Hanging up 'our' skates
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My career as a hockey Gramma is over.
After nine years, Morgan is hanging up his skates - at least as a Norwich Knighthawk. He may play some pick-up hockey occasionally but his time as a league player is finished. He has aged out and I don’t think the NHL will come calling any time soon.
I have to admit I am somewhat relieved. I will miss the friends I’ve made but it’s been costly, a lot of running and many, many late nights especially as he got older. Those 9:30 or 10 p.m. practices are killers. I am ready to go to bed at that hour, not put on my coat and boots to head to the arena.
His Norwich Midget 2 LL team went out in a blaze of glory, winning the championship over their Tillsonburg counterparts. The score was 8-1 and the game ended in a brawl. There has long been a rivalry and bad blood between some Tillsonburg and Norwich teams. The games have always been physical and chippy. Players with that temperament or inclination will always find someone on the other team to bait.
Many battles have ensued and kids and coaches have been expelled and suspended on both teams. It’s not always been fun.
There have been those who support this kind of play and cheer on the combatants from the stands. Many others are opposed and have been very vocal in making their views known. Some of us just sit and watch. The controversy of violence in hockey is alive and well in the local arenas.
I’ve been watching hockey a long time. I grew up with the likes of Eddie Shack, John Ferguson, Andy Bathgate, Butch Bouchard, Bobby Baun, Bob Probert and Davy Schultz. (Boy, am I aging myself.) I can’t say I mind an occasional free-for-all if you keep the cheap shots and sticks out of it.
I think there should be severe consequences for any behaviour which exhibits the intention to do harm to another kid. And any repeat offender should be banned from playing minor league hockey forever. But that kind of stuff is rare. They are usually just swatting each other in the cage and helmet or rolling around on the ice.
I know it’s cliché, but fighting has always been part of the game. Sports is a rough-and-tumble life. What do you expect when you have testosterone and adrenaline driven boys/men playing any aggressive, competitive sport, whether it be hockey, baseball, football and even car racing? With each run into the boards, lifted stick, missed shot, body check, shove, chirp, bump, etc. tempers build until something has got to give. It’s even more so when it involves teams with a history of the aforementioned bad blood. It might not be popular or politically correct but it’s inevitable.
I think come next winter, I will miss it – the friends, the discussions, the laughter, the cheering and the pride we each take in our own kids, our team and our league. I might just have to taken in a game or two to catch up.
twocentsworth40@hotmail.com