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Up Front: So, Team Canada lost... what now?
Emily Plihal
for Smoky River Express
What do Canadians most clearly identify with? Why, hockey of course!
But after a heart-wrenching loss to the United States Junior hockey team I question whether or not it really matters in the whole scheme of things.
I, like most other Canadians, enjoy watching hockey. All right, so instead of just enjoy hockey, I suppose we essentially categorize it as a religion.
Like most men, I once had a problem missing ANY televised hockey games. Fortunately as I grew up, the necessity of watching each game lessened.
I remember when I was in college I had each hockey game written in my day planner so I ensured myself I would not miss it. If I was working, I made sure there was a radio within close proximity to listen to the game. I was obsessed with the game, I idolized guys like John Sexsmith, Rod Phillips, Don Cherry, John Garrett and all the other sports journalists and commentators who filled the air waves each night.
I suppose I was a bit of a hockey geek.
True reality set in after our juniors took a beating from team USA last week. The game was amazing. It was fast paced, and an excellent exhibit of raw talent on both teams. Although goal tending was mediocre, the 60 minutes flew by.
My dad called some American friends of ours the day after the loss and said to them, “Congratulations for beating us at our own game.”
But what response did he receive? “What did the U.S. beat Canada in?”
Is it only our country that obsesses over hockey the way we do?
Whenever I visit my family in the United States, they are more concerned about NASCAR, college football, baseball, NFL, and truth be known politics before they even begin to mention hockey.
Sure, we can claim the game of hockey as one of our national sports, but in the end does it really matter if we lose to the U.S.? Does it really matter if we have to wait another full year before we get to reclaim our title as world champions?
Maybe it’s just me getting older and crankier, but beyond giving us a reason to stay in shape and feel better about ourselves, sports should lessen in importance as we get older.
In my not so humble opinion, we should be more concentrated on ensuring we have a strong economy than whether or not we win a hockey game.
At this moment, we should be concerned which direction our health and education systems are headed, as opposed to crying over one lost game.
Who cares? So one year we have to take a back seat to our neighbours from the south... who I may remind you had three kids on their team who are technically Canadian.
But does it matter when children in the world are dying of starvation, people can’t be treated for life-threatening diseases because they can’t afford it, and people in our own backyards cannot support their own families? NO! It doesn’t matter we lost one silly game!
“Our national pride has been defeated,” one guy I know said. If hockey is all we are proud about in our country we should probably shake our fingers at one another.
We should be proud of living in a country where every citizen has equal opportunity to succeed. A country that believes in peaceful relations as compared to many that believe war is the answer.
We should be proud of the beautiful landscape we have and the incredibly friendly people who live from sea to sea!We live in one of the most fascinating countries in the world, just because we lost one game doesn’t lessen that fact.
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