How an offhand joke on labchat managed to spur on this event is a miracle. But somehow us usyd computer geeks (and a couple of their long-suffering partners) managed to put together an ice hockey game. This is no mean feat, especially as some of the group have never ice-skated before.

So last Saturday, we travelled out to Blacktown Ice Arena to don some pretty smelly gear and try our little hearts out at Canada’s national winter sport (summer sport: Lacrosse). I have to say that I was amazed by the quality of the hockey. The skating was generally shit, but the hockey was great. Our goalie, Surly Jo, managed to fall down pretty much every time someone came near the net, but he managed to stop shot after shot. Eugene managed to stage epic falls that would have concussed mere mortals, but came out giggling every time. Alas, a group cannot collide with the ice over and over again without having a casualty. Our casualty was Bez. In a relatively benign fall, the poor guy twisted his ankle and ended up with a broken foot!!! (Dear Bez, I’m really sorry!). But even with this sad event, everyone had a good time, and there’s rumours of a follow-up game or even, dare I say it, putting together a team for the local league.

As in the tradition of a proper NHL game, at the end of the game, three VIPs (Very Important Players) are named.

1. Jo “Ice Ice Baby” Chee: This girl was on fire! Definately the most keen for the game of all the geeks, it was later revealed that she use to play roller hockey! That would explain the 4+ goals she scored and rings she skated around everyone else.

2. Jaime “I’m almost Canadian” Fenton: For his first ever hockey game, he certainly looked confortable out there and had the look down pat. He helped his team out with a critical goal, and demonstrated that not knowing how to stop shouldn’t prevent you from going as fast as you can.

3. Shannon “have my own skates” Byrne: Yeah, I know I’m blowing my own trumpet, but hey, theres not many opportunities for me to be good at sport. I scored a hatrick (three goals!) and managed to not fall down even once. Which explains why I seem to be a lot less sore two days later than my team mates are.

A big thank you to everyone that came and played. And a special thank you to Veronique, our team manager, who stood there in the freezing cold taking photos of our shenanigans.