USA Hockey Adult Hockey

Working in the gas and oil industry can certainly be a highly stressful occupation.

Hockey, on the other hand, can be the ultimate stress reliever.

The majority of the guys who play on Grease in the Apex Adult Hockey League in Arvada, Colorado work in gas and oil, and use Monday nights as their time to put their day jobs on the backburner.

“The sport’s always been my church to where everything else is gone,” Grease team member Brent Williams said. “It’s gone when you go to the rink — it disappears. It’s amazing. Any problems you’ve got, they’re all gone for one or two hours and you don’t even think about them.”

It’s that stress reliever that the players sometimes desperately crave.

“Especially in times like this where the industry is very depressed,” Grease captain Mike Griffis said. “There are some guys we know that are having a tough time playing hockey because they probably could afford it, but they’re concerned about cash flow around the house. Some of them don’t have jobs right now and they’re looking for jobs. I work out a deal with them and they can still come out and play.”

Grease is comprised of engineers, sales reps and business owners in the gas and oil industry. Name an occupation, and Grease probably has someone in that field.

“We all know the same people, we all run in the same circles,” said Griffis, who is an engineer and operations manager for GRMR Oil and Gas in Bloomfield, Colorado. “We’ve all worked together off and on throughout the years here in Denver.”

The guys love playing with and against their brethren in the gas and oil industry. It’s a unique field, and the players can share some common ground.

“It breaks barriers, too, like locker room barriers,” Williams said. “You might have people that are clients or stuff like that and now everybody’s on the same level. That’s another thing that hockey brings people to is that everybody’s the same. Everybody ties their skates the same, everybody puts their gear on the same.”

Grease plays in the upper D League at Apex, which is mostly for intermediate/recreational players. The team started up two years ago and is really having a blast on the ice.

“We all enjoy the game, first and foremost,” Griffis said. “None of us ever think it’s a chore to go out and play hockey. Granted those 10:30 [p.m.] games get a little rough some days, but that’s just the way that works. Knowing each other outside the rink just makes it that much more fun.”

Grease is made up of players with varying backgrounds of experience in hockey. Griffis just picked up the game five years ago when we was 38, and Williams, who is 49, has been skating since he was 6 years old growing up in Edmonton, Alberta.

“I grew up in Florida and the only thing we do with ice was put it in our tea,” Griffis joked. “So for me jumping out onto the ice when I was 38 for the first time looked like Bambi on ice, it was horrible.”

Williams is one of the veterans on the team. He knows he probably doesn’t belong in the D League because of his background, but he loves playing with the guys on Grease.

“I just kind of fool around and coast,” said Williams, who is an account representative in the gas and oil industry. “What I really like is feeding them some passes and watching somebody like Mike score a goal. I have more fun playing with these guys more than anything else, because it’s almost like a 35-year-old becoming a kindergartner again. The major enjoyment that I get out of it is watching the other guys accomplish how to skate backwards or making good passes or scoring a goal.”

Grease’s average age is about late 30s to early 40s and ranges from the high 20s to one player in his early 60s.

The guys aren’t too concerned about winning since they lose more than they win. But that doesn’t get their spirits down.

“We have a great time,” Griffis said. “We razz each other on the bench, on the ice. Quite a few of us go and throw a cold one back after the game. We socialize outside of the rink, too. Most of us have a really good attitude as well.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc