Oct 19, 2023
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a legend 💙💙💙
What Hockey Means To Me
As the regular season draws to a close, and the passion-fueled intensity of the playoffs approach, I figure now is a time as good as any to reflect on what hockey has meant to me in my life.
For me, hockey is home.
In life there are few constants. We live a life where the only thing we can count on is change, and nothing is static. It’s hard in this life to feel grounded, to have anything to hold onto. Being a hockey fan, has given me this rare gift.
I know that in September, I will be watching NHL preseason, from October-April I’ll be catching at least three regular season games a week, and from April-June I will watch some of the best hockey players in the world battle it out for hockey’s holy grail. Every four Februarys I will dawn the red, white, and blue and cheer on team USA at the Olympics. Also from October-March I’ll catch NCAA men and women trying to stand out, and be seen. I’ll then watch them in April when the National Championship is on the line, and so are their dreams. The second Monday in February I’ll watch Harvard, BC, BU, and Northeaster duke it out to be the best in Beantown. This whole time I’ll be scouting juniors for hockey’s next big thing, and cheering on my AHL favorites to make it to the big show.
Hockey has given me something to believe in.
I can rely on hockey. It’s there for me. I know to many people that might sound melodramatic and stupid, but it’s the truth.
When I was in high school, like many teenagers, there were times when I struggled, and felt like everything in the world was hopeless. Some of the only light in my life came from two hours spent screaming at the television. I could root for the Bruins when I couldn’t root for myself. The boys will never leave me. Win or lose, season after season, they are there.
Hockey is my catharsis
Somehow, players flying around the ice at 30 miles an hour and smashing into each other soothes me from a weary world.
My life revolves around hockey. My soul and this beautiful game are so thoroughly intertwined that they could never be truly separated.
Hockey has given me hope.
One of the things I love most about the sport is its speed. In hockey, the game is never over until the final buzzer sounds. I have learned from this game that one must fight for every inch, for every second, because anything can happen.
Hockey has made me feel like a part of something.
There are few feelings in the world that compare to being in an arena of thousands of people screaming and chanting, and hanging on the edge of their seats.
I think to those men and women who filled that arena in Lake Placid, New York on February 22, 1980, and how strangers hugged, and cried, and sang with one another.
Hockey has given me role models.
Hockey requires dedication and heart. Watching hockey has taught me to battle through. Bobby Baun in 1964 broke his ankle in the middle of a Stanley Cup deciding game. He returned in overtime, and scored the game winner.
Hockey season is long, and hard. Yet players battle on through pain, through joy, through wins, through losses, and through heartbreak.
Hockey is art.
Grace and eloquence are often an occurrence on the ice. I find myself unable to speak after watching the great Mario Lemieux slice through the ice and weave in and out of defenders, leaving a stunned goaltender in his wake. Nothing excites me more than watching a signature Bobby Orr end-to-end rush on grainy video.
Hockey is a game of separate moving parts functioning as a whole. Give and go’s, seemingly impossible saves, and ankle-breaking dekes are what constitutes as beauty to me
Hockey has made me feel whole.
If I’m not watching hockey, it feels like something is missing from me. It is a part of me, and I thrive on its suspense, its beauty, and the sense of belonging it has given me.
The world can be a hard place sometimes. As somebody who lives in the north, in the winter the world can seem so dead and sad and dreary, but hockey is a breathe of life.
Extra time
My favorite thing about this time of year is the excitement of playoff hockey. The matchups, the fans enthusiasm, the atmosphere in the arena before the game starts and the crowd’s loud cheers every time their beloved team scores. But something even more fun then playoff hockey is OTplayoff hockey. There is another level of excitement and anticipation when a game goes to OT in the playoffs.…
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Frank Mahovlich and Bobby Baun pose for a photo
***AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR GOVERNMENT!***
This is the secret 'government p.s.a.' at the end of the track "Bobby Baun" off of the album "Good Riddance - Bound by Ties of Blood and Affection".
Give it a listen if you're into political stuff, whether or not you're into punk! (1m40s)
In Game Six of the 1964 Stanley Cup Finals, Maple Leafs defenseman Bobby Baun broke his leg. He then returned in the overtime period of that same game to score the game-winning goal. The Leafs went on to win the Cup in the following game.
