I thought I became a considerable gentleman last year about this time. I posted my gratitude for NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, sufficient coronavirus adjustments made to provide abbreviated playoff format so the fan-base could be at least partially accommodated. I now recall congratulating coach Travis Green and the Vancouver Canucks being the only Canadian team to even qualify for playoffs. In my mind they did us proud, but lost to those millionaire upstarts, Vegas Golden Knights from that Sin City down there in Nevada! Then the VGK (chuckle) lost next round to the Dallas Stars who then lost to the likeable Jon Cooper and the Tampa Bay Lightning to win Lord Stanley’s mug. All was somewhat well in my mind. I got to watch playoff hockey during Coronavirus which would be over soon.
That was last year. Here we are at end of first round playoffs 2021. Coronavirus still doing its thing and one whole slightly abbreviated season played in front of tarpaulin covered empty seats with fans all over U.S. and Canada relegated to family rooms and dens in front of televisions. [What a loss of revenue. I marvel at the reserve funds available somewhere to even attempt this. Money not being my specialty nor favorite topic, I cannot even visualize the billions $$ professional sport industry. It's big]. Evenso, some things still the same! Toronto last night exits first round, losing game seven to arch rivals Montreal Canadiens who almost didn’t make playoffs. And, Edmonton already golfing, got ushered out four straight by Winnipeg, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl notwithstanding. Round two, here we go. This ‘true North strong and free’ Canadian division renamed Scotia North by the business tycoons still trying to make money in Corona time. I guess that’s also still the same. Another thing the same? It’s still our game even with a new division title sounding like a bank. And I am assured there will be at least one Canadian team, Winnipeg or Montreal, going to next round!😔
At this point this year my thinker (yes!) into heavy further reflection about the great courtesy I exuded last year. I am of similar attitude this year. Yes I am. I confessed a bit on Facebook that I was a poor loser when Oilers were busy doing exactly that, but now it is becoming obvious I’m actually pretty good at it. Take Toronto for instance. I’m learning from the fans. They are more experienced on said subject than the current coaches and players. They’ve been doing it for years. There is even a funeral joke where it was said family of the deceased should have asked for pallbearers from the Maple Leafs. They could have let him down one more time. 😏 As I watched the sad faces of longtime pros like Joe Thornton, Mitch Marner and wannabe superstar Austin Matthews, I realize I have something to say to them. “It’s only a game, boys.” Thornton can tell stories about “almost” to his grandkids, and Matthews can go with his millions of dollars and start training for next season together with his Edmonton buddy Connor McDavid. It’s as old as ---- snow, this hockey!
My brothers and sisters and I, we all cheered for Gordie Howe and the Detroit Red Wings; dad for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Yup, Leafs already in existence way back there, dad’s team would win an occasional Stanley Cup – last one 1967 (Wikipedia gets credit for that detail). We’d listen to Foster Hewitt Saturday night during bath time, alongside dad describing the moves he made when he was a young guy playing for the Embury Beavers. We believed him. He was probably just as good as his favorite Leaf, Frank Mahovlich. Then we got TV, 19” black and white. By now we watched only when we weren’t playing the game ourselves, either on our homemade farmyard outdoors rink, or in nearby small-town arenas, occasionally even with NHL scouts in attendance – not to watch me, but one of my younger brothers and a couple others. Hockey was good back there!
Exciting, all this hockey. In fact I cannot easily remember whether my team was a winning or losing team. As far as I knew we were winning because we had a heck of a good time playing the game. So, looking ahead to this 2021 remainder of playoff bracket I’m rooting for Winnipeg – all the way to Stanley Cup. After all, their General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, comes from Blaine Lake, SK, just up the road from where I grew up, and maybe as a kid (yup I’m even older than him) he or his dad saw us playing hockey on that rink on that farm beside the highway. It’s just a game, boys. And boy, is it ever!
Maybe, just maybe (I doubt it) the Jets will win the Stanley Cup this year. And us Canadians, or Scotia North fans will be ever so proud.
Thank you Jacob. I remember the rink on your farm. We played there. I also rememeber Frank Mahovolich. And Keon. and Red Kelly. We didn't have a TV but we sat in the barn, after milking, with the neighbour boys, and listened to Foster Hewitt. And pretended on our own rink, to be Frank M. In our family, I think we were all Leafs fans. Now, like you, I'm hoping for the Jets.
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