Stories

Average Skater - January 2025

I was 10, on the ice of a tiny, boarded outdoor rink, just off the trans-Canada highway in Petawawa when I realized I was a horrible skater. Some kids from school and around my neighbourhood were playing pick-up hockey, and I went 30 minutes without once touching the puck. There were kids who I dominated in other sports, including road hockey, that were literally skating circles around me. My dreams of playing in the NHL died that night. The only saving grace occurred when I observed that all the really fast skaters kept very low in their stance, which helped them avoid falling when they changed direction, and evade other larger players. 

At 19, when I moved away to Ottawa for University, with the canal, the world’s longest skating rink in the winter, only a 5-minute walk from my residence room, I hadn’t anticipated becoming a better skater. However, one of my close friends was a former junior hockey player. After noticing that much like when I was running a 5km road race, I was basically running on skates, he introduced the concept of pushing with my right foot, and gliding on my left, into my skating repertoire. With his advice in mind, and five years of occasionally skating on the canal, my confidence on ice grew.

I became confident enough in my abilities on ice to actually have a couple of skating dates in my 20s and early 30s. One of those dates ended up being with my now wife. She grew up skating outside in Joliette on a surface similar to the canal, and I was secretly impressed with how she just kept going, no matter what obstacle she encountered on the ice. She had a very practical, effective outlook to skating, which I chose to incorporate as well.

When my son was around 4 or 5, to give my wife a break, I brought him to see his two older cousins play minor hockey. Given how much he idolized his older cousins, I shouldn’t have been surprised when he started to beg to play hockey. When we let him try a season at age 8, and I saw his huge smile, I knew I had officially become a hockey dad. He’s a much better skater than I am, probably the strongest on his team.

During the Christmas break, he invited his 10-year old friend over, and when my wife found his friend fit into my size 11 skates, she offered to bring him to the local rink so he could learn to skate. His parents were nervous since neither of them knows how to skate, but thankful that their son would get a chance. Since my son’s friend weighs about 120 pounds, my wife couldn’t support him to lead him around the ice. I ended up holding him up, leading him around the ice, and giving him the few practical tips I know that helped me become confident on ice. First thing, he had to keep his center of gravity low so he wouldn’t fall as often. When he stopped falling so often, I had him push with his right foot, and glide on his left. When I let go of his arms, and he tripped over the cracks on the ice, I told him to find a way around the various obstacles he was facing. My son’s friend won’t be playing in the NHL any time soon, but he’s on the road to becoming an average skater….even though his coach isn’t much more than that himself.