I don鈥檛 like summer.
Ok, let me rephrase that. I don鈥檛 like the excruciatingly hot weather that comes with summer. As you may or may not know, I was born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon where there is about three and a half months of no snow before it starts cooling off for the typical September snowfall.
The temperature rarely gets above 30聽 C in Whitehorse, and while it doesn鈥檛 rain too often, I could usually handle the high of mid-20s that come in the summer months.
I have never spent a summer outside of the Yukon. I spent 19 summers there growing up, three years in Ontario for college where I would come home for the summers before returning to Ontario and one last summer at home before moving to North Battleford.
Suffice to say, this weather can be ridiculous. I went home on vacation for two weeks just in time to escape the first few weeks of the 鈥渆xtreme鈥� heat. The day before I left I was asked to fill in on a slo-pitch team and struggled with the 28 C my phone told me it was. Felt more like 35 C.
After stepping off the plane in Edmonton to drive back here, the humidity hit me like a sack of bricks. There is essentially no humidity in Whitehorse, so 20 degrees really feels like 20 degrees unlike here where 25 feels like 35 on some days.
Thankfully my car has air conditioning, which kicks in pretty quick. I foolishly wore jeans the day I left Whitehorse because I figured, 鈥渨ell I鈥檓 not getting to Edmonton until around 8:30, surely the heat won鈥檛 be too bad then, right?鈥� Wrong. It was hot. And it was sweaty.
It鈥檚 no better here. In fact, the blankets on my bed won鈥檛 be getting any use for a while because of how hot it is in my apartment every night. Yes I have an air conditioning unit, but I鈥檓 slightly afraid of how high my utilities bill might be if I leave it running all day every day this summer.
Another reason why I don鈥檛 like summer is there鈥檚 no hockey. Ten years ago I was gearing up for my first full season of watching hockey after the 2004-05 lockout. I didn鈥檛 even watch a second of hockey before I was 12. I was your typical boy who loved playing video games more than 鈥� well, basically anything.
But after I actually sat down and watched hockey, the 2004 Calgary Flames with their run to the Stanley Cup finals, I was hooked.
The strange thing was that I had never played hockey before. I couldn鈥檛 even skate!
My mom loves to tell me the story about my 鈥渆xperience鈥� in hockey. When I was around five, my parents signed me up for hockey like most Canadian parents. She had called the coach ahead of time to ask if teaching kids how to skate was part of the program.
鈥淵es, we will teach the kids how to skate,鈥� he told her. So they signed me up, bought all the required equipment and perched themselves in the stands, coffee in hand, ready to watch their son take his first steps towards becoming an NHL star.
There was just one problem. I was the only kid on the ice who didn鈥檛 know how to skate. Every other child there was skating circles around the rink, while I was flat on my back at centre ice.
My mom tells me I crawled to the boards, got off the ice and told them I never wanted to play hockey again. Quitters never win, Craig.
So here I was, the biggest hockey fan around with absolutely no idea how to actually play the game. Cue my childhood best friend Jackson giving me an old pair of his skates and taking it upon himself to teach me how to skate. This was years later by the way, when I was 17.
It began like you might expect. Me standing next to the boards, holding on as I went back and forth multiple times. Over the next few times we went out I would gradually move away from the boards and out into the open ice trying extremely hard to maintain my balance and not fall on my behind. I wasn鈥檛, and am still not graceful, but I can proudly say that I can actually skate without having to hold onto the boards anymore. I can skate circles around the ice, and there are even times where I鈥檒l go out for a skate and not fall once. I can鈥檛 skate backwards or stop on a dime, I can barely stop in general, but I can skate. I still have, and use, those same skates Jackson gave me all those years ago.
The City of North Battleford installed a synthetic ice surface outside the Northland Power Curling Centre shortly after I moved here, and while I had wanted to take it for a spin, I had never gotten around to it.
Well, that and I was crushed to discover that you鈥檙e not allowed to use stick or pucks on the ice for fear of damage. I can skate, but not without a stick. It鈥檚 not like I use my stick to lean on the entire time I鈥檓 skating, but it just feels so unnatural not to have a stick in my hands while skating.
I decided to suck it up, and maybe break the rules a little, and throw on my skates to give the synthetic ice a try Saturday afternoon. I have to say; it felt a little strange to be tying skates in 24-degree weather instead of -20 C.
I convinced my friend Mayce to tag along and act as my photographer. I didn鈥檛 even have to pay her, although I think the potential of seeing me fall flat on my face might have been enough payment for her.
As I took the steps towards the 鈥渋ce鈥� on the rubber mats, I had visions of stepping onto it and immediately going head over heels. Wouldn鈥檛 that make a great picture?
To make matters worse, the fences or railings, whatever you want to call them, were not longer surrounding the surface ensuring the chances of me falling were increased.
As I gathered the courage to actually step on, I discovered that this surface was now more plastic than ice. Trying to push off and glide across it was a dangerous game because of how much friction was present. I felt like I was out for a walk, not a skate.
I went for a few laps around the rink, sometimes gliding, mostly walking. There were multiple times when I lurched forward as my skate didn鈥檛 want to slide along the plastic anymore and I had to catch myself. Every time I did, I looked up at Mayce to see that she had the camera ready.
鈥淐an you fall already?鈥� She asked. What are friends for?
I can only assume the weather plays a role in the effectiveness of the synthetic ice. When I first went to check it out during the winter, there were kids skating all over it and nobody seemed to be catching an edge. They all glided smoothly.
That day I set my foot on it to see how much like ice it really was, and if I wasn鈥檛 careful I could have easily slipped. That also might have been because the snow melts on it, giving it a little layer of water.
Either way, I was slightly disappointed that I couldn鈥檛 actually skate on this stuff. Not only because it reaffirmed my dismal skating abilities, but also because it just didn鈥檛 work. It would have been nice to get that hockey feel of skating in the middle of summer.
I guess I鈥檒l have to head to a facility that has an ice treadmill. Something players will use when there鈥檚 no real ice available. North Stars forward Baxter Kanter told me he works at a facility over the summers that has one, anyone have his number?
As I was putting my skates back into my trunk, I noticed the sticker from when I last got them sharpened was still on them. That was done in Whitehorse, probably two years ago. Shows how often they get used.
I guess I鈥檒l just suck it up and wait until winter to go out for a real skate on one of the rinks around town.
Six weeks until North Stars training camp begins, think they鈥檒l notice if I sneak on the ice?
