I can’t imagine how adults learn to play hockey if they don’t have a league like the Madison Gay Hockey Association. And I now understand why so many straight people have joined the MGHA.
Too often, in regular adult hockey leagues, beginners can’t even find a team to play on. If they do manage to find a team—through a friend or coworker—they probably won’t receive much coaching. Then, they may even receive ridiculed for their lack of skill. And opponents certainly wouldn’t play down to their level to help them out.
And I certainly wouldn’t expect to experience a show of good sportsmanship like I saw in Week 3 of MGHA games.
After our Week 2 win, we all received an unfortunate e-mail from Nikki, the Green Gay Puckers goalie. She was playing in a women’s league during the week and heard a “pop” in her knee. That’s never good.
Luckily, she’s only out a few weeks. But that left our team without a goalie, so we had to poach some substitutes from the other teams.
In Week 2, the Green Gay Puckers racked up 6 goals against Andrew, Boo-teal-licous’ goalie. The very next week, he stepped up, donned a green jersey for us…and pitched a shutout.
He was visibly upset with his poor play against us in Week 2, yet he was able to put all that aside and make save after save as our team had a pretty poor defensive performance against the blue team. Yet, thanks to the goalie that allowed my first (maybe-kinda-sorta) goal, we earned a 3-0 victory
It’s a Challenge
After three weeks of games, we took a break from our regularly scheduled programming and played challenge games. MGHA challenge games are a chance for people to play only with other players at their skill level. We play a beginner, intermediate and advanced game.
I signed up for the beginners’ game, and it was very refreshing to play a slower pace. For once, when I got the puck, I had time to think about what I wanted to do with it before someone came and stole it. I was even able to carry the puck around defenders and go on a few breakaways.
Of course, the goalies stoned me on my breakaways, because I still can’t quite lift the puck, but it was a fun change of pace.
Over thanksgiving, we had more challenge games, and I once again played in the beginner’s game. This time, I was playing defense. It was the first time I’ve defended, and I’m still not too great at skating backward.
However, I think I may have a knack for it. I can skate fast to smack the puck away from an opponent. And even though I can’t do much puck handling, I’ve become pretty good at clearing the puck out of the defensive zone - probably because the minute I get the puck, I panic and get rid of it.
My first real goal
Week 4 found the Green Gay Puckers facing off against the gray team, Salty. Krystal – a former NCAA player - skates for the gray team, and she quickly scored one of her allotted two goals. Late in the second period, with the Green Gay Puckers trailing 1-0, Patrick—the MGHA founder— was playing defense and fed a pass to the neutral zone, but his teammate missed it.
Patrick had already skated up to the neutral zone, but I pounced on the loose puck and got ahead of him. I knew he would be right behind me, but I skated as hard as I could and carried the puck toward the goalie. I wanted to carry it in a little closer, but I could feel Patrick gaining on me. I was about to shoot when two sticks surged forward and smacked the puck away as I shot it.
I was really bummed I didn’t get the shot off, but then Patrick and the other defender skated right past me without taking the puck with them. My failed shot attempt forced the goalie to move to the near side of the net to try to make the save. When I noticed that the puck was still there, I took a swing and shot it far side, right past the goalies’ skate and into the net.
That goal was way more satisfying than the my first one, as it knotted the game at the end of the second period.
Then, we promptly gave up two more goals and lost 3-1. But it was still a fun night—especially since some of my friends from work were nice enough to come cheer me on (after I told them that the rink was BYOB, of course).
I can feel myself getting better and better each week. And I am definitely getting into much better shape. I was able to play for two hours last weekend, when before I couldn’t even play 10 minutes without having trouble breathing. I now understand the term “hockey shape.”
What’s really helped is the encouragement and the instruction from some of the veteran players. They honestly love the game and just want to help spread that love. They don’t care if they win or lose—though, they always want everyone to try hard—they just want people to have fun.
I don’t know where else I could have found that.
If you have any questions about MGHA or life in general, feel free to email me.
