Oh the good old hockey game….
I love traditions. I love being Canadian. I grew up watching hockey night in Canada with my dad. My dad is a die-hard Montreal Canadiens fan. I didn’t get a choice in life towards hockey I was doomed from day one. I always thought hockey was entertaining to watch and I love a good yell. I admit I didn’t know much about other hockey teams my dad just forced me to love Montreal. I guess there are worse off teams. ha
I loved to watch Saturday night hockey games on T.V. with my dad. I got to stay up late. We had a little tradition to order pizza and I would get to drink pop. I would yell and scream at the T.V. like the players could hear me and I was getting paid for my amazing advice. SKATE! SHOOT! HIT HIM! I watched the Stanley cup win in 1993 on the couch at my dad’s house yelling and screaming so hard I lost my voice and when the final goal went in I fell off the couch and cried. I always wondered what it would be like to be at game 7 of a winning Stanley cup game. If you have experienced this I want to know what it’s like!
My first real hockey event was going to the local sports arena and watching the junior ice hockey. I find that league of hockey more entertaining and usually has more fights. We got to boo at the bad calls, eat junk food and scratch lottery tickets. We always got tickets for the 50/50 draw and I always dreamed of a big win…still waiting. The energy at a hockey game is electric. Who doesn’t wanna stay up late as a kid, eating junk and yelling as loud as possible. To me that was the kid version of living a dream.
My first ever NHL game was in Montreal at the old forum. It was a show down between the Montreal Canadiens vs New Jersey Devils. My brother at the time was a Devils fan and I was so looking forward to watching his team lose. I thought for the first time in my life I could watch him cry. I think I took hockey a little bit too serious. Oh let me tell you it was the start of my many years of watching Montreal lose. The first loss crushed me. Patrick Roy was such an idol to me and to watch him lose crushed me. My brother being the older brother and that annoying guy he is kept bugging me and bugging me, poking at me and making fun of the loss. I lost my temper threw my gloves off and punched him. I think I got 5 minutes for rough housing but I know my dad was laughing deep down.
My brother was never a really big hockey fan and I think he went against Montreal just to bug dad. Even worse, my brother’s son is a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. His other Papa is a die-hard Toronto fan and the poor kid growing up was in a hockey debate with his Papas. I can’t believe my dad actually took his grandson to a Toronto game.
Over the years dad and I have made a tradition to catch a Montreal game. We still go to games every year and out of all the games I
have only seen 3 wins. Now I am no mathematician but even I know that’s not good odds. ha. I was beginning to think my dad was bad luck at the games. I went to a Montreal game with a friend and Montreal lost so then I started thinking maybe I was bad luck. After one of the losing games in Ottawa I threw my 21 McKay jersey on the ground and stomped it. I vowed my love for the Montreal Canadiens was over! If you’re trying to figure out who the heck 21 McKay is, don’t, it’s a vintage jersey. He was the player who had the number 21 when I turned 21. After stomping my jersey I decided it was time to switch teams. Yes you heard me I was now going to be a Vancouver Canucks fan. My love for B.C. and the goalie at the time drew me in. Dad sucked it up and bought me a Vancouver jersey and got tickets to a Montreal vs Vancouver game. I didn’t tell him at the time but I wore my Montreal Jersey under my Vancouver Jersey and I was going to leave finally wearing winning colours. I was going to celebrate a win either way with thousands of Montreal fans or 5 Vancouver fans. Anyone wanna guess how it turned out?? I hugged 5 Vancouver fans on the way out and slowly drove home for 3 plus hours telling my dad to hang up the Montreal jersey and join in on a win. It’s a high like no other.
FINALLY after 20 plus years of games I got to witness a Montreal win. The energy in Montreal after a win is unreal. I screamed until I had no voice. I am going strong with 3 wins in a lifetime now.
This year I took my son to a junior hockey game and he seemed to really enjoy it. It was awesome to be the parent enjoy hockey with my kid. Now I get the feeling my dad had sitting in the arena cheering the teams on with me. I was about to finish this blog but my dad bought tickets for my son to see Ottawa vs Montreal.
My son just went to his first Montreal game in Ottawa and guess what the score was? I wrote this line before going to the game and I was sure we would be coming home a loss and my son would wanna change teams. ha. If I wasn’t sitting right beside him I never would have believed it. My sons first ever NHL game and Montreal won 3-0. It was the best experience watching him yell, watching him jump out of his seat for all 3 goals, watching him cheer Montreal on and sing along to the song of sweet sweet victory. His first game was much better than mine. I think he might be a good luck charm. I have seen 4 wins now!! Four out of 20 plus games. Not great odds but maybe our luck is changing.
Thank you Kate, and Kate’s dad for the tickets to the Frontenacs game. Thank you to my dad for dragging me to many games over the years. Thank you to my son for memories made and many more memories in the making. Here’s too many more years cheering at the hockey games.