Although the televisions cameras were rolling at the Burnaby Winter Club on Tuesday afternoon slow-motion replay wasn’t necessary.

The sexy story of the day was a group of more than 20 octogenarians from all over the continent playing in The Incredible Hockey Tournament. All the television stations were there to document the first tourney ever for those 80-and-older. The youth division was for young pups who are only 75.

“That was big fun. Big,” grinned goaltender George Carlson of Edmonton.

Those that signed up were split into two teams that will play each other three times in three days. In the opener on Tuesday, Carlson backstopped the Red team to a 6-3 victory. Once Carlson went down to block a shot the big guy would often stay down until the puck left the defensive zone, which might even be a good tactic since most of the players struggled to raise the puck more than a foot off the ice..

“You might say the knees have it,” said Carlson. “You’d be surprised, if the guys get the opportunity they can put it up high.”

Mike Ratushniak of Chilliwack usually plays two or three times a week.

“I play with the young guys that are 60, 55 and 70.” With them he’s a stay-at-home defenceman. With the octogenarian set he looks like Bobby Orr wheeling around on the ice frequently cutting off opposing forwards and then lugging the puck up the ice.

“He saved my butt a couple of times,” said Carlson.

“It keeps me in good shape,” says Ratushniak, who plays two or three times a week when he’s not playing golf. “They encourage me to play, that helps out. You have to keep yourself in good shape with the young guys.”

The game was refereed by former NHL star Cliff Ronning, a Burnaby native and resident.

“The thing about it, they’re 80 years old and they’re out there skating at a pretty good pace,” said Ronning. “The only time I noticed how old they were out there was when they fell down and we (Ronning and the linesman) had to help them up.”

There were some senior moments.

One of the Black players tried to come off the ice to sit on the Red bench, but the Red manager pointed him the other way as he chuckled. After play resumed following a two-minute break halfway through the game, Ronning was talking to three Red players pointing them to the goal they were supposed to be shooting at.

“Red’s going that way, Black’s going that way,” he directed.

“Not necessarily,” came the retort from one wise acre on the bench.

Despite their age, they haven’t lost their zest for the opposite sex. Besides Carlson cracking harmless inappropriate jokes—like having a wife with one leg and calling her Peg—one geezer tried to flag down a woman television reporter as she left the ice during the post-game handshake and picture-taking session. Eventually he seduced—better make that coerced—her back on to the ice so he could have his picture taken with her.

His score, however, didn’t count on the scoreboard.

ggranger@burnabynewsleader.com