[E.J.]

Originally Posted by ahc4353

Found this as I was searching my computer for a word document.



My Sanctuary
The hockey rink is my sanctuary. It is my place to be free. No matter what is going on in my life I can go to the hockey rink lace up my skates and forget the world. It doesn’t matter what had happened that day, whether I failed my English test and my math test, broke up with my girlfriend, got in a fight with my brother or my parents, I can go to the rink and forget about it. For the 2 hours on practice nights and the 4 hours on game days I am completely free. I have no pressure. I don’t have to worry about looking good or worry about my tests the next day. Nothing matters but having a good time with my teammates.
The second I cross through the doors of the rink I have not a care in the world. I cross through the lobby exchanging “hellos” with the parents of the other kids and shaking hands. Then I open the doors from the lobby to the rink and the cold air rushes into my face and overtakes my body, and its like stepping into another world. A world of slap shots and big hits, sweat and hard work, a hockey world.
I enter the locker room and a smile comes across my face as my friends and teammates greet me with hey how you doings. I find a spot to sit down and am immediately immersed in conversations about last week’s game or the Rangers game that was on last night. The smell of the locker room is unmistakable. It is the smell of sweaty, dank hockey gear that hasn’t been washed since it was bought 2 years ago. It is said to be the smell of hockey, and to those who know it well it couldn’t get any sweeter.
I wait almost impatiently outside the glass for the zamboni to finish. Now it is time to take the ice. I charge through the door out onto the ice as though someone was chasing me, because the burning desire to fly around the ice and be invincible is almost unbearable. I skate like the wind and shoot like a rocket. The wind hitting my face as I glide around the ice is refreshing, like jumping in the pool on a hot summer day. Eventually the fun has to end and its back to the locker room to have our team conversations about how were going to play in the NHL, and then its time to head out. I take one more deep breath of the cool crisp air before leaving the rink, then its back to the same old grind of the everyday.
The hockey rink is my sanctuary because it my place to be free. I can completely leave my cares behind and just have fun. No other place in the world makes me happier, and there is no place that I would rather be than the hockey rink.


That was written by Mitch in 2006 for a school paper, he was 15 at the time.

That is awsome! What a great paper....and better find for Dad!



Welcome to the thread Eleven...picture bomb away!