The Musings Of A Hockey Fan
I feel very fortunate these days to live in a part of a life cycle that has already shown me so much. In my life, in many other lives, things have surprised, amazed & possibly puzzle me as I've grown up from when I was a toddler circa 1973. As I grew into a toddler and into a kid the sounds of ABBA would constantly, it would seem, over the ancient plays of our LP stereo. Another sound that would fill our house prominently would be the sounds of hockey being played. As I was too young at the time to remember the great players of the 70s time like Lafleur, Orr, Howe among others my eyes would be captivated by this sport.
Later as I grew up & starting to understand and fall in love with this amazing game, players rushing up and down the rink with sticks and a frozen puck the 80s approached & I would inevitably be draw to a young hockey player, Wayne Gretzky & I would follow his career very closely along with his team of equally interesting teammates in a city called Edmonton(i was growing up a province over in north central BC) & this team, the Oilers would be my fav from day 1.
Now of course following a professional sports team can bring utter joys(5 Stanley Cups, a few Canada Cups) or it can be a test of faith through the down years(and there have been many of those). The Oilers & I were in a relationship that would test the faith & confidence in them and in time. Through the team's successful dynasty, The Trade, the rebuild, the scare of possibly of the team moving, an unlikely Cup run, the Decade of Darkness & now to borrow a Star Wars adage, a New Hope. It feels like I've been through it all with these teams, each year like a test of mental endurance and faith.
These days I return to that fortunate feeling I had at the start of my hockey fan journey in for a new group of great players that play for the Edmonton Oilers. Connor McDavid(McMagic as I sometimes call him because he is that amazing), Draisaitl(a German player that has a unique bond with McDavid on and off the ice), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins(the player who's been with this franchise currently the longest of the team) and many others that have come together & were a Game 7 away from hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup in 2024. Sadly that didn't happen but what an amazing ride that whole team took us on & in the end I am thankful for them.
So now we do this again. We, as hockey fans crave the fast paced action that draws us to the game. We cheer, we boo, we yell "Shooooooot" at our tv screens and we take in the evolution of this game of hockey.
This has been the hockey musings of a hockey fan. To be continued…..
