I spent Saturday afternoon at the SLICE arena in Monroe watching a youth hockey game between Monroe and Wisconsin Dells. 

The arena is a busy place and one of Monroe’s outstanding amenities.

My wife and I joined her cousin and husband to watch a game between players in the 13- to 14-year-old age group.

The score wavered back and forth. The home team pulled ahead handily in the third period to win.

After the game, the ice was divided by barriers and the youngest age group, Mites, took to the ice with teams from Beloit, Beaver Dam and Monroe. It’s fun to watch these kids play.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, I had my own experience as a youth hockey player and I eventually played hockey all the way through high school in Janesville. Youth hockey is different than prep hockey because families travel together with the team for youth hockey. The team is mainly separated from their families at the high school level.

Youth hockey involves a lot of car-pooling, weekend driving — sometimes to four different locations between Saturday and Sunday — and eating restaurant meals in huge groups. Hockey teams that travel to Monroe, just like any other sports team, help the local economy. Single games are just a minor piece of the pie. The real investment comes with weekend tournaments that include hotel stays and multiple meals. 

I enjoyed playing hockey. I didn’t think it was something I should do; it was something I was compelled to do. There’s a difference between those two things. Being large, athletic and strong, I felt football was something I should do. I enjoyed football, but I loved hockey.

Many years after my own hockey career passed, I got another stint on the ice as a coach as my son played between the ages of three and six. I traveled with the team and volunteered at the arena. Volunteers are such a huge part of what makes youth hockey work in small communities.

My wife and I had hot dogs at SLICE on Saturday. Not only were they excellent, but while watching the two women working behind the counter, I was reminded of the mornings, afternoons and nights I spent either helping at the snack counter, taking care of a penalty box door or coaching.

When I think back on it, I tied a lot of hockey skates in my time as the kids got ready to practice and play.

When my son turned 6, he not only played hockey, but he wrestled. We traveled for both sports and it was overwhelming. The next year he had to choose between the two sports and he chose wrestling.

I was a bit heartbroken, because while I knew a fairly good deal about hockey, I knew less about wrestling.

Even at age 6, children are making decisions about their lives, and for the next 11 years I became a wrestling dad. When my son wrestled his final season, I was at an all-day meet in Stoughton and I ran into a high school hockey teammate. His son, too, had chosen to wrestle rather than play hockey. We reminisced a bit about our time on the ice together and our lives. It was the first time I had seen him in 30 years. We both noted it was difficult to watch our sons participate in wrestling because it was so foreign from hockey.

I never felt bad about my son being a wrestler. I’ve always thought the two most difficult youth sports are wrestling and gymnastics. Wrestling is a one-on-one battle of physical dominance. Gymnastics is a solo athletic performance that involves strength, grace and precision. All sports build character and help a youth figure out their own competitive drive. Kids who embrace wrestling and gymnastics are choosing to be in a spotlight where their individual performance is what’s added to the team’s overall score.

I thought about all these things while at SLICE. I watched the players, listened to the parents, witnessed the volunteers and even paid attention to the skill of the Zamboni driver. The arena is clean, well-kept and inviting.

It takes many volunteers to operate youth programs including sports, chorus, drama, band, orchestra, extracurricular academics, scouting and the host of options that provide positive outlets for childhood growth.

Like never before, adults are donating their free time to help youths have bonding activities outside of school. A lot of what America is about, for the average middle-class family,s is doing volunteer work or using their free time to foster their children’s participation in these activities.

The happenings at SLICE are a positive example of members of a community coming together to help make this a better place. The memories that are made last a lifetime.

— Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.