It's safe to say that Canadians are truly obsessed with Hockey. Canadians are often thought of as modest people with good sportsmanship, but on the ice, things can get ugly.
For the uninitiated, Hockey is a bloody brawl on ice. It's lighting fast and goals can be scored in the blink of an eye. Player's skates carve up the ice as they race towards the puck and then slam each other into the guard walls. Only a thin layer of perspex protects the spectators from decapitation. At times it can be downright vicious, but it sure is exciting!
Josh and I arrived in Canada at the height of hockey fever; the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And we quickly realised they take it very seriously. First mistake: You don't call it Ice Hockey. It's just Hockey. Canadians can be a little sensitive about this and it also gives away the fact you are new in town.
We noticed there were alot of men with unruly facial hair around town. So while on our hostel pub crawl, I took the opportunity to confront a guy with an Amish like beard. Second mistake: Don't make fun of man's beard during the Playoffs. He is growing it as a display of solidarity to his team and it is known as a Playoff Beard. This tradition can be traced back to the 80's. Players and fans alike stop shaving when their team enters the finals and do not shave again until they are eliminated or win the cup.
And so we completed our crash course in Hockey. We had caught snip-its of games, Wiki searched the rules and we had our team; the Vancouver Canucks.
The Canucks were playing in a series of best of seven games against the Chicago Blackhawks in the second stage of the Playoffs. We picked up the story on the sixth game of the series. The Canucks were three games to two down, with two more to play. If they lost this one, they would be eliminated from the Playoffs. It was a must win game for the Nucks.
Third mistake: Don't get attached to a particular team; they will only be eliminated. The Canucks lost the game 5 goals to 1. The irony was the Canucks lost the series on the sixth game, to the same team, exactly one year ago to the day.
The next day a dampened mood hung over the city and beards could no longer be spotted on the streets of Vancouver.
