“If you fail to prepare then you prepare to fail”, as a youth hockey coach once said and this is no different.
Hockey players sometimes get categorized in a group of neanderthals who don’t know how to strategize and with this little bit of information I can confidently tell you that you are incorrect. Along with being the toughest motherfuckers on the planet, they also can maneuver key life moments like a general leading his platoon to the battlefield of Saratoga (The turning point of the revolutionary war for those keeping score at home).
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to play hockey with the boys but they couldn’t make it because of babies, births and other circle of life type of things. That’s normally when I hit them with the “Well you should’ve thought about that before committing to my beer league team.” While that doesn’t get me that far, it lets them know that I am ready to go to battle for a championship and apparently NHLers are no different.
All jokes aside, I love this. Not only does this open up NHLers to be there for one of the most important days of their lives, it also keeps them on the ice and while I admit that is rather selfish of me to say, I’d probably lose my shit if my team was in a playoff hunt and one of my Allstars missed a few games. Hand up, yes that’s on me, but I’m happy NHLers get it too.
The Morning Skate 