July 12: Stanley Cup

 I have won the Stanley Cup a number of times in my life.

The most recent came about 10 years ago while recovering from a gum graft operation. To bide the time, I rented a PS3 and a couple games. One of them was called Hard Rain, which was a mystery thriller/whodunnit hybrid kind of game. The other was a National Hockey League simulator. 

Big surprise to anyone who knows me: I controlled the Calgary Flames. And I made a free agent player, who happened to have the same name as I did, and then I gave him stats that made Connor McDavid look like a crippled turtle. Did we win the Stanley Cup that year? You'd better believe it. And I was named the league's MVP to boot.

Yeah okay so I still harbour that little Canadian boy dream of hoisting Lord Stanley's mug in front of an adoring crowd. In real life, I had to watch the Flames lose the Stanley Cup in game 7 of the finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning way back in 2004. Before that, when I was a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, I watched them win back-to-back Cups in 1991 and 1992. I still remember watching the first game of the 92 Cup Finals between the Pens and the Chicago Black Hawks. Pens were down 3-0 and then they were down 4-1 and they came back to win it 5-4. I was jumping on the couch, delirious with joy, upset that there was no one there to share my happiness with me.



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