Lord Stanley Arrives in the Windy City!

 

 

Teamwork. Hardwork. Sportsmanship. Humbleness. Respect for the game, tradition, and your opponent. Heart. Toughness. Love for the game more than the money. Winning being more important than personal accolades. Words and attitudes we claim to admire, yet selmdom associated with professional athletes.

How much time do we spend bitching and moaning that these attributes are missing from professional sports and professional athletes today. Players and agents controlling where and when they play (see Stephen Strausburg, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Doc Rivers, Chris Paul, etc). We complain about the “Me First” attitude, and I will do “what’s best for me and my future contracts.” How often do we see players sitting for fear of injury and the impact an injury may have on their next contract negotiation (hello Derrick Rose)……maybe that’s because we are watching the wrong sports. Maybe we should be watching more hockey.…….and, if you haven’t moved on to another website by now, hear me out.

Watch the Stanley Cup playoffs. Tell me if you see anything other than 20+ guys playing a sport with the love of a child, the beard of a lumberjack, and men treating their bodies like wrecking balls rather than meal tickets. Hockey players play for one thing, and one thing only - to raise the Stanley Cup. Contracts, money, and personal stats are exactly where they should be in the pecking order, secondary.

 Winning above personal accolades

Take a look at Alex Ovechkin, the most prolific goal scorer in the NHL. In recent years he has been pulled late in games (including playoff games) when his team is winning because he is not strong on defense. Not only does he not complain, but he sits on the bench coaching and cheering his teammates on and he publicly supports the decision. Does he want to sit? Hell no. But he wants to win more than play. He has also improved his defense so that he is left on the ice more in these situations. Carmelo Anthony has a similar offensive ability and defensive ineptness. What do you think his reaction to such a scenario would be? He and his “advisors” would have him on another team by the next season.

Teamwork, Selflessness, and Humbleness

Ever listen to a hockey player interviewed? “I” is never used. It is always we. Personal accolades are deflected and team goals praised. Most players almost seem embarrassed to be praised for their play. Why? Because they know not only their role, but the role their teammates have in their success. They are simply the guy that put the puck in the net. They know the blocked shot created their scoring chance. That another player’s fearlessness to chase the puck into the corner (knowing they will get pummeled) set up the scoring chance. And they know that it was the unselfish play of the man passing the puck that allowed them to score. Hockey, unlike any other sport, holds assists in as high of regard as goals. In hockey, the team with the best player does not win. The team with the best “TEAM” wins. In hockey, there are no starters. Everyone plays, and everyone plays about the same amount of time. Your stars may get a few extra minutes, but they are on the ice roughly 1/3 of the game. Imagine if the 3^rd string QB in New England played as much as Tom Brady? Or if Juwan Howard had the same minutes as Lebron James? In hockey, every player is important and every player is aware of that the team is more important than they are.

 Heart, toughness, and team before contract –

Example #1: Watch the video below and pay attention to #11 Gregory Campbell. He can barely stand after blocking a shot. However, his team is shorthanded and he cannot get to the bench. He realizes his team needs him and continues to do what he can to help them clear the puck - including guarding one of the premier goal scorers in the NHL, Evgeni Malkin. Campbell stays on the ice for more than 45 seconds until he can get off without hurting his team….Gregory Campbell played those 45 seconds on a leg that was broken by the shot he blocked.

 

Example #2: Last Monday night, with his team down 3 games to 2 and needing a win to extend the Stanley Cup finals, Patrice Bergeron, a pivotal part to the Boston Bruins team, suited up to help his teammates. So what, right? Well, after game 5, Bergeron went to the hospital with a cracked rib and torn rib cartilage. Leading up to game 6 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Bergeron could barely walk standing straight up. To make matters worse, Bergeron separated his shoulder early in the 1^st period….he told no one and finished the game playing 17:45, just 1.5 minutes less than his season average. Bergeron stayed on the ice to shake the hands of the Blackhawk players. After the game, Bergeron was hospitalized with the cracked rib, torn cartilage, separated shoulder, and a hole in his lung!  

 Remember when Derrick Rose’s teammates needed him in the playoffs. Rose had been practicing for months, but decided he did not want to come back from his knee injury until he could feel comfortable dunking off that leg. That wouldn’t fly in a hockey locker room. Bergeron couldn’t walk upright, had a cracked rib, torn rib cartilage, a separated shoulder and a hole in his lung and played (and was effective). Rose had a medically healthy (and cleared) knee which he had been practicing on for months, but didn’t play because he didn’t feel comfortable dunking off the knee (note, it wasn’t that he couldn’t dunk off the knee, it was that he couldn’t do so comfortably).  Derrick Rose makes way more money than Patrice Bergeron….he also has 0 rings, 0 championship appearances, and likely 0 respect in his city and locker room. Bergeron, on the other hand, has 1 ring, 2 championship appearances, and the utmost admiration of an entire city, league, and sport.

Tradition, respect for the game, and respect for your opponent – Is there anything cooler than watching the hand shake at the end of an NHL playoff series? Guys have spent up to 7 games beating the hell out of one another, sometimes literally punching each other in the face, yet when it is over, they line up and shake each other’s hand. Regardless of what happened, they shake hands. It is a show of respect. An acknowledgement of what occurred on the ice stays on the ice and we respect each other when it is over. On Monday night, we saw this moment at its’ greatest. The Boston Bruins led game 6 with less than 1:30 remaining. Seconds away from sending the series to a 7^th and deciding game, only to have the game ripped away by the Blackhawks when the Hawks scored 2 goals less than 20 seconds apart. There couldn’t be a more heart breaking way to lose the Stanley Cup finals. Yet, when the final horn sounded, the stunned Boston Bruins stood on the ice, watched the Blackhawks celebrate, and waited for the celebration to end so they could line up and congratulate the winner. Imagine watching the World Series loser wait for the winner to break the pile up so they could shake their hand. Or the NBA loser waiting to shake the hands of the winner. Oh yeah, and following the game, the Blackhawks took out an entire page in the Boston Globe thanking the team and the city for their hospitality, heart, and passion. Only in hockey.

Last Monday, the city of Chicago honored the Blackhawks with a well deserved parade, whereby they welcomed back the best trophy in sports to the Windy City. With the millions that came to welcome Lord Stanley, you would have thought it was Canada. Maybe our brethren up north (and in Chicago) are on to something. Maybe hockey is where we should put our time, eyes, and remotes. After all, with as polite as Canadians are, when have they ever lead us astray? Maple syrup? Awesome. LaBatt’s? Great. Moose? Sweet. Maybe we should give their game of hockey a chance as well, eh?