Lifetime Hockey

Dan McLaughlin and I (Mark Chapin) came at hockey as an adult from two different directions.  Dan played high school hockey; he played junior varsity but before too long he got interested in band.  He didn't play hockey again until he was 50.  

Mark grew up in southern Michigan.  They didn't have youth hockey at the time (no indoor rinks and the winters were moderate and so outdoor ice was not dependable).  He played boot hockey in the drive-way (he and his brothers flooded it during the cold streaks and their Dad had a dickens of a time getting the car up it) and some pond hockey with his brothers.  He didn't play organized hockey until I was 30 and Hockey North America came to Minneapolis-St. Paul.

The Minneapolis Armory

Dan and I met when we both worked for county government.  Dan was assigned to a redevelopment project to determine reuses for an old armory building in downtown Minneapolis.  I was also assigned to the project.  We looked seriously at reusing the building for an ice rink (this may sound farfetched but the Minneapolis Lakers--yes the team that Kobe Bryant plays for used to play in the facility).  The ice rink never got built but Dan began playing hockey again after being off skates for 35 years.

Sparse Books and Resources for Adult Players

We played hockey for a few years and tried to improve by playing a lot of hockey: league games, pick-up, outdoor--you name it.  We looked for hockey books and resources for the beginning and intermediate adult hockey player but couldn't find anything specific.  Most of the books and videos were targeted at youth players who checked.

Adult No-Check Hockey Book

Dan and I wrote a hockey book devoted to the interests and needs of the beginning and intermediate adult hockey player.  We drafted a manuscript and contacted several publishers of fitness and sports books.  We received several favorable responses (we saved them) but the publishers didn't believe that the market for an adult hockey book was large enough to put any marketing dollars behind it.  So, in 1997, Dan and I formed Lifetime Hockey and posted several of our book's chapters on the Internet.

Hockey Camp

We continued to play hockey but really had not improved significantly as players.  So in 2001, we decided with some other players on our team to go to an adult hockey camp.  That was where we met Tom Bast.  Tom was from Red Deer, Alberta where he operates a very successful sports apparel business and runs a youth hockey camp.  We thought Tom was a great coach and really clicked with him.

What we learned

Tom taught us how to take a puck off the boards while continuing to skate, how to handle a puck while skating backwards, how to make a saucer pass, how to properly shoot a wrist and snap shot and how to spin away from a forechecker.

Lifetime Hockey's Summer Camp was born

We told Tom about our on-line hockey book and he suggested that we do a hockey camp together in Minneapolis.  Lifetime Hockey's Adult Camp was born.  We organized a weekend camp in the Fall of 2002 and have held annual week long camps since then.

This is our 9th year.  We have a very loyal alumni of over 400.  We do very little advertising but our camp fills up each year primarily due to our alumni returning.  Some of our alumni have been at every camp and others come every other year.

(Contributed by Mark Chapin).