Hockey 101 brings Canada’s pastime to Victorians
Hockey 101 in action.
It’s a two-man breakaway!
Actually, it’s more like the puck-carrier’s feet are attempting to break away from his ankles. This quickly takes him out of the play.
The only skater left standing snatches up the puck and, leaning heavily on his stick, chops his way toward the goal as fast as his power-skating lessons will allow.
This is not one of those corny coffee commercials where little people named after doughnuts learn to play hockey.
This is Hockey 101—a local recreational hockey league where adults can learn to play Canada’s national pastime.
“We started Hockey 101 because we wanted a place to play, but couldn’t find one,” says Chris Yue, half of the brother team that created and operates Hockey 101. “Being a poor skater and inexperienced at hockey makes it very difficult to find an entry point into this sport. The mission of Hockey 101 is to provide a safe, friendly atmosphere where adults can learn to play hockey.”
Beginning in 2006, 10 teams played 12 games, plus a playoff tournament.
The Devils, a team of employees from CHEK-TV, were the first Hockey 101 champions. Now in its fifth season, the league has 50 teams and six tiers and is no longer just a beginner’s league.
“As the league grows, so does the talent pool,” says Dwayne Robinson, a volunteer with the league and self-proclaimed “pylon” on the Norris Division’s Westcoast Chiefs. “Even the bottom tier is getting to the point where a team can’t bring in too many rookies if they want to stay competitive.”
Yue and his brother, Eric, have done their best to keep the league’s mandate and most players think the formula is working.
Former Camosun student and Applied Communications graduate Matt Gardiner says he has played in the league for three years and finds it’s the ideal place to learn the game and have fun.
“When I first heard about Hockey 101, I thought I wasn’t good enough to play organized hockey and that I would be a liability on any team I was on,” says Gardiner. “But when I checked out their web page, I saw that there are different tiers for different levels of play. That’s all it took; I jumped in and fell in love with it.”
In addition to weekly games at arenas around the Greater Victoria area, Hockey 101 created a slick website that has plenty of time-wasters to help the longing hockey fan when they’re not on the ice.
Along with the league schedule, each team gets a stats page and a virtual hockey card for each player. Power rankings are updated periodically and the box scores appear within hours of the completion of the games.
The messageboard is popular for game discussions, poorly spelled philosophical debates and, of course, trash talk—most of it lighthearted.
As for that aforementioned two-man breakaway?
It was in the annual rookie game and the 34-year-old engineer scored the first goal of his life.
He celebrated Tiger Williams-style, riding his stick around the ice like he won the Stanley Cup. Such a rare sight is a fitting snapshot of what the Yue brothers want Hockey 101 to be.
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