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Up Front - Thank goodness for the start of hockey
Emily Plihal
for Smoky River Express
I don’t know if anyone is as excited as me about the start of preseason hockey.
It has been a long, hard summer of replacing my precious sport with NASCAR, some football, UFC, track and field, and my last resort of baseball, but somehow I managed to tough it out long enough to see the start of the hockey season.
My precious Oilers started their preseason efforts yesterday, much to my pleasure.
I’ve been receiving information about the NPHL season from NPHL statistician Chris Clegg for the past few weeks, which means their season is about to start.
The hockey season, which for most spectators is between October and June, will occupy the majority of my time. I anxiously await watching the Falher Pirates and Lakeland Eagles three days each week. To fill in the remainder of the nights I can watch NHL hockey at home.
There is something extraordinarily special about the sound of skates scraping the ice, the smell of hotdogs and hamburgers escaping from the vendors, and the excitement of the crowd as their favourite team scores.
Hockey encompasses all the skills of many other sports. Hockey players have to be agile like a figure skater, in fact many of the world’s best hockey players either took figure skating or ballet as a starting point sport to improve their skills.
The strength required to be a hockey player could be compared to that of a football player. The power required to skate down the ice as quickly as the opponent, crush them into the boards and steal the puck away is amazing.
To me, hockey is the most exciting sport, because in a tight game it is anyone’s win right up to the final seconds of the game.
I once saw the Edmonton Oilers down with fewer than three minutes, score three goals, push overtime and win only 15 seconds into the overtime period. I remember well that Andrei Kovalenko had three goals that game, including the overtime winner. I believe the game was against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Even though this game was played when I was still in Junior High and I had to listen to the game on radio, I still remember the excitement of Rod Phillips voice blasting through the speakers.
Maybe you’d consider me to be a little bit of a crazy lady, but with hockey approaching I’ve had the urge to listen to Stompin’ Tom Connors “The Hockey Song.”
Oh the sweet moment when I can step out into the bleachers and hear fans screaming. I love the cool feel of our local arenas as I step into the main ice surface area.
In our northern Alberta community, hockey makes people come together. Local residents not only support the NPHL teams, but all the local minor league youngsters.
I wish the best of luck to both the Falher Pirates and Lakeland Eagles in their search for a league title.
Good luck to all of our Smoky River Minor Hockey players, who will be playing their little hearts out from the moment they step onto the ice for the first time this season.
As for NHL, I know it’s a long shot, but best of luck to the Edmonton Oilers. As long as they beat the Calgary Flames in every game, I will be happy.
And as a child who rambles on excitedly about the first day of school, or a snack they were given by a family member, my time to ramble on about hockey has expired.
Support your local hockey teams this season for an inexpensive, exciting family bonding event.
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