Recently, I was invited to a birthday party a friend of mine was throwing for her boyfriend and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was going to be held at H-F Ice Arena. These days, it seems, they offer packages where people can rent out a party room along with ice time in the adjoining studio rink for the exclusive use of all the guests. The perfect setting for her hockey player beau. On the invitations, we were told to bring our sticks and pucks to shoot around on the ice if we liked, which surprised me a little because the studio I remembered in the past was not painted with blue lines, face off circles and creases. It is now. Anyhow, everyone had a blast. So much so that they had to peel a couple of us off the ice when our time was done. The party was a huge success and now we’re thinking about renting the studio to have a mini game or two in the near future. Time to dust off the pads, I guess… and update my Blue Cross policy.