Laces ...

When I first laced up my first set of hockey goalie pads, there were actual laces to tie around my legs. Thinking back to those memories, you kind of get nostalgic and often come to the conclusion that, we were quite blessed as youngsters to be born during a time when things would come to us relatively easy and free of charge, we made do with what was given as long as we were willing to search for it, and with a little imagination we always managed to make it work.

Alright ... where was I going with this?

Ah yes, laces ... So, when I was younger, so much younger than today, (got you thinking or singing the classic song Help by The Beatles), I was grateful for the little joys that culminated from an unusual purchase. One of these joys came in the form of those said goalie pads and how they came to be made.

Whenever we caught wind of a neighbouring household with the intent of purchasing a new couch, we were more thrilled and concerned with finding out all the intimate details about when they would toss that old, ratted chesterfield or when we would discover it lying out on the side of the road by sheer happenstance. What I do know was we weren’t going to leave it to chance. There was a group of us that formed a couple of teams. Search parties to comb and investigate each friends’ dwelling, listening to the chatter amongst the parents. And it's amazing what they talk about, but it wasn’t the information needed.

We soon found that we had to dig deeper and viola our determination paid off receiving our trusty intel, from the usual sources, our nosy Italian neighbours. They led us straight down to the timing of the move. The excitement brewed like a peculating coffee pot boiling, lurking towards the top. We all waited in anticipation and like vultures, we circled the house for the chance at grabbing a set of seat cushions for ourselves. Feeling poised at collecting the material to make myself a brand new, possibly improved pair of goalie pads.

There was only one minor detail, sometimes the idea in your head of what the sofa may look like may not resemble as close to the version you had in mind. We lived in a little Italian community, “il divano” or “a couch” as we referred to it in English, well didn’t meet the standards to looking like high-quality classic goalie pads. When Italian families buy themselves any type of furniture they tend to gravitate towards a more European floral design. Which in our case doesn’t sit well if you’re trying to evoke or strike fear in the hearts of your neighbouring opponents on game day.

So, the good news for me was, most kids would take a hard pass when they’d see that giant eye soar of a bright rose pattern or sometimes feeling a bit nauseous from those beige coloured patterns on the seat covers. It didn’t matter to me one bit; I wasn’t interested in the seat covers. I chose to remove those coverings exposing the sponge beneath, cutting them down to my size, decorating them as I wished with Crayola markers; drawing either the logos of my favourite sports teams, my most desired superheroes or simply make them look like those authentic old-style deer hide goalie pads worn by greats like …

Gerry “Cheesy” Cheevers,

Mike “Palmy” Palmateer,

Ken “Four-Storey Goalie” Dryden,

Tony “Tony O” Esposito or

Jacque “Jake the Snake” Plante...

Oh yes, those majestic television Gods, every Saturday night, broadcasted from coast to coast, all through the nation on Hockey Night in Canada.. I’d sit in absolute awe, watching, praising, and mimicking their every move. Those ultimate warriors made a fan out of me and I still carry on their warrior spirit, for I stand between the pipes a Goalie.

And it all started with tying sponge and laces around my legs…