Hockey ball
That's what Lucy (from "Peanuts") calls it, anyway: hockey ball. But I am from Minnesota. I know better. There ain't no ball in hockey. Just a hard-rubber fast-moving puck.
You might think that since winter is over, hockey season is over as well. Not a chance. Now begins the lengthy playoff drive toward the Stanley Cup. The Minnesota Wild aren't out of it yet; they beat the Colorado Avalanche Monday night in overtime. This Star Tribune photo is of the winning goal, scored by Pierre-Marc Bouchard. (Note the blur of a puck in the upper left-hand corner.)
I am not a huge hockey fan, but I like going to games because it's fast and reckless and wild. It's a beautiful combination of brutality and grace--they smash each other into the boards, knock each other down, and then pirouette away lightly on their toes, and with a delicate and precise zip-zip-zip they pass the puck back and forth and then loft it into the net. The red light goes on. The players lift their sticks in celebration. The crowd roars. If you happen to be in Montreal, the crowd roars, "Ole! Ole! Ole!"
And I love the names. The teams are full of French-Canadians, Eastern Europeans, and Finns. They have names you will not find in any other sport. Truly; can you imagine a football player named Pierre-Marc Bouchard? He'd get hooted right out of the locker room.
Or, for that matter, Mikko Koivu? Pavol Demitra? Stephane Veilleux?
A few years ago, Doug and I went to a Canadiens game when we were in Montreal. If live hockey is fun, live hockey in Canada is even more fun, and live hockey in French-speaking Canada is the most fun of all.
The crowd sings "O Canada," in French. The announcers call the game first in French, then in English; a power play becomes a lyrical avantage numerique.
The game we saw was not a playoff game, just a relatively meaningless, early season game against the Florida Panthers. The crowd was enthusiastic. They roared, they groaned, they hollered "Ole!"
A guy in the crowd watched the whole game wearing a plastic pumpkin over his head, because it was Halloween. Every time his image was beamed onto the Jumbotron, the crowd went wild.
The Canadiens came from behind to win, and the exuberant crowd spilled out into the streets. As Doug and I walked along Rue Ste. Catherine toward our hotel, we were passed by beaming hockey fans, fans beeping their horns, fans shouting and cheering. It was joyous and purely happy. The noisy celebration followed us for blocks--along the street, down the hill, and into the chilly October night.
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Aaah, I remember the day when I went to hockey games in the Twin Cities. Them were the days...
I've never been to a hockey game before. It sounds like great fun.
I've never been to a hockey game. They don't play here in Ireland, I think. They do in Germany, though, where I watched a few games on TV.
Here I watch rugby. Very exciting game but doesn't have the lightness that hockey has in some moments, the swift movements.
Growing up in Michigan, I've done my time at hockey rinks. It really can be a lot of fun.
The language was a lot more colorful than "ole" though. Think blue.
This takes me back to my high school days when I was forced to play hockey in games. I hated it. I always got wallopped with the stick.
Crystal xx
mj, were you a north stars fan? we went to a game of the short-lived Minnesota Moose. They were thugs. there were lots of fights, and they had to stop the game to chip blood off the ice. the wild aren't like that.
kaycie, it is fun--it's so damn fast!
Here's a bit of trivia for ya. You call that game Hockey, and the one they play on grass, Field Hockey. We call the one they play on grass Hockey (which I played for many years) and the you one play there, Ice Hockey.
Thanks for reminding me of how much I love hockey. You described it perfectly.
When I was in law school in Albany, I used to go to Albany River Rats games. (They were a farm team for somebody, maybe the Red Wings, I don't remember.)
Those games were awesome - cheap, fun, exciting entertainment.
vive le canada
but the rest of us sing O Canada in english
I like hockey. Haven't seen many games. I used to wonder what oral diseas struck youg Canadians males that so many of them seemed to be missing front teeth and then I discovered hockey.
i remember as a kid reading in LIFE magazine about extremely tough canadian hockey-playing kids--really young kids--who used to save their stitches in a box after they were removed.
the kid who had the most stitches at the end of the season was considered the most tough.
in those years, hockey player scorned the idea of wearing helmets, too.....
That sounds like fun. I have only been to one hockey game and it was non-stop motion.
Tonight's game is not so fun tho, the Wild are getting pounded. I'm at work and we're watching it and everyone is groaning, except Mark Wollemann, who is hollering a lot.
Lots of fights, tho. The sports editors want the fights to end so the game will end in time to get it into your newspaper, as opposed to what happened last night, when the game was much more exciting but didn't make the paper cuz it ran so late.
I loved the "zip-zip-zip" - thanks for taking me to the game.
Patience
sounds great, I;d love to go.
Great piece Laurie. I know nothing about the game even though I had an uncle who was a Canadian ice hockey player (sorry hockey player.
pmiller, they did indeed lose quite decisively. but it still didn't make my paper.
I am a hopeless Washington Caps fan. Thank goodness they are in the playoffs this year. But it's kind of hard to watch them in South Florida!
Us Canadians - we love our 'ockee'
I've never been able to get into hockey - maybe you have to be from a cold place to get it?
Though I did go see The Islanders play twice in high school. They were dreadful.
There's nothing like a home game in a small town, where the players are all home grown, the hot chocolate is not from a machine and the poutine is hot, hot, hot! The sound of the blades scraping the ice, the thwack of the puck, the cheering from the bleachers, the tinny recorded organ music - gotta love it!! As for Oh Canada - it's even better sung in both languages!
You should try watching the crowd in Jackson Heights during soccer playoffs!
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