New Yorker Memoir Recounts Childhood Hockey, Coach Miloslav Pospisil, and Fatherhood on the Ice
In a recent edition, The New Yorker featured "Hockey Dads and Hockey Sons," a memoir drawn from "The Intangibles." Set in 1977, the eight-year-old narrator trained at Lasker Rink under the guidance of Miloslav Pospisil, a former Czechoslovak Army member who escaped following the Soviet invasion in 1968. After the narrator suffered a bruise on his ankle from a wrist shot, Pospisil labeled him a "crybaby" and sidelined him. Two years later, the narrator's father, a banker on Wall Street, took on the role of "Coach P." Although he played bantam hockey in the Bronx, he eventually quit during high school. As an adult, he coached his sons, Oli and James, the latter of whom, known for his temper, was benched for "red eyes" before switching to basketball. The memoir delves into the dynamics of parental expectations and the culture surrounding youth hockey.
Key facts
- The New Yorker published "Hockey Dads and Hockey Sons," drawn from "The Intangibles."
- The narrator began skating at Lasker Rink in Central Park in 1977 at age eight.
- Coach Miloslav Pospisil, known as Mr. Mila, was a Czechoslovak Army veteran who played on Czech national hockey and soccer teams.
- Pospisil fled Czechoslovakia after the 1968 Soviet invasion, when he saw a soldier shoot a woman who refused to remove a rose from her overcoat.
- Pospisil called the narrator a "crybaby" at a peewee tournament after an ankle injury and barred him from playing.
- The narrator's father took over coaching two years later, becoming "Coach P."
- The father was photographed by Richard Avedon for a firm advertisement in the Times.
- The narrator later coached his sons Oli and James, and quit after telling James "That was on you" following an overtime loss.
Entities
Artists
- Miloslav Pospisil
- Richard Avedon
- Grace Kelly
- Michael Jackson
- Marcel Dionne
- Olli Jokinen
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Lada
- Oli
- James
- Xander
- Siv
Institutions
- The New Yorker
- Lasker Rink
- Cosby's
- Madison Square Garden
- Mighty Mites
- Playland Ice Casino
- Rye Rangers
- American Hockey League
- Los Angeles Kings
- Ziegfeld
- Carl Schurz Park
Locations
- Central Park
- New York
- United States
- Czechoslovakia
- Montreal
- Canada
- Prague
- Philadelphia
- Minnesota
- Michigan
- Bronx
- Pelham
- New Rochelle
- Westchester
- Rye
- Queens
- Long Island Sound
- Kopřivnice
- Calgary
- Alberta