Hockey Away from Home
by barbaragarn
Have you ever traveled to play hockey, or played hockey when you were traveling for work or pleasure?
About 8 years ago, I spent Christmas and New Year’s in Santa Fe, New Mexico (shout out to the excellent Ten Thousand Waves Spa!!). I planned to play hockey a couple of times when I was in town.
I took the train, so I didn’t have to deal with checking my gear–there were no baggage limits or worries about it being dangerous. It was just a pain to lug around.
I had found two games, one nearby in Los Alamos, and one in Santa Fe. I drove the rental car 40 minutes in the dark to the Los Alamos County rink. I found out later that I had been driving on the edge of a canyon the entire time and that some people get so freaked out by the drive that they can’t do it. Huh, glad it was dark!
The Los Alamos County rink is outside under the stars. It is set against the canyon, so one of the long sides is a very steep hill (that I imagine is just COVERED with pucks under the snow). The local adult team is… wait for it… The Fat Men.
You can see a bit of the rink and players in this video. I really wanted one of those “FAT MEN OF LOS ALAMOS” jerseys, but I didn’t have anything worth trading. The Albuquerque Journal did a story on the group in 2009.
The other game was less nostalgic and lots faster, at the Genoveva Community Center in Santa Fe. I felt every foot of the 6,500 altitude difference between the Twin Cities and Santa Fe! It WAS cool to have people ask where I learned to play. When you’re from Minnesota, everyone assumes you’re a lifelong hockey player (until I actually skated and then burst the bubble). Cred by association!
So . . . have you ever traveled and played hockey?
JMS Hockey Blog 
While playing in the incarnation of HNA (pre-AHA existence), I was fortunate to play on the Bucaneers team that won a berth to the national Tourney two years in a row which was played in Toronto. it was AWESOME to play there against teams from other cities, as well as visiting the hockey Hall of Fame, CN Tower, etc.
In the AHA, I subbed for the farmers when they played the National Tourney in Las Vegas. the team captain had a comped suite at the Palms and we were picked up by limo at the airport and went to games in the lime green and hot pink Cadillac Escalades they had. Quite the set up! I stayed one extra day and decided to play an open hockey pickup at the Fiesta Rancho rink. Low and behold I was the only goalie with about 7 skaters, 5 of which were members of the minor league Las Vegas Wranglers team.
Hockey travel is a BLAST!
I now consider Minnesota to be my home, so when I go back to Cincinnati, I am the visitor. Playing at the rink I usedd to play in, I have a great appreciation for what we have here. One game I played there, we had to maneuver around an orange cone because a roof leak was causing a hole in the ice. I recently returned from a month in Chicago, and I tried to find a pick up game. Every search I did said the rinks were taken for high school and mite games, and open hockey would return after the season. There was one outdoor rink I saw, but the temps were too high for the ice to be any good while I was there.