Covid-19 – The Steps Back to the Ice

[Lucky Pucker]

55 minutes ago, seagoal said:

Thanks .  This is our basement that we turned into a pub...but these days is my work from home office.  

I'm surprised you know it.  You guys get it up there? It's a pretty damn tasty beer.

Yes, I’ve had that one - can’t remember if I bought it at the liquor commission or a friend imported for me - but we do get a few US breweries’ beers up here like Lagunitas, Founders, and Anchor. 
...but we have amazing stuff made closer to home, too!

[RichMan]

It finally happened! I stepped on the ice yesterday, at a rink, fully suited up for a drop in skate practice kinda thing cause we are not supposed to play organized hockey right now  

HOLY PUCK am I not in playing condition! Never have I ever felt my age like I did for that 50 minute ice time. My legs were shot after 5 minutes. Had to take four 5 minute breaks just to get my energy back. I was the only goalie (no games remember?) and it was basically some run-and-gun type of drills and some shootout stuff. I didn't suck 100% but I didn't look like star material that's for sure.

One year absence can really kill your beer league career lollll. And I was testing my new blades and pads and c/a (more of that discussion in the appropriate threads). The worst part of the whole experience was the covid rules, driving back home all sweaty and smelly. My soreness this morning is prevalent but I got more pain from carrying my gear bag to and from than the actual ice experience itself. 

Reconsidering my wheel bag next sessions.

[SaveByRichter35]

Glad to see more of you guys getting back on the ice.  I have not looked back since starting again.  I've actually been playing more since joining a second team.  The wife and kids even went on a road trip to south NJ just over the river from Philly with me to watch me play last weekend.  Great time.

[MTH]

On 4/3/2021 at 6:02 PM, SaveByRichter35 said:

Glad to see more of you guys getting back on the ice.  I have not looked back since starting again.  I've actually been playing more since joining a second team.  The wife and kids even went on a road trip to south NJ just over the river from Philly with me to watch me play last weekend.  Great time.

What rink?

[SaveByRichter35]

5 minutes ago, MTH said:

What rink?

Flyers Skate Zone.  I'll be back in Northern NJ to play at the other Flyers Skate zone in May I think.  Going down to DC next weekend.

[coopaloop1234]

On 4/3/2021 at 3:02 PM, SaveByRichter35 said:

Glad to see more of you guys getting back on the ice.  I have not looked back since starting again.  I've actually been playing more since joining a second team.  The wife and kids even went on a road trip to south NJ just over the river from Philly with me to watch me play last weekend.  Great time.

Glad to see you persevered and stuck with it man.

[SaveByRichter35]

Just now, coopaloop1234 said:

Glad to see you persevered and stuck with it man.

Thanks.  Believe it or not my wife was a big help.  She new I would be miserable if I stopped so she told me to suck it up and go play and see how I felt.  She might regret that decision lol.

[coopaloop1234]

3 minutes ago, SaveByRichter35 said:

Thanks.  Believe it or not my wife was a big help.  She new I would be miserable if I stopped so she told me to suck it up and go play and see how I felt.  She might regret that decision lol.

I'm sure it will beat you moping around the house all the time.

I've already told the fiancee that I'll be picking up as much as time as I possibly can when we eventually get the green light (fucking never at this point). She's all for it, for now.

 

Edit: I finally just noticed someone changed my title.

Edited April 5, 2021 by coopaloop1234

[SaveByRichter35]

Do it now as much as you can before you have kids lol

[Colander]

LOL – getting the spouse on board is the key element - kids won’t change the situation…

When I was ~ 34/35, had just given up on my first iteration of being a goalie – my kids would have been ~ 2 & 4. A bunch of guys at the company I worked had the ice rented on Friday nights (technically Saturday morning) from ~ 12:30am to whenever the Zamboni guy finished his 2-4 was ready to go home.  Great bunch of guys, sloppy hockey (I was playing out) and enough fun that even after I left the place to work elsewhere, I still played with them for a few years after. (As I have said before on playing out – it’s soooo much easier to score that to stop the puck, but then perhaps that’s just a reflection of what a sh###y goalie I am).

The deal with my wife was, I could go play, but the kids wanted to go to Kindergym with dad on Saturday mornings, which started at 8:30 am…

So I dutifully got up after about 2 hours, sleep, chugged the better part of a coffee pot, got the kids there and then chugged a couple of their pots.

