Last Friday, I went with some friends to Floyd Bennett Field to watch Brooklyn’s New York Aviators take to the ice against the Long Island Stingrays. I’m going to rely on Wikipedia’s entry on the North East Professional Hockey League — to which the Aviators are/were affiliated — to explain some of the context here:

The NEPHL, wrought with financial problems from the day they dropped their first puck, is down to two teams with the Connecticut C-Dogs ceasing operations with the forfeited playoff game vs. Rhode Island. The New York Aviators will apply to the Federal Hockey League…

There’s something inherently enjoyable about a professional hockey game with a ten dollar ticket, seats close to the ice, and a friendly bartender upstairs. And the “human slingshot” contest between periods — which involved watching a khaki-clad guy riding an inner tube into the boards and, eventually, into five ten-foot-high inflatable pins — was likewise entertaining. The Aviators ended the night as 10-0 winners (to his credit, the Stingrays’ goalie did stop 53 shots). Players were checked into the boards, helmets were lost, “Song 2″ was played after many a goal. Not a bad night of hockey…