"It's the best game you can name"

I miss hockey.

The only downside to Summer is that there's no hockey on television.

I grew up watching hockey with my family, so we all really love it. We love watching it, we love criticizing it, we just can never get enough of it.

My Mom has season tickets to the Canucks that she shares with her friend. Of course, this is awesome because it means never having to try and get tickets to a sold-out season.

My Dad has collected hockey memorabilia since hockey first became a sport. He's always on eBay getting a program from some game in the 1930's that mentions some Uncle I never knew I had, but I know now.

Apparently I had quite a few hockey players in my family history. My Great Great Uncle Tony played for the New York Americans in 1936. They were an NHL team back in the 30's.
I'm also distantly related to the first goalie to ever play with a curved stick, Don McLeod. A not-so-famous first, but it was a big change in the way goalies played the game back in 1974. It took a few years to catch on, but these days a curved goalie stick is just 'the way of things'.
These days I have a cousin, Lance Monych, who played for the WHL team the Brandon Wheat Kings. He was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in 2002, but couldn't make it past training camp. He has gotten lost in the shuffle of minor league hockey right now, but I think he'll make it one day. He's only 23, so there's still time for him to make his mark.

Hockey is all over my hometown. Growing up, the hometown hero was Cam Neely, who played for the Vancouver Canucks in 1983-86. He was traded to the Boston Bruins where he finished his impressive career. They love him in Boston, but nobody who knows hockey here will ever forget that he grew up in Maple Ridge. We had an arena named after him.
Now we have another hometown hero. The one-time Vancouver Giant, Andrew Ladd. He played for the 2006 Stanley Cup winning Carolina Hurricanes. And apparently the Stanley Cup is supposed to be making it's way down our main street in some kind of parade celebrating this accomplishment. Every player on the 'Canes gets the cup for 24 hours, and it's coming to Maple Ridge, baby.

Hockey will never be unpopular in Canada. Even a fully cancelled NHL season didn't deter us Canadians from loving a sport we have come to call our own.

I miss hockey and I can't wait for the season to start.