Goal off the face

THE STANLEY CUP playoffs have started and it's a great time of year. I tried to explain how important it was that the playoffs had started to Sheryl and she looked blankly at me and said, "What??".

There were some amazing games last night and it was fun clicking between the Lightning collapsing, the Islanders OT win and the Blues gutting out a 2-1 win at Winnipeg.


Hockey players are the best. They don't care about getting hurt or throwing their bodies into the fray. Last night, Joe Pavelski of San Jose scored a goal off his face and lost several teeth in the process. He barely missed a shift.

I broke my schnoz three or four times playing sports. I have a vague memory of a soccer ball blasting me in the face but I think it rolled out of bounds and nobody cared about my bloody nose. As a goalie I took a few off the face mask, too.

Sometimes on Sunday mornings when I'm recovering from the rock and roll truck, I'll put on a soccer game from  England, and it never ceases to amaze when a player gets tripped how he's suffering from death and in severe agony. He rolls around and screams and cries, slowly gets up and limps around for a minute gritting his teeth, then starts running at full speed like nothing every happened.

Suck it up, buttercup. April means Stanley Cup playoffs, and these guys aren't going to let losing a few Chicklets stop them. All the more reason to love hockey and the next few months!