Island Lake State Park to Kensington Metropark

My go to bike ride is about 20 minutes from my home.

It starts in Island Lake State Park, which offers free access with the Michigan Passport.

Here are some quick stats:

Enter the park off Kensington Road and park at the Island Lake Picnic Grounds. (option to add a couple miles by parking at Trail Head)
Ride your bike north, under I-96 and enter Kensington Metro Park
Turn left when you come up out of the tunnel to ride down the biggest hill or just stay right to ride around and up the biggest hill. We go right first, then left on second time around.
The trip from parking, around Kent Lake and back is 10.8 miles according to Strava app on my phone.
Bathrooms are available a few times along the ride, very clean.

Enjoy to ride!

Great Skate Last Night! Salsa was a hit.

A Big Thanks!

With Greg Weingarden and Chuck Irwin in net and skaters: Andrew Wright, Bob Gidcumb, Brian Mullin, Conner Bigelow, Darren Newton, Dwight Hicks, Jeff Rouse, Jim Doan, John Finn, Keith Kiernicki, Logan Rothley, Mark Vansaw, nicholas gilbert, Patrick Nord, Reed Clark, Scott Poliskey, Simpson, Tony Hall.

Thanks for skating last night. Special thanks to Jeff Rouse and John Finn for bringing guests. As long as we can get enough skaters, we will skate on Fridays.

Fridays are special skates for the after party in Skaters Bar. This Friday was exceptional as I brought lots of home made salsa, guacamole and chips to wash down with a few beers. Skaters Bar was packed with our skaters and GFHA coaches who hung out after a practice.

Wish I had taken some pics, but I was too busy chowing on the salsa and reliving the better moments of the skate.

I’ll set up a link for this coming Friday the 12th. I have a 7am flight to Denver on Saturday, so I won’t be hanging out this week! Need some beauty rest!

We are just a few short weeks away from the 3 on 3 tournament. If you are putting a team together, now is the time to do it. At least register the team, payment can be dealt with at registration. I’ll share my video chalk talk of the way a 3 on 3 game works.

EHL 2016 / 2017 Season Wrap Up

Congratulations to Stanley Pint Champions Hartwig Tree Movers!

Thank you to all who played in the EHL.

This is intended to be a fun way to get some exercise and enjoy some competitive hockey on a Sunday. So, same plan for next year. My goal is to grow to eight teams next year. We’ll see how things play out. The team mix might change up some for a variety of reasons. Those who enjoy the league, please help spread the word.

While I do my best to organize the ice time, keep the records and pay the bills, there are limits to my abilities both on and off the ice. Thanks to those who have been supportive over the season. There are a lot of opportunities to skate in the area, I appreciate those who “get it” and join in the fun with me.

So, lets go over the results of the season!

Dave

Thanks To My Crew!

A Big Thank You to Jeff Dennings for working on the USA Hockey registrations and updating the score sheets weekly. He even sold a few T shirts!

Thank you to Jordyn for score keeping through the season. She lives at the rink each Sunday.

Special thanks to Annabelle for jumping into the score keeping position! I recruited Annabelle from Blackstones!

Of course Sue chipped in from time to time to help and she keeps me sane, so there is that!

Appreciate everyone’s hard work to keep things running smooth in the background!

EHL Season Prize Wrap Ups

Hop & Barley Prize (drawing for $50 from all fully paid players at deadline)
Two Ace of Spades were drawn! Mike Vandenbosch and Brandon Miller, both of Highwood. Brandon drew an Ace of Hearts on the draw off!
Congrats to Brandon! Brandon is the son of Mike Miller, manager of Highwood – which BTW is the only team fully paid at deadline.

GRINDER (regular season top goal scorer)
Brian Savard of LaFontaine beat out Cosmo of Hartwig for the $50 Grinder prize for high points.

Saint Paulie Girl Prize (drawing for $50 from all players with no penalties)
Three Aces were drawn for the Saint Paulie Girl Prize for the player with the least penalties minutes. Thank you to all who didn’t get a penalty! After consulting our ByLaws, Jim McDonald of Hartwig with the Ace of Spades is the winner of the $50 Saint Paulie Girl Prize! Congrats!

Stanley Pint (cool pint glasses for Championship team)
Custom etched “2017 Champs” Stanley Pint Glasses were awarded to Hartwig Tree Movers for their successful championship run. Kudos to LaFontaine for the iron man three game run to the finals!

