Pull up a chair, sit back and I'll tell you about hockey in Bermuda. When I started, in 1987, we played at the Warwick Post Office on Saturday afternoons. It was a lousy place to play, but it was better than nothing. From those days, I remember Phil Ray, who I guess was the first regular Bermudian to play. He only played in net and he holds the distinction of being the world's slowest goaltender.

Another guy who Roger didn't mention was Tony Escolar. Tony was a little Philippine-Canadian who wasn't much of a player but was certainly a good laugh. He rarely came onto his own side of center -- sort of like Larry Turnbull but with absolutely no scoring touch.

Paul Cashin used to play in Warwick. Paul was a Newfie who worked at the Bank of Bermuda. He reminded me of a table hockey player. He moved up and down the same wing, was pretty slow, but could put the ball in the net. He moved back to Canada for a few years but is now married to a Bermudian and living in Bermuda. I used to bump into him every once in a while. He was an opposing coach in T-ball last season, but he doesn't seem to be interested in hockey anymore.

There was also a tall, thin guy named John who also worked at the bank and was Paul's best friend. I can't think of his last name right now but he was a pretty good player. He scored a lot of goals but always seemed to be on the losing team. We used to call him Albert, after the guy in the old Canadian Tire commercial (if any of you remember it).

These guys also played at the Naval Annex in Southampton. We used to play on the tennis courts there on Tuesday and Thursday nights. The goalies had pads and masks and slap shots were allowed.  I can't think of Jack the American's last name. But Roger should remember, since he was the guy who sold Roger his first of a long line of Suzuki Fronte's.

Dan Herauf was quite a good player. Dan took a slap shot from Roger from about 5 feet away right in the side of his rib cage. I can still remember the thud. Dan was a big guy. I think he wanted to cry after that but he managed to hold back the tears. Personally, I would have dropped my gloves and taught Roger a lesson if he'd done that to me.

There were a lot of French-Canadian guys from the Canadian Forces base that played back then. I can remember playing a game when I was the only guy speaking English. I felt obliged to remind them that this was Bermuda and we speak English here. Most of them were cannon-fodder but there was one guy who was a pretty decent player and a nice guy. I can't think of his name. It might have been Rob. I think he was in charge of physical fitness for the guys on the base.

Tom Cormier also played way back then. He was at least as good then as he is now. Tom Miller used to play more regularly back then as well. He was pretty good player.  Alan Cunningham was definitely a whiner, and also a very good player. He was a phys-ed teacher at Warwick Academy. His other claim to fame was the touch football tournament he used to run on Super Bowl Sunday at the Warwick Academy field. He'd get half a dozen or so teams together and really had it well organized. The tropy was a deflated football tacked to a wood base, which I believe he called the Kahuna Bowl. 

Neil Stone-Wigg was a field hockey player and a great squash player who came out a few times. He was a natural athlete who found ball hockey pretty easy because he could use both sides of his stick and his feet, unlike field hockey.

Remember the guards at the entrance to the annex? During the Gulf War, they carried rifles. The first week of the war, they insisted on using those mirrors to look under our scooters for bombs. I think they even felt stupid about that, so they stopped after a week.

A name you forgot at the North Shore facility is Sylvain Fontaine. He was a short, stocky Quebecer who didn't come out that often but was a pretty good defenseman. When he went back to Canada, he ended up playing semi-pro (ie. $100/game) for a couple of winters.

I can't think of Joe the Italian guy's last name. Joe used to get a look in his eye every once in a while and decide he was going to take the ball to the net at all costs. He'd run over guys to get there. I always he remember he wore a baseball cap with "LTC" on it. Apparently, LTC was a rock group from Boston, but I always thought it stood for "Larry Turnbull's Cap".

Mike Bernard was another Boston guy. One of the funniest guys I've ever met, with the thickest Boston accent. His Boston Marathon training consisted of having a burger at the Swizzle Inn and then running back home to Warwick.

I wasn't around in the Post Office days but did play in the only game on ice in Bermuda and in the first game at the North Shore facility which gave birth to the BBHA's predecessor, the TBHA ( Tony's Ball Hockey Association).

Back in 1990 ( 91?) somebody brought "Hollywood on Ice" to White Hill Field in Southampton. It was a tiny ice surface with boards about an inch high. Tony Bibbings found out about this and managed to convince them to rent the ice to us after the ice shows were over.

