The Puck Stops Here

MH TRY GUY ICE HOCKEY GOALIE

n intermittent wisp of vapour escapes my lips through the gaps of my helmet’s cage-like face protector as I shift around on the slippery ice. The energy in the skatingA rink is palpable – electrifying even – as the opposing players in yellow jerseys tus- sle with my team (clad in blue). In a fl ash, the hockey puck – a round, black piece of vulcanised (read: rock hard) rubber – lances diagonally across the rink, and a player in yellow swiftly picks it up, his body movement suddenly taking on an exaggerated side-to- side motion as he accelerates towards me, puck in tow. A defender rushes in to intercept him, but the yellow-jersey forward is quick, and cocks his stick back. The puck becomes invisible as it fl ies, and I drop to my knees and fl ail my arms. A loud “whoop-clack” announces that the black disc has hit my right arm’s blocker pad, and it subsequently clatters harmlessly off the hockey stick held on the same arm. “Good save!” yell the other players watching outside the rink as they thump the waist-high wall in encouragement. An incidental save, but I’m stoked from the rush. “Was that all you’ve got?” I think, as I clamber back onto my skates. I crouch and brace myself for the next onslaught.

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I’m at the Fuji Ice Palace in the Jurong Entertainment Complex donning a pair of ice-skates under the watchful eye of Alphonsus Jude Joseph, a 12-year ice hockey veteran. I’m offered the opportunity to play the position of goalkeeper in a friendly match organised by the Singapore Blizzards Ice He can’t ice-skate. Neither can Hockey club – but fi rst, I’ve got to learn to he hit a hockey puck with a tennis skate a little. The team usually trains after 10pm on Friday nights after the skating rink racket. But he’s going to play goalie has closed, as that’s the only time they can get for a night in an ice hockey game. the rink to themselves. And right now, he’s Wish him luck. TEXT

going to show me the basics of ice-skating. A MELVIN HOE rambunctious fad during my teenage years, the sport has since dwindled, following the

closure of many other skating rinks. • PHOTOGRAPHY Currently, the Fuji Ice Palace is the only skat- ing arena left in Singapore. THE PUCK “You want to do the laces tight or you’ll have trouble balancing,” advises the 29-year- MICHAEL TAN old, as he hands me a shoelace hook. I cinch the laces up as tight as they go and my fore- arm veins nearly pop from the effort. The rink STOPS HERE

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0066-06866-068 MMHH TTRYguy-tp.inddRYguy-tp.indd 6666 Upon approval 99/14/07/14/07 1:48:201:48:20 PMPM Please sign: Name and Date: is fi lled with teenagers, the odd elderly enthu- jockstrap goes on fi rst, followed by a foam-like get into the sport, and most start from in-line siast, punks who like to whiz around like shroud of hockey pants, then the shin guards, hockey, says Alphonsus. “Ice hockey’s harder,” Speedy Gonzales, and of course, wall-clutch- skates, shoulder pads, jersey, mouth guard, he says with a smile. “Being an excellent ing beginners like myself. Balancing on the helmet and gloves – in all, it takes about 30 skater means nothing – hitting a puck while skates is pretty tiring though, and my lower minutes to get the kit on. If this were medie- skating is a different matter.” Nice to know, back and feet start to ache after just a couple val times, you’d think that they were kitting because I’m good at neither. of minutes. Alphonsus points out my mis- up for a stint on a Viking battleship. Essential takes and offers me skating advice that’s so gear though, because although ice hockey is +++ +++ spot-on I’m almost able to skate without hold- played on a “non-contact” basis locally, it’s ing onto the wall in a single session. Here’s still a very physical sport. Three weeks of achy-feet skating sessions good form according to him: Don’t bend your A massively popular pastime in Canada later, Alphonsus brings me his spare set of body forward but and in the US, ice hockey gear. “We’ll get you onto the ice to try sit back, bend your hockey is much less hitting the puck as a player fi rst,” he says. knees, and rest widespread locally Finally I get to don my own set of gladiator your weight on because of the lack of gear, with shin pads twice the size of soccer your leading foot facilities, but the pas- guards, and what’s more, they feel strong before pushing off sion for the sport is enough withstand any muay thai champion’s with your rear foot growing steadily, and leg sweeps. at an angle. professionally – the I’m relegated to a small section of the rink I hobble onto a Singapore Blizzards as the other players whiz around in an ice- rink-side seat and won a silver medal shaving fl urry of skating drills – backwards, undo the skates, during the World Ice sideways, forwards. Everything I’ve learnt perspiring even about proper skating though the temper- form leaves me as I ature is cold enough to chill a hot cup of teh. attempt to dribble a “Stick around and observe our training later? puck around. Keeping You’ll get a better idea of what you’re getting your mind on balanc- into,” offers Alphonsus with a wry smile. I can ing, moving forward, hardly wait. dribbling and ‘cover- A short while later, a group of players enter ing’ the puck (shading the rink with bags twice to three times the the puck from defend- size of army duffel bags and plonk them down ers with the hockey with a thud. Slim people morph into massive stick) seems to demand beings that resemble Transformer robots once the processing power of they put on their sets of protective gear. And three different brains. you’ve got to do it in sequence or else certain Furthermore, to stop, parts won’t fi t: The family-jewel-protecting turn around and move again requires a whole new set of lower body Hockey 5’s (it’s a muscles that I never knew existed. fi ve-a-side game) in “Now try shooting the puck,” urges Hong Kong in June Alphonsus. “Always keep the puck covered this year, and will with the stick until the last moment.” He be competing in demonstrates a shot, and all that’s required is the Land Of Smiles a deft wrist fl ick for the puck to dart forward Classic in Bangkok and strike the rink wall with a resounding and the Singapore thud. It’s not all about power I discover, as Invitational at your technique has to be good to fl ing the year’s end. puck forward, but most importantly, your The training skating stance has to be stable before you can session begins exert maximal force. with skating drills After a couple more fumbling swings, before the players I clear the rink for the skirmish the team advance to drib- goes through to roundup a training session: bling and striking An informal fi ve-a-side match played between the puck. You’ve members for three- to fi ve- minute intervals, got to be a good or until they get tired. Informal it may be, it’s skater before you as intense as in a real match.

