Long Hockey - 25 Year Celebration Notes! 

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After 25 years of adult hockey offerings through Long Hockey the players decided it was time to celebrate. So, on Thursday evening, February 2, 2023, players ranging from early twenties to mid-eighties, along with family members, gathered at the Sport Stable restaurant to try to recognize each other without their helmets, to socialize and have a few drinks, and to raise money for the Boulder Hockey Club Scholarship Fund.

It was back in early 1997, a hockey team I was playing on at North Jeffco and the Westminster Promenade call the Bandits, was just coming off three consecutive weeks of very late-night adult league hockey games that had become “over the top” with roughness.  With these limitations a few of us on that team figured there had to be an alternative to playing conveniently and safely while enjoying the game we all loved. Being a faculty member at the University of Colorado and a past board member of the CU Student Recreation Center I was able to rent ice weekly on Weds. mornings for an early morning invitation only skate.

About a year later we added a Sunday Morning skate each summer so that we could skate with our kids—we even ran the clock, kept formal score, and had a referee.  Within a few years we expanded our offerings to include a long-standing Friday Morning “Physics Skate” that was struggling which gave Long Hockey two morning skates year-round along with the summer parent-child skate.

It was in 2016 upon my return from North Carolina where I worked for a time, when we added a 50+ age group skate on Thursday mornings eventually expanding in 2022 to include Tuesday mornings. The under 50 age group was at this point skating regularly on Weds and Fridays and had also expanded to include Mondays. As most of our children had finished college and moved away for their careers, our Sunday Morning skate simple became part of the 50+ age group.

So, at the time of our celebration there are six mornings of Long Hockey at the Sport Stable—Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays for the “Young Guns” and Tuesday, Thursday, and Sundays for the “Seasoned Veterans”.   

Our early years at CU got off to a smooth start due to the extraordinary efforts of John Meyer, Associate Director. John made sure we had easy early morning access to the Rink, adequate storage space for our equipment, and even training in the operation of the Zamboni, making us a relatively self-sufficient operation. It was John who provided the first inkling of what this program would be called as from day one our rentals were listed as “Long Hockey” on the daily rental schedule. 

Some of the longest tenured players with Long Hockey are our still active goalies including Eddie Chojin, Hilli Scott, Doug Norris and Kelli Carignan. They have all been playing with us for 20+ years with both Doug and Eddie having played for the original Bandits! Several of that team, including Grant Burchell, Steve Pisciola, Dwight Such and Jay Wilson, also made up that first group of Weds and Sunday Morning skaters and skated for a short when we started up the 50+ group. Grant’s two boys, Connor and Butch, Dwight’s son Will, and my son Cody were all accomplished players and pressed us from an early age.   

While the weekday skates were always a grab a dark or white jersey and join a team, Sundays featured a roster designed to balance off the talent pool and make for a consistently competitive game. Sunday Morning also featured a scoreboard crew the first of whom was Dillon Long. Dillon finished a MS in Accounting/Finance and after a successful time in NYC is now engaged in entrepreneurial activities here in the Denver area. Today, the clock duties are covered with some combination of Haylee McNeal, Aidan McNeal, Julian Reardon, Carson Lively or Jake Sypal. These are all young people who represent the best of their age group, and all stand out in their respective activities whether it be hockey, music, tennis, or general academics. They are team captains, all-stars, and strong students. 

From shortly after Long Hockey began, John Koral, known as the Kzar, was an active confidant, player, and ultimately in 2007, Long Hockey manager. Little know by most, John stepped in at times to bail us out financially when payments weren’t enough or late in coming in. After a hiatus John rejoined the group from 2016-2019 as a referee on Sunday Mornings. Others of note who contributed greatly to this program include Mike Callahan who was our first Sunday Morning referee (totally volunteer), Taylor Johnson, whose printing company prepares our jerseys and hoodies, and Joel Davis, who designed the catchy and distinctive logo.  Kudos to these folks.  

Recently we added the oldest player yet to skate with the program, Fred Merchant, 85. Fred is the Founder and Director of TheRealIronmenofHockey.com initiative that honors active players 80+ of age from both the US and Canada. He was recently a member of Team USA which played in the 80+ Canada/USA annual weekend series and was inducted into their Hall of Fame, the first US player to receive such recognition.  

On a sad note, I share the passing of two of our skaters, Stephen Hall and Jim Peters. They were great players, fun to be with on the bench and in the locker room, and just good people. We miss them.  

This program would not have run effectively and lasted so many years without the leadership and management skills of John Koral along with Paul Woznick and Steve Elmes. These folks succeeded each other beginning in 2007 and did all the things necessary to continue this program successfully. Paul now lives in New Jersey. Steve continues to skate weekly with the ”Young Guns” and occasionally with the “Seasoned Veterans” on Sunday Mornings, served on the Fund Raising Committee for the Marshall Fire Victims, manages jersey orders, and now is on to some additional merchandising efforts.   

Today, David Mays and Glenn Lieberman ensure this program runs effectively and efficiently. David administers the over 50 age group and Glenn the under 50 skaters. It was very special to honor them and acknowledge their contributions at the Celebration. Additionally, through the efforts of Jimmy Dexter, Nate Burch and Luke Taylor of the Sport Stable, in partnership with Timothy Prout, long time Long Hockey skater, arrangements have been made to provide free locker rental to both David and Glenn in recognition of their continuous and successful efforts.  

As we hopefully have all experienced, Long Hockey is more than a set of morning skates—the participants have made it into a real community! We know each other well and typically stop play when a player goes down, our kids skate with us or together on other teams, we engage in social events together outside of our morning skates, and we do not hesitate to engage in healthy, humorous banter within the group. But impressively, this group has collectively raised over $100,000 for victims of the Marshall Fire and over $9,000 ($1,000 tonight) for scholarships for the Boulder Hockey Club. A committee consisting of Kevin Kelly, Steve Elmes, Aaron Brasket, Michael Denslow and Jeff Schatz, spearheaded the Marshall Fire Fundraising effort and Bob Hedlund and myself lead the effort to raise scholarship money through the sale of Long Hockey Pucks.  

This hockey program has broad ownership and there is hopefully pride by each participant in the way it functions day in and out. It offers an environment where decent hockey is regularly played, where the game can be played safely and one can start their day energized, and, where there is not just a spirit, but actual practice, of true camaraderie.