It was in a big tent on the field and it was about 80 degrees in there. There was an inch of water on top of the ice as it melted in the tent. Tony had arranged for somebody to bring in about 40 sticks, pucks etc, and a lot of the guys who were home for Christmas brought their own skates back.

Tony even managed to get one of the papers to come out to A&A where we both worked to get a picture of he and I in our suits with hockey sticks, "ready to do battle".

The funniest part was the guys who didn't have their skates & had to rent figure skates from the Ice show. One was Marvin Mckay, who kept catching his "picks" on the ice and crashing down to be soaked by the melting ice.

One of the other problems was losing pucks. It was night time so it was a bit dark in the tent. Pucks were flying all over the place into the dark corners of the tent. We had to stumble through the muddy grass in our blades to look for pucks to keep play going...we didn't have any skate guards...

At least one person video taped the game... not sure who...perhaps we could find it & put some streaming video on the website.

After the game on ice Tony was in a quandary about what to do with all of the sticks & suggested we find somewhere to play ball hockey. The NSF was discovered and recruitment began.

All I remember of the first game was the poor turnout. It was 2 on 3, me and Rob Mehta against Tony & 2 teammates.

After that things got rolling as Tony ramped up his organizational & marketing machine. I think there may have been another group that played at Elbow Beach at one time& we were able to get some of their equipment including gear for the goalies.

We tried playing with the nets up, but back then they were quite flimsy & kept blowing over (they were made of very thin PVC piping and onion bags, could be completely unassembled.

Back then the boards were also much lower so it wasn't uncommon for players to disappear overboard if they couldn't get the brakes on or the action was getting little vigorous in the corners. Best example of this was Randy Sommerville being shoved over by Rob "Lane Man" Mclauglin, only to become wedged upside down between the boards & a tree trunk. All we could see was his feet sticking up in the air.

In the pre-tournament era we were limited to matches against other loosely assembled groups. A memorable one was the match against the staff from the Oasis, whose team included, "Big Paul" Sofianos and John Dobson (drummer for the Kennel Boys who was a regular on Saturday mornings & a good player). Their goalie wore cricket pads and kept muttering something about "googlies" after we scored.

After 10 minutes we were up 10-0 and it was time for a smoke break. It didn't last long after that.

Another challenge came from a "mature" squad made up of Jim Butterfield, Al Dunkle, Jim Hindess & co. Again after a few minutes we were up by a few goals and it was obvious they were no match for our pace. They decided to change tactics and lay on the body...and the foot & the sticks & the elbows and anything else they could to try to slow us down. I think still have a few scars from the shots I took in the back that day.

Where are they now

Rob Cowman

Known for his sheepdog hair and his superb goaltending. Back in the days of plastic shin pads for goalies was often seen sliding past center ice to stop an incoming breakaway

Rob "Lane Man".

Spent a couple of seasons in the TBHA trying to convince everybody to play in lanes up and down the surface. Often played while still drunk from Friday night. The idea never took hold and he is apparently still flogging it somewhere in Toronto.

Rob Quinney

Friend of Mehta's who was a real slick ball handler and very fit. Made a guest appearance once while on holiday several years back.

Paul Huston & Ricky Armstrong

The first and maybe only Scottish guys to play in the tbha. Known for well timed head butts and puking in the crease after a good night out.

Alan Gilbertson & Mark Hamilton

Two field hockey players who gave it a try....due to stick handling techniques which reminded me of shoveling the driveway, they were not able to keep up with the cost of constantly replacing their blades & had to retire.

The French connection

Sylvain Fontaine, Mario Valcourt and Daniel Bordage. These guys could fly. Only problem was they put maple syrup on everything at post game breakfasts so they had to be asked to leave.

Rod Thoms

The Big Man from Victoria. After coughing up a lung decided to retire. Can now be seen coughing up a lung at Total Fitness.

Lorraine

The first girl to play in the TBHA. Frustrated many a player with deceptive speed...slower than she looked...particularly Joe "Italian Stallion" Giannini, who almost retired after losing the ball to her one too many times.

Jeff Roy

A talented forward and legal mind famous for shooting most of the first batch of balls into the ocean. Had a particular knack for misinterpreting a call for a pass as a suggestion to shoot on goal no matter where he was on the surface.

Kevin Comeau

Now a lounge singer in Las Vegas, "Le Chien" tried to break into the French connection but despite his heritage couldn't mumble a word of French.

Ken McDonald