Published prominently on the sports section front of today’s Washington Post is Capitals’ reporter Katie Carrera’s chronicle of an impressively committed band of roller blading hockey players who compete just a hard wrist shot away from the White House: ‘A White House Power Play‘ — further evidence that hockey’s roots are taking hold here outside of Chinatown.
“For roughly 14 years, a group of relative strangers has met to play street hockey here — on the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, surrounded by manicured trees and box hedges and just a few yards away from the most recognizable address and home in the United States. The gathering of 20-somethings and middle-aged family men includes electricians, lobbysits, software developers, lawyers and physical therapists.”
This game, Carrera notes, was formed precisely by the closure of Pennsylvania Avenue to all vehicular traffic in 1995. The players have earned respect and even deference from the layers of surrounding law enforcement:
” . . . during the 2008 World Bank protests, those who arrived toting hockey equipment were allowed to pass through [the closed street] and play.”
Street hockey players regarded as pacifists by law enforcement relative to political protestors!
All that perhaps remains for the game’s evolution to for someone to arrive with a hose and flood the street. Pennsylvania Avenue as the site of Washington’s Winter Classic? Not a bad backdrop when you think about it, and that may go a long way to at long last getting POTUS to attend his first hockey game.
One Comment
If you want to see a really high-quality (and fun-loving) street hockey organization, check out NYC’s btsh.org which features spirited, chippy, fast-paced coed ball hockey every Sunday in the East Village in a nearly 10-year-old, 18-team league. Many of the players are competent former and present ice and field-hockey players. The league’s close-knit family has spawned ice-hockey teams playing at Chelsea Piers and at Central Park’s outdoor Lasker rink. It’s also led to marriages and business deals (which are not necessarily mutually exclusive). It’s also featured some really fun moments like when my son’s girl friend (a fierce forechecker) hip checked Mike Myers (of Austin Powers fame) into the net prompting him moan to the refs.
Post a Comment