|
日本語
Odawara Hockey
Association Online Community
Odawara Living Magazine
Japan
Living
Asia`s Hockey Shop
Slap Shot Hockey Forum-Information
about Hockey in Japan
Enter the Forum!
Hockey Made
Easy: Canada's best hockey instructional manual for
coaches, players
and parents of minor /youth hockey.
The Hockey News
The Official Olympic
Website
Yahoo Sports
Kevin`s
English Schools,
schools throughout Japan.
Want to own your own franchise and work for yourself virtually anywhere
in Japan?
We`ll teach you how to own and operate a successful
business in Japan.
Living
in Japan & Employment Forums for Japan & Asia
|
We are trying to
get some inline and street hockey tournaments organized, if you are interested
in playing, let us know! If you have a team that wants to participate,
tell us!
Post a News story about
Hockey or a Hockey Event in Japan
日本語
Kokudo Lions of the Asian
Hockey League, the Montreal Canadiens of Asia!
The Official Joel Prpic Website,
one of the stars of Kokudo. Prpic is from
Canada. One of the many Canadians playing in the Asian Hockey
League.
International Ice Hockey
Federation (IIHF)
The Official NHL Website
Vancouver Canucks
Calgary Flames
The
Official WHA Website
ESPN
Canada
Games Online
Faceoff, A Canadian
Road Hockey
Story
by Kevin Burns
Delta, BC, Canada
There she stood, glarin' down at me. The old battleaxe or
"Wildebeast," as we fondly called her, gave me the cold, hard
glare.
Do
I dare approach? --I thought. Here was a chance to prove my
manhood or get hauled away by the police. The score was
3-2,
and we had agreed to quit at five goals. Mrs. Denholm wasn't
being very cooperative if you asked me.
I was 6 years old, and a goal scoring sniper in road hockey,
but I had missed on that last one timer and the worst had
happened,
the ball had entered Mrs. Denholm's garden! As usual, she
had been perched at her window, watching and
waiting
for this moment. She rushed out when the ball had bounced
over her rockery and onto the lawn. It wasn't merely
a
minor invasion, IT WAS DEEP IN ENEMY TERRITORY! Do I go
in or not? Will the police be called again? It is
hard
to reason with the police when you are only 6. They are bigger
than you are, older than you are, and carry a gun.
Will
they haul me away? Can you be arrested for a road hockey
incursion? If so what was the penalty? Do I gotta mow
Mrs.
Denholm's lawn 'til I start gettin' chest hair? Do hard labour
weeding that darned rockery?
Like the UN, Mom and Dad had gotten involved. A local cul-de-sac
meeting had been called weeks before and a
compromise
had been reached. Kev and the gang would continue to play
road hockey, but any balls entering yards would
be
confiscated. It was becoming expensive. You see, Dad didn't
go through tennis balls fast enough for us to keep up with
all
the missed one-timers. Something had to be done. I WAS GOING
IN!
I rushed onto the lawn, picked up the ball and rushed out.
Mrs. Denholm didn't follow but continued with her icy stare.
Reminiscent
of Mr. Grinch. To this day icy stares really give me the
chills, pun intended! It seemed all would be okay until
the
blue and white of the Delta Police showed up. Uh oh! Look
angelic Kev. That is pretty easy to do when you are 4 foot 1.
Constable Smith
wasn't thrilled. When he had gotten into police work, he had
imagined something different. Dealing with
6
year olds and the "Wildebeast" wasn't his idea of police
work. His name would not be in the headlines today, no big
arrests.
Even if TV reporters had shown up at the crime scene, even
if Mrs. Denholm had outdone herself and gotten the
CBC
to come, what could he say?
"I apprehended the accused in front of the net at approximately
5PM, which really is getting close to dinner time. Some of
these
boys should be at home. The accused calls himself Bobby
Orr, but his real name is Kevin Burns. There was no
struggle.
I was a little concerned when he dropped his gloves, but quickly
realized that this was not a menacing gesture.
If
it had happened in the rink, I might have had to draw my gun
at that point. The accused and his friends complied with
my
request to end the game. The Bruins won 4-3. Mrs. Denholm
will not press charges in view of Bobby's, uh Kevin's
age.
The kids have agreed to play elsewhere. Mrs. Denholm, thank
you for the milk and cookies!"
Reporter: "Won't playing elsewhere simply cause problems
for other people?"
Smith:
"Yes. Any other questions?"
The police were never called again. We moved around, always
keeping just ahead of the police. We would annoy Paul
Sorensen's
neighbours, then just when things were getting dicey, it
was off to Thor Matson's street. Cars would come but
we
got good at clearing the street of nets and hockey equipment.
Could do it in nine seconds flat.
All of us were going to be pros, especially when Vancouver
got a team in 1970. Those Canucks teams of the early 70's
were
not pretty but I loved them and still do. Much like I love
an oreo cookie, I can never get enough of my Canucks.
It
is funny what you miss when you live abroad. I truly miss the
Canucks. When the Canucks came to Tokyo I was
there.
I was there to watch the Canadians beat the Americans in Nagano
and congratulated Walter Gretzky after the game.
I
cheered for Team Japan too and their valiant never say die
team. I'd love to tell you more but I gotta go, my four year
old
wants to play, he's 4 foot 1 and has a wicked slap shot!
Kevin Burns
|
