Originally this article was going to be called, Impressing the Chicks in the first grade. That's because we always played street hockey during my birthday parties. We had a long driveway on Holten street with fences on both sides, almost perfect for a hockey game.

I remember a party I had in the first grade, I tried to impress my first grade crush by playing real hard and scoring a goal when she showed up. I didn't have a photo of that game, but I found an earlier photo of my with my chin cut open from when I was four in 1971, and not yet in first grade, so I changed the title to My First Hockey Injury.



I remember someone, I think a friend of my dad's or my uncle, it wasn't a kid my age but rather an older guy who tried to tip a shot behind me while I was playing goalie. He caught me good in the chin with his blade. I thought I took a stick just above the eye, until I found the actual photo, and it was to the chin. After a quick repair, I was back into the game.

I'm not sure who took the photo, but it's pretty funny that I remember getting hurt, and somebody got a photo of it back in the day when there were no digital cameras or cell phone cameras handy.

And to think, we didn't even sue the guy who cut me, unlike today when someone's kid gets hurt...