Relocating to Berlin: Ice Hockey

One of the hardest parts about moving away from the Washington, DC area has been leaving behind two very special groups of people:  the Reston Raiders ice hockey team, and the Washington Capitals ice hockey team.

I took to ice hockey relatively late in life.  Growing up in Winnetka, IL, many of my friends in elementary school would come to class every day wearing their "Winnetka Ice Hockey All-Stars" jackets, and I could only look on in envy and admiration.  At the annual skating parties, while my friends would be zipping around the ice, I would be slowly inching my way around the boards in a pair of poorly constructed and ill-fitting rental figure skates.  This continued throughout school, when I ultimately - and unintentionally - ended up attending college at a top-tier D1 ice hockey school.  Despite the fact that none of my friends were on the college hockey team (student athletes at that level would rarely, if ever, be seen in the presence of the mere mortal students), many of them played intramural hockey.  Occasionally on weekends my hockey playing friends and I would all go to one of the local malls to go ice skating.  Again, my friends would zip around the ice, while I would slowly inch my way around the boards in a pair of poorly constructed and ill-fitting rental figure skates.


These experiences were deeply scarring for my already fragile psyche.

The problem was not that I didn't want to play.  My close proximity to hockey played at extremely high levels caused me to hold an intense interest in the sport.  The problem, at least as I rationalized it to myself, was that ice hockey is a very expensive sport, and I never had much in the way of disposable income.

By the time I had become an adult, was married, and had a job making decent enough money that I could afford it, it was time to finally take up hockey.  I was 26 years old.  I couldn't ice skate.

Of course, when you play a sport, you also tend to become interested in the local professional teams that actually play it well.  For me, that team is the Washington Capitals (aka the "Caps").  The year after I took up playing hockey was the year that the Caps made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals (until being humiliated by the Detroit Red Wings in 4 straight games).  Ever since that point, with greater or lesser degrees of fervency over the years, I have always been a Caps fan.

15 years have passed since I first started playing hockey, and I am still not very good.  In fact, I am pretty terrible.  But I have fun with it.  When my daughter first started ice skating at the age of 2 (because she was going to grow up to be able to attend skating parties without being overcome with shame, if I was going to have anything to do with it!), she took to it immediately.  When she saw me enjoying playing ice hockey, she decided that she wanted to play ice hockey too - only better.

We live only 15 minutes away from the home rink of one of the best ice hockey youth programs,  and the best hockey school, in the Mid-Atlantic region.  As soon as we could get her in (getting a place on a team is very competitive), my daughter became a Reston Raider - quickly moving up to join a travel team just as we were beginning to discuss moving overseas.

So now, with a move to Berlin in our sights, what does our family have to look forward to?

Berlin is a surprisingly vibrant hockey city.  We will be trading our beloved Washington Capitals for the Berlin Eisbären.  Like the Caps, the Eisbären are an excellent team that represents their respective nation's capital city.  Unlike the Caps, the Eisbären don't choke in the playoffs every single bloody year(!!!) - having won the German national championship 7 out of the last 8 years.  Also, unlike the Caps, the cost of tickets to watch games is somewhat less than the cost of buying a new refrigerator.  We already have purchased our jerseys, and are looking forward to seeing as many games in person as possible.

Finding a new team for my daughter to join was potentially more of a challenge.  Would we be able to find a youth hockey program that is as good as the one that we are leaving behind - particularly one that is welcoming of girl players?  Quality has yet to be seen, but at least it looks like there will be a few options.  Considering where we plan to be living, F.A.S.S. Berlin appears to be a good option for us. Their practice rink is relatively nearby, and they seem to have a relatively open door for welcoming new children to come to practices to try the sport.  I have already exchanged e-mails with the coach, and he seems excited at the prospect of having an American trained and experienced player on his roster.  Another possible option is the Eisbären Juniors, which is the youth program for the professional Eisbären team.  Like the Little Capitals program in Washington, I get the impression that this team is kind of a Berlin "all star" team that takes the best of the best from the various youth programs in the area.  We will see if my daughter has either the skill or the desire to work to join that team, although she says she does.


When we first started looking at moving to Berlin, we had many concerns.  Would we be able to find good jobs?  Would we be able to find a reasonably priced apartment in a nice neighborhood?  Would we be able to get our daughter into a quality school?  Perhaps unlike many other families relocating overseas, we were also concerned about maintaining an outlet for our collective interest in ice hockey.  It may have been more by accident than by design, but Berlin seems to be the perfect destination.