Anyways, that series was the last that I have and will play hockey. That's right: I've officially retired; played my last go-round; made my final save; bought my last bit of goaltending-related gear.
Thus, my 'career' has spanned 17 years starting with the first time a neighborhood kid told me to stand front of shots with a catcher's chest protector, beat-up ice hockey pads, and a softball glove and ending with discounted but good-quality mostly-ice-hockey-worthy goalie gear. In that time I've played cupless (bad idea, but at least it was all ball - pun not intended - instead of puck), on tennis courts, asphalt, waffle sport court, and non-waffle sport court; for crappy teams, very crappy teams, and a few good teams; and I learned the value of never thinking I was okay where I was in terms of how I played my position. I have won 3 league championships and backstopped plenty of mediocre to losing seasons.
So why did I decide to retire? A few reasons, really. Let's take a look:
1) Equipment - goalie equipment, especially puck-worthy equipment, isn't exactly cheap. It's even less cheap when you take into consideration car payments, house payments, college loan payments, utilities, groceries, etc. And my current set was just getting too worn out. I've played in over 100 games with most of my current gear, and some of those pieces (mask, chest protector, pants) saw even more games when I was still playing on asphalt. I knew it was getting to the point where those little nicks, tears, and punctures were going to turn into something major enough to warrant replacement of the whole piece. If I had wanted to keep playing, it would have cost me at least a grand - and that's just to replace half the pieces!
2) Schedule - I'm 31. I'm slowing down. My body doesn't convert the food I eat as quickly as it used to - as evidenced by my gut. My job consists of a lot of sitting down, and finding time and space for deliberate exercise is still too much of an inconvenience. I work full-time. I need to basically take two showers in a row just to
3) My wife and I are expecting! This one reason has so much more weight than the first two. Not to knock guys who still play during / after their wives have children, but for such an important task, duty, joy as family-raising should be, I didn't feel right having these 2+ hour holes in my schedule that would keep me away from my wife and soon-to-be child. Just as it takes two to create a life, I want to be in the scenario where it takes two to responsibly raise a child. And that also means prep time before the baby comes. For me, that would be helping to get the baby's room in order, getting around to much-needed no-matter-how-big-or-small repairs around the house, pregnancy-related classes for couples, and reading prospective parenting books. All of those require time. And energy.
So, that's why I retired from hockey. I know I'll miss playing at times. I know that I'll probably daydream making big saves from time to time. But for something like saving money for the important stuff, having more time to devote to my wife, and preparing for and taking on the responsibilities of fatherhood? Hockey just doesn't stand a chance.
