About

I’ve been a hockey fan all my life, but going into fall of 2012 I had never actually “laced ‘em up” and played the game. Growing up in Dorchester, I played street hockey for hours on end as a kid, with plastic Mylec goalie pads and “CAAAAAR!” serving as staples of my childhood.

I didn’t play hockey as a kid for a variety of reasons, the biggest being a love for basketball. With those two seasons overlapping, I preferred roundball to hockey, sneakers and gyms to skates and rinks. I knew plenty of kids who spent their weekends at the Devine Rink in Dorchester, but I was never one of them.

With the NHL lockout making the prospect of a hockey-free winter seem like a certainty this year, I decided to make sure I’d have some kind of hockey in my life. After some research, I decided to take the plunge, joining a beginner clinic with the New England Senior Hockey League. The league is for the beginner player with “limited or no experience.” Right up my alley.

I can skate, but can’t stop; I know the basics of hockey, but couldn’t tell you where a forward is supposed to be defensively; I know what a nice wrist shot looks like, but have never sent a puck into the twine on my own.

My journey to become a serviceable hockey player begins in October. You can follow this blog to join me on my journey, spared from the (probably very numerous) bumps and bruises I’ll encounter along the way.

The name of this blog comes from how I (and I assume many others) learned how to skate: by leaning on milk crates for support. No, I don't need milk crates to skate anymore. Jerk.

-Dan (@bruinshockeynow)

www.BruinsHockeyNow.com