Ryan Kesler talks youth hockey in Michigan in new Players’ Tribune story

By @MichaelCaples –

In a story penned for The Players’ Tribune, Livonia native Ryan Kesler talks about his youth hockey days in Michigan.

The Anaheim Ducks star and NTDP alum discusses many things in his ‘How We Play Hockey in America‘ piece, along with some terrific anecdotes about his time in Metro Detroit.

Some highlights:

“We lived in an old ranch-style house outside of Detroit. It’s over 100 years old now. In the winter, my dad would make a rink out back. But we didn’t have a pond or anything. Just a big yard. In the beginning, he would just take the garden hose out and spray down the grass. Then he got a little smarter and put some tarp down first.

That was only good for three months a year, tops. The majority of my hockey life revolved around ministicks in the basement, or ball hockey out in the street. My brother is nine years older than me, but for some reason I always kicked his ass whenever we played street hockey. I was dominant. The weird thing was, the domination extended to everything else — Monopoly, Connect 4, Sega.”

MORE: VIDEO: Ryan Kesler goes undercover as a Ducks fan, hilarity ensues | VIDEO: Ryan Kesler talks about his youth hockey days in Michigan (Part I)

On sneaking into an adult deck hockey game with his brother…

“I remember I brought along my buddy Chris Conner, who ended up making it to the NHL, too. We had to lie about our age. We were supposed to be 18. I mean, Chris is like 5-foot-8 as a full-grown man, so you can just imagine how far this stretched the imagination. But somehow, we got past the deck hockey bouncers.

Remember, this was back in the mid ’90s, when roller hockey was just starting to get popular in Michigan. We had been playing in the street forever. So we absolutely tore it up. We’re 12 years old, torching these full-grown men. And that’s when I learned a very valuable lesson: Even playing beer league deck hockey, even in the middle of summer, even if you are 12 years old — if you’re scoring on the other team, they are going to mess with you.”

And this…

…When I think about growing up playing hockey in Michigan, I think about battles. When you think about Canadian kids, you probably imagine the perfect frozen ponds and shinny and warm cocoa and all that. It’s like a painting, right?

But for us, the reality was a lot grittier. I’m not saying we were less skilled. In fact, I think Americans often have unbelievable hands because of roller hockey. But if you tell Americans to close their eyes and think about playing hockey as a kid, they’re going to see blacktop. Mylec pads. Orange balls. Dented garage doors. They’re going to smell the asphalt of their driveway. They’re going to smell that weird plastic of the deck hockey rink.

And they’re definitely going to smell the rubber flooring of the lobby in their local ice rink. Oh my God! That rubber smell! I still love it to this day. I don’t know about the newer rinks, but anyone who grew up playing in the ’80s and ’90s was hit with that infamous smell as soon as they walked in the building. Blue rubber flooring mixed with concession stand hot dogs mixed with smelly hockey equipment.

It’s incredible. You either love it or you hate it. I love it.”

Check out the full article here.