Ty Keeping Them Hydrated
I loved how the athletes came over and opened their mouths like little birds waiting for a drink.
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Hockey Jamboree 2018
A Sport for the Ages
by Terry Allen
March 18, 2018
I walked into the Sublette County Ice Arena Saturday (March 17) just in time to witness a cluster of frenetic Green jerseys from Pinedale and White Jerseys from Jackson trying to get a stick on a puck. Someone did connect and the puck scooted free across a big empty space of ice. The little knot of Mini-Mites broke apart into individual skaters and chased after it, leaving behind one skater who had decided to stop and practice a circle or a figure 8.
I heard a laugh and saw a big smile on the face of the tallest guy in the arena. Ty Huffman has been coaching the younger players for three years. "I like coaching the younger ages," he said, "because they are all about having fun. It is a complex sport, but at this age, we just want them to focus 100% on fun. We also try to get them to keep their heads up when they skate so they don’t run into each other. Hockey can teach kids some real good life skills."
The history of hockey-like games seems to go back to 4000 year old rock carvings in Egypt which show games being played with sticks and projectiles. There is a carving from 600 B.C. in Athens which shows players using curved sticks. It is easy to imagine parents in ancient times spending their evenings and weekends getting their kids to practice and to games just like we do now.
I spotted a man with a look of gleeful enthusiasm on his face watching the play and recognized Craig Sheppard. "Our hockey association was started in around 1971 by some guys from the BLM and Forestry," he said. "In those days it was an outdoor rink over by the library. In fact, this is our first indoor arena." When you talk with Craig, you might notice an accent. I told him he sounded a little bit like a Canadian. "Yeah, well, that might be because I grew up about 100 miles from the Canadian border in Minnesota," he said.
I was hoping to get a chance to talk to the kids when their game was over and it turned out I recognized some of them from other stories I’ve done. They all eagerly sat down and bunched up close on the bench and smiled with big toothless grins just like real hockey players. Don’t worry folks; they are at the age where teeth just fall out naturally.
"I like scoring goals and practicing my backwards skating," said Tempie Huffman, "and by the way, I like your cursive." (I hadn’t noticed she’d been watching me write down her words). "I like winning, scoring goals and skating backwards," said Evelyn Sare.
If you are interested in hockey for yourself or your kids, there is room for everyone. There is no boys’ team or girls' team; there is just the hockey team. Apparently, there is a geezer team, though…because I heard there was a 70-year old guy in uniform. Gee, maybe I should look into it.
Ty told me, just about everything you need is supplied by the association. "The only thing you need to supply is your own skates," he said. "We are trying to grow our association in this age group because we have about 20 kids and Jackson has over 120." The Sublette County Glaciers seem to be doing pretty good with what they’ve got though, because last year they qualified for and went to a big tournament in Ontario, Canada.
One last thing: They tell me the breakfast burritos at the concession stand are fantastic… and cheap!
A big thank you to Ty for inviting me out and thank you to everyone who let me get in the way so I could try for a good picture and a few entertaining words. Thank you to Dawn Ballou who sponsored this story without knowing what I was going to do. "Just go do something you want to do," she said.
Terry Allen: txpartisan@gmail.com
You may all share these low resolution photos among yourselves personally.
Ice Arena: www.sublettewyo.com (307) 367-6313
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