How did you start hockey?

[Fletch 219]

I got rollerblades when I was 13, then got a "Cooper Street" hockey stick for my birthday a few months later.

I played everyday with my friends in front of my house even in 100 degree weather (we would play until we couldn't stand it, quickly take our gear off then jump in the pool..lol) and then made the transition to ice when I was 16.

[phantoms19 0]

Started playing Inline in Hawaii at the age of 19 on an outdoor concrete court. Played for about 3-4 years and stopped when I moved back. My son picked up inline about 4 years ago and we got back into it. He moved to ice and I did to about 2 or 3 years ago. We live at the rink now, between his games and my rec league games we are there 4-5 days a week.

[Aggie 9]

I started rollerhockey a little over five years ago at the age of 24. I was away for college and the campus and city was really flat. Everybody biked around campus and town, but I decided to learn how to rollerblade. Then I started playing IM rollerhockey at the outdoor campus rink that used to be there. My last year of school the city opened up a rink and that was my first league.

[delpiero81 0]

I'm 23 and nothing except some roller hockey with friend until last year, when my mom discover a new icerink not too far from my house (1hour away)

Then i go there start learning ice skating and then started playng hockey!

A dream come true!

Anyway my passion for hockey began whe i was 3 years old and during a trip to Canada my cousin, who lives there, bring me to the Maple Leafs Garden...

So you know why i'm not play soccer! :lol:

[UMWhockey 0]

I started when the Reston ice rink opened up. I always played in the street and my mom took me to the Reston open house. Little did my parents know how much hockey really costs. I never got to play travel or anything because I was a baseball / golfer first. Now i am in college, started an ACHA D3 club team, am an operations manager / pro shop manager, coach 3 teams, and help teach a bunch of hockey camps.

[Crazy Otto 0]

I grew up in the South (Ala.) and there were basically three sports there: football, baseball and spring football. So naturally I played football and didn't learn anything about hockey until I moved to upstate NY after college. Saw my first minor-league hockey game in Glens Falls, NY and I was hooked.

I moved to Pennsylvania shortly afterward, and I started taking lessons shortly after my daughter started playing hockey at age 5 (after she saw the Mighty Ducks movie). So there I was, this goofy guy in his 30s in an intro to hockey class with the 5 and 6 year olds. I joined a novice league at the local rink, and I've been playing 3-4 times a week ever since. My daughter's 16 now, she's still a better player than me but hey, she's had all the good coaches, been to all the good camps, etc. I've improved enough to be a better player and moved into more competitive leagues, but at this point in life I'm just having a great time playing.

[Tanner23 0]

ive been playing since i was seven but have been a huge hockey fan for ever ;)

[jbyun04 7]

My brother got invited to play (recreational)

He bought equipment

I wanted to play

I bought equipment

I started to play

I still play

[shute 4]

started when i moved from hong kong in 1987 and found the oilers playing on tv. didn't even know any english and coming from hong kong at the time i didn't know what was going on. 1 year later i moved to where i still live now and i think i started out with a plastic stick and two sandals or rocks as nets. one of my nabors used to complain to my parents because i was taking their yard rocks and leaving them in the street. played with shoes and stick with the kids for about a year or two and got my first rollerblades when titan and blacklighting were the biggest brands out there. i had one heck of a time skating in them at first because i didn't take any lessons and there was no one to teach me. at the time the only skating i did was at school a few times on rollerskates. i even remember how crappy those skates were because the bearings were not sealed so after a few months the ball bearings would literally fall out. started ice hockey a few years later after begging my parents for YEARS and saving my b-day money, x-mas money and having my mom put in the rest for the skates, some gear and league fee. it was only in a beer league at the time so i was like a 12-13 year old playing with adults who also didn't know how to play. one of my happiest moments in life so far was the first day i put all my gear on and did the noob walking with skates on ice thingy to the center ice and just laid there with my head up with the biggest grim you'll ever seen. oh also the hockey shop that we got my first skates from NEVER sharpen them for me so for the first month or so i would fall when ever i turned but since i've never skated on ice before i didn't know what was wrong even though i knew how to skate enough stay up with my rollerblades. It wasn’t till later during a school trip to the rink that I found out something was wrong cause I was able to skate just fine with the rental skates. During my highschool days I would play street hockey on rollerblades like 2-3 times a week and at the time rollerblades were not that popular so I played with people who wore shoes only. I haven’t played street hockey in like 5 years but I sure miss those days. These days I play both roller and ice hockey but I still prefer roller and I have never played in any house league or anything.. always just rec and beer leagues.

[Michael9 57]

When i was 4 my i played hockey with mini sticks around the house ,so my dad signed me up.

[CardinalHcky19 0]

i would always hockey with my dad on TV when i was little and then one day we went to a frozen over baseball field and thats where i learned to skate in minnesota. then finnally one day we went ou t and bought al the gear and i joined a team.

[Megamandan 0]

I was 2 and my parents brought me to an AHL game, my face was against the glass for the whole game. That and my older cousin played so I always went to see him play his highschool games. Since then it's been all hockey and nothing else for my high speed contact sport.

[cardinalhcky26 0]

win i was 7 my uncle had some old goalie pads and he would always strap me up in them and take shots at me, it was pretty fun. Then i told my mom thats what i wanted to play so she signed me up and i started to play

[dieselbro 0]

When I was about 10 just playing around outside with friends. Back in the day ice skating was impossible for me, like I had no intentions of playing hockey on ice. BUT after about 2-3 years of roller hockey on the street in front of my house, and watchin hockey on TV I decided to give it a try. And now I just finished my 2nd year of ice hockey, great times so far!

