whats the longest you went not playing hockey

[theGhost 0]

10 years, havnt played since '01, league starts up in a week. I'm nervous!! Ghost

[ncpgh 0]

17 years for me - 1994 until last spring.

5th time back on the ice and I sprained my MCL. Didn't start skating again until the fall.

Bought a stationary bike, and it's helped a lot...knee feels great.

Did a bunch of puck times and a few pickups to get back into the groove.

Like a lot of what you guys are saying, I feel smarter out there, but my body is a long way off where it needs to be.

Just joined an adult team this week, first games at the end of the month.

Awesome feeling being back on the ice!

[shaundizzle15 2]

about 4 months when I was 21, playing roller race for the puck got to the corner hit the brakes and my ankle buckled in and body rotated out till it was parallel with the ground. Put a 4 inch crack in my fibula and was in a cast for two months and didn't play for another two months after that. Took about a year to get the muscle back. For all you crazies taking so many years off glad to hear your getting back into it. Personally, I think it would take the loss of several limbs for me to stop and then I would move to sled hockey.

[billygoat 0]

22 Years for me. Quit playing as a pee wee, started again last year. I never lost the skating, but my hands are made of stone now. "Hands like feet" as they say. Signed up for hockey school just so I can have more time on the ice with a puck.

[sickwilly 37]

About a year because of my work/grad school schedule. It was probably the shittiest year of my life.

[southpaw59er 0]

Skated since I was 5 years old through college.

Stopped playing for 30 years - Last game played 1979- break from college - - In Massachusetts - adult checking league!!, Never gonna make it to the pros ( at any level) so time to stop playing and get on with life.....

First time back 2009 - Mens rec league - no check, ( thankfully)... no age limit either! Why are all these college kids in my locker room?!

What the hell ever happend to: Northland, Victoriaville, Koho , Micron Mega Air 90 skates, suspenders and garterbelts ?!?!

Obviously stayed away too long..... should of never stopped, one of my biggest regrets!

Playing twice a week now and loving it!!

[TheHockeyGod 0]

I started playing hockey when I was 8 and i'm 17 now so the longest break I have had without playing hockey was in my beginning years when nobody played in the offseason. Its safe to say the last 4 years I have not been off the ice for more than 1 week. There is rec hockey in my hometown so after I get back from my billets house, I will usually play hockey there until the summer where I train at either BTNL sports performance and therapy in Oakville, Ontario or Twist Conditioning Burllington. This is a stretch from my little hometown in Alberta but gotta do what it takes to get better. It's also nice to meet more elite hockey players around Canada.

[Lindowcmu 0]

Put all the gear on at 6am this morning for a hockey school. first time since I was 11, now i'm 28. Hopefully after 10 weeks of school I can find myself am adult beginner league to join. Still rocking my Nike zoom air black and silver skates....for now.

[sdougherty 0]

This is my first year back on the ice in 7 years. Stopped at 14. So far in two seasons of Men B division, I have around 12 goals and 25 assists. Not bad, but I really need to work on stopping on my left edge and skating strong with the puck.

[Vulcan7905 88]

First started when I was 8 then stopped at 13. Of course, 14 years later I got the bug again. It's like I haven't missed a step. Just need to learn my edges better. Still love it how ever.

[jbss71 1]

10 years, I can't skate to save my life. Lost all my skating. Sucks because hockey sense and stick handling is still decent. I have a friend that has 3 teams I could slip into a 4th at very high skill level (ex pros). Just can't find my edges. I spent alot of money on gear to get back in so I hope it pays off

[acollette49 0]

3 years after high school is the longest, but i haven't skated since the end of june since developing vertigo. the vertigo is getting much better, but i also moved to a new city... hopefully i can find a team for the spring.

[dw9509 0]

38 years for me

[DigDug 5]

This is a phenomenal thread. I hadn't realized that so many folks here are those who are jumping back in after taking off so much time. It's really great to read your stories - very inspirational for someone like me who never really got into it, for one reason or another, but has always loved the game.

[DBear 0]

I picked up hockey late as a kid. I didn't even learn to skate until I was 15. Played for 2 years in youth hockey and was really never any good.

Fast forward 20 years and I'm at a PTA fund raiser for my daughter at the local ice rink and see a flyer for an adult league intro clinics. I signed up.

