Why Hockey?

This is the Stanley Cup, the Holy Grail in the sport of Ice Hockey.

Tonight it could be awarded to the best team in the National Hockey League, the most elite hockey league in the world. Why am I excited about this, and does it matter?

I grew up playing hockey so have known and loved the sport all my life. Even when I played, as a kid, I idolized the players in the NHL, in particular, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Later in life, when I moved from the prairies to the west coast, there was a new expansion team in Vancouver called the Canucks. Being even farther away from Toronto now, I changed allegiance to the Canucks. That was forty years ago.

In those forty years, 'my team', has come close but has never won the ultimate prize. If not tonight, then Wednesday, it could actually happen.

Now moving on to the other question: does it matter? I have been thinking about this for forty years so I have a few answers.

I have, for most of my life, been subjected to the learning principle of delayed gratification. It is a valuable tool as it teaches one that anticipation, in many cases, is more delectable, than actual attainment. This is so because there is so little in life that lives up to its billing, in other words, gives ultimate and lasting satisfaction. I think that the anticipation is what is exciting so many people. If and when it actually happens, Canuck fans will have bragging rites for a short while, but then summer will proceed, next hockey season will start, and it starts all over again. In sports, you are only as good as your last achievement. So, there really is no sense in making it too large a part of your life, because in the great scheme of things, it is unimportant, especially to the fan. 

For the players, it means a ring, your name on the cup, and more money. For the owners, it means more revenues and profit. What is that in light of the more pressing issues of life? 

We all have this emptiness in our lives that craves satisfaction of the lasting variety. Some try to fill it with sports, others with money, fame, adventure, or pleasures of the body. One does not have to be very old to understand that achieving any of these give only momentary satisfaction. It wears off. I guess you could say that these things are false gods, in that they do not do what they are supposed to do. They are impostors with their enticements wrapped in very glittery paper and promising happiness and joy. 

If the Canucks win, the fans eventually will say, "Now what? How can we get that excitement back in our lives now that Hockey is over for the season?" 

If the Canucks lose, the fans will be, for the most part, angry and frustrated. In '94 when we got to game seven of the final and lost, there were riots in the streets of Vancouver. But they eventually got over it. 

So, you see, win or lose, nothing is solved. The big issues of life continue to stare us in the face and we will have discovered that hockey is not the answer to life.