Still flush from winning the Telluride Cup in the co-ed hockey league, my friend Rob and I signed up for a hockey tournament in Rock Springs, Wyo.

The drive up was gorgeous, with the beautiful Flaming Gorge to drive through on Hwy.191. Rock Springs is an old way station from the pioneer days, used to resupply the people who were on their way to Oregon. In 1868 the train came through and Rock Spring became the place where the train would restock their coal supplies.

Unfortunately, the coal mine destroyed the fresh water spring that the town was named after, and the train had to haul in water until a water pipe was built to pump in water from the Green River, fifteen miles away. Now, oil, natural gas, phosphates, and coal keep a town of nearly 30,000 people busting in this vibrant city along I-80.

The Recreation Center is the nicest civic center I have ever been in. It has basketball courts, racquetball courts, volleyball courts, swimming pools for adults and kids, weight rooms for all ages, steam rooms, saunas, Jacuzzis, batting cages, day care, and the all-important indoor hockey rink, with arena seating for 2,600 fans.

We arrived Thursday night, met with Larry Elder, the tournament organizer, and his assistant Ken, and got our team assignments. Since there was a pick-up hockey game, we suited up and got ready to play, as we had not been on the ice for quite some time as our Telluride ice was melted prematurely March 16. (As an aside, our Telluride U-19
Girls Team won the state title but did not go to the Nationals as they had no ice to practice on. If I was a parent of one of those kids, I would have raised a ruckus…amazing to me none of the parents did)

The pick-up game was fast and fun, just like back home, only with three goalies switching in after every few goals. The 30 or so players got to work up a good sweat and after about and hour and a half, showered and went to watch the Avalanche get smoked by the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL Playoffs.

The tournament games ran from 5:30 a.m. to 12:30 at night! That, folks, is a lot of hockey. Players came from Colorado, Utah, Idaho, West Virginia, Wyoming (mostly) and many other states. I was chosen to referee the first game of the tournament, and it was a mind bending and eye opening experience. Each team is split into an “A” team and a “B” team. The referees wear protective gear, as the speed of the game is incredible, with sticks flying on every face off, and the hard rubber puck reaching speeds of 100 miles per hour. Let me tell you, that protective gear comes in handy sometimes.

The players’ ages range from 13 to 56 and many teams had women players (one with three, and one of the best goalies was female)

Our first game was at 12:30 p.m., so it was a bit of a challenge for some of the players to stay out of the bars until game time…some more successful than others. Once the game began and we had a few shifts under our belts (instead of a few shots) we settled into a furious, rough and tumble game. The “A” line scored in the first period and were tons of fun to watch. Our “B” line was shaky, with panicked clearing, bad passing, no blue line pressure, and lousy skating. Fortunately our “A” line carried us and we fought to a 2-2 tie, which ended at near 2 a.m.

The next day our “B” line played so much better, but we were up against Rob’s team, with a bunch of players that play together in Salt Lake City. Their “B” line scored three
times against our “B” line and we lost 4-2. From that game on our “B” line was never scored on again. Rob’s team went on to win the championship.

Each team played five games, food was provided, refereeing was by the players (I reffed five games including a playoff game) and Larry Elder and his staff were very accommodating to the hockey players from around the country, that got together to make new friends, compete in one of the worlds best games, and have tons of fun. We returned to Telluride a couple of tire old warriors (and I do mean old) with new memories of Rock Springs, Wyoming and a new appreciation of how far I need to go to actually get good at this new (for me) game that I love.