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8.14.00
ON VEGAS ICE, LOU GORDON, 80,
IS THE MAN IN CHARGE
By Lee Samuels
Las
Vegas -- When Lou Gordon was a kid, he was just like every peewee skater who hit the ice.
He dreamed about playing hockey in the big time.
And, he thought
about real locker rooms, with the furnace heat turned on. A real head coach, with blue-penciled Xs and Os scribbled all over his clipboard. Wood rink boards. People in bleachers. A giant electric scoreboard, hung over center ice. Mom and Dad watching, hearts pounding.
Because when Lou Gordon, age 80, played as a kid in Canada all of the games were outdoors, with cold northern winds whipping across frozen ponds.
"We didn't have indoor rinks back when I played," said Gordon, head referee for practically all pickup games at the Santa Fe Ice Arena the past few seasons. "I didn't play hockey indoors until I started playing for Saskatchewan College, back in 1935."
Our Eddie knows all about Lou Gordon because everytime Eddie works out, skates in a scrimmage or "hits a few" to work with some goalies, Gordon is there, wearing his black and white referee shirt.
In one
game, Eddie and Jason Allen led a 3-on-1 break. There were several tricky passes and finally Eddie slid the puck over to Rob, who wore a blue and red Rangers jersey. He banged in the score and the three players tapped gloves, returned to the blue line.
Lou went to the net, picked up the cold black puck and skated back to center ice.
"Not a bad shot, boys," he said.
"Thanks Lou," one of the players said.
In the last several weeks, a puck pinged off Lou's black helmet. A player accidently knocked him down. A few games later, two over-heated players traded punches at center ice, with Lou circling in, waiting for the right moment to break it up.
He's seen hotshot
shooters come and go. Big games? He's worked the biggest at center ice. When the AA Mustangs are in town, he does the scorebook and announces goal scorers and the assist-makers.
"I was
a pretty fair player, myself," he said, between games the other day. "Back when I played, we didn't have slap shots. You worked the puck in, used wrist shots. I didn't see slap shots until the 1950's."
He left college
in 1937, moved to California, taught mathematics in college, re-located to Las Vegas in the early 1990's and began to work as a head referee and scorekeeper at the Santa Fe Ice Arena.
Lou Gordon -- now you know the story behind the story.
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There's
been plenty of goalies "shaking out" in pickup games at the Santa Fe the last several weeks, but none has been better than Paul Lowden.....He is the former Mustang goalie who is heading to the Shattuck St. Mary's AAA midget (18-and-under) team in Minnesota....And what made Lowden so good? He thinks playing for a AA Mustang midget team which only won two or three games last winter made him a better player. Lowden: "When you face that kind of adversity, and face so many shots, you get better real quick."....He's been told to take "30 goalie sticks" to Shattuck, since there is not a pro shop in town.......
There
have been two local players who have made astounding progress this summer: the first is Eddie Del Grosso, a bantam, and the other is J.C. Caron, a midget......Not only has Del Grosso's skating improved; he is scoring an amazing number of goals in pickup games.......Caron is a former roller player who has gone to ice. He has shown remarkable acceleration and power during pickup games....He plans to play for Rob Pallin's AA Mustang midget team this fall.....
Everyone is rooting for Micah Sanford who reports to the Chilliwack Chiefs Junior A team in Canada this week. He has worked countless hours, many times by himself, skating at high speed on the ice at Santa Fe.....
We will keep you posted on the progess of young roller player David Malone, who is scheduled for surgery this week.
Eddie and his brother, Rich, take the big drive into Vail, Colorado this weekend. Eddie will be one of the older players on the AAA Avalanche bantam ice team which begins play in early September....It looks like Ft. Collins is first up the schedule, followed by a tournament in Portland, Oregon.
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