We played some scrimmages over the summer, which was a good way for me to get my feet wet and start learning. But now, the season is underway. The MGHA is firmly cemented as the largest gay hockey league in the country. This year, we have 120 players and eight teams.
Whenever I tell someone that I play in the gay hockey league, the reaction usually starts out with laughter at the fact that such a thing exists. I don’t really know if I should find that offensive or not, but when they realize that I’m serious, people usually think it’s a great idea for a hockey league.
Last time, I wrote about how accepting and encouraging the MGHA is toward new players. Many of the first-year players have never even skated before—and some of the new players still can’t really skate. But that doesn’t stop everyone from encouraging new players, even when they perform as simple of a task as getting back onsides.
That concept can be baffling at first, and one of the new players on my team said it’s a little jarring to hear someone tell him he’s doing a great job after he falls down and forces the play offside. “The hardest thing about this league is learning how to take a compliment,” he said. I think that says a lot about the MGHA.
Over the next few months, I’ll chronicle my experiences throughout my first season in the MGHA.
The Green Gay Puckers
In September, we held a few clinics for new players to get used to skating and help us learn the basics of hockey. But the real fun began at the end of September with our player evaluation scrimmages.
One of the biggest goals for the MGHA is parity in team selection. You don’t sign up for the league with a particular team, and team captains can’t just pick their friends or the best players. Each team is divided up based on skill level. So, in order to determine what skill level each player is, the MGHA brings in actual scouts to watch scrimmages.
I wanted to work as hard as I could during the scrimmage, but I didn’t want to get too lucky and give them an overrepresentation of my mediocrity. But I feel like my scrimmage depicted my skills well—I can skate reasonably well and get into good position, but once the pass comes to me, my inferior puck-handling skills become wildly apparent.
After the scrimmages, all of the captains met to divvy up the teams. Each team is then assigned a color, and I soon learned that I would be playing on the green team with Johannes— our team captain and one of the league’s better defensemen. He’s also a fascinating person. He’s a jazz musician and professor, and he used to play in the NYC Gay Hockey Association.
The first task for each team is to come up with a team name. And when you put a bunch of LGBT people together and ask them to name something, you’re going to get puns. The teal team is Boo-teal-licious. Orange is Puck a l’Orange. But my team’s name is by far the best: The Green Gay Puckers.
The thing that impressed me most before the season started was just how well the MGHA fosters an inclusive environment. Before our first practice, we went around the locker room and introduced ourselves. The introductions included the standards—our names and how long we’ve been playing. But then, Johannes asked everyone to state their preferred gender pronouns. I thought it was a great way to make sure everyone felt accepted.
The Games Begin
The MGHA has five hours of ice time at a local rink every Sunday night, which means all eight teams play every week. During Week 1, the first game of the season pitted the Green Gay Puckers against Puck a l’Orange.
We threw some lines together the week prior at our second of two team practices, and we decided that we would keep those lines together for at least the first few games to see how they mesh. I was placed on right wing with Kevin, one of the league’s best centers, and Ben, a fast skater with good puck-handling skills. This became our team’s top line, so we headed toward center ice after a loud team chant of “Mother Puckers!”
Here I was, playing in my first-ever organized hockey game, starting on the top line. I still don’t know how that happened.
The puck dropped and Kevin won the faceoff. After some initial struggles with the Orange team’s defense, he worked the puck over to Ben on the left wing and we got a little space. Before the game started, Kevin looked at me and said, “Go to the net.” So I did just that.
I skated hard toward the net. Nobody covered me as I headed straight toward the crease. Kevin had the puck in the left corner and fed a perfect pass toward me in the slot. Ryan, Puck a l’Orange’s goalie, lunged toward me and left the entire upper part of the net exposed.
When the puck arrived, I took a swing and heard a loud “ooooh” from the benches and the stands—I completely missed.
The puck skittered to the right corner and their defense cleared the zone. I didn’t score—hell, I didn’t even get a shot on goal—but I had a taste of what a good offensive chance felt like, and I wanted more.
