See you at the Rink!

Tales from the Timebox: October 16th, 2018

Anyone else have this problem? We have so many TV remote controls I don’t know which one does what half the time.

I have no doubt in my mind, that it was a sports fan watching TV during the month of October that invented the TV remote.With all the Major League Baseball World Series going on, the CFL football teams playing important games to make it to the playoffs, the start of NHL hockey, NFL football and NBA basketball most guys will be flipping the channels back and forth like crazy.

Why is it that every time a commercial comes on and I flip to another channel to check on a score, that channel has a commercial on too? Somebody has to pay for the exorbitant players salaries I guess, and in the long run it’s you and me.

But it is an exciting time of year for sure. The Oilers and Eskimos both winning this past weekend making everyone I know who cheers for them a whole lot happier. My beloved Leafs are lighting it up. Who needs defense when you can score like they have been?

I was alive and watched Johnny Bower and the boys when they won their last Stanley Cup in 1967 on a black and white TV! The very last year of the original six. I hope to see the Buds win another Cup before I die! (Haha) Either way we are long past due for some excitement in hog town.

Now you talk about excitement, today the kids will all be bouncing around all over the place excited about getting on the ice for their very first practice. Who knows, maybe one of them will even be sporting a Leaf sweater?

Yes, the ice is finally ready to go. I think it’s because of the crappy winter type weather these past six weeks and it may seem like a late start. It really isn’t. After all the repairs these past few weeks, the brime pump replacement, straightening and repairing of boards and painting, we are only one week behind our normal practice schedule.

In case you haven’t been involved we have some people to thank who went above and beyond to get it done. Many thanks going out to Dean Rogal who, along with Rod Cardinal, pulled the leaking pump last spring. The decision was made to get a new one after finding out how bad the old one actually was. The new pump when it finally arrived in September was an new style upgraded one. To make it work in our plant we needed some major retrofitting.

Dean had some financial help from his employer CNRL to help cover some of the costs; and volunteers Murry Cochrane, Conrad Pierce the millwright, Rod Cardinal the welder, Darrel Malo the electrician and of course Brian Poitras our caretaker spent more than a few days getting it into place and running. Murry, Brian and Conrad also went to work on the boards pulling them straight and putting shims under and patching puck board.

Meanwhile, most of September, Kelly Radcliffe and Melissa Skarsen painted the entire bleachers and walls inside the arena ice surface. It looks fantastic and makes you almost scared to walk on it.

Also thanks to the volunteer fireman who always come in at least twice a year and wash the ice surface for us and to Lisa and Kyle down at ARK Autowash for cleaning the garbage cans and recycle bins like they always do.

I know there were many others who came out to help so thanks to all of you who I may have failed to mention. And some of the volunteer work during the year like the team managers, coaches, booth workers is about to start this coming weekend and carry on until the end of March.

The Elks Senior team have their season opener this coming Saturday night. And the Atoms are playing Dewberry/Marwayne on Sunday morning at 9am. Plus I’m sure some other teams will come up with a game or two. “Lets get ready to rumble”

And now for the K. A. Campbell quote of the week. ‘ You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.’ – Wayne Gretzky