Life In the Novice Dad Hockey League

(This week we have a post by Dawg Nation board member Bern Levesque)

Game time is 6:10pm it is currently 6:15 and the white team is waiting for their goalie.  He would have been ready on time had Jeff “Wolff Pack” Wolff not asked his goalie “Don’t goalies where breezers?”.  Jeff and Brad Marker helped their goalie take off his pads get the breezers on and then Jeff asked.  “Are the pads on the wrong legs?”  The answer was yes and not wanting to go out there like Martin “Cappy” Richardson had a few games prior, Brad and Jeff helped their goalie get the pads on correctly and then they hit the ice with big smiles on their faces.  There was still a problem: the other goalie was not out there yet.  He was unable to figure out how to get his hand in the goalie glove that he had borrowed for this very important matchup.  So is the life in the Novice Dad Hockey League.

Mike Raftery of Comedy Works and Matt Kayser of KD Kanopy have been spending most of their free time at the ice rink over the last few years watching their kids play hockey.  Not having grown up playing themselves, they wanted to give hockey a try.  In late summer 2011 they organized a non hockey playing parents vs kids game at the Ice Ranch and it was a huge success.  Feeling they were on to something they decided to take things one step further and organize a private drop in club for people with little to no on-ice hockey experience.  It was an opportunity to give the great sport of hockey a chance.

Why is this story on the Dawg Blawg you may ask?  The members of the league have been supportive of the Dawg Nation Hockey Foundation since the very first fundraiser up at the pond, and have been seen drinking beer at the hockey tournament, laughing out loud at the Comedy Works, sitting in the stands at an Avs game and swinging a golf club at Green Gables.  When Mike and Matt started their league they were getting some yeses and mostly maybes. Then Dawg Nation reach out to their membership and were able to rustle up a dozen players so that the league would have two complete rosters to get it going.  This included Dawg Board Member and proud father of multiple Dawg players Rob “Superfan” Packard.

Although I don’t put on breezers before goalie pads, or know which legs the pads go on, I still enjoy coming out and playing with these guys.  Sitting in the dressing room with guys like Slappy, Castro and the Wolf Pack, listening to the laughter and the playful banter makes us realize that we are here for more than just the game; we are here to be part of a hockey team. 

In the last few months it went from a bunch of guys falling down and breaking skates (Jody “The Mullet” Seltzer and Mike “So Serious” Raftery inspired the jersey logo) to feeling as though we are playing a real hockey game.  Guys are passing, skating and shooting so much better than they were the first night.  It has been an amazing experience being out there on the ice with a bunch of guys that are there because they love the hockey experience.

From left: Mike Raftery, Bern Levesque, Matt Kayser

On behalf of Dawg Nation I would like to congratulate the Novice Dads Hockey League.  I would also like to thank Mike Raftery of Comedy Works for putting together the amazing fundraiser “Stand Up for Dawg Nation” and Matt Kayser of KD Kanopy for donating an awesome canopy that will be on display at many of our Dawg Nation events.

P.S. My team won 3-0 behind a 34 save performance.  As goalie mentor and referee Scott Nelson says.  “Ugly saves count too.”