Ey Adult Team Keeps it Fresh

Bob Aldridge has a unique philosophy when it comes to building an adult hockey team. It’s not all about winning, but about turning young skaters into hockey players.

Each season, Aldridge takes on the challenge of finding and adding new players to his team’s roster. When other teams in the Idaho IceWorld Adult Hockey League in Boise, Idaho, may want to keep their group intact year after year, Aldridge will always take a chance on a new player.

This year, Aldridge’s squad — Ey, which was originally called Eh?, for the Canadian expression, but was misspelled once on a team jersey — has five new players. The skaters are pretty new to the sport, but some had played three-on-three hockey and had to adapt to the five-on-five game.

Ey competes in the C-league, chalked full of beginners and older players. Aldridge’s goal is to get the new players good enough to move up to B- or A-league when they are ready.

“I don’t think [Bob] would turn anyone away, and I don’t think anybody has a problem with that,” said Ey team member Chad DeGraw said. “I just think it is who Bob is as a person. He’s almost 70, and he’s out there doing his thing and having fun. Part of him having fun is helping other people.”

At 69, Aldridge is a veteran on the ice, having played hockey for 16 years, the last decade for Ey. Aldridge has had health problems over the years — he lost vision in his left eye in 2004 and has only one lung — but he’s a capable left wing. Although he’s not “leading the charge,” he hopes the young players can pick up a few things from his game.

“I can teach some things that they wouldn’t otherwise learn,” Aldridge said. “There’s more to it than just going fast. They have to think about positioning and tactics and patience and those things. And I think because I’m not as worried about if we win or lose, I can spend time with some of the players, who frankly sometimes aren’t very good, but try to work that potential up.”

Aldridge promotes a fun environment for all the players on his team. He continually wants his teammates to get better on the ice.

“No. 1, we’re going to try to make it a fun experience for everybody, so if somebody has a bad attitude, we’ll move them out. We’ve done that in the past,” Aldridge said. “No. 2, everything’s going to be constructive. If there’s going to be any talking to people about how we play, it’s all going to be constructive. No blaming, no whatever. ... We want a good team atmosphere. We want everybody to like each other and get along and have a good locker room.”

Even though new players are being added to Ey every season, there is a core group of about six skaters who have competed on the team for a number of years.

“The core group we have is just a good group of guys,” said DeGraw, who is 43 and played for Ey for four years. “No one takes it too seriously. We go out and have fun, and we know the guys in the core group; we know their strengths, we know their weakness, and we stick up for each other.”

Adding the new players in with the veterans each season can mean interesting results on the ice. It takes some time for chemistry to develop and the players to get to know one another.

“We always start off a new year with a real mixed record,” said Aldridge, who remembers one of his teams starting out 0-11-1 one summer. “And sometimes really bad.”

Aldridge, who is an attorney, enjoys meeting new people and hearing their stories. New ideas and new blood on an adult hockey team can be a good thing for camaraderie.

“You don’t get into a rut,” Aldridge said. “If you have the exact same people all the time, I guess it’s kind of like a married couple because you better love them a lot. It gives you some freshness. With new people, it gives us a chance to move around some. We have people moving in different positions and different places.”

The players Aldridge brings onto the team are usually 20- and 30-year-olds. It creates a different dynamic with the older Aldridge. However, it’s proven to be effective on the ice. Two years ago, Ey won back-to-back league championships. Ey was in fourth- and fifth-place at the end of the regular season those title years, but peaked at the right time in the postseason.

With a busy schedule day in and day out at his office, Aldridge enjoys getting away to the rink.

“I’m just so happy to be able to play, I love it,” Aldridge said. “Given my age and some of the physical disabilities, every day I’m out there and able to do it is a joy.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.