Yes, I watch hockey. 

My NHL watching career began with, of course, a boyfriend who would not go out on a Saturday night until after the game.  He and his mother would watch their beloved team while I would read her copy of Gone with the Wind.  Worked for everybody. 

Over the years after above mentioned boyfriend was long gone, I have watched more and more hockey.  Play by play, I began to understand the game.  And before I knew it, I was shouting “Offside!” and “Hooking!” at the screen.  I wondered what was happening to me.

I have a favourite team of course, and favourite players.  And, for years, there was one player I loved to hate.  Alexander Ovechkin.

I used to say that Mr. Ovechkin turned the phrase ‘professional athlete’ into an oxymoron.

Mr. Ovechkin came aboard the NHL at a time when I knew enough about hockey to recognize that he was not always a team player.  He had skills on top of skills, but it was apparent that he could be the style of player who would not always include his team mates.  I’m being gentle here.  Far worse things have been said about Mr. O’s ‘give the puck to me’ team spirit.

And here we are with Mr. O’s team going to the Stanley Cup playoffs and I find myself cheering for him.  (Again, what is happening to me?)

Watching Mr. O play this year has provided a bonus to watching hockey.  Beyond his hockey skills there seems to be a genuine maturation in his attitude towards how he employs those skills.  It’s like he has come to a sudden realization that team play makes for, well, a winning team.

Obviously, I don’t know if there was life coaching, or psychotherapy, or just getting older and wiser behind Mr. O’s change.  The irony for Mr. O has always been that the harder he played in his former give-me-the-puck style, the more the coveted Stanley Cup eluded him.

Really, isn’t the irony for most of us that our strengths can also be our weaknesses?  However the changes came about for Mr. Ovechkin, it has been rewarding to see something transformative on the ice, beyond his astounding puck scoring.

Go Ovie Go!

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Enjoy!