Hockey. Canadian style.
I remember the first time I was in Winnipeg. I had just moved into the Oblates’ house and in the room next to mine lived the cousin of their provincial, Andrew. Andrew asked me the first or second day if I played hockey. So I said, “Sure thing! We used to play all the time at school.”
“Great,” he said, “You have any skates with you?” So I was thinking… skates? Does he mean rollerblades? Like in street hockey? So I told him, “no, they were sort of too large to bring over.” And he was like, “Too bad, cause there’s an rink right next to our house.” Only then it dawned on me that he was talking about ICE hockey.
Now, Holland claims a certain fame in the FIELD hockey world and it’s actually played by a lot of people (at least, I know a few dozen…) but I don’t know of anyone playing ice hockey. So, lesson to all my fellow foreigners, when a Canadian is talking about hockey, he’s definitely talking about ICE hockey.
That said, today I had my first taste. Of floor hockey. Which is basically indoor hockey without skates. It gives me some idea of how to handle a stick and I had an incredible time just playing, even though I have to learn pretty much everything from the start. After two hours of playing, I realize I might need a slightly longer stick, as my back’s pretty sore :> Other than that, it’s been an amazing night.
Every Monday and Wednesday there’s sports night for us seminarians and quite a few turn out, so it’s very enjoyable. And I might lose some of those extra pounds in the process!
More news on my pastoral placement for the year to follow soon, so check back 
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