The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Life has a funny way of working out. All those early morning practices and long road trips don't get many kids a career as a professional hockey player, but maybe it sets the ground for other possibilities. My son Scott Clark, who is now 36, was a decent player, but by Midget he was content to play rec league and get on with his teaching career. Then he moved to England and after a year, he told his mom how much he missed his hockey and asked her to send over his equipment. The day after it arrived, he drove a couple of hours and asked for a tryout with a semipro team. After a year or so, he was frustrated with all the driving and restricted ice time Ð as an import. When he was invited to try inline hockey he found his niche. (Inline hockey is played with a puck or a ball. There are separate leagues for each. The teams have a goalie and four skaters on at a time and the game is played in a gym.) Scott, who is originally from Flin Flon, has been very active and very successful playing inline hockey for the past 11 or 12 years. He's been a force in his part of England as a player, coach and organizer. Teams he has been involved with have won at all levels right up to Ð and including Ð the national and international levels. These days, more than a few of his teammates on various teams are his former students. For the first time, Scott accepted an invitation to play for the British National team in the European Championships this year. (Because his mom was born in England Scott has been able to obtain duel citizenship.) Britain's first game in the Championships, held last month, was against the host Switzerland. Britain won it when Scott scored the winner with 15 seconds to go and his line accounted for all the three goals Britain scored. It was the only game Switzerland lost in the tournament. Britain went on to win six in a row before losing to Denmark. Scott was named 'Man of the Match' in the second game. Britain lost in the playoffs and came in third. He finished the tournament with the third highest number of goals for Britain and he played most power plays and penalty kills. Pretty good for an old guy, eh?