Went to a few stick and pucks, and a few open skates and I can honestly say that 3 years after starting again I am a better skater and a better

player now than I ever was as a kid. I still get a charge on days where I know I'm going to get out on the ice. God help me I love this game and

I'm going to play it as long as I can.

[RadioGaGa 162]

I never played as a kid. Played some pickup with friends in highschool...then didn't play again until after College. So probably 3-4 years (not counting the first 15-16 years of my life)

Since I'm been playing... I usually play year round, but in the even that I don't find a summer group, my longest lapse will be 3-4 months.

[Chappie 0]

I tried coming back around 4 years ago, but stuff got in the way. Serious play hasn't happened since I was a kid, but I used to still skate fairly often enough that it wasn't too bad. Before January, I hadn't skated in that year time span. I figured it'd be like riding a bike, but not so much when you've let 30 pounds of crap build onto your body in that time span.

[phunky_monkey 6]

6 years for me.

I slipped a disc in my back playing hockey when I was 17. Played the rest of the season, but had to quit after that. My back was doing well after a few years recovery, and then life just got in the way! Started back up when I was 23 and haven't looked back since. I regret taking the extra time off, but at the same time am really happy that I took the plunge again and am back doing what I love

[hockeymass 11]

Started when I was 15, stopped playing organized hockey after midgets in 2004. Probably haven't played any kind of hockey since 2008. Looking to start again now.

[danno25nh 3]

I played from age 5 - 23. Started back at age 36 -39. Diagnosed with Cancer and didn't play again tll 48. Turn 50 next month and back playing in a high B division and a very strong C league that most rinks would rate a B.

Having great fun playing at this level.

[CaptainFantastik 0]

About 4-5 years during college. I just got caught up in my friends, all the partying, and the fun of being away from home and before I knew it i'd been away for a while. I didn't start playing as a youth because I grew up largely in SOCal in the late 70's through the 80's and it just wasn't on the radar as Gretzky had yet to come south during my formative years. I was all baseball and football. I'm sure the only rink in the area at that was this tiny little trash heap (probably not even as big an ice sheet as some people's backyard rinks) that I eventually started playing at when I was 17. I played for about 4 years fanatically, learning and taking classes and eventually working into open hockey and beer league. Then college and all fun and distraction it can bring, and the rest is history. I graduated and almost immediately got back into it upon returning home.........and begun to curse myself for my sloth and irresponsibility as I slowly (and painfully) began working my body back into hockey shape.

[Stewie 721]

i never stopped the on and off pond hockey, but this is my first time being on an actual team since 2000 (so 2000-2011). For a while in there, 2002-2003 a group of friends played midnight-3 am pickups on saturdays at a local rink weekly, and also played some drop in games in 2008, but other than that not too much. The only period in there i was truly hockey free (as in didnt lace up the skates at all) was 2008-2011.

While i am one of the top scorers on my team, I play defence now, which i did very little of when i was younger. the speed came back right away, its been a little different getting used to the non-check aspect as i was basically a grinder my whole youth.

The parts I still have to work on is trusting my stick (not looking down as much at the puck), some of the moves, and calibrate my shot a little better, and then there are some of the little teamwork details, like getting used to the fact that I am not playing on a team in the state championships, but rather with some guys who can barely skate, and others who are alright. A lot of my passes I lead the guy too much.

[zeeto 1]

About 10 years ago, basically right after I left college and all my buddies who played. Just got back on the ice this past Sunday, for an open skate, and my LHS told me of a beginner league that plays Sunday nights. Heading there this weekend to see if they need any subs and to get on the sub list, then hopefully pick up a team for the next season.

[saba 0]

Its been a little over a year and a half. Fully committed myself to bike racing. As I always tell Fatwabbit at this stage what work I put in to my cycling is what I get out. Appreciate not depending on others for personal success. However, I do miss the ice sometimes. Other things I could do without: the injuries, $15-$20 to watch a teammate/other open skater who can not get up and down the ice skate for a 7-15 minute shift, the petty bullshite meat-head who played in college who now has to slash/intimidate everyone who does not respect his mad deking skills, and all the inner team drama and hand holding.

[getthekidthepuck 32]

2 years for me. I got tired of all the politics and such in jr hockey. It was for tbe best as i fell back in love with the game again.