In reflection I had a blast on the ice and at the Kindergym with the kids, the parents and the organizers (one time, they were trying to make paper airplanes for the kids – I had to “school” them on the proper way to make a paper airplane and then lectured them on how they had apparently wasted their time listening attentively to the teachers, while kids like me were perfecting the art of the paper dart…)

As much as I probably looked like a warmed over zombie on those Saturday afternoons, I wouldn’t change that time for anything.

Have fun!!!

Edited April 6, 2021 by Colander

[Chenner29]

Man, this year has been a fucking ride.

I changed jobs last February, and when the lockdowns hit a month later I thought I'd be on furlough or looking for a job. 

Luckily they kept me on, my industry wasn't too impacted by Covid, and one of my local rinks stayed open.

I've been able to realize some of my newfound freedom during work hours to skate a ton.  Lined up my schedule with a player skills coach and have been taking a ton of shots from some really good players.  Doing semi-private goalie lessons once a week, sticktimes on my own once or twice a week to grind out some edgework, and of course the off-ice stuff, both workouts and maintenance.   It's been a huge time sink, but luckily my kids are a little older and more self sufficient now. 

I'm down 20 lbs since Covid started and continuing to eat better (more or less, I still have some cheat days lol) so I expect to shed a bit more weight before leagues start. I think my home rink is looking at June/July.

Honestly it's all rekindled my love for the position.  I was lukewarm about getting myself out to the rink before (raise your hand if you've ever told yourself "I should probably get some exercise in this week"), but now I'm excited to put the work in.

Turning 37 this year, I'm feeling the best I have since I wrapped my competitive career in the early 20s.  Hopefully we can get some actual games in this year as I'd love for my kids (7 and almost 4) to come out to a couple of my games before I get too old.

[SaveByRichter35]

Off ice??  Lol.  The only off ice training I do is 3 different kinds of arm curls(use you imagination) and some hip exercises once a week if I am lucky(again, use your imagination) lol.  Although now that the weather is getting nicer I have been able to get outside and do some more yard work.  Looking forward to tending to my crop of turf type tall fescue again.

[MTH]

16 hours ago, SaveByRichter35 said:

Flyers Skate Zone.  I'll be back in Northern NJ to play at the other Flyers Skate zone in May I think.  Going down to DC next weekend.

There are actually four "skate zones". But the Flyers recently sold off three to Black Bear Sports and just kept the one in Vorhees where the Flyers practice and all. The other three are dumps. One in AC (looks abandoned, one sheet), Pennsauken (2 sheets, looks dilapidated) and the other gem is in Northeast Philly by the airport that looks fine but is still crappy.

Black Bear Sports is buying every rink.

Some of their other ones are: ProSkate, Skylands, Aspen, Jersey Shore Arena, Ice Land (scary) and the Howell Ice Arena.

[SaveByRichter35]

1 minute ago, MTH said:

There are actually four "skate zones". But the Flyers recently sold off three to Black Bear Sports and just kept the one in Vorhees where the Flyers practice and all. The other three are dumps. One in AC (looks abandoned, one sheet), Pennsauken (2 sheets, looks dilapidated) and the other gem is in Northeast Philly by the airport that looks fine but is still crappy.

Black Bear Sports is buying every rink.

Some of their other ones are: ProSkate, Skylands, Aspen, Jersey Shore Arena, Ice Land (scary) and the Howell Ice Arena.

Ok I played at Pennsauken, it was meh in my opinion.  Locker rooms were fairly small.  My wife loved it though because there was a large viewing area that was closed off from the bleachers so she was able to let the kids roam around in there while I played.

I am pretty sure we're playing at the Vorhees rink in May.

[MTH]

23 hours ago, SaveByRichter35 said:

Ok I played at Pennsauken, it was meh in my opinion.  Locker rooms were fairly small.  My wife loved it though because there was a large viewing area that was closed off from the bleachers so she was able to let the kids roam around in there while I played.

I am pretty sure we're playing at the Vorhees rink in May.

The Pennsauken one is pretty bad. Sorry for your experience. I've heard stories how it was a top place in the day. Was before my time (and I'm 44). My kids play there often. 

There was a AAA team that played out of there that was sponsored by Comcast. Johnny Gaudreau played for them for a little. So there's old jerseys and banners for him up there in the closed off sections.

John's dad is the skating coach out of that rink. If you ever meet him you'll understand why John is so good.

