It is MEA weekend and the second hockey season is only a few days away with Halloween and The Big Pumpkin Tourney coming.  The first week in November starts the second season of hockey.  The fall leagues end regular season play this weekend and head for a week of playoffs/tourneys before heading for their high school teams.  Association tryouts switch to squirts and U10’s this week having picked their bantams, peewees, and U12’s.

And it is MEA weekend and there was little open hockey going on at the arenas; mostly adult hockey in the daytime.  But not at Wakota Arena in South St. Paul.

At Wakota, they had no open hockey Thursday and Friday for the kids; they had open hockey for all ages.  When one of the arena managers said that he emphasized that if you bring a kid to the 5:00-7:00 PM session Thursday they have to be in full gear.  Adults can wear helmets and gloves only.

And we don’t allow hockey games at open hockey he went on to say; just stick handling.

In the car on the way to Wakota Thursday, one of the players I was ferrying kept asking if he had to do stick handling drills.  The arena manager had said the session was stick handling only.  All I could say was stick handling only.  I could hear the kids in the back making plans to put in an appearance and leave-“Gravity” was on their mind.

They were among the first to arrive and were told they could get on the main sheet as soon as they were dressed.  Nothing like a clean sheet of ice with a few inviting pucks on it to spur a quick dressing.  In twenty minutes they were on the ice.

The arena put out four nets for “stick handling” hockey and my conspirators were already were playing a pickup game in front of one net with a father and his son.  The game went on for an hour as more and more as players of all ages hit the ice filled spots in front of the nets and long the boards.  It was unorganized, but with the adults on the ice, it was controlled.

One group of bantam aged kids showed up with a goalie.  They worked on his play, taking turns trying to get him to make the right moves.  Every so often another kid or adult would drift over and take a shot on the goalie forcing him to react to a surprise shot.  One surprise shooter was four years old and celebrated scoring on the “big goalie”.  The 4-year old was a surprisingly good hockey player.

An hour into the session, the ice had filled.  The “conspirators” I had brought were in their second hour of play having switched nets and were doing their own version of a shootout.  They stayed until the bitter end when the arena managers kicked them off the ice well after 7:00 PM.

Over the two hour session, there must have been 60-80 skaters playing small games in every open spot on the ice.  There were always some adults on the ice.  The some would skate a half hour and go.  Some would show up in groups and practice hockey.  Some 30 year old kids were just learning the game.  Some adults would show up with their kids and skate small games.

But all the kids had fun.  Most were “stick handling” and flipping the puck in open nets.  There were no arguments or disruptions or organized play.

My conspirators came off the ice hungry after more than two hours of continuous play.  As we left the arena, I felt as if I had just been to an outdoor rink in October only with more skaters.  After feeding them, they fell asleep in the car.  They were spending the night with me and slept 12 hours.

I was the real “conspirator”.  But they had fun.