Last night I played pickup hockey up in Petal, a suburb of Hattiesburg. I found the group I played with when taking my girls to a roller rink to try out their new Christmas skates, when I asked the owner about the prospect of renting the rink for hockey – and she told me someone already does!

They are called Hattiesburg Hockey (they have a Facebook group), and I had a great time – even though they only use Facebook 🙂 The attendance is occasionally hit or miss (they have to have 10 people signed up to get the rink reserved) – but I finally made a session after being unable to make one, and one getting canceled for lack of players. Since Christmas, (in the course of which I acquired some new Tour Code GX inline hockey skates and two hockey sticks) I have added shin guards, indoor wheels, gloves, elbow pads and a blank jersey (my helmet is supposedly on the way, but seems to be running late). I also refitted my venerable CCM inline skates, so I now have a backup pair.

I found that I am woefully out of shape – but also that some skills are still present, despite how out of shape I am. It has encouraged me, however, to move forward on my plans to also develop a street hockey pickup group closer to home. I’ve done some exploratory work with the local Recreation department and the school district’s Athletic Director, but I think that I’m going to start out with some local parking lot games before I look for “official” venues. After all, you need regular players before you can worry about anything else!


For the curious, this is my gear:

Skates:

  • Tour Code GX, stock with ABEC-5s and Kemistry Niton wheels (which say they are 76A, but definitely are not – much too hard for that)
  • CCM RH255 (with 76mm, 78a Blue Bellies wheels and Bones Reds bearings, refitted for use with 8mm Kizer axles)

Protective Gear:

  • CCM FT475 shin guards
  • CCM 50 Helmet and Cage
  • Sherwood Code 3 gloves
  • Sherwood Code 3 elbow pads

Sticks:

  • Fischer CT150 (54″) shaft with Mylec 309L(eft) blade
  • Christian R1000 (L)