Peace through superior slapshot
August 13th, 2009 | Carriers Chiefs Sports The Middle East | Posted by Andrew Scutro
Information Systems Technician (AW/SW) Christopher Conley, a crewman on the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, tends goal during a brief practice while on deployment in 5th Fleet. The team split a two-game series while in port in the Persian Gulf.//Photo by Sheila Vemmer, Navy Times
The San Diego-based carrier Ronald Reagan boasts a number of sports teams, including an actual ice hockey team. They are in a competitive league back in home port and they played two games during a recent port visit in the Persian Gulf. They lost the first game 12-0 against the Abu Dhabi Scorpions but came roaring back to vanquish the Dubai Mighty Camels 17-9 in the second game.
The team practices on a small patch of plastic flooring placed over the non-skid in the hangar deck. One of the goalies is the command master chief, Mark Rudes. A Lake Placid, N.Y., native, Rudes says team comes before rank on the ice. “I get pointers all the time in the net,” he said. “Our only weakness is we don’t practice enough together as a team.”
A hull tech fabricated the goal and Aviation Ordnanceman 1st Class (AW/SW) Toby Snowden managed to find a space in the hangar to store their pads and gear. “It smells really, really bad in there right now,” he said.
And in case you are wondering who produced hockey players in the desert for the Scorpions and Mighty Camels, “It’s all ex-pats. Twelve Canadians, one Turk, one American, a Swede and one from Finland. Two are American Hockey League-level and one is an NCAA player,” Snowden said.
The team does not have a name, though “Hellcats” is under consideration, stemming from the ship namesake’s 1957 movie, “Hellcats of the Navy.”