"The Age Border"

The last game of the year. As always, I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I'm sad that I won't have anymore hockey games to go to for the next 4 months. And not only that, but I'll be missing alot of my hockey buddies over that time, too. But on the flip side, I think to myself how nice it'll be not having to drive hours on end somewhere for a game, only to either drive all night or early the next morning so I can either get to the next one or get home in time so I can get some sleep so I can get up for work the next day.

Both of those thoughts were running through my head as I drove back up to Vancouver, BC one last time on Saturday. Although I was looking forward to this one a little more since I knew that Emily and Jacque were gonna be there. At least I wouldn't be 100% alone this time.

I left home at about 10:00am on Saturday morning. I was gonna leave a little earlier than that so I could go mess around downtown Vancouver for a few hours before the game started. But since rain was in the forcast, I decided to leave a little later than that since I didn't want to walk around in water all day.

The line at the truck crossing at the border wasn't all that bad. It was a little longer than it had been the last couple times I had been up there over the last month or so. But I got stuck in the line where someone apparently was a little suspicious to the woman in the booth. And you know that if you're getting held up at the border getting into Canada for whatever reason, you HAVE to be guilty of something (lol). Usually, they don't give a shit about you or your papers anymore. They just ask a few simple questions and turn you loose on their beautiful country. So either the people in that white Honda Civic were stumbling in their answers, or they were making a pass at the chick in the booth (who was actually kinda cute).

I got into Vancouver itself at about 2:00. So trying to think of something to kill time, I just went back to the mall where Kurt and I walked around in last December. It's not much of a mall. And I didn't buy anything. I just mosied around there for a bit staring at the girls and the such. While I was in a record store, I saw a guy who I swear looked exactly like Pete Townsend. I know it wasn't him, though. First off, Townsend is alot taller than this guy (who was shorter than me). And the other thing is that I seriously doubt that Pete Townsend would be shopping at some chain record store in a mall in Vancouver, BC.

But, then again, I guess you never know.

When I saw that it was 3:00, I decided to go check into my hotel. Along the way, Emily text me saying that she had some "big news" for me. When I finally got a red light, I wrote back asking what it was. She then told me that it was so good that she wanted to see the look on my face in person. When I got that reply, I had a pretty good idea as to what the "news" was since it had been mentioned before. And it turns out that my hunch was correct. But we'll get to that a little later on here.

After I checked into the hotel, I asked Emily where they were. They got off to a later start than I did for whatever reasons they had. I did know that they were just driving back home after the game ended. And Emily's reply was "almost at the age boarder (sic)". Normally, "LOL" just means that I get it and was amused somewhat. But that answer REALLY DID crack me up. She's sooooooo close to her 21st birthday that she can feel it now. And I knew that within a couple weeks that whole "legal" thing won't be an issue anymore. But it still actually did make me laugh out loud.

Flipping through the stations in my room, I came across the French language CBC channel. They were airing "Desperate Housewives" at the time. Now, I've never seen an episode of that show before...even in English. So I sat there watching it dubbed in French. It was kinda trippy, really. I had no idea as to what the plot was. I figure they were desperate about something, though. But that's just a guess on my part.

After watching that for about 15 minutes or so, I started flipping through channels again. I finally settled on watching "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial". I don't think I had watched that film all the way through since it was in the theaters back in 1983. In fact, one of my fondest memories as a kid was my dad taking us to a drive-in theater here in Tacoma to watch a double-feature of "E.T." and the first "Star Wars". That was back just before VCR's became really popular. So it wasn't all that unusual to see older movies in theaters or drive-in's a few years after their initial release.

I had also told the girls that I would meet them at the Burger King up by the PNE for a pre-game dinner. So just as "E.T." was building to it's climax (I left just after the feds invaded their home and E.T. was all sick and stuff), I turned off the tv and started the long walk from the Best Western up towards the PNE. Yes, I could have drove my car. And, in this instance (especially when the game was over), looking back I probably should have. But I've made that walk several times before. Besides, I need the exercise (haha).

When I got there, Jacque, Emily and this other woman named Shannon (who I've sorta known for a while, but hadn't talked to a whole lot) were already there eating. I had told them earlier that dinner would be on me (since I had like $80 Canadian to get rid of...lol). But they were already eating. So I got my burger and fries and went and sat down. I believe it was even at the same table we had when we were there back in February.

