An American Girl in Canada: Hockey Love

I didn't know that the simple act of a little, black puck flying across the ice into the net could come to bring me such joy. When I was growing up, I was a sports fan...my dad saw to that. He can watch just about any sport on tv and be happy, and he enjoyed playing sports as well. Sunday afternoons in the fall and winter meant watching football games after church. Summers were spent going to or playing softball or baseball games. Spring was time for golf. I enjoyed playing volleyball and basketball in school as I grew up. One sport that I never really watched, however, was hockey.

I think my dad watched a game here or there, but it just wasn't really something that we followed much. I don't think it was that we didn't care, per say, but rather that there just wasn't really a team we wanted to follow. I do remember watching and following the Avalanche the year that they won the Stanley Cup. I thought it was sort of interesting. My senior year of University I went and watched a few games as well. My university had a club hockey team. Mostly I went to the games because it was hilarious to watch the crowd. I didn't really understand the game.

Then, I met this Canadian boy. I was on a trip to China, which you can read about in my about me section. I remember the first time I saw him. We were on a missions trip and his suitcase for the summer was a massive hockey bag. I was walking behind him to get on the bus that would take us to our training and he turned to me, huge hockey bag and all, and said, "So, do you know anyone here?" Three years later that guy with the huge hockey bag became my husband and with that, hockey became a rather large part of my life.

Although I can't say that I understand all of the rules, hockey has come to be a sport that I enjoy. I don't really follow the games on television-except during the playoffs-but I love attending a Canucks game and I especially love seeing my husband play!

Last night was a heck of a game. Our Canucks went all the way to game 7 in the first round of the playoffs against Chicago. They started the series well, winning the first three games, and then went on to lose three in a row. It wasn't looking good. Chicago seems to be the Canucks Achilles Heel. Every time we face them we just can't quite do it.

In the game last night we got the early lead. The Canucks were playing hard and it seemed like we were going to win...until the Blackhawks scored a short-handed goal with about a minute left in play. On to overtime. Yikes. I saw the disappointment in my husband's eyes and knew that he thought this would be another year of disappointment, another year when the Blackhawks would get the better of us.

Seeing him jumping up and down about 5 minutes later after Burrows goal made me want to jump up and down too. He was like a little boy again, so excited and shouting, "I can't believe we did it!" in absolute disbelief. The thing is, I was feeling the same way. Heck, I even got a little teary-eyed! I felt that relief, that great sigh, that huge burden had been lifted...they had won! We were moving on!

When did this happen? HOW did this happen? How did I come to the point where I am incredibly excited when my husband tells me that my birthday present is tickets to a Canucks game? How did I get to the point where I can't WAIT to have my little boy out there on the ice in his Tim Bits jersey? How do I find myself in the basement playing hockey for an hour at a time?

Perhaps I have a little Canadian blood running through my veins now. Maybe it has seeped in there after years of exposure. All I know is that I am doomed. I have a hockey loving husband and a two and a half year old that can parrot of the names of various Canucks, knows what a penalty is, and gets all excited at a CANUCKS GOAL. Add to that the fact that we have just had another little munchkin and although we won't force him to like hockey, odds are that he will love it anyway. Yep, it looks like it's a good thing that I have some of that hockey love now. All I can say is "Go, Canucks, Go!"