HNIC's opening montage intro to last night's Leafs-Habs game:
Pretty cool, as I noted in the post title. But let me say a few things about this... The Leafs and the Habs have an historic rivalry, to be sure. But it's not the ONLY rivalry in the league... similar and just as storied rivalries exist between Boston and Montreal, Boston and the Rangers, Chicago and Detroit, the Wings and the Leafs, the list goes on. And on.
Whitehorse isn't a unique city, either. There are many open-air rinks in Michigan, New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and all the other northern-tier US states. And while we're on about North Dakota... there's college hockey, exemplified by the Fighting Sioux, just to name ONE team... that's alive and well in these United States. Northern Michigan University, Boston College, Colorado College, Big Blue, the Spartans, and MANY more college hockey programs mean just as much to the game as the NHL or the Canadian Junior League and mebbe more, depending on your point of view.
Yeah, we owe ya, Canada, but back off on all this chauvinistic crap, will ya? Please? It's not all that becoming for a nation that prides itself on accomplishment AND humility.
I like the outdoor rink in the opening of the video. It reminds me of a pond we used to skate on in NM.
ReplyDeleteAnd all those frozen ponds along the Hi Line and in back yards in Havre, Chinook, Harlem, Dodson and Malta. Places of my childhood.
ReplyDeleteAnd the collegiate programs are such that a player who does four years at one of the schools Buck listed spends far less time in the minors.
And I still love Don Cherry! For all of his sartorial splendour! EH!
Lou: Pond hockey is where it all began and still begins, in a lot of cases.
ReplyDeleteGlenn: I love Cherry, too. As a matter of fact, I'm on the record as sayin' no one does hockey like HNIC... they're the Gold Standard. But their naked jingoism gets to me sometimes... like today. And no one is worse at that sorta thing than Cherry, who's been on a 30 year (or more) campaign to belittle European players. He's only slightly kinder to Americans. ;-)
I love Don too. During some of the broadcasts where he recognizes our fallen military, he ends up moving me to tears. He really is a true Canadian. But the constant 'our game' thing in the Timmy Ho-Ho-'s ads? I'm gettin' pretty tired of seeing The Boy Wonder's mug touting it's 'our game'.
ReplyDeleteHave I ever mentioned that there was a hockey team here in New Orleans when we moved down here? Its nickname was the Brass. Clever name. One of its owners was our illustrious former mayor, Ray Nagin. Does that tell you anything about the state of hockey in New Orleans?
ReplyDeleteDeb: I've mentioned MANY times that one of the things I miss most about living in Detroit is the CBC out of Windsor. But I still get to their website and watch "Coach's Corner" often. Mr. Cherry has done good by your troops by going to The Af, something a lot of pols haven't done.
ReplyDeleteMoogie: Yeah, you have mentioned that. It would take either a brave or a stoopid man to invest in a hockey team in N'Awlins, methinks. And Nagin ain't so brave, as far as I can tell.
But it is still our game Buck... no matter what you like to believe... it is still ours.
ReplyDeleteIt will forever bleed maple syrup even if it played worldwide.
And we have every right to be proud of it baby... forever.
But it is still our game Buck... no matter what you like to believe...
ReplyDeleteWe shall agree to disagree, KC. I'll give ya pride of invention, but NOT pride of ownership.
American's can't take everything away from us honey.. you just can't. Sorry hon.
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