[blues_91 0]

My dad gave me some old school skates, a koho woody, and a cooper 2000 helmet when I was 3. Started playing in a league around 6. The helmet was huge and made me look like a bobble head. :lol:

[whbd18 0]

My dad gave me some old school skates, a koho woody, and a cooper 2000 helmet when I was 3. Started playing in a league around 6. The helmet was huge and made me look like a bobble head. :lol:

i had one one of those cooper helmets so did a lot of my friends whn they started playing....i started playing hockey when i was 7 ,my first time on the ice i didnt even need to hug the boards it just came natural...i only had to be in clinic for 1/2 a year then i got to play travel and house hockey..at first i didnt know what position i wanted to play i was good at goalie and player but i decided to be a player....

[heritage 0]

I "played"in the winters on frozen ponds and creeks in Michigan when I was in middle school. We didn't have much money and so couldn't play anything organized. Wore figure skates, and I made some goalie pads out of foam pads, pegboard, and hinges at the knees. Oh yeah, and a baseball glove for a catcher. No helmets, and one of the most vivid childhood memories is my younger brother catching me in the face with his stick when I was playing goalie. I guess it was payback for when I accidentally caught him with a backswing when screwing around with a golf club.

After moving to Houston in high school that pretty much ended any psuedo hockey skating. I always wanted to play but after I was able to afford it I had a few knee surgeries from other sports and didn't relish the thought of being checked. But a few years ago I heard about no-hit leagues for us old-timers and found out the rink in Austin offered them (I was 38 at the time) my wife said go for it. I got my first set of legitimate hockey skates, took some skating classes then learn to play hockey classes and am playing in leagues now and loving it. What a great sport.

[Patrick67 1]

My liason in school when I started (he was a 5th grader, I just began 1st) played hockey.

He told me there was a open session at the Ice rink, were necomers could try to play after school... had never skated in my life, but it instantly kicked my old hobbie's (soccer) ass. B)

[devilsrule711 0]

played roller from like 2nd to fifth grade then switched to ice in 5th grade

hey patrick soccer is still a kick ass sport

not as much as hockey but close

[Langenbrunner15 0]

Started skating when I was 2, lived on a lake. Started using a hockey stick at around 7 and then finally got into a league at the age of 9. 1 year mite and then 1 year squirt(when they changed the age) 2 year peewee and now this will be my secound year bantam.

Started playing travel t the peewee level. Started playing hockey/skating with those double bladed skates,CCM stick, and some hand-me-down old hockey gloves that had those writsts things up your arms.

[analog999 0]

When I was 21 and in a senior in college, I went to a job interview in Portland, OR. After the interview I couldn't find anything to do so I went to Clackamus (sp?) mall where Tanya Harding used to skate. I did a public skate there and had so much fun that I went and did a public skate at a rink when I got home. At that rink, I saw an 8.5x11 piece of paper hung on the wall, hand written that said "HOCKEY PLAYERS NEEDED. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY. PLEASE CALL JOHN." and the bottom of it had a bunch of tabs that you could rip off with John's phone number. Only one tag was ripped off, and I thought "holy crap, I want to do this." So I took the whole friggin sign so that I could be assured a spot. Little did I know that there were plenty of spots available

So I went and bought all my gear used at a local play it again sports and got myself a pair of $50 skates from Big 5 Sporting goods. That Friday, I played in my first pickup game, having never played hockey in my life. After the first game I was hooked. The skates lasted a couple weeks and then I picked up a pair of Bauer 1000's that lasted me for a few years. Most of the gear I had didn't last much longer than a couple months since I had just gone the ultra cheap route.

I played every Friday night since then until the group shut down a few years ago, shortly before I moved to where I am now. There is something about an organized pickup game where you meet up with the same guys once a week and hit the bar after the game.

Since then, I have played on leagues and with UW, and I am with a new organized pickup group now, but I do miss those Friday nights...

[technophile 0]

My dad used to take me to see Huskies games when we lived in northern Iowa, but I didn't get into it myself until my younger brothers both got into roller hockey leagues. I played tennis and soccer growing up; I'd never even played a game of street hockey until then.

I bought my first pair of roller blades my freshman year of college and taught myself to skate. Once I could stand up for more than 30 seconds or so at a time ;) I joined a weekly pickup game at a skating rink, using a mishmash of my brothers' gear and some stuff I'd bought myself at a local Play It Again Sports. Several years later I got married and moved to St. Louis, where my employer had a semi-private roller hockey club that played pickup once a week. I was part of that until I dislocated my knee and had to quit for a while; it turned out we moved before I started playing again, and I couldn't find a decent roller hockey league where we ended up, so I started ice hockey instead.

I'm glad I did; I like ice hockey even more than I liked roller hockey.

It's kind of funny that both my brothers started roller hockey, got me into it, and then went back to playing soccer. :)

[Quintin 16]

Back in '97, I saw tons of sticks in a local sports store, with pucks and everything, and being a major soccer/rugby fanatic, I said to myself "That's seems so boooring!"

But as the years went by, I met a Canadian in my school. He wouldn't shut up about hockey so I decided to play some street hockey with him one weekend. I thought it was fun but wasn't something I thought I'd like to do all the time.

Then I met the girl that is now my girlfriend for 2 years and she's Canadian too. I was trying to impress her so hard by playing hockey cos I heard she loves hockey and it would give me something to talk to her about. I was seriously addicted to the game at that point. Everytime I scored a goal, I'd run and skate around the rink punching the air or blow a kiss to the crowd.

[WAMPS19 0]

My dad put me on skates when I was 3, been playing hockey ever since.

I don't ever remember a year not playing hockey. It is my life other than my job and wife and new house.

[hyprlte 0]

im pretty sure my dad had me skating before i could walk. I cant remember a time in my life when i didnt play hockey