Saturday, February 21, 2009

Give Blood. Play Hockey.

"You miss 100% of the shots you never take." ~Wayne Gretzky

I like sports, or most of them anyway. I could really care less about golf. Maybe playing it is more fun than watching it. I can say it's almost a sure fire way to fall asleep if you're needing to. However, football, baseball, basketball, and soccer are the ones I have followed the most.

That is until now. I think I have finally found my absolute favorite sport. One that I didn't expect to enjoy in the least.

A few weeks ago my daughter completed her D.A.R.E. program and the leading officer offered group tickets to go see our local AHL Hockey team, the Ice Hogs, play one night. I had no intention of even thinking about going until my daughter expressed how much she wanted to go. Of course, the only reason she wanted to go was because all her friends were going to be there, not because of the game. So upon my daughters plea and my sons eagerness to go see a game, we purchased the tickets and went to the game on January 25th.

Last night I went to a third game and loved every minute of it. It is definitely an exhilarating game full of action and speed. If you blink, you just might miss the most important play of the game.

I've been to football, basketball and baseball games and none of them compare to a hockey game. The chill in the air. The swooshing of the skates on the ice. The echo of the puck slapping the stick. The reverberation of the glass as a player gets slammed into it. The vibration of the seats as the crowd stomps and cheers. The rush of everyone standing at once as a goal is made and everyone giving high-fives to strangers. Then there is the rush of a fight. You can see the tension build as the game plays and when sticks drop and helmets fly, everyone is on their feet cheering and screaming. Then comes the disappointment when the referees separate the men.

Even when your team doesn't win, you still leave the game feeling good and knowing you had fun and cannot wait till you can go again! I can't believe it's taken me this long to realize what I've been missing!

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