[CJ Boiss]

Alberta is going back into Stage 1 lockdown, because we don't have enough vaccine supplies to vaccinate the general population (thanks America), and now the variants are ripping through our communities like a hot knife through butter.

Despite that, I managed to get some ice today for some 4-on-4, on an "outdoor" rink that has its own refrigeration unit. Tried out my new G4s for the first time, and they felt great from the moment I did my first butterfly.

And now I'm probably going to have to wait until the fall for any more hockey. Fuck me.

[Teezle]

8 hours ago, CJ Boiss said:

Alberta is going back into Stage 1 lockdown, because we don't have enough vaccine supplies to vaccinate the general population (thanks America), and now the variants are ripping through our communities like a hot knife through butter.

Despite that, I managed to get some ice today for some 4-on-4, on an "outdoor" rink that has its own refrigeration unit. Tried out my new G4s for the first time, and they felt great from the moment I did my first butterfly.

And now I'm probably going to have to wait until the fall for any more hockey. Fuck me.

We want to, but due to the contracts negotiated by the previous administration, cannot.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/04/why-the-us-still-cant-donate-covid-19-vaccines-to-countries-in-need

Emphasis mine:

Quote

 

For officials hoping to finally pivot from domestic to international vaccination strategy, there was another major catch, reported here for the first time.

The contracts the Trump administration signed with the vaccine manufacturers prohibit the U.S. from sharing its surplus doses with the rest of the world. According to contract language Vanity Fair has obtained, the agreements with Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Janssen state: “The Government may not use, or authorize the use of, any products or materials provided under this Project Agreement, unless such use occurs in the United States” or U.S. territories.

The clauses in question are designed to ensure that the manufacturers retain liability protection, but they have had the effect of projecting the Trump administration’s America First agenda into the Biden era. “That is what has completely and totally prohibited the U.S. from donating or reselling, because it would be in breach of contract,” said a senior administration official involved in the global planning effort. “It is a complete and total ban. Those legal parameters must change before we do anything to help the rest of the world.”

In a statement to Vanity Fair, a Defense Department spokesperson acknowledged the contract restrictions, saying: “DoD did attempt to negotiate terms that would allow the use of vaccine doses outside the U.S., but in some cases, the vaccine manufacturers refused.” Given the imperative to produce 300 million doses for the American public, said the spokesperson, Operation Warp Speed officials agreed that it was “more important to contract with the vaccine manufacturers for doses that could be used” by U.S. citizens “than walk away from the negotiations based on this single term.”

 

 

[motowngoalie]

51 minutes ago, Teezle said:

We want to, but due to the contracts negotiated by the previous administration, cannot.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/04/why-the-us-still-cant-donate-covid-19-vaccines-to-countries-in-need

Emphasis mine:

 

Also, Trudeau isn't exempt from scorn on this one either. He seemingly spent most of last year running from scandal to scandal instead of, ya know, prepping his country for vaccination. 

[coopaloop1234]

20 minutes ago, motowngoalie said:

Also, Trudeau isn't exempt from scorn on this one either. He seemingly spent most of last year running from scandal to scandal instead of, ya know, prepping his country for vaccination. 

This guy?

[CJ Boiss]

4 hours ago, Teezle said:

We want to, but due to the contracts negotiated by the previous administration, cannot.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/04/why-the-us-still-cant-donate-covid-19-vaccines-to-countries-in-need

Emphasis mine:

 

The US can do whatever the fuck it wants with the vaccine it produces domestically. Trump's decision to prioritize vaccine distribution for Americans was an executive order, and Biden could rescind that with a flick of his wrist. Besides which, it's not a donation when  Canada's signed contracts to purchase vaccine. (and even if it was, Biden could "renegotiate" those contracts in a heartbeat, if he wanted to)

3 hours ago, motowngoalie said:

Also, Trudeau isn't exempt from scorn on this one either. He seemingly spent most of last year running from scandal to scandal instead of, ya know, prepping his country for vaccination. 

