Longtime hockey coach Larry Briggs still playing competitively as he celebrates 70th birthday

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Age is just a number and Larry Briggs, the recruiting coordinator for the hockey team at PennWest California is a living, breathing, and skating example of that -- even as he turns the ripe age of 70 today. 

For decades, Larry Briggs has been passing on his knowledge of the game of hockey to all those around him -- from high school students in the Mon Valley to college hockey players at PennWest California, and especially to his own sons. 

Larry fell in the love with hockey before the Penguins even came to town in the late 1960's, skating and playing pickup games on frozen ponds in Clairton with his friends from the neighborhood. 

After high school he played in various adult leagues at the Rostraver Ice Garden and other local rinks throughout Pittsburgh, including playing in an organized men's league called the Pittsburgh Hockey League for the Clairton Canucks.

Throughout his time coaching and recruiting, he never stopped playing on multiple men's league teams, especially for the team he created and has become the unofficial captain, player-coach, and general manager for; Team Monkey Bar. 

Starting in 2012, the team was comprised of players he has coached, coached against, and eventually players he recruited to play at PennWest California, and is still going strong to this day. He often finds himself sharing the ice with players who average around the age of 30!

For more than a decade, Larry has been the Scouting and Recruiting Coordinator for the California Vulcans Hockey Club, but beyond his role there on the staff, he still finds time to hit the ice as a player, now 70 years old. 

When he isn't playing against players that are a fraction of his age, he plays on two other teams at Ice Castle in Castle Shannon and the Mt. Lebanon Ice Center against guys closer to his age, but in most games he is the oldest skater on the ice. 

On any given week, he typically plays two or three games a week.  

Last March, he had the unique experience of playing against players older than him when he was asked to play in a 70+ tournament for the GeriHatricks hockey club based out of Maryland. 

He also plays in the yearly SlapShot Cup Tournament in Johnstown, PA in the 60+ division.  

Now at 70 years old, Larry's goal is to be the oldest hockey player in the Pittsburgh area.