The buzzer goes, the game ends. The players file into a dressing room full of cameras and repeat the carefully edited and generic answers for the typical questions. A very routine action for every game of the season. At least, all but one.
The Stanley cup is, statistically, the hardest title to win in all of sports. It is a trophy every little player has dreamed of since they were a TimBit. Even after giving weight to both its difficulty to achieve and enormity of followers, finding the words to describe how special the Cup really is can be near impossible.
The simplest question to any hockey player renders them speechless, but only on one night.
“How does it feel? What are you feeling right now?”
But it’s not the unpracticed, halting sentences, bland “Uhhs,” or even the thick voices and teary eyes that convey the enormity of conquering the Stanley Cup.
It’s the silence. The inability to communicate the mixture of emotion that comes about winning such an indescribable competition.
Truly, there are no words to describe it, and the wordless glances speak more than any post game interview could.
“Can you explain what this win means to you?”
“…”
