Some old guys are back on the hockey bench - and back on the ice.
There's a new hockey league in Squamish for players over 50, and it's bringing out guys who haven't played hockey in years.
The league is called Hilltop Hockey, and it's not just about playing the sport. It's about mental health and laughs.
It's non-competitive non-contact hockey. The puck drops once, and nobody keeps score.
"It's good to bring back the fellows who haven't been playing," said Dave Duddy, one of the league's organizers.
"The unique thing about this instead of sitting on the couch, every second Sunday we can get out here," said George McLaren. He hasn't played league hockey in six years but he was at the game on Sunday.
"They're sitting on the bench huffing and puffing, but they're smiling," said McLaren, who couldn't find his gear and was forced to sit out the first game.
Good-natured ribbing was his contribution to the scrimmage.
"Skate a little faster, the paint is drying," he called out to the players on the ice.
If anything, the players can joke about their lack of physical prowess in the rink.
"Our backs go out more than we do," McLaren said.
The new league only plays every other Sunday to "give us two weeks to recover," McLaren said. The oldest player in the league is 73.
But it isn't just the players who are getting old. The equipment is getting up there too.
Lorne Campbell was wearing his gear from midget hockey, and it's easily 20 years old, Duddy said.
"Bill McNeney - he has Squamish Knights hockey socks. That was the original oldtimers team way back when the arena first opened," Duddy said.
These players have come in a full circle from their early days of hockey.
"The 50-over players started the organized men's hockey league when the arena opened," Duddy said.
When the arena first opened, there was a lot of ice time available, but as minor hockey league grew increasingly popular, men's hockey was pushed to later ice times and regular old timers league was pushed back too, Duddy said.
"A lot of these guys dropped out," Duddy said.
As they aged, regular old timers (for guys 35 and up) got too fast and competitive and the players decided they couldn't keep up. They also had other obligations like jobs and families. But then something happened to change the fate of old hockey players.
"We can thank the women's Olympic hockey team," Duddy said.
He said the women's team turned more young women onto hockey instead of ringette, so some ice time previously occupied by the ringette team opened up.
"Here's the perfect way to get the old guys involved again," Duddy said.
There were only 18 players, eight per side, at the game on Sunday. The teams played four on four. Duddy would like to have two or three lines per team.
Duddy, who still plays regular old timers as well, plans to move into the new league "eventually, when I start handing out speeding tickets to the young guys going past me."
"Hockey brings us here, but the reason we are here is for the laughs," Duddy said.
And for all the other guys playing regular oldtimer league who walk into the rink as Duddy and his teammates walk out?
"They are looking at their future," Duddy said.
For more information or to join call Duddy at 604-892-8298 or 604-898-3969.
