Today I was a kid again. It didn’t start off that way, what with me sitting in the office on Thursday answering calls, putting out fires, and talking to my co-workers in some stuffy, stiff collared language which would never be spoken around the boys. Then I got the email from Craigy. I opened it and it said, ****”Pond Hockey--- Sunday! Who’s all in?”**** Ding…ding…ding…ding… everybody replied to that fucker at once: Kenny, Wader, Timmy, Byrnsy, Nunks, B-Mac….boom boom boom…....I'm 29 years old and I live inside the Chicago city limits. Any idea how long its been since Ive skated on the pond..? …Fuck, I don’t even know where a pond is.

I just about tripped cuz I couldn’t get outta my car fast enough. I got my Nike pants over my Bauer long undies, my Charlestown Chiefs real-deal classic sweater, a small bag of gear with some biscuits from the basement, a hockey sock for a hat and my Oakleys. I got my wheels dangl’in off my lumber. If you asked me I was dressed to the friggin nines! Ha! So here I am push’in my flip flops through a foot of snow, doing that silly friggin speed walk a dude does when he’s in a hurry but really should be acting cool. Yeah, Im stumbl’in and bumbl’in all the way to the snowbank…But when I finally got there I must have had my theme band with me cuz I heard the harps…. ya know, like that sound in the movies when the heavens open up.

School Is Different then hockey, and when me and my boys talk about it in class no one seems to understand. So when our teacher gave us a assignment to write a short essay explaining anything u wanted my bestfriend wrote about hockey and here it is: "Being a hockey player is more than just playing a sport. You're entering a world where you will meet your best friends for life and laugh harder than you ever will when you're older..

Hockey culture has many sacred elements, the things of legend that the ordinary can only dream of at night. The late nights on the bus, playing cards, having a few frosty ones. The locker room chatter, stories, and pranks. The epic on ice battles, only won by coming together as a team and struggling to victory. The legendary parties, after such games. Then there is another sacred bond held by a few beauties on the squad. These lads share in the time honored tradition passed down from the previous select few beauties. The tradition of having a chew with these select few.

Stop. This is a hockey journey, so if your not a hockey player then you won't grasp what this all means. If your a true hockey player please read on....... It's 6 AM and I wake to the nudge of a familiar hand on my shoulder. I roll out of bed, wiping the sleep from my eyes, and struggle to place my feet in my sandals. I smell the sweet aroma of bacon from the kitchen, and I'm drawn to it..

An arm hits my shoulder and I awake, my legs do not want to wake up with me. I kick my toes out as if to summon them to walk for me. Within minutes I throw on my hoodie and trackers, slip on my flippers and I begin to walk with my roomy to the rink. Practice every day, sometimes I don't feel like skating, but I want to get in the room to tell the boys about what happened last night at that party. The locker room is always fun to walk into it. I sit down with my twig and launch a plastic tape ball over at Lawsy in the corner. He chucks it back even harder. I am a 16 year old rookie playing Junior "A" hockey, and so far I'm not that homesick. Right now, this locker room is as good as home and I can;t wait to get my name up in my stall. I think I might like it here. If only I knew what lied ahead of me.

September fell upon us a few months ago, which ment all the lads were geared up rarin' to put all that off season training into action. Well 4 months has passed and another christmas will be upon us, this means the boys will be coming home to see mom and dad and the rest of the family on a short break from daily practices and games. This however is when the real hockey is being played, lord knows that every Christmas morning I have had the pleasure of waking up to open presents, eat a hearty Christmas breakfast and head to the ODR for a few hours of outdoor puck followed by Turkey dinner.