Unfortunately for the Green Gay Puckers, Ryan is a great goalie. My line had chance after chance like the play I described above, and even when I did get the shot off from a great pass, Ryan robbed me at least four times. Puck a l’Orange went on to win 4-0, but the Green Gay Puckers started to form their identity as a team with good forechecking and offensive zone-possession.
Week 2: My first “goal”
The second week of games featured the league’s two best puns going head to head. As we squared off against Boo-teal-licious. The Teal team features some great talent at forward and defense, as well as a solid goaltender.
Once again, my line started the game, and we set the tone well for the Green Gay Puckers. We had some great chances in the first period, as we are quickly perfecting a play that the Penguins’ top line—Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby and Pascal Dupuis—often employs. Kevin and Ben carry the puck into the zone and work toward the left side of the ice. I’m usually a little bit slower across the blue line, so the defenders are drawn toward the left side. I just skate hard to the net and arrive at the same time the puck does.
Boo-teal-licious’ defense quickly caught on, though, and finally started to cover me. We still got some great, scrambling chances in the crease. But it wasn’t until the second period when we finally scored our first goal of the season.
Our line had a typical play, and I found my way into the crease. This time, however, there were a lot of teal jerseys in front, so my stick got lifted and the puck bounced around a bit. It took a stab at the puck when I finally found it, and it bounced off the goalies’ pads to the left side of the crease. Kevin came in and took a whack at it, which was also blocked. This went on for some time, with all of us stabbing at the puck until it finally found the back of the net.
I really have no idea what happened, and I honestly thought Kevin put it in. But the ref skated over to the scorer’s box and said No. 6 scored the goal. Then, I heard a wonderful mispronunciation of my name as they announced my goal. I don’t know how it happened, but I guess I’ll take it.
Later in the period, we scored again, and this time it made more sense. I was in the defensive zone when the puck found its way to my stick. I smacked it toward the side boards, hoping to just clear the zone. However, Kevin found my “pass” and went on a breakaway. He beat the goalie, top-shelf, and gave the Green Gay Puckers a 3-0 lead.
In the third period, we tried to play conservatively to hold the lead. However, we don’t really know how to do that, and the score quickly became 3-2, with 2:30 left on the clock. Johannes told us all to play nothing but defense for the rest of the game. It didn’t quite play out that way.
My line took the ice with defense on our minds, but once we got the puck, defense quickly gave way to an attack. And Kevin swooped around the left side and buried another goal to give us a safe lead.
We were really lucky that I got credit for the first goal, because in the MGHA, the top-tier players are only allowed to score two goals per game. If they score a third, it doesn’t count. That’s just another way the MGHA tries to encourage new players. But, unless it’s a tight game in the third period, the advanced-level players typically just try to feed the puck to the newbies anyway.
We wound up scoring a few more times to put the game away, and the Green Gay Puckers defeated Boo-teal-licious 6-2.
After two weeks of games, I feel like I’m finally finding a groove and I’m realizing that hockey is even more fun than I ever imagined it would be. It’s even better now that I’m in a little better shape than when I started last summer—I’m no longer dying after each shift.
When I went to the stands to meet my friends, the first thing they told me—after congratulating me on my “goal” of course—was that I have the biggest smile, from ear-to-ear, when I’m out on the ice.
Sounds about right.
If you have any questions about MGHA or life in general, feel free to email me.
By the time the Pirates season ended, I was worried whether I’ll have enough time off to go home for the holidays, I had thousands of emails in my inbox and—hey, look at that!—the Penguins were already 3-0-0!
Pittsburgh sports fans are little like Miami fans, they really only have enough bandwidth to support one team at a time. In Miami, this is because fans are simply indifferent, and only care about whichever team happens to be winning. In Pittsburgh, this is because people invest all of their energy into one team and go a little crazy over it. Now that the Pirates are done until the spring and fans have had time to breath, it’s time to turn our attention back to the Boys of Winter.
We all know about the star power the Pens have on offense. And it would be a waste of time if I “previewed” what Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin can do this year. Hell, Crosby’s line with Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis might even stay together on Team Canada (boo, Canada!).