Probably not even a minute after I sat down at the table, Emily asked me if I was ready for the big news. I told her I was, and she laid it on me. "Kristi's gonna get married to Matt in a couple weeks and you're invited to the wedding". Which was pretty much what I had expected. So I don't think the look on my face was quite what Emily had in mind. I figure it was one of ambivilence or something similar. The only minor shocker was that it was happening so soon. But, as I think about it now, it really shouldn't have been all that suprising since when I was at Jacque's place a couple weeks before, they had been talking about how he was about to be shipped off to Iraq.

Obviously that dominated the conversation at the table while we ate. And when we were done, we headed out the door and over to the coliseum. Along the way, someone commented on how all of a sudden there were all sorts of people opening up their little area's to charge for parking. I said something out loud along the lines of "that's capitalism in it's purest form. And that's an American ideology...don't forget that". There was some nervous chuckling, and the subject was dropped.

Jacque and I went to the will-call window to get the tickets we had bought and then started walking towards the doors which were about to open. It was gonna be a huge crowd, for sure. There was literally about 4x's as many people waiting in line to get into the coliseum as there usually is most of the time. And it turned out that it was a big crowd...over 13,000 fans!

Just after we got in, Jacque and Shannon recognized some people that they knew. So we all migrated over to them and they hugged the people they knew. Emily and I just kinda laid back and watched all this unfold. Then, a few minutes later, they saw some more people that they recognized and started saying hello and hugging them, too. Again, Emily and I were sorta left out of the whole thing. So to try to make us feel a little more welcome, I turned to her and cried "Emily" and gave her a hug (just as we had seen Jacque and Shannon do with the others). She kinda laughed, but didn't return the hug. So I made a note to myself...Emily doesn't like it when I hug her (lol).

My seat wasn't too bad. It was in the last row of the lower bowl in one of the corners. Not my ideal seat since it was behind the net and all. But at least it was up high where I could actually watch the entire game. But the other three had seats about half-way up in the upper deck somewhere between the blue line and the goal line in one end. Personally, I would have been much happier sitting up there than where I actually wound up. But since there were three of them and only one of me, I couldn't really trade tickets with them.

The four of us walked around the concourse killing time some time before warmups. When warmups started, we walked down to the boards in the Moose Jaw end to watch them do their thing. Jacque kept trying to get the attention of the former Thunderbirds who were now with the Warriors (Cole Simpson, Kyle Fecho and Matthew Hansen...who was the lone reason I took Kristi up to Red Deer in the first place). I'm not sure if any of them ever aknowledged her cries. But maybe one of them did. I don't know. I was sitting in the 2nd row while the three of them stood there in front of me hollering through the glass at the players so I didn't see much.

After that was over, we bought some beer and walked around a little more. I finished mine well ahead of everyone else. For whatever reason, I was feeling it that night. I had three more as the game went along. But I never really got all drunk and stuff. I'm still a smart drinker. And I knew I still had to walk back to the hotel after the game was over. Well, that and I had to get up early so I could get back for the Mariners game the next afternoon. And I didn't want to be all hungover the next day.

There was acutally a fight that night. But it didn't take place on the ice. It happened during the first intermission. There was this one guy who I figured was probably in his mid to late 30's and some other guy who was probably in his early 20's going at it. By the time we realized what was going on, security had already stepped in to break it up. They were trying to corral the older guy for the most part. And while they were doing that, the other guy came over and started barking stuff at the crowd who had gathered to watch the spectacle. He was dressed in this blue sweatsuit outfit. And he was trying to act all "ghetto" and stuff. It's always sad when a white guy here in the States acts like that. But it's even more pathetic when a white guy in Canada acts like that. Although I did get a kick out of him using the words "yo" and "eh" in the same sentance a few times.

Only in Canada.

As security was trying to apprehend the older guy, a member of the Vancouver police came along and decided to help out. He did so by dropping several knees into the guys back. I counted something like 4 of them. And, just before they picked the guy up in cuffs, he even landed a pretty good kick to his back. Since Jacque and I were the only ones tall enough to see this happening (Shannon complained that there were "too many tall people here"), I commented to her that he must want to try out for the LAPD (lol).

And of course the dumb-ass who wouldn't leave the scene (as the best idea probably would have been since he had a good two or three minutes to decide to do that and not get caught) was shocked when the rest of the cops showed up and wanted to arrest him, too. All-in-all, it was a textbook case of what happens when idiots collide.