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0066-06866-068 MMHH TTRYguy-tp.inddRYguy-tp.indd 6677 Upon approval 99/14/07/14/07 1:48:331:48:33 PMPM Please sign: Name and Date: MH TRY GUY ICE HOCKEY GOALIE

I catch my fi rst glimpse of the goalkeepers in their hulking gear and wonder how they’d ever get anything done with so much stuff on them. “You’ll get to play goalie next week,” says Alphonsus with a grin, almost reading my thoughts.

+++ +++

I rub my hands together in anticipa- tion (and from the cold) as I sit on a bench, “I didn’t even see the puck fly, or hit my head, but it does – with cranium- rattling force that is strong enough to dislodge the helmet cage and swing it wide open.” sends the puck straight into my chest as I drop to my knees, another incidental save mesmerised by a gaggle of what must be a simple job: To stop the bullet-like puck from that is met with more enthusiastic wall school team fi gure skaters performing a entering the goal behind them. My goalie thumping. Being a goalkeeper is all about series of twirling leaps into the air. How coach for the night, a towering 1.81m, 90kg getting yourself into position, says Stephen, graceful they must seem compared to my Stephen Kyriakou zips in front of me togged so a save is a save I guess, and it’s exhilarat- transformation that night. It’s been six weeks in his set of battle gear. “Ready?” he asks, ing to know that I can actually block those since I fi rst started ice hockey, and tonight’s sweat glistening off his face. little black saucers. A player in blue shoots, goalkeeper night – the culmination of all I’ve Although goalkeepers ideally should be misses, and play shifts – within seconds an been through. Eugene Chin, one of the goal- able to skate well, drills for them involve opposing player nicks the puck and sends it keepers for the Singapore Blizzards gener- smaller movements, with emphasis on arcing straight to my face. ously totes his spare set of goalie gear to me switching directions and getting down into I didn’t even see the puck fl y, or hit my – an enormous bag full of what appears to be the “butterfl y” position quickly – a position head, but it does – with cranium rattling pads used for martial arts practice. where the goalkeeper touches his knees force that is strong enough to dislodge the Goalie gear, I realised, is enormous. together down on the ice to prevent the puck helmet cage and swing it wide open. Freakin’ enormous, because each shin guard from sliding through, and it covers a lot of Thankfully, I’m just a little dazed from the is as huge as rugby contact pads. After slap- ground when the keeper’s legs are properly impact. I was to learn later from Stephen that ping on both of these monstrosities, I can spread out. The position is also especially it was a wrist shot – a full drawn out hit could hardly walk because the pads are so thick my strenuous when you have to do it over and cause more serious injury. legs have to spread far apart. A catch glove over again. A player skirts in front of me in a yellowish akin to a larger version of a baseball glove fi ts “Always protect your head, because players blur as he dribbles the puck and fakes a shot. my left hand, and a blocker pad fi ts my right. rushing towards you can cause serious I’m fooled and drop down on my knees. He Because of this confi guration, I’m unable to injury,” he warns. “Also, turn your head if shifts to the right and slots the puck in for wield the hockey stick with my left arm, and you ever see a puck coming straight for you, an easy winner. After a team scores one goal, only my right hand can hold on to it, in one because a powerful hit dead centre can cause the losing team exits and a new set of fi ve position no less. Yep, this is going to take the helmet cage to cave in.” As the rest of players come on board. Good thing is, the some getting used to. “The good news is, the players clear the rink for the skirmish keeper gets to stay on for as long as he can you won’t feel anything when you fall!” session, Stephen motions me towards one stand it. I beam at the opportunity to block jokes Eugene. of the goalposts. more potentially debilitating shots. “Is that all I feel like a tank with all the gear on me you’ve got?” ■ (the shoulder pads are twice as thick and my +++ +++ helmet even has a neck guard), and quite nec- For more information about the Singapore essarily, because goalkeepers are there to do Another swift wrist fl ick by a forward Blizzards, visit www.singaporeblizzards.com.

68 OCTOBER 2007 MH

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