Hey Leif, glad you have taken the plunge! I don't think I've ever inspired anyone before!
That hockey glove smell.....there's nothing quite like it is there! I've just ordered a drying rack and bought some Febreze for mine and my sons gear.
I haven't played for a couple of weeks, having been on nights, and so have spent the lunchtime skate sessions working on my general skating skills (I can now do a rather cautious crossover, going anti-clockwise, but the hockey stops still elude me). I also have had to take it easy due to an ankle injury from the scrimmage game (as you say, it's basically hockey with no goalies), but that is definitely on the mend now.
It's well worth getting the gear, as you have done. I sometimes wear mine to the lunchtime skates as it gets me used to skating in it all, and gives me a little more confidence when trying new things. The only things they don't permit on public sessions are hockey gloves and body armour (as in the chest protector). With regards to sticks, I will add my experience in the next paragraph, but it's worth experimenting with different tape windings (I go heel to toe, with the toe also fully covered), and I also use wax, which despite some peoples opinions, I have found to help a great deal. I also find skating without a stick to be quite odd when you're used to it - it almost acts in the same way as a tail does to an animal, an extra bit of balance and support.
The first time I played, I used a right hand stick, assuming that it'd be correct, as I am right handed. Big mistake. I was all over the place (even more so than usual). Eventually one of the other players cottoned on as to why I was struggling exceptionally badly, and let me try his lefty stick - massive and positive difference instantly. There are two schools of thought. Some say to use your dominant hand to control the stick (which is done from the top of the stick), and some prefer to use the power of the dominant hand in the shot, so placing the dominant hand in the mid-stick position. I approach it with how I would use a broom, right hand to drive, left hand to add a little power. Apparently, a lot of Canadians, when right handed, use left sticks and vice-versa, whereas a lot of Americans go the other way around, and this is apparently because in the USA, baseball is the first sport generally learned, and so it follows that they hold their stick with the dominance that they would use on a baseball bat, whereas a lot of Canadians learn ice hockey first.
As you have said, there are some on the LTP's that skate circles around the rest of us, but again, I have found that a combination of ice hockey LTP sessions and NISA LTS lessons (now on level 4), really helps.
I was chatting to one of my LTP buddies the other day, and there were a couple of things he mentioned that felt pretty good. He said he could remember how bad I was on my first session, back in January, and how far I have come since then. I am now able to skate with much more confidence and stability, and fall over a lot less. I still need to learn hockey stops, backwards crossovers etc, but it will all come in time. I have given myself a target of a year to get good enough to join a rec team (which I have found out, costs about £55 a month to play for).
He also said, on that point, that he had attended some rec team training sessions, and was surprised by the level of ability of some of the skaters. Apparently, there are several on the teams that are not much more advanced than I am, so it seems it's not as inaccessable as we may feel.
I probably wouldn't get to the LTP session in Basingstoke, as I attend Swindon, but am very tempted at some point in the future to try the stick and puck sessions in Basingstoke on, I believe, the Monday mornings at some point.
Would be good to meet up for a skate sometime, from your other posts, I think you are somewhat more advanced than I am at present, but I am finding that I am learning more and more each day. It's good to find a hobby in which you do actually see such a tangible improvement, and receive positive comments to that effect.
Finally, I have bought myself and my son a small practice net and shooting pad today, as we often disappear into the garden for a bit of a knock around, and wooden decking is not a great surface to take shots from. Well worth considering for some stick handling practice.
Again, welcome to the hockey family :-) From the short, podgy 45yo with greying hair!