Hitting the Ice Too 9-20-08

The Islanders weren’t the only ones that hit the ice on Saturday morning. IslanderQueen and I decided it would be a great time to head up to the Rinx for a little on ice fun.

I don’t know what we were thinking considering we had already had about as much “fun” as we could tolerate the night before. Or should I say morning before considering that we didn’t finally close our eyes until 3 am. My dog didn’t quite care that I had a late night. He woke at his usual 5:30 am looking to be fed. It was a good opportunity for start the Advil regiment I’ve been on all day.


It was a beautiful day. A perfect Saturday for the last official weekend of summer. But here we were packing gloves and warm socks along with our skates and jerseys. The gorgeous weather must have kept most of the kids away from the rink. It was wonderfully empty. A little disappointing was the new price is now $10.50 per adult. But then again, their utility bills must be insane because they’re certainly not using money to renovate the interior.

There is nothing like the smell of an ice rink. IslanderQueen thinks it’s the ice itself. But having been apologized to for driving in a car with a day old hockey bag -- I know better. The scent has nothing to do with the ice at all. But I don’t mind it. As a matter of fact, I notice that even after you leave the rink, the scent stays with me for a few hours.


We needed a locker this time as I had my new camera with me. The lockers are so old; they’re only .50 cents a shot, when you can find one that isn’t jammed. Within 15 minutes, we were on the ice, skating over grease pencil lines and diagrams from the skating clinics they run.

It was wonderful. The sound of the blades on the ice and the cool air rushing through our hair.

The more we went around the rink, the better we felt. It’s always difficult the first few minutes, trying to get the confidence back to actually skate without fear. After a good 45 minutes, we decided it was time to rest for a while and headed to the snack bar for the perfect hang-over cure: coffee and waffle fries. Okay, not the most well known of hangover cures, but it seemed to help. And what a bargain at $4.50.


When we returned to the ice we were happy to see NYIC photo shop kind Steve Depot and his son out on the ice. We had no idea he was going to be there, so it was a pleasant surprise. We talked about new coach Scott Gordon and Steve-O’s personal opinion on Garth Snow’s tenure as GM. I considered checking him into the boards, but Steve-O skates so much better than I do, that I thought twice.

By 2 pm, IQ and I were starting to feel muscles we didn’t know we had. It was time to get off the ice and get home for normal Saturday chores. It’s always the weirdest sensation when you take off the skates and put back on your shoes. It takes a few minutes to get comfortable again. I’m thinking if we go more often, we’ll get used to the transition better. I can only hope.

I’m over tired and over medicated so I’m not ready to crash yet. The Yankees won, the Mets lost and Jeter got plunked on the hand, but he’ll be ready for the last day at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. Preseason hockey has hit the airwaves too as MSG aired the Rangers vs. Senators game. Senators won. It was just an awesome day all the way around, wasn’t it?


Have a pleasant Sunday. Enjoy summer’s last hurrah.