Loved it. Loved the narration. Loved how you probably didn't have to do all that much work to turn everyone into characters, precisely because everyone who works in small town hockey IS a character. The unexpected treat was the photos of the back office!! That's nostalgic. I feel like I've been there. Those hockey skates look exactly like mine used to. I could never get a figure skate to work for me because I needed the ankle support. I could still do some sick tricks in hockey skates, though. My dad, who was an actual hockey player (and grew up with someone who went on to be a gold medalist!), could do even cooler tricks in his AND on rollerblades. Alas, I've turned in my blades and wheels for the wheels of a rollator, so I doubt I'll get to relive any of this anytime soon, except through Zamboni Thoughts.
Also: small town girls hockey is weird. I never played because hockey is an injury-heavy sport, it's expensive, and I didn't have consistent health insurance growing up, but there's way more rules about how you can play as a "girl." When I was growing up, you weren't allowed to check, but the boys were. You weren't expected to get into fights like the boys did. The most petite girls who could be knocked over by the wind played on our girls hockey team; I didn't get it.
(I absolutely relished floor hockey during gym, though... I was always on defense and got way too aggro, LOL. I'd say "too aggro for a proper Minnesotan," but honestly, hockey is the one place where Minnesotans are allowed to have negative emotions.)
Love your work, as always! I can't wait to read more Zamboni Thoughts!!
Also, I don't know how long you've been living in MN, but back when I was still in high school, we had this absolute monster/putz of a governor named Tim Pawlenty... He was a piece of shit Republican who tried to defund my second high school (which was a public arts school) and did terrible things to sabotage it, BUT I mention him because he had this moment where he opened for a Minnesota Wilds game, and he had a slip of the tongue where he said, "It's time to DROP the FUCKING PUCK," and it...naturally made him MORE popular with all the pearl-clutching, conservative Republicans. Because hockey. Sigh.
LMAO i'm SURE it did!!!! there is nothing hyper-conservatives love more than someone exactly like them dropping an F-bomb in the proper public setting sometimes – "govenors! they're just like us!"
I'm happy you're liking it! You definitely know way more about hockey and old-ass ice arenas than me - working there is for sure nostalgic, like I can feel it, but it's a nostalgia for a time period and not the specific place for me. For other people in town, the arena itself is the nostalgia draw. I've met 40-year-old dads who learned to play hockey there, and when they come in, you can see from their faces how much the place means to them.
I like Judi!! Anybody who comes onto that show would have to be ready for the wildest scrutiny, we the people who watch Bake Off to be soothed cannot ever have the vibes messed with, and thank god she's fine!!
I didn’t even check the name, I knew you meant “the new person on the show”! (I don’t know anyone on the show’s name, I’m realizing???) Whoops, let’s amend it: I like Alison!
IT'S ZAMBONI TIME!!
Loved it. Loved the narration. Loved how you probably didn't have to do all that much work to turn everyone into characters, precisely because everyone who works in small town hockey IS a character. The unexpected treat was the photos of the back office!! That's nostalgic. I feel like I've been there. Those hockey skates look exactly like mine used to. I could never get a figure skate to work for me because I needed the ankle support. I could still do some sick tricks in hockey skates, though. My dad, who was an actual hockey player (and grew up with someone who went on to be a gold medalist!), could do even cooler tricks in his AND on rollerblades. Alas, I've turned in my blades and wheels for the wheels of a rollator, so I doubt I'll get to relive any of this anytime soon, except through Zamboni Thoughts.
Also: small town girls hockey is weird. I never played because hockey is an injury-heavy sport, it's expensive, and I didn't have consistent health insurance growing up, but there's way more rules about how you can play as a "girl." When I was growing up, you weren't allowed to check, but the boys were. You weren't expected to get into fights like the boys did. The most petite girls who could be knocked over by the wind played on our girls hockey team; I didn't get it.
(I absolutely relished floor hockey during gym, though... I was always on defense and got way too aggro, LOL. I'd say "too aggro for a proper Minnesotan," but honestly, hockey is the one place where Minnesotans are allowed to have negative emotions.)
Love your work, as always! I can't wait to read more Zamboni Thoughts!!
Also, I don't know how long you've been living in MN, but back when I was still in high school, we had this absolute monster/putz of a governor named Tim Pawlenty... He was a piece of shit Republican who tried to defund my second high school (which was a public arts school) and did terrible things to sabotage it, BUT I mention him because he had this moment where he opened for a Minnesota Wilds game, and he had a slip of the tongue where he said, "It's time to DROP the FUCKING PUCK," and it...naturally made him MORE popular with all the pearl-clutching, conservative Republicans. Because hockey. Sigh.
LMAO i'm SURE it did!!!! there is nothing hyper-conservatives love more than someone exactly like them dropping an F-bomb in the proper public setting sometimes – "govenors! they're just like us!"
I'm happy you're liking it! You definitely know way more about hockey and old-ass ice arenas than me - working there is for sure nostalgic, like I can feel it, but it's a nostalgia for a time period and not the specific place for me. For other people in town, the arena itself is the nostalgia draw. I've met 40-year-old dads who learned to play hockey there, and when they come in, you can see from their faces how much the place means to them.
Y'know, I wasn't sure about Judi Love on Bake Off, but she's so much better than Matt Lucas.
Also, Matty 💜
I like Judi!! Anybody who comes onto that show would have to be ready for the wildest scrutiny, we the people who watch Bake Off to be soothed cannot ever have the vibes messed with, and thank god she's fine!!
I've just realised it's not Judi Love but Alison Hammond...
I didn’t even check the name, I knew you meant “the new person on the show”! (I don’t know anyone on the show’s name, I’m realizing???) Whoops, let’s amend it: I like Alison!