Lake Superior Hockey

When I was a kid living in Munising, MI Lake Superior was part of our playground. In the winter the city crews used to come around town and flood a few vacant fields in various part of the city for a skating rink. However, the big skating rink lay a quarter mile north, it was approximately 2.5 miles by 2.5 miles. Much of the time Munising Bay was covered with ice that had a snow cover on it. I lived on what was known as the West End of Munising and we had easy access to the woods on the west end and the bay to the north of us. So we kids would take a couple of shovels and our skates and head down to the bay and the ice. Shoveling an area we could get down to the ice layer, then if we chopped a hole in the ice water would come up the hole and flood the area giving us a nice rink. We would play hockey out on the bay day after day until the next snow storm then we'd be back to shoveling.

One year we encountered a cold snap with strong northwesterly winds. The wind was so strong it scoured the ice until the snow layer was gone and we were left with miles of clear ice. The "Westenders" had never seen such a thing. Down to the bay, on with the skates and we could skate anyplace we wanted to. It didn't take too long to figure out that if you got a bed sheet you could fashion your own personal sail and use the wind to propel yourself for long distances. I got a sheet and sailed from out by Brown's Addition to the city dock, that is a distance of over a mile. It was tough skating back into the wind, but the ride was worth it.

One problem I ran into at that age was weak ankles. I had hockey skates but I couldn't stand on the edges. My ankles would flop down like a drugged pigeon's wings. I actually started wearing out the leather sides of the skates from scrapping the edges on the ice. It was a problem I was never able to overcome as a young man. Of course you don't play hockey in figure skates which probably would've provided me with sufficient support for my ankles. Oh well, Gordy Howe I'm not.

So those days were in the 1950's and it was a great place to play winter sports. Nature provided us with spectacular amphitheaters. We were not limited by artificial structures, but often could ski or skate with complete abandon. What a way to grow up.