I came to the realization on Friday that I actually miss NHL Hockey! (or at least the Canucks).
I was listening to the radio on my way home as usual, when the sports update came on. The voice, who is also the play-by-play man for the Vancouver Canucks, introduced a highlight clip from a game a couple years back.
It was just a 20 second clip of one of the players (Steve Kariya, younger brother of Paul) scoring a goal (on his way to a hatrick… on his birthday!).
Just the sound of the play on the radio, the cheer of the crowd and the yelping of the colour guy gave me goosebumps.
It’s funny how attached you get to something. It’s really fun to be able to cheer for a team that you really enjoy to watch and follow. I’ve been a Vancouver Canucks fan since I can remember first watching a hockey game. They were so bad for so long… since their inception really… but the past few years they’ve turned into a real contender. Exciting to watch and just way too much fun.
I think this whole Lockout thing is absolutely stupid. It’s between two parties, the players and owners, who ALREADY have too much money, and they’re both simply trying to get more money for themselves.
Whatever happened to playing the game because they loved it. I don’t doubt that players these days love to play hockey just as much as players 10, 20, 30 or 40 years ago. But now they simply make too much. They’ve lost touch with their fans. And they’re driving their fans out of the arenas because the ticket prices are simply too expensive.
The NHL needs to downsize and get back to its’ roots. I hope when this all ends, there is a salary cap, and 4 less teams. Then maybe we can get back to focusing on what’s the most important, the game itself. And I’ll be able to watch and listen to my favourite team as they win, lose and fight their way to the Stanley Cup!