Like almost every other kid in Canada, I learned how to skate on a frozen pond or a homemade rink in the yard. I froze my toes every time I went skating. I never played organized hockey because it was too expensive for my family, so I played on the neighbourhood outdoor rink with others who did not play on a real team. Even there, I was not one of the better hockey players. My hockey career had humble beginnings. My first stick was made of leftover lumber, my pads were pieces of old sponge held onto my knees with red jar-sealing rubber bands. My mom sewed my first and only hockey jersey: blue, with a maple leaf, and #10 on the back (#10 was worn by George Armstrong, captain of the Leafs at the time).

As you could tell by my jersey, I cheered for the Toronto Maple Leafs because in Canada you had only one other choice at the time—the Montreal Canadiens, and in our part of the country it was not acceptable to cheer for a French team. The Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1967, just when I might have first become aware of hockey, and who does not want to cheer for a winner! (They have not won since!) We did not have a TV, so I listened to Foster Hewitt and Bob Cole on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights. When the Winnipeg Jets got into the NHL (The WHA and the Avco Cup never seemed quite legitimate), I became a Jets fan. When we lost the Jets not many years later, I lost some interest in the NHL, so it was easy to cheer for the Calgary Flames when we moved to Calgary, and the Vancouver Canucks when we moved to the west coast. Now, I’ve kind of adopted all the Canadian teams as my own.

I am not particularly patriotic or nationalistic in any other area, just when it comes to hockey. It’s really all about the ice for me. Hockey is played on ice. I celebrate that players like Auston Mathews and Thatcher Demko who were born in the warm south have come to excel in a sport played on cold ice, but it just seems wrong for cities in the southern USA who never have natural ice to have hockey teams, so I just can’t cheer for them; indeed, I cheer against them! (e.g. Anaheim, Los Angeles, Miami, Tampa Bay, Dallas, Las Vegas, Phoenix) I cried along with Wayne Gretzky when he was traded to Los Angeles, even if it “opened up new markets.” I cried again when the Jets moved to Phoenix. The only redeeming aspect of Las Vegas winning the Cup last year was that they had the most Canadian players of any NHL team. Now that we have a continental professional women’s league, it is entirely appropriate that half of the teams are Canadian, and all of them are in the playoffs! This is the way it should be.

Speaking of hockey on frozen ponds, I do like the idea of the outdoor games being played in recent years, and I do like 3 on 3 overtime—they should do this in the playoffs as well, just minus the shoot-out. It would make overtime more exciting and shorter, and more like pond hockey.

One more opinion piece about ice. NHL playoffs should be over by the end of May because even Winnipeg and Edmonton rarely get frost in June. Make the first-round best-of-three, second-round best-of-five, then best-of-seven after that. Hockey is a winter sport.

BTW, if you look at my previous post you will note that my accuracy in predicting the playoffs in the east was almost perfect, within a few goals! I’m happy I was wrong about Vegas, but other than that I did pretty well in the west as well—although Vancouver goaltending did surprise me.