Saturday Night is Hockey Night – except for when COVID-19 changes everything…

2011: All things hockey today. A little dusting of snow on a Saturday is the perfect prelude to a Saturday night hockey showdown.

Feb 2020: It was a fantastic night for hockey. Living in Detroit these days, you can see a lot of Red Wings hockey but they are in a rebuild so it’s not great a lot of nights. My heart is still a Canuck so watching the Canucks play in Toronto was a fantastic winter reprieve.

April 2020: When I decided to rev up the blog again after 10 years, I had a few forgotten posts in ‘draft’ mode. This was one. A simple paragraph about hockey from 2011. I wrote another in Feb of this year and that’s as far as it went.

Until now.

A few things if you are dealing with a guy in your life or you’ve experienced a loss of some kind together. Um, I’m not a psychologist (duh, you say!) so these are observations of men by a man. That’s it. Opinions.

1. Guys don’t like to talk about their feelings that much
2. Guys are activity based
3. Guys don’t like to face someone when talking – generally
4. Guys will only talk to people they trust
5. Trust is earned on the golf course, hunting trip, fishing, sporting event, beer drinking event…or simply watching a hockey game

Guys don’t have to say much to figure out if their buddies have their back. It’s a camaraderie thing.

After losing Chris, there were evenings that I didn’t want to talk about anything. I just wanted to watch hockey with Max and a friend or two. That’s it. Those same friends are the ones I talked to the most over time.

Given the NHL is currently on hiatus because of COVID-19, it’s a weird time. I loved sports for the distraction of the moment but also to build relationships without have to talk too much.

Given it’s now April and the playoffs should be starting, the realization that the Stanley Cup will not happen this year is setting in. Things happen. As much as I’ll miss it, we’ll make decisions and move on. Like watching Tiger King on Netflix. (and you expected something more poignant)

Don’t worry – it’s a guy thing. I’d tell you more, but we’d have to be watching hockey together. Miss ya Chris.