The two questions going into the season were defense and goaltending. The Penguins reaffirmed their trust in Marc-Andre Fleury—after he saw a psychologist, of course—and brought back Tomas Vokoun to help ease the load of a full season off Fleury’s shoulders.
Then, Vokoun almost died. And now the Penguins have no legitimate back-up in net. Fleury has started 8 of the first nine games, going 7-1. The one game they gave Fleury the night off, they lost 6-3 to the Panthers, in Jeff Zatkoff’s first NHL appearance.
So while he may be off to a great start, Fleury looks like he may have to play in quite a few games this year. Luckily, he has a little more stability in front of him this season.
Some credit Fleury’s newfound calmness in the crease to his therapist, but I choose to praise Rob Scuderi. The Penguins thought they could live without Scuds after they won the Stanley Cup in 2009. But since then, only Scuderi has won another Stanley Cup. He just brings a stability to the blue line that calms everyone around him. He’s already made some clutch blocks and saves this season.
Kris Letang proved to be the Penguins’ best offensive defenseman last year (at least during the regular season), but an early season injury has kept him out of the lineup thus far. However, rookie Olli Maatta is quickly making a name for himself. He’s giving the coaching staff a difficult choice for when Letang returns to the blue line.
But who am I kidding? Nobody is worried about the Penguins this year…during the regular season. We’ve seen it four years in a row. The Penguins stroll through the regular season—with the exception of 2010-11, where they injured themselves through the regular season—only to flop on the big stage.
The Penguins regular season looks to be just like all the rest in recent memory. They should have no trouble finding a playoff spot, even if they don’t finish at the top of the standings. The only thing different this year is that the fans are getting anxious for more playoff success. Yes, a conference finals appearance last year was nice.
But the way that they lost left a bad taste on the season. Losing in a close-fought, seven-game series to the Bruins would have been a respectable way to go out, but scoring as many goals in the entire series as the Blackhawks did in 17 seconds against the Bruins is a little embarrassing.
Thus, the playoffs will define the Penguins’ season this year, and—unless something crazy happens—the regular season will be of little consequence. But hey, there’s another outdoor game this year!
Because if there’s one thing that NHL fans want more of, it’s the Penguins playing outdoors.
Apparently, Tomas Vokoun and Kris Letang are injured? And the Pens have some massive salary cap issues going into the season? But all I have stuck in my head is 40,000 Pirates fans chanting “Cue-to! Cue-to!” as if he was an opposing goalie.
So, I’ll bring you a more thorough preview whenever baseball in the ‘Burgh is over.
The theme of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2013 free agency: Let’s make Boston feel better about losing the Stanley Cup.
As if the Penguins didn’t already give Boston whatever they wanted in the Eastern Conference final, the Penguins handed over Jarome Iginla and finally got rid of Matt Cooke. The Bruins wanted Iginla from the beginning, and well, we all know how Bruins fans felt about Cooke.
That said, the Penguins had a pretty successful free agency. Nobody could have honestly expected Iginla to stick around. He was a rental player, and everyone knew it. It’s a shame the Pens couldn’t get him a Cup, but life goes on.
If you ask any average hockey fan that watched the playoffs what the Penguins’ biggest weakness was (besides Marc-Andre Fleury) everyone would say defense.
So what does Ray Shero do? He brings back Rob Scuderi. Scuds was idolized by fans during the 2009 Stanley Cup Run. Heck, he basically single-handedly saved Game 6 to force Game 7 in Detroit. And Pens fans were rooting for LA last year because of him. (Well, and Pens fans just really wanted New Jersey to lose). And just look at him: the man can rock a beard.
Also, the Pens re-signed some of the key parts of what made their regular season so successful – Pascal Dupuis and Craig Adams. Dupuis lit it up on offense playing alongside Sidney Crosby this year, and Adams helped the Penguins maintain one of the best penalty kills.
