Story-A-Day #376: Hockey Night In Canada

HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA

I never played hockey.  I never really got to experience first-hand, the thrill of racing along the ice surface, chasing after a puck sliding just out of reach.  I never got to experience the bone crushing body checks, the elation of a game winning goal late in the third period.  But I did get to experience the game.  As a spectator, and a fan, and a son who was thrilled to spend an evening in the arena with his father.

My dad has always been a busy man.  I think that is a big part of why those nights at the game together all those years ago still hold a special place in my heart.  It was a few hours of quality father/son bonding time, that I might not otherwise have had.

My father was a teacher, and there was a great deal of responsibility for him to complete the unrealistic workload that teachers are tasked with.  The fact that he found time in his busy life to take me to those games was inspiring to an eight-year-old version of me.

We would snack on chocolate bars, squirming restlesslt in those rigid, wooden arena seats, and watch as Les Barons took on the other local high school teams.  I wouold sit next to him with my notepad and a pen, and chronicle the games' progression.  Period One; 4:56; #7 penalty for roughing, Algonquin; 2 minutes.  Period One; 8:10; goal, #9, Algonquin.  I guess even then, I had journalistic tendencies.

I relished those night's out with my father.  It was a different experience than any I had known up to that point, a moment between father and son where nothing else mattered but our time together, and the thrill of the game.  He surprised me one year with a trip to the dressing room where I was presented with a hockey stick autographed by the whole team.  Sure, they were just a bunch of high school kids, but to me, they were icons.  They were heroes of the rink.

To me, that is what hockey night in Canada is all about, the bonding experience of fans and players sharing in their love of the sport.  I miss those nights.  I miss the casual innocence and simplicity of it all.

I am fortunate to have had those experiences, and more fortunate still that in adulthood I am blessed with even more time to spend with my father - and my mother, and siblings.  We don't always need a catalyst like a night at the game to get together, but as a young, impressionable boy who idolized his hard working father, moments like those reinforced the importance of the familial bond.

Even today, those are some of the brightest moments of my long and storied life.  Those are moments that I still cherish as strongly as any.  Thanks for the memories dad...