Ice time

There is no youth ice hockey in Millbury, as is the case in most small towns, but luckily nearby Worcester has always been a big "hockey town" and the area offers several good hockey organizations, including my favorite (see below). In mid-May 2016, the future of youth ice hockey - and I mean hockey for kids from all financial backgrounds - in the area could take a big step forward.

I have loved ice hockey since I starting playing at age 4. If you don't play, I'll let you in on a little secret - there is something very unique about hockey people and the greater hockey community in general that I haven't seen in any other sport. It's hard to explain, but just ask someone you know who is already a part of the "hockey family" - it is a very special place. And it kills me to see kids who'd love to play, but can't afford to. That's where the Worcester Junior Sharks come in.

Worcester Junior Sharks. Hockey has always been expensive - both for players to play and for organizations to offer. It is a big commitment in terms of money and time dedicated to it. As the only non-profit youth ice hockey organization in the area, Worcester Junior Sharks have figured out a way to make great-caliber ice hockey available to nearly everyone, which is why I am such a big supporter of them.

More (or less) of a good thing. What I love most about the Jr. Sharks is that, like my favorite tech gear manufacturers, they don't give you a worse product for less of your time/money, they just offer a lesser amount of the same good thing. If you are interested in maximizing the amount of time on the ice per week and don't mind travelling to seek out the strongest competitors in the area, they have leagues for that ("AAA Elite" & "Travel"). If you love hockey and want dedicated, experienced coaches along with great local competition but can't make the time or money commitments of most leagues, they have a league for that too ("House league").

Update May 19, 2016. Planning board unanimously approved the rinks!

May 18, 2016. Hockey's biggest hurdle has always been the limited amount of ice time available (at reasonable times of day), especially for young players. The two new rinks proposed for Worcester's Canal District would go a long way to solving this, especially for the Jr. Sharks & Jr. Crusaders.

Please consider attending the Worcester planning board meeting on May 18th, 2016 (5:30pm) to push this great project forward!

Into the Shark tank

Two mites teams in the Worcester Junior Sharks youth ice hockey organization, made up of kids from several local towns (including Millbury), got a special surprise after their November 24th opportunity to play during intermission of the AHL Worcester Sharks game at the DCU Center. Worcester Sharks captain Rob Davison popped in to the kids' locker room after the game, talked hockey with them, and proceeded to take them on what will surely be a lifelong-memory-of-a-tour through the Worcester Sharks' locker room, dressing room, training room, and weight room, answering questions and stopping for the kids to get players' autographs all along the way.

Needless to say, it was an awesome experience for them. This is a guy, a team of players, and an organization who all truly "get it": Support your community and your community will support you. Things like this in our community should not go unnoticed. Bravo Sharks!

Two-wheeling around town

Chad Lemieux races in a "sprint" triathlon in nearby Webster, MA.

Whether you are an avid cyclist, just looking for a quiet place to ride, or anything in between, Millbury has a lot to offer in the bike-riding department.  At first glance, the current state of Millbury's roads may lead you to believe that there is an outright hatred for anything which travels on asphalt, but dig a little deeper and you just might like what Millbury is peddling (see what I did there?).

Paved surface biking. The surprisingly well-maintained and mapped Blackstone River Valley Bikeway / Greenway, which will someday extend 48 miles from Worcester, MA to Providence, RI, currently serves up ~2.3 miles (the Millbury portion, a 4.6 mile out-and-back loop) of uninterrupted, neatly-paved, motorvehicle-free asphalt for the cruising, complete with parking lots if you need to drive to a starting point.

Dirt trail biking. If off-road / trail riding is more your thing, the Martha Deering Wildlife Management area, accessible from Riverlin Street near Dorothy Pond, lays claim to 182 acres of town-owned land covered in trails and is open to the general public for free. The more experienced riders in the mountain biking community rave about the adjacent "Rayburn" trails.

Bike gear & service. The widely-regarded, recently-relocated Trek Stop bike shop in neighboring Grafton gives you half your money back towards your kid's next bike with their Youth Bike Trade-up Program.  It is the type of local business the truly gets it, treating their customers the way we want to be treated: to lifetime discounts and a no-pressure, information-rich bicycle buying / servicing experience.

---

More info:
Local cycling community clubs & foundations

Side lines

Soccer fans begin to settle into their seats on a cool June evening at Foley Stadium to watch the Worcester Hydra play during their first season.

---

Extending the Boundaries: I am trying to keep the people and places highlighted here within the bounds of Millbury, MA but occasionally I am willing to extend the boundaries slightly to include something just outside of Millbury which has no equivalent in town and is worth the short trip.

Flowers with a side of pizza

First off, I am trying to keep the people and places highlighted here within the bounds of Millbury, MA but occasionally I am willing to extend the boundaries slightly to include something just outside of Millbury which has no equivalent in town and is worth the short trip.

My experiences with Floral Elegance just over the town line into Grafton warrant such an exemption.

The flowers themselves are always selected and arranged artistically with great thought, but what they do to earn my business is to take the extra steps to help me, the customer, and make me feel like the only one that matters. Whether it is pulling something together with nearly zero advanced notice or staying late to accommodate my schedule, they always seem come through and do so with infectious personality.

They even have a great relationship with the pizza joint next door which stays open later in the evenings, enabling me to pick up my flowers there when it works for me - not to mention the one-stop shopping for dinner as well! I love that kind of old-school "you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-your's" mentality.

I mean no disrespect to any proper Millbury-based florists, I just haven't had that kind of experience with them to this point.

---

Extending the Boundaries: I am trying to keep the people and places highlighted here within the bounds of Millbury, MA but occasionally I am willing to extend the boundaries slightly to include something just outside of Millbury which has no equivalent in town and is worth the short trip.