Sens at Land's End

This morning I bought the final piece of my hockey ensemble: a stick. I just got one of the cheapo $10 sticks. When I am in the NHL, then I will consider spending $100 on a stick (ie, I will never, ever spend that much on a hockey stick). My stick says “Kovalchuk” on it. I noticed it when I was paying and started laughing and the guy at the store laughed and said, “You like that, eh?” Of course I like that, dude! Kovalchuk has scored over 40 goals in each of the last four seasons. What’s not to like? Also, he was Heatley’s linemate in Atlanta, and was the only guy taken ahead of Spezza in the 2001 draft, so if you think about it … without him there would probably be no Spezza in Ottawa. Anyway, I have named my stick Kovie, and no doubt it will help me become the greatest goal scorer in the history of the UBC women’s beginner hockey class.

On the subject of those other hockey players, the ones I like, I have decided to try to be more positive. It occurred to me that if the players are thinking as negatively as I have been, then it’s no wonder they still suck. Today, they play Pittsburgh at noon, as they did last Saturday, and the game is on CBC, as it was last Saturday. Last Saturday’s game was the one that had me apoplectic with rage, if you recall, but I believe today is going to be different. It’s the exact same scenario as a week ago, except it’s a new coach, a new month, a new position in the standings (yesterday they fell from 2nd to 5th in the East), and we are going to go with a new outlook on life. Yes. Dean McAmmond said this in the paper today:

“It’s like a thread on a sweater. You keep pulling and pulling and pulling, and all of a sudden you have one sleeve on your sweater. And then you look and you’ve got half a sweater. And it doesn’t just take one game to get your sweater back. You need to knit it back.”

I wonder if McAmmond is a knitter, or maybe he’s just a really big Weezer fan. Either way, this is a great way of putting it. I have faith that the boys can remake this tattered sweater and turn it into something that is not only wearable but even quite attractive, if they put their minds to it.

Whatever is going to happen, this week will likely make or break them. It’s their western road trip: on Monday they play Anaheim, and if they can’t at the very least get fired up for that one, then I think that’s the season. I will try to take advantage of the fact that they’ll be geographically closer to me than usual to send extra good vibes. Too bad I can’t just say eff school and eff money and take a California/Arizona road trip myself.