Hello dear friends. I must confess I write to you as a born-again disciple of the sport of ice hockey. I stumbled across the gold medal match between Canada and the USA last night and was totally enthralled. Okay it is still a sport that needs some translation, what with icings (and I’m not talking cakes), power plays, offside (not like in footy), and overtime, but having said all of that, I was gripped.

The Canadians were just 24 seconds away from winning gold in regulation (get me with all the lingo), when the USA equalised at 2-2 and you could almost sense an entire nation bursting into collective tears. I thought the moment had gone and that the yanks would inevitably triumph, but I was off the sofa and on my feet when Sidney Crosby scored the goal that guaranteed free Molson for the rest of his life. Crosby is the pin-up boy of Canadian sport, so it was the perfect end to a phenomenal games in terms of events for the host nation. They promised they would own the podium and 14 golds later they have. London 2012 will have been watching no doubt with huge interest.

But the hockey took me right back to my student days in London when I used to go and see the Streatham Redskins play. It became a regular outing for me and my boyfriend at the time and I loved it. The noise, the spectacle, the smell, and let me tell you the smell of sweaty ice-hockey kit is in a league of its own. In later years I did some filming with an ice-hockey team and nothing prepared me for the assault on my nostrils. And coming from someone who has worked in and around sport for many, many years, that is saying something.

Sadly the Redskins have fallen upon harder times in recent years and ice hockey in this country hasn’t really developed to anything like the standard of the NHL. But it is still a great sport for the whole family and one I would highly recommend. It inspired me to think about taking my kids to see a game. I think my daughter would be bewildered but curious, but I just know that my son would love the body checks. There is an Elite League in the UK with 8 teams in it, so if you do fancy the best of British, then why not have a little look? I think I will be making a trip to a game with the family. Anything to get me out of more running.......