Thursday, July 31, 2008

Bloggers & NHLers in the "Off Season"


So, what do you think they do when it's 90 degrees outside? Think hard. Golf? Yeah. They do that. But what do the "real men" do when it's hockey's off season? Um... They PLAY hockey. Even if it IS Roller Hockey, it's hockey.

So 7/23 I get a text message from none other than Islesblogger.com Mike S. "So I just found out that Asham is in my hockey league."

Pretty matter-of-fact, don't you think? I'm not surprised by this because I happen to know that Aaron currently has ties to long Island in diapers, so it makes sense.

"Mike. Find out when you play." I text back.

"I missed a game last night, but one of the guys called me to tell me he is in our league. We play them soon, I think." he texted back. "We're in a higher division this season." Uh... You trying to IMPRESS me Mikey?

I know Mike is a good hockey player, and an avid one. We talk about it all the time. But he never plays at hours that I can get out to watch. (I'm on a very short leash you know.)

So a few days later, I get another text.

"Playing Asham on Tuesday at 8." SON OF A .........I actually have a date with Big Angry Man on Tuesday. There's no way in hell I can get out and go to Bethpage to watch an NHL enforcer play against a fellow blogger, even though I'm dying to!

So while I'm making dinner on Tuesday, I'm feeling my husband out about the balance of the evening. Would HE like to go with me? Um. Not a chance. So I waited till he fell asleep to get the report for the evening.

"MIKE!!! How'd you do??? What happened???"

I emailed hoping he was home while Big Angry Man was snoring on the couch watching the baseball game (isn't that all it's good for anyway?)

"Well, I cut my leg pretty good tonight on my out of the house to go play, but I wrapped it in gauze and headed to the rink anyway." EWWEEEE... But of course he did! He's a hockey player. And we all know that a hockey player will play as long as he's breathing. Bleeding.... that's no big deal. But the fact that he took a box cutter to the leg and decided to play a game anyway, well, that's pretty cool.

He continued: "I stole the puck from Asham a few times and rode him into the boards in the corner. I also beat him to a loose puck and somehow out skated him while breaking into the offensive zone. I lined up against him during face-off, which was an interesting feeling for sure."( * Somewhere here I'm supposed to say Mike plays Wing, but I don't know where. I guess he thinks he's telling someone else. He forgets it's ME.)

Okay. Let's revisit the reality here. This is average guy, Islesblogger.com playing on the same surface and taking face offs against an ex-Islander, ex-Devil and current Flyer. Let's discount for a second that Asham is two, maybe three years away from being out of the league. Let's just remember when he did some cool things for the Islanders. And here's our own Blog Box boy Mike, taking face offs against him. So he continued.

"We won 7-6, but it was really 7-0 because he (Asham) had all six of his teams goals. Yea, I can hang with NHLers. I said it."

Yes you did Mikey! And Mommy is very proud. While some of us just talk about the sport, you can live it. You understand it from an ground level that most of us can only dream of. You have a feel for it that we can't truly comprehend. Don't ever lose your passion. It's a godsend.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dee, I think what he meant is that he lined up against him at faceoffs, but didn't take the face-offs, like Mike's left-wing lined up against Ash's right-wing, for example. Cool story, though.

Jay

7th Woman said...

thank you Jason! See??? I told you had no idea. I'm here to capture the emotion... not the technical aspect. Which is another way of saying... Didn't I already say I had no clue what the hell he was trying to tell me? but I'm hoping next time, I get to come out and watch instead of hearing about it second hand.

islesblogger said...

Jason,

That was exactly what happened.

It was a great night and I wish I had some more opportunities like that. It gives you a better perspective when a professional is playing along side amateurs.

Thanks for the kudos Dee! I wasn't even going to post about it, so I am glad you did!