In hockey age does not matter

Jeff Weis of the orange team faces off with the with the white team's goalie. (Pho245/Sydney Sawkins)

     Let me just first say that I am not a sports expert.
     In fact, the hockey game I shot for this assignment is the first one I've gone to that I can remember. However, I did my research and watched a few hockey games online before I went to shoot. I found that shooting sports can be a tough job to get those key shots. It's very fast paced; maybe a little too much for my liking.
     The hockey game was at the Tam-O-Shanter in Sylvania, Ohio. The players were in a 35 and older league. The teams were organized by color, and there was no roster to help me identify the player's names.

The goalie prepares to defend the net. (Pho245/Sydney Sawkins)

     One should not assume they can't hack it with the younger players. I found that there were just as many hard checks into the boards and sticking violations as a pro hockey game, or even that of a high school or college game. In fact, one of the teams seemed to utilize the illegal move of using their sticks to yank the feet out from under their opponents.
     In addition, a big hockey tradition was rampant in the form of trash talk and profanity. The one sentence that stood out in my mind was aimed at a player heading into the penalty box. He shouted out, "Get in the box already you fat, f---ing pig!" It mildly surprised me that they would use such language, but in a close game like this tension was running high.
     The winning team did a lot of scoring in the first period. However, the losing team managed to tie it up in the second period. After that it was a grueling battle for the win.
     As the two teams lined up after the game to slap hands, all anger and tension from the game was put aside in a great display of sportsmanship.
    This was a good ending to a great game.

Three players engage in possibly illegal stick play. (Pho245/Sydney Sawkins)