As the game went along, I actually came to enjoy where I was sitting. The guy sitting to my right was really cool. He was fascinated by the fact that I came all the way up there from Tacoma to watch that one game. As time went along, he quizzed me on all the other places I had been to in my journies. He followed the old New Westminster Bruins back in the day before they took off to the Tri-Cities. He was also excited about the Chilliwack Bruins starting up next season. I asked him if he knew what was gonna become of the Chilliwack Chiefs in the BCJHL. He told me that there were a few possibilies, but the most likely one was that they were gonna move to Abbotsford. Which is information that Tom W just ate up when he called later on that night.

He also pointed out to me that this guy they were talking to who was standing in the aisle to my right was some sort of famous radio personality in the Vancouver area. He told me his name, but I didn't bother remembering it. I had never heard of him before. But, then again, I couldn't tell you the name of ANYONE involved with Vancouver radio. He was a pudgy little guy, though. His looks reminded me alot of former World Series of Poker champion, Greg Raymer. Although he wasn't wearing those goofy glasses.

The game itself was a wild one. Vancouver wound up winning it 7-5. Giants superstar, Gilbert Brule had himself a pretty good night even by his standards. He registered a hat trick along with three more assists for 6 points. I practically predicted his first goal. He had this wide-open chance, but missed the empty net. I then told the guy sitting next to me that "if he gets a 2nd chance here on this shift, he'll score. Brule never misses twice like that". And sure enough, about five seconds after I was done telling him that, he scored Vancouver's first goal. I missed his second goal as I had to go to the bathroom (a common side effect of drinking beer, for those not in the know). When I told that to Emily during the intermission, she said "don't worry. If you've seen one Brule goal, you've seen them all". So I guess it was just a hair short of spectacular, as most of his goals are.

Moose Jaw really didn't play all that bad of a game, though. They held Vancouver to 33 shots (a number that may seem on the high-end of average for most fans not familiar with the Giants. But they've tended to pepper the other teams in the playoffs for about 40 each night). And they were pretty efficient with their shots, too (they scored their five goals on only 16 shots). And most nights, they probably could have beaten just about any other team in the league with those facts. But the one fact that they couldn't overcome was the one that involved Gilbert Brule in a Giants sweater.

Folks, Brule is probably the best offensive force I've seen in the WHL since Marian Hossa plied his trade with the Portland Winter Hawks. And Hossa has become a pretty damned good NHL player. And I'll make this prediction now; Brule will be even better with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The tandem of Brule and Rick Nash is almost beyond comprehension for me. Perhaps it won't be quite like Gretzky/Kurri. But, at worst, it's gonna be like Bossy/Trottier. I would imagine it'll be somewhere between those two, though. Probably along the lines of Sakic/Forsberg. Now, if only Columbus can put together a decent supporting cast for those two, they'll be a force in their division for years to come.

And, when the final horn blew to end the game at 9:32 pacific time, my season was officially over. Oh sure, there was a chance that there would be a game 6 there in Vancouver the following Saturday. But I knew it wasn't gonna happen. And it didn't. Vancouver went on to beat the Warriors twice in Moose Jaw on Monday and Tuesday to sweep the four games for the WHL title. Which didn't suprise me at all. Like I've been telling people the last couple weeks (especially after watching them dismantle the Everett Silvertips...a pretty good team themselves...piece by piece with scary efficiency), this Giants club is the best I've seen since, at least the 2000-2001 Red Deer Rebels (who had, among others, Jeff Woywitka, Justin Mapletoft, Doug Lynch, Martin Erat, Jim Vandermeer, Kyle Wanvig and Shane Bendera to name a few). And more than likely the 97-98 Portland Winter Hawks (Marian Hossa, Brendan Morrow, Mike Hurley, Andy Ference, Joey Teterenko, Todd Robinson). The Memorial Cup tournament doesn't even start until next Friday in Moncton, NB. And I haven't seen any of the other teams in the OHL or the QMJHL. But I have a hard time not seeing Vancouver walking away with the title. Sidney Crosby may have been shut down by the London Knights in last years championship game. But Sidney Crosby was a one-man show for Rimouski. Gilbert Brule has a pretty good team that probably would have made it this far without him surrounding him (Mitch Bartley, Spencer Machecek, Paul Albers, Mark Fistric, Dustin Slade).