As of February 2nd, of the currently approved vaccines, Canada purchased:

• 20 million Moderna vaccines on July 24th, 2020, and optioned another 20 million in early December
• 20 million Pfizer vaccines on August 1st, 2020, and optioned another 20 million in early 2021
• 10 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines on August 24th, with options for another 28 million
• 20 million AstraZeneca vaccines on September 24th

Of the vaccines awaiting approval, Canada purchased:

• 52 million Novavax vaccines on August 27th, with options for another 20 million
• 52 million Sanofi vaccines, with options for another 20 million
• 20 million Medicago vaccines, with options for another 56 million

Our problem is not that we were slow to secure vaccine contracts (we were consistently one of the first countries in the world to secure vaccine contracts, sometimes *the* first), or that we didn't secure enough (we've got contracts for 400% more vaccine than our population needs), or that our supply chain has failed to get needles into arms (we are, and in any case healthcare is provincially administered, not federally)

The problem is countries capable of producing vaccine, like the US, are hoarding it for themselves before anyone else.

(and Canada's loss of domestic vaccine production happened under Mulroney's administration back in 1980, so blame for that falls on every administration since then. The Trudeau administration is investing ~$170 million in upgrading the NRC facility to give us domestic production capacity)

Edited April 9, 2021 by CJ Boiss

[Teezle]

39 minutes ago, CJ Boiss said:

The US can do whatever the fuck it wants with the vaccine it produces domestically. Trump's decision to prioritize vaccine distribution for Americans was an executive order, and Biden could rescind that with a flick of his wrist. Besides which, it's not a donation when  Canada's signed contracts to purchase vaccine. (and even if it was, Biden could "renegotiate" those contracts in a heartbeat, if he wanted to)

As the article points out, this is not the case. Part of the "Operation Warp Speed" contractual agreements with the vaccine producers prevent the US government from distributing the doses procured with those funds from going outside the USA. 

If you want to argue that we should rewrite/renegotiate the agreements as we now have more than we can use, then I completely agree - but our hands seem tied until that is resolved. The government cannot, legally speaking, do whatever they want with those doses; they have to respect the terms in the contracts they signed. 

Could we spin up a separate production operation using the Defense Production Act as justification, and have its funding come from an unrelated source? Maybe, but I'm not familiar enough with the intricacies of vaccine production to comment on whether it could be done on a short enough timescale to matter here.

I was just saying that it is not as simple as packing up the extra doses in a refrigerated FedEx truck and driving them across the border, as much as we both might like it to be.

[coopaloop1234]

56 minutes ago, CJ Boiss said:

(and Canada's loss of domestic vaccine production happened under Mulroney's administration back in 1980, so blame for that falls on every administration since then. The Trudeau administration is investing ~$170 million in upgrading the NRC facility to give us domestic production capacity)

It's refreshing to see someone else point out the bolded part. I've come across a lot of people online that think the lack of domestic vaccine production is solely a Conservative government problem and not a Canadian government problem.

[Colander]

It’s a Canadian problem, that’s the thing.

This isn’t new:  look at the Avro Arrow. Before anyone starts in on me, no I don’t believe the hype that even though it was designed and built > 60 years ago it would be competitive today. But it was innovative and showed leading edge work by some great minds and showed Canadian leadership in the aerospace field. Proof lies in the fact that after the program was scrapped (in lieu of the US Bomarc missiles and DEW line) most of the Canadian engineers that worked on it went to work for NASA on Gemini and Apollo.

The program NRC just started (at the outset of the pandemic they announced the construction of the facility) should have been in action decades ago (there was a program in place in up to the ‘70’s when it was scrapped as that work moved out of country). I’m sure people felt there wasn’t a need at that time, but the middle word in NRC is Research…

How many times do Canadians have to shoot themselves in the foot before they stop being happy to plow a field, plant the crops and hand the farm to someone else?

[CJ Boiss]

3 hours ago, Teezle said:

As the article points out, this is not the case. Part of the "Operation Warp Speed" contractual agreements with the vaccine producers prevent the US government from distributing the doses procured with those funds from going outside the USA. 

If you want to argue that we should rewrite/renegotiate the agreements as we now have more than we can use, then I completely agree - but our hands seem tied until that is resolved. The government cannot, legally speaking, do whatever they want with those doses; they have to respect the terms in the contracts they signed. 

Could we spin up a separate production operation using the Defense Production Act as justification, and have its funding come from an unrelated source? Maybe, but I'm not familiar enough with the intricacies of vaccine production to comment on whether it could be done on a short enough timescale to matter here.

I was just saying that it is not as simple as packing up the extra doses in a refrigerated FedEx truck and driving them across the border, as much as we both might like it to be.

There's a difference between distributing doses the US government purchased to other countries, and not letting other countries purchase doses.

This situation is the latter, not the former.

[MTH]

I hate politics.

Ruins everything.

RIP DMX