It should come as no surprise that I enjoy sports. I do believe one of the “feathers in my cap” years ago when the “powers that be” decided to bring me on board here is the fact that I do enjoy sports and can speak somewhat intelligently about most sports topics. Most of the sporting events I have the opportunity to cover are sports that I have personally played or in which I have been personally involved, either recreationally or as part of an organized team. One exception to that is the popular sport of hockey.
I know the basic premise of the game of hockey. I know it’s played on ice with ice skates and a big stick and the object of the game is to put a hard rubber disc into the other team’s net. It seems very similar to soccer, but on ice. Fighting is also pretty common in hockey. In fact, I went to a fight one time and a hockey game broke out. It is the one sport where, if you break the rules, you get put in “time out.” That’s kinda cool. I do remember watching hockey on TV when I was much younger. I had a very good friend who lived next to us who moved to Canada when we were still kids. He started playing hockey up there and developed into a very good player. He went on to play hockey for Notre Dame University. My family came close to moving to Canada when I was young. I probably would have learned to play hockey then and possibly would have enjoyed it. But fate intervened and we stayed here in Florida.
Over the years, Florida has gained a pair of professional hockey teams, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers, who are based in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. The Lightning won the Stanley Cup, which is professional hockey’s championship, a few years ago. Now, the Florida Panthers are playing for a championship against the Edmonton Oilers. Edmonton is in the Canadian province of Alberta and is the closest major city to where we almost moved. If we had moved, I would have likely become a big Edmonton Oilers fan. So I reckon I can be happy with either team winning the championship, or the fights leading up to it.