It's the Good Ol' Hockey Game!

The Heritage Classic... what can one say?

Hearing the commentators use names like Gretzky, McSorley, Coffey, Tikkanen, and LaFleur together, it was exciting. It was like listening to the old commentaries on my Hockey Music CD's. I had to remind myself that this was happening now, today, here.



At Wesley's hockey game this morning, I was thinking alot about Hockey. I can't imagine a world without hockey, and if I could, it would be an empty world. Hockey is everywhere!

Hockey has certainly dominated my life more than almost anything else, and so many good memories are focused around it. I was born in 1972, just in time for the Canada-Russia Summit Series, and have oft mused that Hockey is the reason god sent me to live in Canada. I watched hockey on TV for years until I attended my first NHL game when I moved to Calgary, eight years ago, and I was amazed by the way the game gripped me even more so in person. Four years or so ago, Duncan and I attended one of our first games together, and since then Hockey has been a big part of the life we have shared. The first and second times I saw and touched the Stanley Cup, Duncan was there. The first time I ever saw Dominik Hasek, he was there with me. Our first date was at a hockey game, and he has surprised me on our second anniversary with a Hockey game... He wasn't at the party where I watched the Mens Gold Medal win in 2002, but we certainly celebrated the win that afternoon and into the evening, and it was glorious (thats when he bought me my Game Boy Advance). We watched Hasek and the Wings win the Stanley Cup in 2002, right before he moved in with me. We have developed a habit of Hockey Night in Canada at our local Hooters, especially when the Oilers play the Flames. We watched Wayne Gretzky skate, in person, for the first time in public since he retired. We watched (at home in the warmth) the historic Heritage Classic game together and are about to watch the next game as well.

It is difficult to define sometimes how much hockey can penetrate a life. It may be harder still for someone to understand if they don't hold hockey as important. I thank gods that my best friend and partner shares my love of hockey with me, with us, as a family. We live hockey. Hockey is life. And yes, we are Canadian.

Now drop that puck!