OTTAWA — When requested to present his title, Larry Doshen as an alternative grabbed his buying and selling card. The picture was pretty current, capturing him in black hockey pants as he cradled a hockey stick. He was helmetless, with a head of grey hair to match his “Silver Foxes” jersey.
Holding the cardboard aloft, Doshen’s hand shook. He chalked it as much as outdated age, however he was additionally full of boyish nerves. And for good cause: The 84-year-old had simply stepped off the ice after lastly dwelling his childhood fantasy of taking part in on an NHL rink.
“When you get to skating, it’s superb,” Doshen mentioned, pausing to succeed in into his mouth and take away his higher dentures. “I’ll take this factor out so you’ll be able to hear me.”
A mean NHL intermission usually options youngsters from native minor hockey associations, typically as younger because the under-7 “Timbits” degree in Canada, both scrimmaging or competing in a shootout. Following the second interval of the Ottawa Senators’ 4-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday, the youth made approach for some a lot older gents.
Or, as one attendee much less delicately dubbed them, the “Stalebits.”
Forgive my lack of tweets throughout this sport. I’ve been following this group of 80-year-olds who’re taking part in within the second intermission of this Sens-Blue Jackets sport. pic.twitter.com/kQ88PgWvpX
— Julian McKenzie (@jkamckenzie) April 6, 2025
13 gamers representing a number of 80-and-over non-contact hockey groups within the Ottawa space — the eldest of whom had been 88 years outdated — participated within the uncommon exhibition on Sunday afternoon. The motion lasted a quick three minutes, with Doshen battling via his temporary nervousness on the entrance of the web to attain the one purpose. However the group of octogenarians drew cheers from the tens of 1000’s in attendance all through, ranging from the second they every stepped onto the ice.
“This can be a dream come true for me,” Aime Beaulne, one of many 88-year-olds, instructed The Athletic.
The sport additionally introduced consciousness to the 80+ Hockey Corridor of Fame, a nonprofit that acknowledges lively hockey gamers above the age of 80 throughout Canada. The initiative was based in 2011 with an inaugural class of six, every of whom had been inducted in accordance with what the group describes as its “knighting protocols utilizing a classic 1930 one-piece wood hockey stick.” Candidates could be nominated on-line. Along with the age requirement of its eligibility standards, the 80+ Hockey Corridor of Fame’s web site lists “sound character and good sportsmanship.”
“As a result of now we’re getting guys proper throughout the nation,” mentioned Herb Brennen, the 80+ Corridor of Fame’s president. “We have to know that.”
The variety of inductees has since grown to just about 400 gamers and nearly 40 builders since its launch. An induction sport is performed yearly and every new member receives their hockey card, as Doshen did. The Corridor plans on inducting its first feminine participant later this 12 months.
“We attempt to be sure that that is actually family-oriented,” Brennen mentioned. “As a result of most of our kids and definitely our grandchildren have by no means seen us play hockey, so it’s reasonably a tremendous expertise for them to truly see the outdated man on the ice.”
Members of the 80+ Hockey Corridor of Fame prepare for his or her sport on the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.
The 80+ Hockey Corridor of Fame received the chance to skate on the Senators sport via a mutual connection. Again in January, Corridor of Fame vice chairman Loris Bondio met with a good friend, Liam Maguire, over drinks on the latter’s titular restaurant simply east of Ottawa’s downtown. It wasn’t deliberate, however they wound up discussing the 80+ Corridor. A self-proclaimed hockey historian, Maguire was blown away by the idea and questioned how he might get the Senators concerned. Bondio replied that his group had tried, however failed, to satisfy with the Sens.
“I’ll get you your assembly,” Maguire instructed Bondio.
Maguire tapped his connection to group president Cyril Leeder, who alongside fellow Senators co-founder Randy Sexton as soon as offered Maguire a season ticket pledge within the hopes of finally luring an NHL franchise to the Canadian capital metropolis. When Ottawa in the end succeeded in its bid in 1990, Maguire celebrated with Leeder and Sexton. Thirty-five years later, it was Maguire pitching Leeder on the 80+ Hockey Corridor of Fame as an intermission showcase.
“I believe it’s a fantastic, lovely approach of encapsulating why the Corridor exists,” Bondio mentioned. “These youngsters have gotten to maintain skating. Doesn’t matter in the event you don’t make the NHL. Doesn’t matter in the event you don’t make the group, preserve skating. There’s at all times a spot to play.”
Earlier than their sport on the CTC, the 80+ Corridor of Famers sat in makeshift dressing rooms lined by curtains simply close to the Zamboni entrance, surrounded by stacks of wood pallets, a pair of lowered basketball hoops, and a transportable emergency eye wash station. After placing on their gear — together with jerseys bearing the 80+ Corridor’s emblem — they lined up single-file and hit the ice.
“It’s uplifting to assume in the future like this may very well be me too,” mentioned Matt Franczyk, the Senators’ specialist in hockey outreach. “Like, if I keep wholesome, keep lively, I may very well be on the ice taking part in with these guys as effectively.”
Many of the males who participated Sunday play hockey twice every week, for groups just like the “Elder Skatesmen” and the “Octokids.” Others, like Barclay Frost, may play extra typically.
The 83-year-old Frost is taken into account the oldest goalie in Ottawa and is a member of Athletics Ontario’s Corridor of Fame for his varied athletic contributions as an athlete, coach and official — he crammed the final function on the 1976 Summer season Video games in Montreal. Frost even represented Workforce Canada at an 80+ USA-Canada hockey occasion final fall. That’s, till the American beginning goaltender grew to become unavailable and Frost was compelled to vary allegiances.
“I do know what it’s wish to be a traitor,” Frost mentioned. “Individuals wouldn’t speak to me. My spouse was sitting up within the stands with all of the Workforce Canada wives and all our Workforce Canada workers. And I’m on the opposite group.”
Herb Brennen’s hockey card was given to him after being inducted into the 80+ Hockey Corridor of Fame in 2023.
The truth that these over-80-and-above hockey groups exist is already spectacular, however additionally they stand to fight a worrisome development for elders. A Canadian authorities report estimated that 30 % of seniors within the nation — a gaggle anticipated to develop from almost 15 % as we speak to as much as 25 % of the inhabitants by 2036 — are susceptible to being socially remoted. The Worldwide Federation on Ageing has added that “maintaining older individuals socially linked and lively” is the “primary rising challenge dealing with seniors” in Canada.
“I might actually, actually miss it if I didn’t have the dressing room to go to, to speak to the blokes, and the banter forwards and backwards,” Doshen mentioned. “Speak about what we do on the ice, speak about what we do off the ice. A few the blokes I do know are having well being issues, so that you take heed to them. Some others are having household well being issues as effectively. It offers them an opportunity to speak.”
Certainly, taking part in means every little thing for these seniors, whether or not it’s as a result of they wish to keep match — or, as Brennen recalled himself not too long ago doing with fellow skaters, to chirp each other.
“I mentioned, ‘I don’t know why the hell you even deliver a hockey keep on with the sport,’” Brennen mentioned. “(The pucks) go in off your ass. They go in off your elbow. What do you want a hockey stick for? You’ve most likely received the identical stick you ever began with.”
After which there are males like 88-year-old Wil Côté, who simply appreciates the assist that comes with taking part in with a band of brothers.
“It retains me going for positive,” Côté mentioned. “I like taking part in, however I just like the camaraderie. Once I come house, I’m comfortable.”
(Photographs: Julian McKenzie / The Athletic)