It's Friday, which means Friday Night Hockey for me; long gone are the days where I would have started pre-drinking at about 4:30, preparing for a crazy night that would go until the first hints of daylight on Saturday. No, parties are only parties, hockey is life.
I was thinking the other day...I am almost 34 now, and I started playing hockey at the age of 5, so that's what...almost 29 years...without missing a year, many years winter and summer, leagues, pickup, shinny, pond, competitive, recreational...I have been faithful, and devoted to the one thing that keeps me happy, through thick and thin, the constant that I can base my life around.
I truly love the sport. I cannot sit down and talk trivia or stats with anyone, my friend Piotes would destroy me in a trivia contest; but I play and I joke, those you can do, those who can't know trivia...but really, it's a religious experience more than a past time.
I can still hear the crack of the ice on a cold Sunday morning, as your blades cut through virgin glass on that old cow pasture watering hole, the one you've been watching for weeks, throwing cinder blocks on to see if they finally don't puncture through and sink. Your nostrils freeze together, your ears are numb, but your forehead sweats and your cheeks glow red.
Games would only be called for supper, or darkness, or that bull getting lose in the field and tearing after your red Canadiens jersey that you wear, unsure what he hates more, the colour, or the team.
When I get into a relationship, I declare upfront the nights on which I am off-limits, and they laugh thinking it's cute that they're dating a jock, only to find out that I'm being serious, do not get between me and the ice, you will not be happy with my decision. My ex-wife never got that, even with the fact that I had been playing 2 years longer than she has been alive...
It's therapy...I can clear my head, think back to simpler times, enjoy great comradery, stories, beer, vacate for a couple of hours to be refreshed and renewed in my ability to deal with life. Thankfully there's one person I know, who even though she's not working tonight like she was supposed to, and is hosting my visit for the weekend, that doesn't care that I'm staying up here for hockey tonight, or that I have to leave earlier on Sunday for hockey playoffs then as well...she's just happy that I'm there...and that quality is too rare in my life.
Wish us luck, this playoff run will be tough, but we have heart...and Ogie Ogilthorpe...
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