Everyone who knows me knows that I’m not the biggest hockey fan in the world. Or used to be so, anyway. I used to balk at the thought of spending 3+ hours in front of the TV to watch the sport; I used to laugh that it took an hour for a twenty minute period to go by; and I used to think that too much precious brain power was wasted on player names, stats and current girlfriend’s measurements.

Now I’m not saying that my whole outlook on hockey has completely changed, but I do admit that my heart rate does increase slightly when I now watch the game. Yes, I was very, very disappointed with my Canucks when I went away in January and they were tied with Calgary for first only to come back and find that they were gone, just gone. Have I given up on them? Possibly! Could I name five or six players on the team? Only if I tried really, really hard. I’m getting better though, but I’m not saying I’m rooting for Vancouver anymore. From what I hear with a fired coach and player’s traded, it’s going to be a whole new team.

So I guess I’m actually just putting myself out there as a fan for hire. Highest bid wins my affection for your team colours. It’s a little late in the season to be switching now, but I also find it odd that we’re still watching hockey in June.

Which brings me to last night’s game…

I’m the least authoritative on the topic of hockey. I’m pretty sure my hockey career, to my parent’s disappointment, lasted two days. Well, it might have been longer than that, but all I remember is lots of padding, sweating and other boys who wanted to push me over. I believe I mentioned before that I’m a lover not a fighter. If only there was another option. Hmph!

Where was I? Oh yeah! I’m the least authoritative on the topic of hockey, but how do you lose when you have a three goal lead towards the end of the second period? I saw it when Edmonton just eeked out a victory over Aneheim, it seemed like they gave up and thought their win was a sure thing. It’s like they stood back, said, “We’ve got a great goalie,” and let him play the rest of the game. And it’s true that Roloson is a great goalie, but he can’t play the whole game by himself, darn it! Lend a hand, for crying out loud, or I’m going to start rooting for Carolina because Ward seemed to be doing pretty awesome towards the end of the third period, as well.

I’m not even going to comment on the rest of the game because I’ll just make myself sound foolish (I already LOOK foolish). I will say, however, that as I watched the game with Aunty Terri, Aunty Carol, and mom at Lloyd’s and Judy’s that seconds after Terri made the comment with regards to Carolina’s better offense and Edmonton’s well known defense, Carolina scored. It’s just fate and balance, I tell you. You pull a metaphysical line with a comment like that and it just opens up a hole where Edmonton’s superb defense used to be. Weird, I tell you!

Well, besides all my blathering and trying to sound intelligent in front of my betters last night over a superb chicken lasagna served up by Judy, I received an invite to go to Edmonton to stay with Terri and Walt so I could see my dad whom I always seem to miss when visits are scheduled. I’m starting to think he doesn’t exist even though Aunty Carol seems to remember her brother being around somewhat when she was growing up in Saskatchewan. I plan secreting some hair or skin flakes away from him to do some DNA matching because he’s pretty unclear as to whether or not he’s my real father. I’ve had my doubts, too, but only slight ones. I’ve recently started to become interested in golf, and seeing as my dad’s the proverbial golf nut, I figure it must be genetic.