Jason Thirkell

Professor

ENC 1101

5 November 2017

The UCF Hockey Community

James Paul Gee describes Discourses as ways of being in the world; they are forms of

life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures,

glances, body positions, and clothes (Gee 278). This means that our discourse serves as our

identity, meaning that our discourse shows who we are. My discourse community would be the

UCF hockey team. Being a part of this team identifies who I am as a person in many different

ways, and there are multiple activity systems within this community.

I started playing hockey when I was in sixth grade, I was 12 years old. I started out

playing the position of forward, but now I play goalie. The reason I made the switch was because

our teams goalie got injured and they needed someone to step up and play so my mom

volunteered me. I was so upset when my mom did this because I have never played ice hockey

goalie before and I did not want to do bad and let my team down. I ended up loving it and doing

really well, so I stuck with it for the rest of my life. It was not hard to switch positions because I

played goalie in street hockey. I started out just playing high school hockey, but in 7th grade I

played for my first travel team called the Johnstown Warriors. I ended up playing for them the

entire time I lived in Pennsylvania. While I was on this team I made so many new friends and I

started to fall more in love with hockey every day. Not only did I enjoy playing because I was

simply playing the sport that I love, I enjoyed it because we were winning. Each year I played

with the Warriors we made it to the playoffs, which was a huge accomplishment. My high school
team was also good, we made it to the playoffs each year as well. During my sophomore year of

high school my team made it to the championship game against the Altoona Lions. They were

the best team in the league and we were the underdogs headed into the game. We played in front

of a 400-fan student section and a packed arena, and we ended up winning 4-1. I will never

forget that moment. After the game, I was interviewed by the local news station asking me how

we ended up winning the game. Playing for that team was surreal because we all treated each

other as brothers. When I moved to Florida I was uneasy about playing hockey because well, its

Florida. Before I moved to Florida, I didnt even know that people played hockey because the

weather is so hot. I ended up playing for two teams in Florida, the Jr. Panthers and the Golden

Wolves, both travel teams. I ended up loving playing in Florida almost as much as in

Pennsylvania because of the lifelong friendships I made. Now, I am on the UCF hockey team

and I couldnt be happier. Ive made a lot of friends on the team and I am having a blast doing

what I love. For the UCF team, we practice on Tuesday mornings and 7 am and Wednesday

nights and 11 pm. Our games are on the weekends and we play in Florida all the way up to

Michigan. I had to try out for the team to be able to play for them. We play at a rink called RDV

in Orlando.

Hockey was first created in the 1800s in Windsor, Canada. The game originated from the

field game of Hurley and eventually was taken to the ice to be known as Ice Hurley. Over a

period of time the game was renamed to the present version of hockey. The first players to play

used wooden pucks and carved one piece sticks to play. Eventually a company named Starr

Hockey Skates made the first ever hockey skate. It is truly fascinating to see the tools that were

used back when the game first originated and how they have changed over time. Instead of

wooden pucks, we now use vulcanized rubber pucks. Instead of using carved wood sticks,
players only use carbon fiber or fiberglass. At first nets werent even used, and now they are one

of the most important features of the game. Goalies used to not wear helmets and risk their life

every single game, now if a goalies helmet falls off, the whistle is automatically blown. The

most drastic change would have to be the knowledge of the game. Back in the day, players

barely knew anything about the sport, they didnt know a simple breakout or how to play in the

defensive or offensive zones. Every team is practicing penalty kill, power play, fore-checks, and

offensive and defensive plays. If you go back and watch a game from the early 1900s, the

players werent nearly on the same level as they are today. Players today know where the puck is

going to be and where to be on the ice to help their team out the most, but before the players just

skated around freely. The goalies barely knew any of the simple movements that are used today.

They used to dive and flop around on the ice trying to make a save, when now the goalies know

how to butterfly slide and t- push. As a community, all of these are just part of the game now and

is expected to understand how to do these tasks while you are playing in a game.

The rules of hockey can be very simple, there are basic rules that are easy to follow.

Some rules include; tripping, hooking, roughing, high sticking, crosschecking, interference,

fighting. All of these are penalties in hockey. The other rules include icing, offsides, and delay of

game. These are the actual rules to include that just stop the play momentarily. I personally think

that the rules in hockey are fair and that they should just keep them how they are now, I hope

they dont change them. Other rules are that there are timed periods, which are three periods that

are 20 minutes each. The rules for the UCF team would be that we have to be at the games an

hour and a half early to warmup. Also, we cannot be out of our hotel rooms past 11 pm on game

days.
 The hockey community can include the players, coaches, referees. The players include 9

forwards, 6 defensemen, and 1 goalie. There are many different forms of players, some could be

aggressive, defensive, or offensive. On the UCF team, we have 7 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 1

goalie. Most players on our team are offensive minded outside of some defensive minded

players. On the UCF team, we have 3 coaches; a head coach, offense coach, and a defense coach.

Each coach has a different role and they all work together to help us win. During our games, we

have 3 total referees. Two linesmen and one main referee. The main referee is the only one that

is allowed to call penalties, and the linesmen call offsides and icings.

The motive to play is to win games and go to nationals. Obviously, the reason we play is

to win, no one plays to lose. If we continue to win we will make it to playoffs and then

eventually, hopefully, nationals. As a team, there is only one way to get to nationals, and that is

to win the playoffs. Personally, I have never been to nationals, but Ive come close twice. If there

is one goal in youth hockey, it is to go to nationals, it is every young hockey players dream. A lot

of my friends have gone to nationals and have said how good the competition is and how much

fun they had playing.

In conclusion, the UCF hockey team is truly amazing to play for. We treat each other as

brothers and will do anything for one another. Each game we grow stronger as individuals and

teammates. We hope to make it to nationals and finish the season strong. Also, on the academic

side we want to finish the season with a high GPA. I look forward to playing on this team for the

next 4 years of my college experience. The UCF hockey community has grown as a whole as

well, we now get fans at our games, and people that are truly interested in the game. People used

to ask us wait UCF has a hockey team? or you can play hockey in Florida? but now they ask

us when the next game is because they want to go. It is truly amazing and eye opening to see
how quickly the UCF hockey team has grown as a whole, and I could not be more excited to be a

part of this brotherhood.