So Much More Than Hockey

Baker Rink is so much more than hockey. I was learning to figure skate, and the Princeton Skating Club was probably the second most important group to that rink for my formative years. Every Sunday my two best buddies and I would spend all day at that rink. We would alternate who brought the PB & J’s, the money for vending machine hot chocolate, and the cigarettes for our one hour of time off between 8 am to 4:30 that afternoon. We had a blast sitting in the balcony being teenagers off the ice!

But, since my brother was a hockey player, we frequented the weekend games. Back in those days everyone pretty much knew everybody from town, and we would enjoy another place to connect. As I got older it became a source of where to meet up, and possibly meet someone new — like a university boy. I even got to take figure skating lessons from the campus’s new teacher, Tisha Baird. What a thrill I got from being coached by such a famous skater!

I wish I could have been there for the big celebration but my brother was sure to represent the Huston skating team. I made him make sure to get a photo with the Stanley Cup to send me, which I will treasure.

Nothing will I treasure more, though, than my many, many years of skating at Baker Rink passing and failing USFSA tests, participating in the Ice Carnivals, and being a kid growing into a teen with my friends.