At youth hockey pickup games at the Mountain View Ice Arena, the scoreboard always ends up a tie, and there’s always a shoot-out.
And some gloating.
Max Tikhomirov, 12, tossed his glove in the air and mimed skeet shooting with his stick.
“Have fun, if you score a goal, you gotta make it silly,” said coach Mike Gamby on Sunday, explaining some of the philosophy behind the pickup game, which he helped set up. “It’s just a super laid-back event.”
With three playable rinks and limited availability, scarcity often makes youth ice hockey in the area a relatively formal affair, organized around official leagues, practices and matches.
Between the climate and the amount of ice, there’s no way for people to play pickup, pond hockey games in the Pacific Northwest, said Gamby, so this summer he’s been organizing Sunday pickup games for local players.
About 15 to 20 players show up at the rink each week, he said, all around 10 or 11 years old, give or take a year. His 11-year-old son, Cameron, plays as well.
“We’ve got kids that are brand new to skating, to kids that have made some of their local travel teams,” he said.
Gamby organizes reserving the space, and participating parents pitch in for the rental fee. Others help as loose referees and scorekeepers.
“The parents are fantastic. Me and another dad are just our here kind of keeping an eye on them, making sure no one gets hurt. We run a clock for them and they just have fun,” he said. “A full-on pickup game.”
Chris Ganoung helped track the score — or an approximation of it; again, games often end in a tie — and watch the clock while his 11-year-old son, Anthony, played goaltender.
All the parents have been receptive and supportive of the Sunday games, he said, and many come out to watch.
For boys his son’s age, it’ll be after this summer when youth hockey starts getting really competitive, he said.
Naturally, if they want to learn to play and play well, the kids have to practice and play consistently, he said. “It’s important to get into that mode, because otherwise, once you get past (the 12-and-younger level), you might as well be going big leagues.”
That’s part of why opportunities like what Gamby helped set up are so valuable, he said.
“That’s where, we’re just like, I don’t want to break the poor kid before he even gets into that,” he said.
The players come from around the metro area, and most know each other from their regular-season teams and leagues, said Max Gudanis, 10.
Gamby sets the rules: Don’t get rough, enjoy yourself and play hard, Max said.
“It’s just relax and play. In the season, it’s hard core training day after day, work your butt off,” he said. Here, “You just get to play around, have fun with your friends. That kind of stuff.”
