RyanHellyer.net

“One man. One hockey stick. Many WordPress challenges.”

Getting on thin ice

What do a bunch of skating crazed idiots do when there isn’t enough ice to safely skate on? … they attempt to skate on it anyway …

Dave Young attempting to stand on a stupidly thin sheet of ice on a small pond.

Dave Young utilizing the "hold onto some other idiot" approach to safety.

Edging out onto the ice on a plank of wood.

Dave Patchett enjoying a casual swim

During a skating trip to Poolburn dam in July 2011, Dave Patchett decided there wasn’t enough ice so took a casual dip underneath it instead!!!

Dave Patchett

Frogner stadion

Skating trip to Frogner stadion in Oslo. The ice surface was super smooth, the temperatures were high and there was more ice than you could possibly imagine (for a rink). A complete lack of fitness and having not skated properly in around nine months left me pretty much dead at the end of my skating stint.

Trip to Hoffmans dam

Whilst staying in Naseby for a hockey tournament, Dave Patchett, myself and Chris Laing walked up in the snow to Hoffman’s dam. The dam was frozen, but not enough to skate on.

Chris Laing chilling out beside the dam

Dave Patchett admiring the ice on Hoffman's dam

Bandy

I went to check out a game of Bandy here in Oslo recently. For those of you who haven’t heard of it before, Bandy is a sport which is similar to field hockey, but played on ice. The rink is huge, as are the goals. There is much less contact than in ice hockey and a small ball is used instead of a puck. There are 11 players on the ice and only a few subs. I’d love to play, but my shoulder will need to be in much better condition before I can attempt anything like this.

Game of Bandy being played in Oslo, Norway.

Giant ice groomer gizmo. Doesn't give as nice a surface as a Zamboni, but is a bazillion times faster!

Photos from around Oslo

I went for a walk around Oslo. Here are some snaps from my trip.

A small cemetery in Oslo.

Norwegian Parliament building in Oslo.

An ice rink I skated on near the Royal Palace in Oslo.

The palace where the King of Norway lives.

River in Oslo,

An Oslo T-blane station.

The road enroute to Metronet (where I'm working)

Sognsvann

I headed to Sognsvann just north of Oslo to go ice skating. It turned out there was way too much snow on the lake for skating, but I had a nice walk around the lake anyway.

Group trip to Idaburn

We made a group trip to the Idaburn dam to find skatable ice. That failed in epic fashion, so we did some team shots including the following super sexy duckface shot! Thanks to Devon Wallace for the photos.

Ed Waite on the left, yours truly at the top, Jaydee Cabral in the middle and Devon Wallace on right doing our best attempt at the super sexy duckface shot.

From left: Thomas Hedderwick, Jacyln Ho, Dave Patchett, Bret Dougherty, Pip, Ed Waite, Jaydee Cabral, Hernesha Fakir, Ryan Hellyer (me), Liz Roberts, Chris Laing and Keith Dickson.

Hockey trip to Naseby

I helped organise a social hockey trip to Naseby this winter. We were greeted with an awesome snowy experience on arriving in Naseby, including snow during one of our games! My should was too munted to play, so I refereed it instead.

Chris Laing getting overly friendly with a snowman!

Brett enroute to Hoffmans dam

From left to right: Unknown (orange) Ryan Hellyer (me as referee), Kelly Cooper-Mitchell (teal), Hernesha Fakir (orange), Thomas Hedderwick (teal), unknown (red), unknown (teal), Jaclyn Ho (teal), Devon Wallace (teal), Brett Dougherty (orange), Keith Dickson (teal), Sonja Texley (orange), Barett (goalie) Liz Roberts (orane), Chris Laing (teal), unknown (teal), Adam Girardin (goalie), Dave Patchett (orange), unknown (teal), unknown (teal), Devon Wallace (teal), Sophie Soph (orange), Jaydee Cabral (orange). Thanks to Adam Girardin for providing the photo.