Benji and Charlie Labradors are hockey-loving brothers from England.
Benji and Charlie Labradors are hockey-loving brothers who are a big part of the Dog Twitter community, but unlike most hockey dogs, they live clear across the Atlantic Ocean in England.
What’s more, their dad is Matt Lloyd, who played on the Team Great Britain sled hockey team in the 2006 Paralympics in Turino, Italy, and also in the 2009 World Championships in the Netherlands and 2011 European Championships in Sweden. He also played for the Team Great Britain sitting volleyball team in the 2007 European Championships in Hungary, and developed the sport of inline sled hockey.
Nowadays Dad is the general manager for the YKK Widnes Wild, a hockey club who play in the National Ice Hockey League Division 2 North, the United Kingdom’s fourth-ranked professional league. This roughly equates to Single-A North American minor league baseball, or USHL hockey.
(Some pro sports teams in the United Kingdom have a title sponsor, like what sometimes happens in Korean baseball or auto racing around the world, e.g. Arrow McLaren SP in IndyCar, ROKiT Williams in Formula One or Red Bull KTM in MotoGP/Supercross.)
Widnes is in the northwest part of England in the Cheshire region, and the Wild play in a Planet Ice facility.
Benji is the older brother “wearing luxurious yellow fur,” as his mum Ruth described it, while Charlie is more of a “glossy black.” Charlie also celebrated his Gotcha Day over several days last week, which was fun (swimming and cheeseburgers were involved).
They’re friends with Canadian Penny and PeytonReads, and their adventures can be followed at the handle @Charlie_Benji.
We got the chance to chat with them via email earlier this week to learn more about their lives and passion for the game.
Dog O’Day talks to Benji and Charlie Labradors about how a pair of British dogs got into following the sport of ice hockey. Turns out, it’s a family connection.
Dog O’Day – How did you and your family get involved in ice hockey? We didn’t know it existed in England until you mentioned it.
Benji and Charlie Labradors – Dad has watched hockey since he was a teenager, and his first “official” date with Mum was to watch an ice hockey game; the Sheffield Steeldogs vs the Manchester Phoenix.
What are some of Dad’s career highlights?
From a hockey perspective Dad’s highlights are playing for Team Great Britain in the 2006 Paralympic Games in Turin and 2009 World and 2011 European Championships. He retired in 2011 and then in 2013 he helped create the Widnes Wild who won 4 trophies in 3 seasons including the league and playoff double in the 2018/19 season. You can read more about Dad on his Wikipedia page.
It’s worth knowing Mum and Dad got married on the ice at Widnes Ice Rink in 2015 and as part of the wedding celebrations they hosted a pre-season friendly (exhibition game) between the Widnes Wild and the Altrincham Aces (the Wild won 2-0).
Could you tell us more about Dad’s team, the Widnes Wild?
The YKK Widnes Wild were created in 2013 and entered the English National League North Division 2. They are the most successful team in the league, although last season they had their worst league season in years, when they finished fourth. Dad was upset but said it was because they had played less games than anyone else before the league ended early due to COVID-19.
Do you have a favorite National Hockey League team you follow?
We’re Edmonton Oilers fans.
Dog O’Day continues our talk with Benji and Charlie Labradors about their life as hockey dogs living in England.
Dog O’Day – How do you like to spend your time most days?
Benji and Charlie Labradors – We start our day around 8 a.m., we help Mum to take care of her chickens and then after breakfast we settle in for some cuddles, massage, and living-room ball. Benji is 15, so can’t chase a ball outside like he used to. After walkies we generally have a nap until lunch time, followed by a further nap until tea time, and another until bed time. This is obviously interspersed with more cuddles, watching hockey on TV, and getting in Mum’s way as much as possible if she is busy. Mum is working from home at the moment, so we’re having to ‘help’ with that too!
What are some of your favorite things about living in England, and what might our American/Canadian readers not know about British dog life?
We live in a small village, so we are lucky to have lots of beautiful countryside right by our house. That means that we can enjoy our walks without our leads on. Of course, our American & Canadian friends will all face their own weather-based issues, but we Brits love to talk about weather, so we must mention it here! Where we live, on the East coast of England, we don’t get a lot of extreme weather in any direction, but we can get quite a variety of weather conditions in one day. It can be warm and sunny one minute and pouring with rain the next.
Last week we had an interesting discussion with an American Twitter pal about what we know as ‘prawn crackers’. In the UK these come, usually included, with a Chinese takeaway meal. We discovered that this is apparently not the case in the US. We did finally establish that they are known there as ‘shrimp chips’, but don’t get included as standard with your takeaway.
Our Canadian friends will also be used to outdoor hockey. We don’t have that here, because it’s rarely cold enough. Outdoor rinks here are limited to temporary installations in town centres around Christmas. Dogs are not allowed in ice rinks here, so we can’t attend any hockey in person.
What are the best parts of Dog Twitter, in your opinion? Why should humans look into it if they don’t know about it?
The nice thing about Dog Twitter (and Cat Twitter) is that it tends to be a lot kinder than human twitter. If a pet is poorly everyone else will send good wishes and pawcircles, and when a pet goes to the Rainbow Bridge people will often light a candle in memory of them. It’s just not controversial most of the time.
Dog O’Day concludes our chat with British dogs Benji and Charlie Labrador with our typical questions we like asking social media puppers.
Dog O’Day – Without thumbs, how do you type?
Benji and Charlie Labradors – Before em’bark’ing on our social media careers we took time to train Mum as a fully bark activated assistant, so we can just tell her what we want to say. She’s like Alexa, combined with Siri, but better.
What are some of your favorite snacks or treats?
Mum is quite into taking care of our health, so she tends not to allow a lot of treats that involve any additives. At lunchtime we get a raw chicken wing as a snack, and Mum bakes liver cake for us to have as a bedtime snack. She also buys in handmade biscuits (cookies) from a lady in Norfolk who makes them to raise money for shelter dogs in Cyprus. Of course, being Labradors, we assist with any food that gets dropped on the floor. We also love anything that’s not for us. Charlie famously once helped himself to Dad’s apple pie, complete with the foil pie case. Luckily, no harm done.
Do you ever watch Crufts or other dog-centric sports/programs on TV?
We do watch a few shows. We have one that is on quite often and is about police dogs and last week we watched Dogs with Incredible Jobs. Charlie is a fan of this kind of TV show, and was watching intently, whereas Benji prefers his hockey, plus football (your soccer).
Are you on any other social media besides Twitter?
We have a Facebook page and an Instagram account, but Twitter (@Charlie_Benji) is our main platform.
We’d love it if you’d follow the Dog O’Day social media pages while you look up Benji and Charlie Labradors’ pages, we’re on Facebook at Daily Dog and on Instagram at the handle @DogODayFS, where we sometimes share pictures of fans’ doggos.
If you’d like to join our pack as a contributor as we cover the worlds of canine sports, entertainment and lifestyle, then please apply here! We’d love to add to our staff, and though we’re an American-based site, dog-loving Canadian, Australian or UK people would be great as well to add an international touch.