Hockey Morning in Japan

Having grown up in Canada, I developed a love for hockey.  This is very stereotypical of me, I know!  Many Canadians don't love hockey, as everyone thinks we do.  However, when certain games come around, such as the Olympic gold medal game, or the NHL Stanley Cup finals, everyone tends to gather around the TV with family and friends.  A big part of culture is defined by sport, such as many countries around the world and their love for cricket or football.  As Canadians, we have very long, cold winters where communities often gather by frozen ponds or skating rinks.  Growing up on a farm beside a lake, I was lucky enough to have my own outdoor skating rink for my friends to come over and skate on.  My dad would clear the lake off with the tractor once the ice was thick enough.  We even went skating at school for P.E. every week, rather than learning to swim (my town was too small for a pool till I was in high school).  I was a half decent skater as a kid even though I never played hockey or ringette, but when I went home a few winters ago and went skating I was horrible!  Every town, no matter how small has a skating rink.  I know of villages with a population of 50 with no post office but they have a skating rink!  There's nothing better than spending a crisp winter afternoon outside skating and coming in to a cup of steaming hot chocolate.

Now, to those outside of North America, this may seem like a weird topic to write about at the start of summer, but the professional hockey season actually runs from September to June - providing hockey for enthusiasts for almost the whole calendar year!  This past Tuesday morning was the final game of the season (Monday night in Canadian time), so I spent my morning watching the game on my computer, thanks to the help of my nifty little illegal program that changes my IP address to a Canadian one so I can stream Canadian channels on my computer.  Now, I'm not a super obsessed fan; I know a few players and some rules but I would by no means claim to be an expert.  I simply just love cheering with a beer in my hand and enjoying Don Cherry's obscure outfits.  When I was back in Canada in March, I went to my first NHL game in Edmonton and I've never felt more proud to be Canadian as when I stood in the cold rink, Molson in hand, hearing the national anthem on the speakers.  My team (the Edmonton Oilers) is not a very good team so they are not in the finals and I normally wouldn't be watching.  What made these finals exciting enough for me to watch is that one of the players for the L.A. Kings, Dwight King, #74, is a kid I rode the big yellow school bus with everyday!  To see a family's dreams come true after all the years of travelling and all the money spent is amazing.  It's such an inspiration to see someone you knew as a kid, who worked so hard and grew up in such a small place with big dreams, to have them come true. The town we're from is small - maybe 5,000 people at most - and over the years, there's been 6 professional players come out of it, including my second cousin. This is a lesson for all of us, you can do anything you put your mind to if you want it bad enough!  It's pretty cool to think the Stanley Cup will be making it to lil old Meadow Lake this summer, and even better yet, to Bear Creek.  It's one of those rare times I would have liked to have been back in Canada.