I went to my first drop in game

I’m that kid that played pond and street hockey all throughout my childhood. As a 12 year old I was usually one of the best players out there. In school I ran track, played baseball and basketball. Just generally pretty athletic and competitive. Fast forward to 2025 and I’m 34 and haven’t laced up my skates more than 10 times in the last 10 years. One day I decide to get back into the sport so I go out and drop $700 on solid beginner/midrange gear. I check my local rink’s schedule and see they have drop in hockey a couple times a week. I’m getting excited and imagine that I’d be able to hang with these guys. They’re just some locals like me who probably don’t play much, right? I’m probably like middle of the pack skill level, right?

Wrong. I was by far the worst player on the ice and keep in mind I can skate, hockey stop, pick corners, stick handle pretty well. Turns out about half of them were ex minor league or college hockey players. One guy was the son of a hall of fame goalie from the 80’s and 90’s. I’ll let you guess who. Suffice to say they skated circles around me. Near the end they kind of backed off and allowed me to take the puck up the ice, make some passes and get some pucks on the net. A nice gesture but the experience as a whole was a little deflating for me. Maybe I should have kept my expectations lower. I probably improved but it just wasn’t fun at all not being competitive. So what’s the advice going forward? keep going to drop in as the worst guy on the ice? Stick to stick and puck sessions for now?