For Johnny's Ice House's Resident 'Rogue Goalie' Mike Scott, 50 Years In Net Could Never Be Enough

CHICAGO (CBS) -- He's a hockey legend you more than likely have never heard of. Mike Scott grew up playing street hockey on the South Side, and more than half a century later, still has love the game.

And he's also lived a lot of lives. Scott is a Desert Storm veteran turned CPS bus driver, who has been playing goalie for most of his life, and is beloved for good reason at Johnny's Ice House, just down Madison Street from the United Center.

"My first pair of pads were some foam rubber from some old abandoned furniture," Scott said.

For a man who truly loves the game of hockey, 50 years in net could never be enough.

"I'm not going to hang it up when 62 comes. I'm going to continue to play. If I'm needed, I'll be there," Scott said.

Scott isn't always needed, but he's almost always there - at Johnny's Ice House – taking time out of his days as a CPS bus driver; ready to jump into a game at a moment's notice.

Scott is what's known as a rogue goalie - a permanent sub.

"He's one of those guys who's reliable. He's always there if you need a goalie. He's our rogue goalie. We wouldn't change him for the world," said Eduardo Perez, facilities supervisor at Johnny's Ice House.

While Scott has mastered the art of showing up, he admits his reliability as a shot blocker needs work.

"Hey, I can have some up and down games. I can look horrible and then spectacular the next, whatever. The thing I have to work on is consistency," Scott said.

But it's hard to find consistency in your game when you're bouncing between 150-some teams in one of the country's largest adult hockey leagues. A couple of years ago, though, Scott caught a break. A new 3-on-3 league formed, and one team needed a goalie; not a sub, but a true member of the team. At 59 years old, Scott was called up.

"That was my first permanent team. My rookie season in 3-on-3, we went all the way to the finals. We lost the finals, but got to see it," he said.

For Scott, getting to see the finals wasn't enough to squelch his desire to hoist a trophy; or several.

"I'd like to win some championships in every league, possibly. I'll see what I can do," he said.

He's got nothing but time.

Scott doesn't usually drive the CPS school bus to his hockey games, but he does spend a lot of time at Johnny's. He's still playing as a rogue goalie, so he spends a lot of days at the rink just seeing if a team needs him. But he's guaranteed at least a couple of games a week with his permanent 3-on-3 team, the Whalers.

So if you want to see a legend in action, you can get over to Johnny's Ice House to watch him.