Shero also made sure Pens fans would have a great head of hair to ogle for another eight years. Sure, Kris Letang had a rough postseason, but you don’t get nominated for the Norris Trophy if you don’t have potential. Perhaps he just needs a guy like Scuderi to help settle him down in his own zone.
Two questions remain for the Penguins, though. First, which defensemen gets left out of the picture now that they have Scuderi? (Answer: Matt Niskanen) And Second, who can replace Matt Cooke on both the penalty kill and the other teams’ nerves? (Answer: I have no idea).
In Shero we trust.
“I play hockey.” You have no idea how cool it feels to finally say that. After six years of watching hockey, falling in love with the sport and seeing what great bodies hockey players have, I can finally say that I play ice hockey.
After I came out of the closet a few months ago, several people reached out to me and told me about the Madison Gay Hockey Association. I read a little bit about it and figured I would maybe sign up…someday.
Then, I was at the airport with some coworkers (I travel for work…a lot), and a gay colleague saw Sidney Crosby on the cover of Sports Illustrated and said, “ooh, hockey!”
“I didn’t know you liked hockey,” I said. “Yeah, I just joined the gay hockey league,” he said. I told him I was thinking about joining, and he proceeded to spend much of our flight delay (we were at O’Hare, of course we were delayed) telling me about how great the MGHA is. So I made the plunge.
Patrick Farabaugh, the MGHA founder, reached out to me shortly after signing up. We had a nice conversation and I quickly learned that he has built the biggest gay hockey league in the country. Seriously, take a minute to read his incredible story and what he’s done for the gay community in Madison.
That very weekend, I was spending an obscene amount of money shopping for gear, and the next Wednesday, I was on the ice at my first scrimmage.
I’ve skated a few times before, and even played a little pond hockey, but nothing more than throwing pucks at a log. That scrimmage was my first time playing in full gear.
In our scrimmages, we play every position but goaltender. When someone gets tired, he heads to the bench, calls out his position and whoever is next on the bench will take over that position. I’ve followed the game religiously over the past six years, and I’ve covered hockey for various news outlets. So, I feel like I know the game pretty well, and I know what each position is supposed to do. But, like tying a necktie, it’s easy in theory but difficult in practice.
I started out playing left defense. OK, I thought, time to just cover the other team’s right winger. She came up the ice with the puck, so I started skating backward and kept up with her. I’m actually not too bad at skating backward, but when someone is skating forward at you, they’re usually faster. I realized I had to turn around and skate forward to keep up with her.
One small problem: I have no idea how to switch from skating backward to skating forward.
I looked like your everyday Mike Green for how often I let the other team blow past me for a scoring chance. My goalie got a lot of practice when I was playing defense.
I was having a blast rushing up and down the ice when I realized I was about to die.
I called for a change and headed to the bench. I nearly high-sticked my teammates in the face as I successfully completed my first flop over the boards and into the seats. It takes more energy than it should to hop over the boards. I sucked down as much water as I could.
Now I know why hockey players’ bodies are so damn perfect, hockey is an unbelievable workout. I’ve been training for a triathlon, but that’s nothing compared to my first shift on defense.
While I watched the game from the bench and slowly slid back toward the center-ice door, where my next shift awaited, I started talking to the rest of my teammates. I met a fellow Penguins fan. I talked to one guy about how great the Pens were playing against Ottawa that night. I talked to another guy who happens to work for the same company I do, and he and his boyfriend happen to live in the same apartment complex as me.
Then, someone shouted, “right wing!” It took me a while to realize that it was my turn. I bounced over the boards, where I conveniently found myself standing on the right side of center ice. The other team’s left winger didn’t see me come over the boards. He narrowly avoided a collision and I somehow managed to smack the puck away.
My whole bench roared. They were cheering for me as if I had made a great play when it was really just dumb luck. If this was a checking league, I would have been leveled like Jagr in the Olympics. But this is the MGHA; the only checking is accidental when players can’t stop in time. And the stick taps from the benches aren’t for bruising hits, they’re for a new player who just so happened to smack the puck in the neutral zone.
