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The players — some in their 80s — are there for the exercise, the jokes, and most of all, the camaraderie.
WESTMINSTER, Colo. — There are some sports that come to mind when you think of retirement — golf, pickleball, maybe shuffleboard. But for the self-proclaimed “old men” of the Colorado Fading Stars, there’s only one sport worth playing three days a week: hockey.
At a Westminster ice rink on a Wednesday morning, the team’s locker room talk turns to injuries: stents and screws in ankles, shoulder replacements, and surgeries.
“We’re really the Colorado Fading Stents,” player John Kidder said. “Everyone’s got issues. Everyone knows each other’s issues, and we play hockey and we stop hockey when somebody falls down.”
Some of the men are in their mid-80s. None of them want to just “take it easy” in retirement. With four tournaments a year and three skates a week, these seniors keep a schedule not unlike high school senior athletes.
At just a few weeks shy of 60, Joe Ceurvorst is one of the younger guys on the team.
“I like to tease these guys that the senior bus has to drop them off at the rink, and I get to drive myself still,” he said.
Colorado Fading Stars hockey club takes the ice
Stickers on their helmets honor players, sponsors, fans and wives and girlfriends who have passed.
“The sticker on our helmets is a way to celebrate life. The way I see it, it’s a way to remember people who were important in our lives,” Ceurvorst said.
The players are there for the exercise, the jokes, and, most of all, the camaraderie.
“I always like to tease everybody that while most of us don’t get to play in the NHL, a lot of our careers end here in old man hockey,” Ceurvorst said.
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