Chelsea’s Arctic Coliseum hosted a hockey skills clinic put on by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. This clinic was notable for two reasons:

1)My nephew signed up for it, and
2)Brian Rafalski was one of the instructors.

Who’s Brian Rafalski, you ask? Gasp! Obviously you don’t follow hockey here in Michigan. Brian Rafalski is a Dearborn native who was a part of three Stanley Cup-winning teams in his highly successful NHL career. The first two Cups were with the New Jersey Devils, and the last was with his hometown Detroit Red Wings. He retired from hockey this past spring.

So…yeah, a hockey skills clinic with Rafalski as an instructor is a Very Big Deal. The man knows his hockey skills.

This is my nephew.

It was a very humid day outside, and to make matters worse, a storm dumped a bunch of rain down during the clinic. What happens inside an ice arena when it’s absurdly humid outside?

Fog. Lots of fog. Visibility was good for a while after the Zamboni ran, but eventually the fog took over again.

Here, an instructor outlines a drill.

Here, an instructor listens as the other instructor outlines a drill.

That instructor is Brian Rafalski. Everybody say hi to Mr. Rafalski.

Here’s Mr. Rafalski with some of my family in the background.

Yes, I took that picture very much on purpose. Okay, so it’s not my family with Rafalski…but it’s my family in the same frame as Rafalski. Close enough.

Of course, I also got a photo of my nephew on the ice with Rafalski.

And finally, here’s the whole set of instructors.

I’ve made a bit of a Big Deal over Rafalski’s presence because he’s such a well-known hockey player, but I don’t want to shortchange the rest of the staff. The clinic was very (VERY) well-run, and that’s a credit to every man on the ice. If you have an FCA-run hockey camp in your area and you have a child who plays hockey, I’d encourage you to take advantage of it.