I’m new to life outside the closet, and I’m new to playing hockey…but at that moment, I felt validated.
For every other sport that I’ve played, it was always about beating the other team and getting to the next level while enjoyment and tolerance were placed lower on the list of priorities. Even in gym class, people got mad if they had the un-athletic kid on their team. But there are players in the MGHA that just laced up skates for the first time a few weeks ago. Nobody gets upset when a slower skater is on their team. They’ll play the rush at his speed, pass him the puck and cheer for him when he makes a play.
Finally, I found league that welcomes new players and encourages everyone to be who they really are. And lucky for me, that league just so happens to be for my favorite sport that I’ve been wanting to play for six years.
I woke up the next morning sore as hell, but with a big smile on my face…wishing it was Wednesday again.
A few Wednesdays later…my first goal!
After getting to know both the Madison gay community and the MGHA community a littler better, I’m starting to feel much more comfortable both in life and on the ice.
I’ve made such a diverse array of new friends, including a straight couple who struggles to find a babysitter so they can play hockey and a player who is just starting to do drag shows (If you’re in the area, go see Bianca Lynn!).
And in just a few short weeks, my hockey skills have also noticeably improved. In our latest scrimmage, I wound up playing defense quite a bit. And I don’t think my goalie cringes anymore when I step out on the blue line.
And, it took until the last scrimmage of the summer, but I scored my first goal! Granted, it was just as fluky as the play I described earlier, but it was still exciting.
I was playing center, and the other team’s defender had the puck behind his own net. I figured I would go challenge him as he started carrying it up the ice. He tried to deke around me – well, okay, he successfully faked me out and blew past me – but he forgot one thing: the puck.
The puck sat right in front of the net. I just took a swing, and it slid to the far left side of the net, clanged off the post and rolled in. I realize that it took the other team’s defender playing like Kris Letang in Game 2 against the Bruins for me to score, but it still felt pretty good to send that puck in the net.
Unsurprisingly, my teammates were very happy for me, and even some of my opponents were even excited.
“Great job and congratulations, Tony,” my one friend playing on the other team said. “But you can suck it.” (He meant it as a lighthearted insult, not an innuendo)
Our scrimmages are done for the summer, but I plan on going to some skills clinics to try to work on my game and get better for the season this fall. So stay tuned…
If you have any questions about MGHA or life in general, feel free to email me.
I came out of the closet in not-so-private fashion a few months ago, and it’s been a wonderfully positive experience and opened many doors for me – including writing for Puck Buddys and joining a gay hockey league.
I interned with the Penguins in 2010-11, where I wrote features and blogs for the team’s Web site, and you can see an example of the work I did for the team here. It was a great season up until the Winter Classic. After that, the entire team got injured and Craig Adams was our best player in the playoffs. After the Lightning eliminated Pittsburgh, I moved to Madison, Wisconsin for a job. That brought me closer to bandwagon Blackhawks fans and self-loathing Wild fans.
But Wisconsin also brought me closer to the college game, so you may see some posts from me arguing that college hockey is more exciting. I’m a proud Badgers season-ticket holder for both the men’s and women’s teams. (You may also see some posts from me arguing that the women’s game features better plays than the men’s game).
Last year, I started doing some work for College Hockey News, where I wrote various features about WCHA teams and a story about how college hockey is growing in Pennsylvania, mostly thanks to Penn State (Boo!). I went to college at Pitt, where I fell in love with hockey and the Penguins. All during school, I didn’t think it was possible to be an openly gay man while also being a hockey fan, let alone a hockey writer.
I’m glad I was wrong, and this blog helped me realize that. After I came out, I received lots of support from my former colleagues with the Penguins. And everyone has been very encouraging as I finally start to play hockey. Brooks Orpik was right when his terrifying eyes told me that, “You Can Play.”
I don’t know exactly what I’ll be writing about here, perhaps I’ll start documenting my experience learning to skate and playing in the Madison league, but whatever it is, I’ll try to write it from my unique perspective. Hopefully, you all enjoy, and follow me on the Twitter!