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Navy Hockey Report I: The real game in the Mid-Atlantic
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Sophomore Jonathan Wheeler of the Naval Academy (Photo/USNA)
On Milton Pond
I grew up in northern New Jersey in an area where there was no local rink for us to knock a puck around. In high school, if we could scare up enough guys for a 4 AM game, we'd head down, half-awake, to rent a rink on the cheap about 15 miles away from town. Since an early-rising high schooler is an oxymoron, more often we would wait until a nearby pond (known locally as Milton) froze, clear off the snow, toss down a couple sweatshirts to mark each goal and have at it. No lifting the puck for shots on goal, no penalties, and if you uncorked a decent slapshot because you couldn't resist (nobody could), you went into the woods to retrieve it.
About the time we were flinging pucks into the woods, Wayne Gretzky -a teenager himself- was beginning to light up the NHL. I was only a half-hearted Rangers fan so took a shine to the lovable, losing Edmonton Oilers. They didn't lose for long, electrifying the 1980s with their wide open brand of hockey that revealed the 1970s Broad Street Bullies' (aka Philly Flyers) version for what it was: a clutching, grabbing slugfest on ice.
Enter the Mids
Arriving in Baltimore in 1989, I followed first the Skipjacks then the Bandits, but neither team stuck around long enough for me to take much interest. To the south were the Caps, but the drive to their overpriced annual dance with mediocrity wasn't worth the time or money. So for nearly a decade my interest in the live version of the game went into storage.
Then in 1999 I stumbled upon the Mids club hockey team playing at the Naval Academy. The game was at the Academy's armory-turned-ice rink, Dahlgren Hall. The surface looked not unlike pond hockey taken indoors; you could see through to the murky concrete below the ice, not unlike the murky gray depths of Milton Pond. I climbed the stairs up to the wood and iron balcony, settled onto a bench with my young sons, and saw the Mids knock off Drexel in dramatic fashion with seconds left in the game. We were hooked.
McMullen Hockey Arena
The Mids have since moved to the new McMullen Hockey Arena where they are well into their 2008-2009 season. They are led by senior forward Matt Swezey of Cohoes, NY. Swezey is the first Mid to be named to Team USA and will be representing the country in the 2009 Winter World University Games in Harbin, China. He is one of many Navy players hailing from colder climes who brings south with him a high quality level of hockey. Here at the Examiner we'll check on their progress regularly during the remainder of the 2008-2009 season as football winds down.
Thanksgiving Hockey Invitational Tournament
North of the border in Canada, hockey is the sport of choice about the time of our Thanksgiving. And this year it will be south of the Mason-Dixon as well. From Friday November 28 thru Sunday November 30, the Mids will host the Thanksgiving Hockey Invitational Tournament at McMullen. For details on directions, game times and participants see the official Navy hockey web site.
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