JMS Hockey

I began playing hockey again at age 45 after suffering too many dislocated fingers and sprained ankles playing indoor soccer. I get on the ice once or twice a week year-round. Played pond-style hockey till eighth grade, when I joined my first organized team, Assumption-Central bantams in the Richfield house league. Switched from wing to goalie and played high school varsity hockey the next four years at Holy Angels, mostly riding the bench behind a perennial all-conference goalie until my senior year. Was thrilled to make varsity my freshman year at St. John's University in 1977. I learned a ton from Bob Hanson, a two-time All-American goalie who, coincidentally, was also in my ancient Greek class. Ran out of money for tuition and transferred to the U to study journalism. Goodbye, organized hockey! Switched to soccer for the next 25+ years until my brother mentioned his weekly pickup game needed a goalie. So I strapped on my 1970s gear (Cooper leg pads, flimsy arm pads, ratty gloves and custom fiberglass mask), lumbered onto the ice at Northeast and fell in love with the game all over again. I occasionally resurrect hockey stories for my newspaper history blog, such as this 1971 Jim Klobuchar column on <a href="http://blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/oldnews/archives/146">Gump Worsley.</a>