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One thing we know for sure, NHL hockey will wrap up for the season tonight. Okay, maybe tomorrow morning if they get into overtime, but it has to wrap up with just one last game. We’re down to game seven of the finals, so it has to wrap up. I can’t go any further.
I will say that I’m a pretty casual hockey fan these days. I usually watch a bit of the playoffs, but it’s pretty rare that I watch an entire regular season game. Honestly, I just can’t be bothered. There just seem to be too many teams that I just don’t really care about.
When I was younger, I was a pretty big fan. I played hockey. I coached hockey. I read about hockey. I had my subscription to the Hockey News. There was a lot of hockey in my life. And I was a sort of fan of several teams, depending on how they were doing at any given time. But this was many years ago. I sort of lost interest over time. I partially blame the Leafs. I was always a bit of a Leafs fan. I even bought Dave Keon’s Maple Leafs tie and an auction many years ago. How long ago? He may have wore it around the time the Leafs last won the cup. Yes. I’m that old.
But in spite of the fact I am a casual fan these days, and never really an Edmonton fan, even during the Gretzky years when they were stacking cups like cordwood, I will be watching this evening. There are a few reasons.
First, the cup could come back to Canada after thirty-one year absence. Second, Edmonton could pull off one of the great feats in sport, the reverse sweep. Coming back from a three game deficit to win four in a row and take the series. It’s only ever been done once in the Stanley Cup Finals. And that was the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942. A rather interesting series that saw the Detroit coach punch out one of the referees at the end of one game, because he wasn’t happy with the calls during the game. But the reverse sweep is a rare event.
For that reason alone, I have to watch. History could be made. If nothing else, the Oilers comeback has made the series very interesting. And although I haven’t watched a complete game yet, I have watched parts. And it’s been pretty exciting hockey.
So I have my snacks and cold beverages and I’m ready for the game. No matter which way it goes, it should be fun. And it could be an outcome for the history books.