If you missed the game, it was a great one! Back to back scoring through the second period, but Hartwig’s Steve Ehrke sealed the game with a hat trick in the third period!

Game summary can be found here.

Flint Oldtimers Tournament

Team Gears Beer is competing in the 50+ Division of

BILL EVERETT’S 32nd ANNUAL

VEHICLE CITY INTERNATIONAL OLDTIMERS HOCKEY TOURNAMENT

Flint, Michigan, USA

April 7, 8, 9, 2017

AMERICA’S QUALITY OLDTIMERS HOCKEY TOURNAMENT BENEFITING THE

WHALEY CHILDREN’S HOME

Whaley Children’s Center serves resilient youth, teaching them how to succeed as individuals,

by providing continuity of care across all programs and supporting them with the resources

they need to succeed as individuals.

We hope to see you there,

The Bill Everett Family

Gears Beer Team Lineup

Bob Gidcumb

Darren Newton

Dave Crabill

Don Edwards

Dwayne Gidcumb

Mark Hochkins

Phil Burak

Scott Poliskey

Scott Walters

Time Johnson

Tom Willet

Tournament Schedule

Gears Beer game times:

Friday at 8:30 PM at Crystal Fieldhouse
Saturday at 5:00 PM at Crystal Fieldhouse
Sunday at 8:30 AM at Crystal Fieldhouse

Full Tournament Schedule

Double Your Drop In Hockey!

Full Sheets For Wednesday & Friday Drop In Hockey

There has been more interest in our skates the last few weeks and the list fills up fast! Soon we will have a new system to organize the skates, but it isn’t ready just yet. For now the Whoozin.com system has been serving its purpose. Yet, it has been a challenge to keep space open for the “regulars” when the list fills up so quick. So, I’ve booked two sheets for a series of Friday nights. I’m working on locking in the goalies, which is the biggest challenge to pull this off. It will work out, but I wanted to give you a heads up on the schedule so you can recruit a few MORE skaters to fill two sheets. With tournaments coming up, generally we have more guys wanting to get some ice time in. I’ve only booked four dates of doubles so far.

Two Sheets Dates

February 10th
February 24th
March 3rd
March 17th

I had expected to start next week, Feb 3rd, but that won’t work with the rink. Also, note that Feb. 17th isn’t on the list for a double, we are off that Friday. So I booked the ice for Thursday the 16th of February. Yep, for some of us that will be back to back nights of skating! Were up to it!

Doan’s Winter Classic

A much smaller, outside 3 on 3 tournament is scheduled for February 25th. Yep, we moved the date back again! Winter and Jim’s family commitments have us pushed back a bit. There is only room for 24 skates. 6 teams of 4. We do a random draft based on a rating system. Everyone brings a dish to pass. You can learn more about Doan’s Winter Classic at https://gears.beer/product/2017-doans-winter-classic/
Contact Dave if you have an interest in joining the tournament.

3 on 3 Ice Battle – June

Jeff, Annabelle and Dave

Annabelle and Jordyn

Also, a heads up on the 3 on 3 Ice Battle. I’ve booked 23 hours of ice time in June! 6 pm – 10 pm Friday June 2nd; 9 am – 8 pm June 3rd and 10 am – 6 pm June 4th. We are running a sanctioned USA Hockey 3 on 3 tournament in conjunction with the GFHA and the EHL. If you missed the New Years Day Ice Battle, you can check out the info at http://gears.beer/battle

The 3 on 3 Ice Battle details are still in development. We are looking for a few sponsors to keep team cost down. More details to follow.

Angry Biscuit T-Shirt

Angry Biscuit T-Shirts are in stock. Limited supply. Full color prints, $15 each.

Charcoal 6.0 oz., pre-shrunk 100% cotton
Double-needle stitched neckline, bottom hem and sleeves
Quarter-turned
Taped neck and shoulders
Seamless seven-eighths inch collar
Satin Label
Medium, Large, XL and XXL in stock

Buy Now

Will Skate For Pints

Will Skate for Pints t-shirt design. The Stanley Pint is the EHL Champs trophy awarded each year.
$15 Each

6.0 oz., pre-shrunk 100% cotton
Double-needle stitched neckline, bottom hem and sleeves
Quarter-turned
Taped neck and shoulders
Seamless seven-eighths inch collar
Satin Label
Medium, Large, XL, XXL in stock

Buy Now