Skating where everybody knows your name: Beer league hockey in the high desert
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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The sound of hockey pucks crashing around an ice rink vary from sharp smacks when they hit the wall, to bullet-like pings when they ricochet off the metal edge of a goal.
Karl Biddison is most concerned with the dull cracking sound of the puck hitting his pads.
Biddison is the goalie in Purple Reign Hockey Club, a recreational, or “beer league,” team in Grand Junction. The 10 other players on Purple Reign range in age from early 20s to late 60s.
“As soon as you try it, you almost become addicted to playing hockey,” said Biddison. He chalks up the popularity to word of mouth and friends getting each other into it, just like his team.
Video: Joshua Vorse, Rocky Mountain PBS
Biddison, who’s in his early 30s, has been playing in the league since his mid-twenties, making him one of the longest-playing members of the team.
Americans are spending more time alone than ever before, and experts are treating isolation and loneliness as public health concerns. Participation in recreation leagues is also on the decline. But the raucous, friendly atmosphere inside the River City Sportplex is evidence that the Western Slope’s amateur hockey community is working to buck those trends.
“We hang out very regularly [outside of hockey,] and I said, ‘Hey, guys, I love this. I think you'll love doing it, too.’ It became an activity we all can do together,” he said of the camaraderie that has kept him in the game.
At the Sportplex, Grand Junction’s ice rink, teams with names like Mid-Ice Crisis and Ugly Pucklings play across four different leagues. The best teams are in A league, intermediate teams are in B and C, and beginners play in D league.
The beer league — so named because for many players, the beer consumed after the game is more important than winning or losing — is co-ed. Some teams are mostly men, some are evenly mixed with men and women.
Purple Reign plays in the C league with five other teams. The other leagues have four to six teams each, all with about a dozen players per team.
The rink is the only one in the valley, and the only one between Salt Lake City and Glenwood Springs. Colorado Mesa University uses River City for their hockey team, and besides the adult league, kids ages eight to 18 learn to play and compete at the rink.
River City has also put on a curling league the last four years that attracts everyone from young couples to players in their mid-80s.
“We don’t really have practice, we just kind of wing it on game days,” said Quinton Barnett, who started playing about two years ago with Biddison and other friends.
Barnett claims theirs is the closest-knit group of friends out of all the teams. Biddison, who was the best man at Barnett’s wedding, agrees.
“In the NHL, the teams shake hands at the end of a playoff series. We shake hands after every game,” said teammate Rick Ellis, of the good attitude in the league.
Purple Reign currently has a 2-1 record this season, and although it’s not all about winning, the players say they’ve gotten better since they started playing together in 2022. Their team name mostly comes from the Prince song “Purple Rain,” and Biddison says words with homophones make for good team names. A horse with a crown adorns the purple jerseys of the team.
Barnett is cautiously optimistic for the rest of this season because the competition has ramped up as well. Teams play once a week during the 10-game regular season with a round of playoffs determining the champion.
It costs $250 per player for the season, basic gear is required, and participants are “strongly encouraged” not to hit. From there, it’s up to each team to practice, or not, and how serious to take the competition.
“The girls’ team is very good. They smoked us last time, but I would say there's definitely a higher level of competition now. I think anybody can win. And it's always fun to see the improvement on the teams,” said Barnett.
All the adult leagues are co-ed, and one team in C league, the Sirens, is all women. The Sirens are also 2-1 in the league and there’s a three-way tie for first in the standings between the Sirens, Purple Reign, and Mid-Ice Crisis.
“This is my stress release. This is where I go to forget all of the things, it's really hard to focus on anything but what you're doing while you're skating,” said Jonathan Keyek, who also designed the branding for Purple Reign.
Keyek had never skated before joining the team and felt intimidated learning the new skill. Though Keyek was new to ice skating, he was already family. Barnett is his brother in law.
Ellis and Biddison jumped in to help him learn to skate.
“I've never actually had a friend group like this that's been not only welcoming from the onset, but supportive, in that I actually never knew how to ice skate,” he said.
Ellis advised would-be players to focus on skating first, then worry about learning to play.
“Get good skates, spend more money on your skates than any other equipment,” he said.
In the industrial, chilly building on Riverside Parkway that was formerly known as the Glacier Ice Arena before new owners renamed it in 2022, the friends that make up Purple Reign agree the exercise is great, but working together as a team and strengthening their relationships is the real benefit.
“For me, I just love hanging out with my friends, win or lose,” said Barnett. Some of the players have been friends since 2016.
“We've had our highs and lows. We've won the league two or three times. We've gotten last place two or three times,” he said.
The friend group has been playing together for about two years. If it weren’t for hockey, they’d still be friends, hiking or floating the river together.
“I started playing and then slowly but surely added one friend, two friends, three friends, and now the whole team is friends,” said Biddison.
He says hockey certainly isn’t what holds the group together, but the competitive team sport builds more camaraderie than other things the friends do together, such as mountain biking or snowboarding.
“You make great friends because you go to battle together,” said Ellis. He describes himself as having the most experience, and the most gray hair on the team. Hockey is a big part of his life, coaching his two daughters, one of whom is married to Biddison, as they grew up playing club hockey, and playing in rec leagues in Colorado Springs.
Ellis isn’t concerned about getting hurt, saying hockey is one of the safer sports to play at a recreational level.
“Compared to softball and soccer, I've seen a lot less [injuries] because you're not planting your foot and you get less twisted knees and that kind of thing,” he said.
Even in beer league hockey, the game moves fast enough teams don’t call specific plays, rather each teammate has an area of responsibility, with the goalie as the last line of defense.
“You’ve got three forwards, two defensemen, so everybody knows that people have to be in a certain spot,” said Ellis.
Players have to trust if they get out of position, another teammate will take their spot.
“Hockey, to me, is really more about responsibilities and having each other’s back,” said Ellis.
In beer league, no rousing speeches are needed before the game, just AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” playing from a small speaker in the locker room as players pull on their last pieces of gear and start to stiffly walk out to the ice.
The big rectangular pads completely change a person’s silhouette — fully dressed, the players resemble Gumby, shuffling without articulation. The image vanishes when the skates make contact with the rink. Barnett gracefully glides on one foot while warming up before the game, the weight and layers of gear forgotten.
Purple Reign’s first game of the season was a 6-0 shutout win against the Sirens.Then a loss to Mid-Ice Crisis, and last weekend, a 3-2 victory over Puck Hunters.
Biddison says he likes to win, but that’s not the sole reason he pulls on the extra bulky goalie pads every week.
“Win or lose it, we're still going to be friends outside of it, but it's more about the community that we've built together,” he said.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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