Youth Hockey Days: Patches

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These patches were scanned from my youth
hockey jacket, which I still have to this day.




















































Patches from Ft. Wainright and Fairbanks, Alaska. I love
the moose facing off against the polar bear.We often played teams from nearby Fairbanks. It became a rivalry: Army Brats vs. Townie Kids. Almost sounds like the basis for a Disney movie.



















Not every player can lay claim to membership in the Zero Club. In fact, the MAJORITY of players can't brag about this. Being a member of the Zero Club didn't mean I was a friendless loser, by the way! It's an award for goalies. Now, I wasn't a goalie and I never wanted to be one. I was a forward and I usually played either on wing or center, but one day our goalie was sick. And so was our backup goalie! We didn't have a third backup plan, and somehow I ended up standing in front of the pipes with the big pads and the enlarged, unwieldy stick. I had to "take one for the team", as they say. I was nervous and I had no idea of what I was doing. My movements felt slow and clumsy. I was used to feeling like a fighter jet; now I felt like the Michelin Man in figure skates. Miraculously, no goals were scored against me that day, earning me a shutout (and this patch). It's my personal favorite, no question about it. Being a goalie for a day certainly gave me a different perspective of the game of hockey. I developed a real appreciation for what goalies go through. I love my Zero Club patch.



















This should be pretty self-explanatory, but for those who aren't into hockey, a player earns a Hat Trick if he or she scores three goals in a single game. It doesn't happen often and it's always a thrill when it does happen. This goes back to the earliest days of hockey, when spectators would throw their hats out onto the ice whenever a player accomplished this feat. Many spectators still carry on the tradition today of course, but it's usually baseball caps rather than stovepipe hats which end up out on the ice....and the ladies just don't swoon the way they used to. Or so I like to imagine.



















This one is from the Alaska-Canada (ALCAN) Tournament, and it's the year when players in our division were selected from both Ft. Wainwright and Fairbanks teams to form a single "all-star" team. I was fortunate enough to land a spot on the roster. The tournament was held in Anchorage, some 365 miles south of Fairbanks, and we played teams from around the state. After plowing through most of the Alaskan teams (we were feeling pretty good about ourselves at this point) we played the team from Whitehorse, Canada (Yukon Territory). And they cleaned our clocks. The final score wasn't so bad - I think it was 3-1 against us, but it was more about the "problem-solving" manner with which they beat us. Those Whitehorse kids really had their act together! And I found out later that they weren't on any so-called "all-star" team, either - just the "random regulars" in their division. Our team was served a lesson in the game of hockey....along with a nice big piece of humble pie.



















I don't remember much about this patch from the Anchorage Hockey Association; it must have been handed out to us as a goodwill souvenir during our "road games" to that city. I do remember the Ben Boeke Ice Arena in Anchorage where we played most of our games. In Fairbanks, we played at the Big Dipper Ice Arena. In Fort Wainwright, our "home ice" - we played on our outdoor rink! No indoor arena for us. But we did have a plywood shack with a small space heater in it for quick warmups between periods. And there was a concession stand which sold hot cocoa after the games.



















This patch is in my collection but it isn't one that I was given as a hockey player. I think it's from my Dad, who worked with an amateur team in Seattle/Tacoma area if I recall correctly. It's pretty unique with Seattle's Space Needle and Mt. Rainier in the background.