The Hockey Punks

The dog had grabbed her miniature tire on a rope and loped back to me, fiercely flinging it from side to side and growling, even as she smacked herself in the head with a piece of hardened rubber. It was dark as it is on a winter afternoon and the community league ice rink to the side of us was unlit, the ice closed. Two figures were on the ice when an angry voice shouted “Get off the ice it’s closed!”

I glanced over, and threw the tire back down the field.

“TAKE IT EASY” echoed across the park in young man’s voice. I looked over again to seen a thin teen in a black hoodie and sweats struggling with a middle-age/senior man with a shock of white hair framing a bald head. The older man had forcefully pulled the teen off the ice it appeared and after a moment, turned and walked back to the club house. At this side of the rink, piles of snow had been gathered to allow jumping over the boards and onto the ice if the gate was locked as it clearly was now.

A second teen followed the first one off the ice. He was a larger kid, in a grey hoodie and sweats. He stalked as best as he could to the benches where the older man was loading equipment backing into the clubhouse.

I threw the tire again.

There was a clatter as if equipment had been thrown to ground and the two teens walked to the parking lot, followed by the man. The kid in black moved quickly saying nothing. The big kid walked with a slow shoulder rolling wide stance. I called the dog to me, and made a show of putting her on her leash, as a 55 lb. Rottweiler cross quickly becomes intimidating when her head drops and her hackles rise right to the base of her spine. The big kid spun and shoved the older man, screaming “you wanna go! YOU WANNA FUCKING GO!”

I shouted across the park that of he touched the man again I would call the cops. The kid turned to me and called it self-defense as the older man had grabbed him earlier. I scolded the teen for picking a fight with a man much older than he and reminded him the rink was closed.  The big kid shuffled towards the parking lot waiting to see if I would rush him, arguing with me. “You telling me a Canadian kid can’t play hockey...”

“IT’S PRIVATE PROPERTY. PEOPLE PAY TO USE THE ICE”.

“SO? I DON’T GIVE A FUCK”

And this is the really silly part.

“OH, ENTITLEMENT!?!”

I really said that. The kid seemed momentarily confused but followed his friend to car, shouting arguments at me about whether cops should be called. His final statement as he stepped to the car and dropped his gear in was “I CAN FUCKING FIGHT YOU, YOU CAN’T FIGHT ME”.

The older man stood at the edge of the lot, which prompted the kid to not get in the car, which promptly backed up and left the lot. It idled at the entrance to the lot while the kid screamed “YOU WANNA GO!?!” at the old man one more time, bracing himself on the ice covered pavement.

“REALLY?” I shouted.

The kid backed down the lot and got into the car. They drove off and I watched over my shoulder on the walk home, ready to be jumped.