A team with a pink elephant mascot and uniforms of the same hue—not to mention names like “Fetus,” “Dave's a Mess” and “Fizz” festooning the backs of player jerseys—is just asking for a verbal smackdown in the male-dominated realm of adult recreational hockey.
“It doesn't help when one of your young guys puts on a thong and goes and skates around in front of everybody,” says Pinball Pete's Steve Brunner, 44, an East Lansing financial planner, recalling an incident where a teammate re-created the iconic scene from the 1977 Paul Newman hockey classic “
Slap Shot.”
The visually jarring pink jerseys are a fashion statement by team founder/sponsor Ted Arnold, owner of the mauve-spirited
Pinball Pete's amusement centers in East Lansing and Ann Arbor.
Sartorial splendor aside, Pinball Pete's team members and their associates in the Suburban Ice East Lansing's adult hockey league are making a bolder statement: The game of hockey forever beats a kettle drum in their collective hearts.
Otherwise, there is no other plausible explanation for why grown men— most whom work as professionals by day—play an hour-long game until 12:30 a.m. on a weeknight and then sit wearing sweat-saturated underwear in a dank locker room for another hour and kibitz.
Perhaps the liquid refreshments—or “12 ounces of freedom” as one Pinball Pete player describes the blue-labeled aluminum silos on the floor—are an incentive to hang out.
“There's not too many things in life that allow 'checkout' the way you can when you're playing hockey,” says Brunner, who's a 20-year member of the team. “You can go to the gym and jump on the treadmill, and you're still thinking about all the garbage. It's a totally different ballgame when you are on the ice.”
Adds teammate Jeff Williams, owner of
Williams Auto World in Lansing: “It's a way to re-live my childhood. When I'm out here, I feel about 16 years old.”
Community CultureAt East Lansing's facility alone, 650 players revisit youthful pursuits while playing under whimsical team names: "Paul Revere"; "Ninja Turtles"; "Cheesebreads"; "Beer 30."
Participants range from
Michigan State University (MSU) students in the 18-and-over leagues to veteran physicians in the 50-plus circuit.
“They're everything,” says Mike Rucinski,
Suburban Ice East Lansing manager. “In the adult leagues, you name it: I talk to police officers, firefighters, lawyers. . . .”
Suburban Ice East Lansing has two 18-and-older divisions, including the 20-team Gold/Advance division that Pinball Pete's play in, as well over-30, 40 and 50 circuits.
The
Summit at the Capital Centre has also seen a surge in adult hockey fortunes, hosting an 18-and-older league along with the 30 and 40-and-older divisions for 270 adult players.
“I joke that if you are looking to get something done around your house, and you play in a men's league, you can find somebody,” says the Summit's Scott Shedd, 34, who oversees adult leagues at the Dimondale facility. “We have electricians and carpenters playing.”
The adult hockey circle tends to be close-knit. Shedd knows Pinball Pete members, since he's also a member of the
Douglas J team that plays in the Suburban Ice 18-plus Gold/Advance league.
“They're a good group of guys,” Shedd says. “They've been together forever.”
Hockey is also played—and learned—at the
City of Lansing's Washington Park Ice Complex at 2700 S. Washington, not far from Downtown. Anywhere from six to 15 adults take part in stick-and-puck sessions on Monday and Wednesday mornings at the centrally located ice rink, says Don Ballard, Washington Park manager.
The informal gatherings allow players to hone shooting and stick-handling skills. "I'm sure most of them play in the senior league at The Summit," says Ballard.
Lansing's Parks and Recreation Department doesn't currently offer organized adult hockey, but that could change as more ice time is freed up due to declining numbers in other programs, Ballard said.
Generational ShiftOn the Pinball Pete's team, which formed in the late 1980s, veterans are gradually acquiescing to the 20-somethings.
B.J. Lentz, 26, is one of handful of young turks. Lentz' brother-in-law Dave Kalis, whose “Dave's a Mess” nickname is another reference to “Slap Shot,” is also a teammate.
Love of the game bridges any generation gaps, Lentz says.
“After those guys get a beer or two in them, they are like kids again,” says Lentz, who operates
Party Cab Company in East Lansing. “We go out and have fun and talk about the same stuff they talk about."
“They live a little vicariously through us," he says. "They are always asking us what the new things are, or what the new stories are. They tell their stories and we listen and learn from them.”
National travel tournaments like the
Labatt Blue USA Adult Hockey Classic in Indianapolis, Ind., also provide ample epoxy for bonding sessions. Pinball Pete's captured the Silver Division title at last year's event, beating Indy Allison 4-0 in the championship game.
“When you win, it's like when you were kids and you were playing travel hockey,” Williams says. “You'd go and camp out for the weekend. It's hockey game after hockey game. You live, eat and play hockey.”
Comedy, CamaraderieAntics from past conquests, as well as numerous others, prompt laughter, which echoes through the Suburban locker room after a recent late night tussle.
The topic shifts to the just-completed game as a player complains how an opponent tried to take out his knees.
The league is non-check, but that doesn't prevent collisions, players say. The game is also guided by an unwritten code of honor, meaning there are varying degrees of incidental contact.
“There is, but there are a few guys who don't believe in that honor,” Williams says.
After the younger players evacuate the premises with their girlfriends and wives, a smattering of Pinball Pete’s players remain after midnight. A rink attendant enters with a contorted look on his face, realizing hopes of getting a headstart on closing up shop are misguided.
Explains team goalie and Lansing Attorney Paul des Lauriers, who remains in uniform: “It's the camaraderie.”
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Larry O'Connor is a mid-Michigan freelance writer and erstwhile pond hockey player who, in his dreams, could stop on a dime and leave a nickel change.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.
Photos:
Douglas J & Pinball Pete's hockey action
Creative names on the team's jerseys
Scott Shedd watches the game
Jeff Williams at his Williams Auto World business
Hockey action
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie