle River Hockey League is still pretty great. And as we head into playoffs I couldn’t be more happy to have this really good league to play in. My time will come though. I will either get married and have kids and too many other commitments, or maybe I will get injured and can’t play anymore. I may get another job and move away where they don’t have a great senior league. Even if those things don’t happen and I can play 10 or more years in the BRHL, age will eventually catch up to me and I will end up playing adult hockey. That’s not so bad, but it’s inevitable.
But you know what? Even then every chance I get I think I will try to get to my Battle River Hockey League team’s games and support them. I may even volunteer to help them out when I can. What do they call it, paying it forward?! A lot of people have been doing that for years in the BRHL. You know that bald coach that was behind the bench for the opposition last game? He scored almost three points a game for four or five years in this league. He was way better than me. The guy who runs the Zamboni in one of the towns we go to, won top defenceman in the BRHL one year. One of the guys on our board of directors was a star forward and played for nearly 20 years in this league. Now they’re helping us out.
I want to be like them.
From… Anonymous