So good luck, Giants. Bring the Cup back home to the WHL!

But still, the season was over. I walked the 15 minutes back to the hotel alone in the rain. It wasn't a hard rain. But it was still typical of what we're used to up here...nice and steady. Along the way, I though mostly about Kristi's getting married. I'm happy for her if that's what she wants. I still think it's pretty early in their relationship to be jumping into something as big as marriage. But it's her life and her choice. And she seems high enough on Matt to do this. So I'm behind it. The only real thing I wished for along the way was that she would invite me to her wedding in a more personal way than to do it through Emily and Jacque (which she did a couple days later due to the encouragement of Emily). And when she did call, it was nice to talk to her for the first time since I helped her buy that car. If I had thought that she might avoid me after I loaned her that money to get that car, I probably wouldn't have done it in the first place since I wouldn't want a strain on our friendship. But I don't really expect to see it back in my pocket anyway. If I needed the money that badly, that would have also been a reason that I wouldn't have given it to her, too.

The way I figured, there were two things that could happen. It could be like Lindsay and Joe in St. Louis. Since Joe's girlfriend lives with him now, he and Lindsay don't talk much anymore. And I know that Lindsay still wants to be friends with him (which is all they ever were in the first place...like Kristi and I). And I definitely don't want that to happen. Hopefully, it'll be more like Karin and I. Really, things haven't changed much since her and Rick got married about a year ago. We still walk around the arena's chatting and joking about the games and give each other rides to different places. You know...pretty much the same as it's always been. Hopefully the same thing will apply to Kristi and myself (although I think the roadies to places like Red Deer are pretty much out of the question now...lol). But I guess we'll see.

And I thought alot more when I got back to the hotel room. I never even turned the tv back on. I just kinda sat there in silence for about a half-hour before I decided to just crawl into bed at about 10:30pm. I wasn't sleepy tired. But I was kinda worn out from the long day I had. So I just laid there thinking. This time, it was about all the traveling and hockey/football season. And how I feel worn out like that so often during the season. In a way, the best part of the summer is not always feeling so burned out like that everyday.

I thought about next season and how it's gonna be a bittersweet one since it's gonna be the last one for Tom W up here before he retires and moves down to South Carolina. Is he gonna go to alot of games kind of as a "one last big-bang" thing? Or is he gonna lay-off alot and barely go to any games? I think the answer will lay somewhere in the middle. He'll probably put on his "I'm not interested" act early in the season like he normally does. But he'll be back in action sometime around late November or early December.

And after about an hour of just laying in bed, I really started to notice how beat I was when I had a hard time mustering up the energy just to get out of bed and go to the bathroom. I eventually did, of course (lol). But that made me think a little more about all of this. Can I keep up this pace? Or, maybe more specifically, do I WANT to keep doing all of this? Like I've said before, I love the game to death. Throughout my life, with it's up's and downs and all the people who have come and gone, it's the one thing that's never deserted me. And I don't think I'll ever let it go completely.

But do I love it enough to keep on doing all of this? Of course, as I've said here just in the last few paragraphs, I get tired of being tired all the time. I know I'm only 32. But I know my body...I'm an OLD 32. And I can definitely tell that my body doesn't recover quite like it used to. It gets harder and harder to do as the years click by. Although, I have been thinking of using this off-season to try to get into a little better shape to see if that works.

But still...do I want to keep doing all of this? Do I even want to try it all again next season? I laid there in the dark going over the pros and cons of it. And while I was doing that, I came to the conclusion that I will. I may even go back to how I used to do it even up to last year. You know...get to Portland and Everett every time there is a game on the weeknights (something I didn't really do as much this year until the playoffs started). I still got to plenty of games this season. I counted them up the other day and the final total was 92. But it was still short of last years 112 and the 107 the season before that. And maybe...just maybe...I might try to break those records next season. You know...one more whirl for old-time sake.

Although it probably won't really be the last time. I'll have the same debate at this time next year with myself. And I'll probably come to the same answer. I'll try to explain it to you by using the final passage in another influencial book I read, "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton. As much as I credit "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" as my inspiration, "Ball Four" is more of what I model my little stories after. And, although it's about baseball, I think the same thing applies to me and hockey:

"You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out it was the other way around all the time"

The End