Fun Is The Goal When Ice Men Gather At Park

It was only late afternoon, but darkness had taken over.

Downtown’s lights were on, going-home traffic hummed and Riverfront Park seemed abandoned except for ducks silently bobbing on the water.

The clock faces on the Clock Tower glowed like jack-o’-lanterns up near the cloud-veiled moon.

But there was life in the park’s stillness. Over at the Ice Palace, in the men’s room, a bearded guy who looked about 40 was in the process of putting on his hockey equipment not far from the urinals.

“I’m getting old,” he said to another man doing the same. “I need the exercise.”

In a small locker room nearby, a dozen others pulled on their skates and shin pads.

A few minutes later, two goals were pushed onto the open-air rink. And right on time - 5:15 p.m. - a bucket of pucks got tossed out, the hard rubber discs slapping the freshly resurfaced ice.

Soon the shredding sound of skating, the thud of practice shots hitting the boards and the clank of pucks striking the metal part of the goals filled the freezing air. Welcome to “Drop-in Hockey,” a Thursday happening at the park.

It’s open to anyone 16 or older who has equipment. But you quickly got the idea that many of the players already knew one another from previous sessions. And even though everyone had on different colors, nobody seemed confused when the scrimmaging began, and it was the Basically White Jerseys against the Basically Dark Jerseys.

Each side had a goalie and a few subs. Most of the players looked to be about half the age of the bearded guy. The majority were decent skaters and competent puck-handlers.

One of the first offensive rushes featured one of the better players setting up a teammate who might have been the weakest skater on the ice. It was an easy goal.

“You guys know what defense is?” yelled a member of the other team from atop the sideboards, where he sat, waiting his turn to get into the game.

He was only half-serious. Drop-in Hockey at Riverfront Park isn’t about tight checking, hard hits and heads hung low after mistakes. It’s about having a good time.

Once, during one of the countless breakaways, a defender reached out with his stick and hooked the attacking player off his feet. The guy who had been sailing toward the goal plopped onto the seat of his hockey pants. “Sorry,” said the defender.

The bearded 40-year-old guy? He played defense. And he did fine. He scored a few goals. Of course, everybody did.

, DataTimes MEMO: Being There is a weekly feature that looks at gatherings in the Inland Northwest.