Playing hockey for my Son….

I'm a single parent and my Son is my Life. My family has a pretty crappy history of health... older Brother has MS, younger Brother has had 2 heart attacks, Mother and Grandmother passed of cancer, Father passed of heart attack).. ., so I worry about being there for my Son. I quit smoking 3.5 yrs ago..., and upon my most recent doctors' visit.., I've been informed I have high blood pressure and extremely high cholesterol.

My first instinct was of course, to eat better (doing it) and excercise more as I have been heavily into bodybuilding for about 15 years..., 10 years back, and always played hockey when I was younger.

I was born and raised in Canada..., so I take my 10 yr old son to hockey games in the winter. I'm in SE Oklahoma..., so the closest ice arena is 1.5 hrs away.
Every time we catch a game..., I think to myself 'I would love to play again'.   

I looked into it and decided to go for it.  My problem is that the closest ice surface is 1.5 hrs away - a 180 mile round trip. I tried on my equipment a couple weeks ago and .., well, it's been about 23 years since I last put it on. I'm currently 46..., so I gained a bit of weight over the past 23 yrs.  - about 40 pounds or so.- Solid muscle of course..   :0)

Upon looking into equipment costs and such - I was floored!! Most of my equipment, however; I can make due with... - but the price of a single Hockey Stick has risen about 300%!!! Last one I bought was $25-$30 ..., now they're $125 - $300!! Couple this with the fee for signing up $375..., and gas weekly from Sept. to May to make the games, skating time (conditioning), practices, etc.... I quickly came to the realization that I just plain can't afford this.

A friend of mine told me of this site...
Rather than trashing the idea... wonder if you all can help?

Thanks