Re: RARA-AVIS: Canada, Hockey and so on (was: Ice Rinks/Travis McGee)

From: John A. Armstrong ( johnnyyen@shaw.ca)
Date: 16 Feb 2002


And further to M. Morgan's post, in the far west of the country, Vancouver and the southern majority of the province, our weather is more like Seattle's than the frozen hell that is to the east. Rain, snow for a day or so before melting, once every 10 or 12 years cold enough for uninsulated pipes in older homes to freeze. JAA

"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact than a drunken man is happier than a sober one ." GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
----- Original Message ----- From: "T.Kent Morgan" < tkmorgan@shaw.ca> To: "rara avis" < rara-avis@icomm.ca> Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2002 12:04 PM Subject: RARA-AVIS: Ice Rinks/Travis McGee

>
> > >
> > >Why do Canadian prisons have ice rinks? And why are they outside the
> > >walls?
> > >
> > >Mark
> > I can take this! I can take this! (Hi, Kerry.)
> > Because (a) ice hockey is the national sport, and
> > (b) in a typical winter the whole of Canada east of the Rockies is an
ice
> > rink
>
> Just to clarify, the Canadian national sport is lacrosse. Ice hockey is
the
> national winter sport. Coming from east of the Rockies, I'll add to the
> above. At least here in Western Canada the prison rinks are "outside" but
> not outside the prison walls. By outside we mean open air rinks, not the
> typical enclosed arena with a roof. My visits to prisons were usually in
the
> summer to play softball against the inmates, but one time in the winter I
> travelled with my college floor hockey team to the Stony Mountain federal
> penitentiary for a game. I was the ice hockey referee-in-chief at the
> college, but also officiated floor hockey.
>
> Although it was 30 years ago I remember three things clearly about that
> game. First of all, one of my classmates, who was editor of the college
> paper, was not on the list of people approved to visit the prison. He had
to
> remain "outside" the walls while we went inside for the game. Secondly,
the
> game was in the prison gym, which was very small and the inmates were
> crowded around the walls yelling and betting, usually for their team. It
> could have been an intimidating atmosphere for most officials. The other
> referee, who appeared to be a bodybuilder, came over to me before the game
> began and said, "Don't worry, I own this gym."
>
> Thirdly, the college team led by a couple of goals at half-time. When the
> second and final period began, the prison team consisted of an entirely
new
> group of players. When I asked the other ref about it, he replied, "They
> just came in from outside." I knew he meant they had been playing ice
> hockey. The ice hockey players were also the best floor hockey players so
> the prison team easily won the game. It must have been about 20 degrees
> below zero Fahrenheit "outside" that January night.
>
> Maybe there's a short story for the next edition of the Canadian
anthology,
> Iced, in that tale.
>
> In regard to Travis McGee, a list I found somewhere has The Deep Blue
> Good-By, Nightmare in Pink and A Purple Place For Dying in the omnibus
> published in 1975. For the past couple of years, I have been trying to
> complete my late father's John D. MacDonald collection by picking up cheap
> copies at used bookstores, thrift shops and our hospital charity book
> markets. Now have all the McGees but one, but am still hoping to find Weep
> For Me, Area of Suspicion, A Bullet For Cinderella, Murder in the Wind,
The
> Price of Murder, The End of the Night and End of the Tiger and Other
> Stories. The hunt is part of the fun as Rara Avians know. Think I'll go
out
> hunting rather than watch the Olympics.
>
> Kent Morgan in Winnipeg who played a little "pond" hockey on the Red River
> (of the North) a couple of Saturdays ago
>
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