Divine Intervention?

How’s this for a tale of divine intervention, or should I say a sign of things that were meant to be? I’ve been playing hockey (playing is a stretch) for about 3 months now, and I’ve managed to scrounge together from various sources, which includes friends and the fabulous Listen Center. I’ve found that if you stop by the Listen every week, you can score a gem now and then, but it’s really a luck of the draw. Mostly it’s complete junk, it’s amazing they even try to sell that stuff, but if you’re persistent, you can find great deals on stuff that is in good condition.

Now when we first ventured into playing hockey, I never imagined that I would actually play on an organized level, so naturally it didn’t really matter what sort of equipment I had. As you play more and more and interact with players who really know what they’re doing, you begin to realize that some things do matter, and even if they don’t, you don’t want to seem like a complete loser with old, second hand stuff that looks like junk. I seem to manage to look like a loser no matter what, but that’s beside the point.

A good example of this was my hockey stick. I got it a couple of years ago at the Listen for five bucks, and it’s worked fine. I even got a thumbs up from DF for having a “classic,” in his words, which probably meant it was so old that you couldn’t buy the thing new if you wanted to. It worked fine for moving pucks and doing an occasional slapshot, but eventually it became clear to me that the thing was a dinosaur, and people even started to make fun of it. Now I know I shouldn’t care what people think, especially since the hockey world is filled with real men who don’t tolerate sissies, but I started to feel a little embarrassed, I don’t deny it. I even toyed with the idea of getting a new stick. I went to Stateline and asked the guy if it really made a difference and he looked at me and said, “What are you, a sissy?”

I began asking around and getting a new stick became my new favorite OCD topic. I looked around at what everyone was using, and noticed that a lot of old-schoolers definitely opt for wood, while not too many people under the age of 40 use wood but instead go for the composite. Now I know nothing about sticks, but had set my mind on the fact that if I was going to get a new stick, I wasn’t going with wood, even though people I respect and admire all swear by it. I was going synthetic or bust.

The biggest stumbling block was cost. Wood is cheaper, but it’s wood, and as I mentioned, I wasn’t going to get wood. Synthetic or more specifically composite sticks can easily cost you over $100, and I know most dedicated hockey players wouldn’t even give a second thought to dropping that kind of cash. Not me, as many of you might know, especially my Mentor.

Either way, it was on my mind, but I wasn’t ready to take the plunge. Things have a funny way of working out, however, and the clouds parted and a sign came raining down on me at the open stick. I was in the process of digging the puck out from along the boards when I whacked the puck and guess what happened - my stick broke. I felt like a real hockey player, it was kind of cool, but best of all, I was going to need a new stick, especially since there was under 14 open stick that afternoon. One of my friends even said that I’d earned a new stick by now. Say no more.

I went home and showed the kids, who got a huge kick out of my ersatz display of hockey prowess, and we headed straight over to Stateline to get dad a new stick. Of course I didn’t get crazy and kept it way under $100. We then hopped in the car I had A&N tape it up while I drove over to UA for under 14 open stick. They did a great job.

I have to confess that I like my new stick. It makes me feel like Joe Sakic, and I now play just like him. Amazing what a difference a new stick can make, especially when it's a composite, or at least looks like a composite.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Vince Petaccio for the pic.