Introduction and Writer's Refection

By: Micaela Moak

My research paper is about the game of ice hockey. It also
focuses on the rules of the game, the history and some phenomenal
players throughout its history. I played hockey for about fve years,
from approximately fve years of age through ten years of age.
Although I have not played in over ten years, I still love to watch my
brother play. I also enjoy watching my favorite team the oston ruins
play on television. I am hoping some day to see the oston ruins play
live in action. My favorite player to watch is the defenseman !deno
"hara. !deno "hara is from #lovakia, is $%&' and wears the jersey
number ((. )e is also the "aptain of the oston ruins.
*uring the time that I played hockey, I wore the number eight on
my jersey and played all positions, including goalie, defense and
forward. I always played for the same league, that being the +roy,
Albany -outh )ockey Association, but the names of my teams changed
yearly. #ome of the names of the teams I played on included +he
.arriors and +he /ipers.
My favorite memory of playing hockey was when I played as a
goalie as a mite. My team and I were in a tournament playing at the
ethlehem -M"A, and I won the M/0 for having a shutout
performance. A shutout means the opponent did not score during the
entire game. Also, I will never forget the day that I was sent to the
penalty box for the frst time for tripping a player from the other team.
+hroughout my years of playing, I played on a team which
consisted of mostly boys. It wasn%t until after I stopped playing that
the league started having separate teams for boys and girls. )ad that
started during the time that I was playing, I may not have stopped.
I started out learning how to skate using fgure skates. I went to
a skating school where I learned starting o1 with a cone and had to
skate from one end of the rink to the other. 2nce I got fast enough and
strong enough, I switched to wearing hockey skates and playing
hockey. I then learned how to skate holding a hockey stick and
shooting a puck.
I would have to say that the worst part of playing hockey was
having to get up really early for games. My *ad would wake me up at
fve o%clock in the morning and he would put all of my gear on for me,
even though most timesI was still asleep. +o get me into the game
mode in the car ride to the arena he would crank up A"*" as loud as it
could go.
Although hockey is a violent sport it is still very fun to play and
very fun to watch. 3inally, even though I stopped playing ten years
ago to this day I still wish I could put on my old jersey and my gear and
hit the ice one last time.