28 October 2002
Al and I did indeed get married on October 6 of this year. Since Ice Oasis is where we met, and both us us love to skate, the day before we were married we had a skating party at Ice Oasis. It was a good opportunity for the families to get to know each other, and for Al's friends to meet mine. I was happy to see both my dad and Al's get on the ice, as well as one of Al's uncles from Korea. Very cool. My mother-in-law commented on how well I skated, which made me feel great.

The only painful/hilarious moment was when I was skating with my sister and niece (we each held a hand, with M in the middle). Lisa and I were talking, and I leaned in to hear something she said, and just then M fell backwards. I tried my best to stay upright, but it wasn't possible because I was leaning. So of course I did what I do when falling forward in hockey: I dropped to my knees. (It's easier to get up that way.) And, of course, I didn't have pads on. I sat on the ice cursing for about two seconds (my nephew said later that he'd heard the 'f' word before, but never with 'ety' tacked onto the end), thinking first, "oh my god, did I break a kneecap?", then, "jeez, am I going to be able to get down the stairs [that form part of the aisle] tomorrow?", and finally, "thank god my dress is long!" I then asked Al to help me up quickly, before anyone watching from the lounge upstairs saw me sitting there. I didn't want my mom, in particular, to panic.

There are six hockey players in this photo: four singing and two kissing.
Clockwise from left: Sho, Jean (roller), Scott, Heidi, Helen (ice), Lester (ice), Allison (ice), Sandra, Lori (ice), and Al (ice)
photo by nj

It was painful to continue skating, but I did, partly to shake it off, and partly to hide the injury. I showed the bruises to my mom later, when I could assure her that I hadn't broken anything, and that I was OK. The bruises were actually worse on the honeymoon; by then they were purple-green, and must have looked alarming to the folks around the pool in Arizona.

Though the bruises made it somewhat painful to don my kneepads, we played a 7:30 game the night following the wedding before setting off on our two-week honeymoon road trip. I only fell once (and purposely flipped onto my hip as I went down), so no new harm done. We lost, but it was a fun game. Al's parents, who didn't fly back until Tuesday morning, watched the first and part of the second period; when Al talked to his mom on the phone a couple nights ago, she said she was amazed. Al and I decided that we play well enough now to be convincing; we don't look entirely like the Keystone Cops out there. If you didn't watch NHL hockey regularly, you might think you were seeing "real" hockey when you saw us play. :)

We missed two games while we were away, which is probably how our team managed to make it to the Stanley Keg game. :) Unfortunately, I'll be missing it, because I'm in Orlando at the moment attending a conference. Al will play, however, and he's bringing a photo of me to hold up for the team picture in case we win. I'm bummed that I'm going to miss my very first chance to even play in a Keg game. Al's played in two or three, I think, and he's won one.

I also missed a Spitfire tournament while I was away on the honeymoon. They played in LA, and also made it to the finals. Since the Spitfire usually only manage to have a roster of 10 to 12 players, we're often undone by fatigue if we make it to the finals; that seemed to be the case in LA this year, according to Michele, our captain. It's a great finish, however, and one I intend to be proud of, even though I didn't participate in it. :) Our next tournament is in Las Vegas in February. I've already said I'm in for that one, barring any last-minute work commitments.

I'm really looking forward to playing in another tournament. It's been too long since my last one (Vancouver, in May). Vegas is fun because it's stretched over four days, and if you don't gamble or party too much, you can actually get some sleep. I'm hoping Al can come with me this time, since he enjoys gambling, and we've never been to Vegas together. I also think it will be easier for him to amuse himself between/during games than it was in LA last year.

Although the honeymoon made us miss a lot of hockey, it wasn't entirely hockeyless. We put tickets to the Dallas Stars/Edmonton Oilers game on October 15 on our registry, and our friend Morgen bought them for us. We had great seats behind the net. It was a little disheartening to see the Stars play so well, especially considering the start that the Sharks have gotten off to this season, but in the end, we couldn't help but be impressed. The Stars could be a contender this year.