story by Chris Roy
The International Fire and Police Winter Games (IFPWG) hockey tournament, will be at the Lewiston Colisee, Jan. 16th-18th. One of the teams returning to compete is “3rd Watch”, out of Bangor, Maine. The team is made up of fire fighters, police officers, EMS, hospital staff, and U.S. military personnel. The team captain Troy Lare, explains how 3rd Watch got their name. “Our original captain’s wife was an ER nurse and she said that our guys reminded her of the “Third Watch” show on TV.”
This is the 12th season that the 3rd Watch team has hit the ice and they have already won 5 out of the first 7 games. Basically the same team is returning from the last season, but with a few new faces, they look forward to heading to Lewiston, to take on the defending IFPWG Champions Lewiston PD. Although 3rd Watch hasn’t won against L-PD, in the past, Troy commented “We play to have fun.”
I asked Troy, “Who are the key players on the team, setting up the plays? Who has the speed, is a sharpshooter, and the play makers? Any enforcers on the team?!” Troy replied, “Depends on how the lines are set up, we have some good lines. The lines change from game to game since the players have full time jobs either putting out fires, savings lives, or keep the public safe. Troy commented, “We have a 19 player roster, so depending on the game – that’s how many lines we have. We all work shift work, so we are rarely all there at the same time. We change lines automatically and it works out OK.”
3rd Watch, has a charity called, “Summer Camp for Kids.” The charity, Troy explains, “This is a 1week hockey camp that we have for kids. We keep the costs down to get the kids on the ice. We also ‘help out’ kids that can’t afford a summer camp by offering scholarships to the camp. They get 15 hours of ice time.”
So come watch 3rd Watch as they take to the ice in the 2012 International Fire & Police Winter Hockey Tournament this January!
Third Watch website
http://www.thirdwatchhockey.com/
International Fire & Police Winter Games website
http://www.ifpwg.com/
