The picture of me in the leafs jersey at the top of this page just got me into trouble. Turns out my buddy Del visited the site and noticed that he’d been cut out of the picture… 😦 . A couple of things added salt to his wound… his mom had actually taken the picture of the two of us… AND we were skating on one of his family’s “scoop-outs” just east of the Montney corner. (I really do feel badly, but I didn’t think he’d mind because he’s skating on at least one of his ankles.)
Actually, Del and I ended up playing a lot of hockey together. After starting on “scoop-outs” like this one and the out-door rink at the Montney school, together we went on to play minor hockey in Fort St. John and Junior B hockey in Smithers. Del went on to play Junior A while I played college hockey in Alberta, but after that we got together again to play for the Fort St. John Flyers, rec league teams, and, ultimately, an old timer’s team. In fact, someday it would be fun to sit down with a beer and try to remember all of the rinks we skated on together… from Whitehorse to Victoria and points between.
It needs to be said that Del was a better hockey player than me. He won more trophies and played at a higher level than I did. In fact, if it hadn’t been for a serious knee injury, I think he could/should have played professional hockey at some level. But then… his mom didn’t smoke when she was pregnant like mine did*.
Montney, and its little outdoor rink beside the school, gave a lot of us the opportunity to learn the game. Parent volunteers, like my dad, spent hours flooding the ice and building boards. I remember evenings when parents would park their cars with their headlights shining onto the ice so that we could play until we got too cold. In the spring time, we would skate along the edges; on the ice protected from the sun by the shade of the boards.
A few years ago, the same five were able to play together at an old-timer’s tournament in Taylor, B.C. I don’t remember for sure, but we must have won the tournament?!
Montney Boy 