USA Hockey Adult Hockey

The gentlemen who make up the Beer adult hockey team from Columbus, Ohio, have always had a somewhat laid back approach.

 

“We went in saying ‘Let’s have a good time,’” Beer skater Greg Lewis said of his team’s trip to the 2012 USA Hockey Adult Classic in Indianapolis. “Sure, you like to win, but we want to have some fun. Plus, you meet some interesting people.

 

“Most of us are pretty successful in what we do. But it’s not the end of the world if we don’t win.”

 

Ironically that’s exactly what Beer did in 2012, as it skated off with the Novice Division championship banner.

 

Beer placed fourth out of eight teams in the 2012 Classic and also has competed in USA Hockey’s Adult Classic in Columbus.

 

What’s even more noteworthy about the Beer players is that they’re the exact opposite of “ringers.”

 

“One of two of us played high school hockey and nobody played college hockey,” Lewis said. “Most of the guys started playing as adults.

 

“The Columbus Blue Jackets started in [2000], so a lot of guys started playing hockey after that. You only can play so much softball, but you can play hockey 12 months a year. It affords us an opportunity for exercise and it’s a team sport.”

 

None of the Beer players are in a profession that’s even remotely related to sports in general and hockey in particular.

 

Off the ice, the players work in fields such as information technology, software sales, commercial real estate sales, construction management, financial services management, chemistry for food companies and home inspection.

 

“We pretty much have the same core of guys every year,” Lewis said. “A lot of guys met and learned to play hockey in Columbus through the Columbus Adult Hockey League, which is one of the largest leagues of its type in the United States.

 

“Brian Terrell is the guy who started the Beer team. He likes micro beers and wanted a real simple name.”

 

The back-story is that Terrell played for one of five BT teams in Columbus that are run by Scott Behrmann. When several men on one of the BT teams wanted to play another night, they approached Terrell, who was instrumental on getting the Beer team on ice.

 

“The guys said let’s go to Indianapolis and have a place for our Novice guys to play,” Lewis said. “Brian and Scott play on the team that goes to Indianapolis, and they asked me to help organize a team.”

 

The Beer players do more than play hockey in the Adult Classics and the Columbus Adult Hockey League. Because of the affinity they’ve developed for each other, their activities extend off the ice.

 

“I think one of the reasons we’ve stuck together is the friendships that have evolved,” Lewis said. “A lot of us went to Miami of Ohio when Miami played at Ohio State [on Dec. 15]. Brian got tickets for that game.

 

“We have a couple of social activities each year and that was one of them.”

 

Despite a disparity in ages (the men range in age from 30 to 55), the Beer players relish each other’s friendship, which, in turn, leads to building team chemistry on the ice.

 

“We hang out away from the rink together even though there is a large difference in ages,” Lewis said. “We have functions we all attend, like a hockey game.

 

“A lot in our lives revolves around adult hockey because a lot of us play multiple nights. Because a lot of us have known each other for a long time, we chose to play hockey together.”

 

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.