Neff Zone Column -- January 10, 2009

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Print Edition: January 10, 2009

OLD TIME HOCKEY

I was with a group of whippersnappers last week and the talk turned the game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks outdoors at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Everyone agreed that is was a great concept and loads of fun. (Weren’t those throwback uniforms worn by the players and the fedoras worn by the Detroit coaches just the essence of cool?)

When I told the gathering that I once played hockey there was a gasp of disbelief, which sort of surprised me given the impressive athletic physical specimen that I am. More shock followed when I informed the group that I had played right here in Cadillac.

Well, they started throwing out names of "old timers" to determine if I had played hockey with any of them. Unfortunately, the people they remembered as "old" were all too young to have played when I did.

How was I to prove I was the real deal? Well, I dusted off a story from those thrilling days of yesteryear. Have you heard the one about the square, crooked rink at Lincoln Field?

I came to Cadillac in 1971 from Flint. I had played on outdoor rinks in Flint and in 1967 was part of an all-star team that finished second in a 20-and-under statewide tournament. In my last two years in Flint we finally had an indoor arena, but when I got to Cadillac there was no organized hockey and no rink.

Now, as I understand it, Cadillac had some hockey history. I’ve been told that teams from the city played teams from other towns "back in the day." (Perhaps someone with more ice time under his skates than what I have could fill us in on that.)

Anyway, when I arrived there was considerable interest in forming a hockey league in Cadillac. There were quite a few good players in town and the local sporting goods store, the Jock Shop, was interested in generating some winter business. I’m guessing that we’re talking about a time period in the 1971-1973 range.

I remember that somehow Bob Jacobson and I got nominated to approach the Community Schools director about the possibility of putting a rink at Lincoln Field. We did and the concept of a set of hockey boards atop a sheet of natural ice on the infield of Lincoln’s softball diamond (where lights were already in place) was the result. In truth, it would be a really good addition to Cadillac’s winter recreation options.

No one knew much about building a hockey rink so Bob and I had to do some research to get him some plans. This was before the internet and copy machines, but we managed to find some books with drawings. Basically we wanted a standard 200x85 rink with white or light gray boards. The plan was approved and the work of building the boards was contracted out.

Over by Franklin school Carl Springberg had been making a sheet of ice in his side yard for years and all the neighborhood kids played hockey there. When he heard about the new Lincoln project he naturally took an interest because he knew how to make ice.

We all waited with anticipation for the day when the boards would be installed. I remember getting a call from Carl who said: "You might want to come over here to Lincoln because you’re not going to believe this."

Here’s what we wound up with. First of all, the rink was a perfect 200x85 square. It had no rounded corners; they were square. When we later played the puck would go into a corner and it wouldn’t come out – it got trapped there. Going into a corner after a puck was like a rugby scrum.

Second, the boards had been built in sections and the blue lines and red lines had been pre-painted on some sections. When the boards were assembled at Lincoln the lines didn’t "line up." Still, they went ahead and put down ice, drawing and painting the lines from one side of the boards across to the other side. The problem with that was the lines were off kilter, so a player could be 20 feet ahead of his teammate and be behind a line on one side of the rink while his teammate (six strides behind him) was actually over a line on the other side of the rink. "Offsides" was somewhat difficult to determine.

Third, and to the great consternation of goalies, the boards had been painted dark green. You can imagine trying to stop a black puck coming out of the night against a dark green background. This was before goalie masks were perfected so only the bravest men in town volunteered to play goalie.

Somehow, we managed to get by that initial winter. Eventually, the boards were painted a lighter color, corners were adapted, lines straightened, we all volunteered to do shifts as referees and snow removal crew, and some pretty good hockey was played for many winters.

Don’t take my word for this. There were plenty of guys who played at that time whose names will ring a bell. The team on which I played included Judge Bill Peterson, Mike Dolack, Jon Boersma, Ben Jacobson, John Springberg, Ed Shankland, Greg Beckelic, and our goalie was Mike McCarty the Sports Editor for the Cadillac News.

Other teams had Jon Boersma, Lynn Johnson, Bob Jacobson, Cliff Harris, Jack Silvers, Terry Beck, Dan Boehle, Mike Mickelson and so many more wonderful competitors (that my feeble memory cannot name).

Many of the guys ran clinics for youngsters on Saturday mornings and many more eventually became the people who supported the formation of high school and youth hockey programs in the area.

I eventually hung up my skates when I took a pass right between the eyes from a teammate. I wound up with eleven stitches and two black eyes. Not only was this look not popular with my wife and children, but I had to get my driver’s license photo taken the next day. For four years my ID picture looked like something out of an old Boris Karloff monster movie.

The point of all this is that there’s a lot of Cadillac hockey history that predates The Wex. I was just honored to experience a tiny part of it.

Jim Neff is a local columnist. Comments to neffzone@gmail.com. Read Neff Zone columns online at www.neffzone.com/cadillacnews.