Dec. 28: Why I like hockey

Because I can live vicariously through the hockey players, man.

Hey, like most Canadian kids, I once nursed dreams of being an NHL superstar. I played minor hockey for three years and scored exactly one goal in all that time. I was a terrible athlete, I had zero competitive drive, and I didn't understand the rules, or even the concept, of the game. I also wasn't teachable. I bet the coaches were relieved when they learned I wasn't signing up to play next year.

My dad was the very first play-by-play announcer for the Calgary Flames. I should have been a Flames fan because it was the Flames who, indirectly, paid the bills. But I wasn't. I was a Bruins fan, then a Penguins fan, and only became a Flames fan around the turn of 21st century. I was in a bar on December 16, 2000, and I was watching the Maple Leafs playing the Flames. Calgary was up 5-3 at the end of the second period. I hadn't gone into the bar to watch the game, but I wound up staying there; I was transfixed by the game. The bar was in Eastern Ontario so almost everyone there was a Leafs fan. They became vocal when the Leafs scored two minutes into the third and were ecstatic when they tied it a few minutes later. The game went into overtime deadlocked at five and I thought to myself: "Holy smokes, I think I'm a Flames fan. I want the Flames to win."

The Flames won. Valeri Bure scored in OT. I left the bar on a mission to secure more Flames clothes (fun fact, I am wearing Flames comfy pants as I write this.)

-

My dad doesn't care for the NHL. He likes baseball and he and my brother will talk about it for hours. He also likes football - the NFL, CFL, college football - he likes it all. I like football too but there's something about hockey that makes me dig it a little more. Maybe because it is the quintessential Canadian game and that I never feel more Canadian than when I'm watching it. 



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