The 2017-18 NHL hockey regular season ended yesterday. The playoffs begin later this week and I have a few days to evaluate my own hockey scorecard. Over a few hundred games I’ve seen just about everything a hockey fan could want to see. I’ve see pre-season games, regular season games, and post-season games. I’ve seen games that clinched playoff spots, I’ve seen playoff series open and I’ve seen playoff series close with wins and with losses. I’ve seen penalty shots, the most exciting play in the fastest sport. I’ve seen games finish in overtime and games finish in shoot outs. I’ve touched the Stanley Cup and been up close to every other trophy awarded by the league. I’ve even seen the NHL draft live and in person. (Oddly, or aptly, I got to see a fight breakout at that draft but it was in the stands between two groups of opposing fans.) I have towels and programs and pucks signed by players who were right in front of me. But there are three things I’ve not done. I’ve not been to an outdoor game. I’ve not been to a Cup winning game. And I’ve never seen a goalie score a shutout. Well, in point of fact, I have seen a shutout but it comes with an asterisk.
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I wrote this post while at dialysis Saturday afternoon. I had not seen the news Friday night or Saturday morning and was unaware that on Friday afternoon a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team from Humboldt, Saskatchewan was involved in a deadly traffic accident. The team featured players 16 to 20 years old. Among 15 killed in the accident were 11 players, 2 coaches, a radio announcer, and a statistician. My sympathies go to their families and friends, the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, and the entire Canadian hockey family. I mean no disrespect to the memories of these young people and their supporters and hope that by my words, I can honor them.
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That little asterisk, the famous * symbol, says so much for being so little. I don’t know the earliest use of the asterisk but I remember the first time I saw it. It was on a box holding a new transistor radio (if you remember what that is) and it preceded the words “batteries not included.” Lots of things back then didn’t include batteries but they were mostly toys, or so it seemed to me, but those boxes didn’t hide the need for batteries behind our little one character attention getter. They put those words big and bold right on the front of the box. BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED. Occasionally you’d see an asterisk in a newspaper ad for a bank’s free checking offer. Today advertisers dispense with cluttering their come-ons with extraneous markings and just fill the bottom third of their spot with print in fonts smaller than what you think is actually possible with the exclusions and modifiers.
In the 1980s, amazing feats of strength and power were witnessed at baseball parks across America. The steroid era had arrived. More accurately, the steroid era had been noticed. Someone figured out that mere mortals just couldn’t do some of the things athletes of the day were doing. Most athletes of the day would have cringed at being called mere mortals. As would quite a few fans. Still, critics prevailed and convinced the powers that be of the day to look closer at those accomplishments. Yes, they determined that mere mortals could only do those things if they got some help. Help in the form of steroids to allow mortals to transcend their mere-ness. Record shattering performances of the time and the times before were scrutinized to investigate the possibility that the performers were performing in other than unadulterated states. If there was a question, the record remained but the suspicion that steroids were used was noted with an asterisk. Nobody wanted an asterisk. The reference mark had become a mark of shame. It persisted and expanded. Even in academia the asterisk was feared. I can recall in graduate school discussing a fellow fellow’s research results and heard someone remark, “oh sure, he can prove the theory but someday somebody is going to put an asterisk after his paper.”
Today the asterisk is regaining its popularity. Or maybe it’s losing its ignominy. Whichever, you’re starting to see it again, even in the occasional blog post. It simply means ” Hey, check it out. There’s still some more to the story.” And that’s why I’m not ashamed to include an asterisk with my personal hockey bucket list accomplishments. Yes, I’ve seen a shutout. There’s just more to the story.
I said I have never seen a goalie score a shutout in a game and that is true. But a have seen a shutout and that is also true. It was February 2, 2011. I remember the date because it was Groundhog Day and I was wearing my official Punxsutawney Phil hat rather than a more traditional hockey themed baseball cap. The home team was up 3-0 with 16.5 seconds left. The back-up goaltender was in for the number one net minder after the main guy played to a shootout win the previous night. As the game wound down, the home team was on the offense and a player made a break to the goal. The puck slipped past him and as he skated across the crease the opposing goalie took him down with a forearm. This did not sit well with the home goalie, who dropped his stick and gloves and advanced toward center ice. The visiting goalie also approached and gave the universal “come on” sign. Home goalie crossed the red line and his fate was sealed. He would receive a game misconduct and be ejected with only a few more than a dozen seconds left in the game. The home team inserted number one goalie who completed the shutout but since it was split between two goalies, the starter was credited with the win but neither goalie was awarded a shutout. Thus my asterisk.
But on the bright side, I did get to cross off “see a goalie fight” from my hockey bucket list.
From the first time I saw the picture of the Niagara Falls on the can of spray starch on my mother’s ironing board I knew I had to see it. If I had thought of doing a bucket list when I was 6 years old that didn’t include a new bike, ice skates, and an never ending jar of chocolate covered raisins, “see Niagara Falls” would have been on it. And see them I had. I’m not sure how many times I’ve been to the falls but it’s been “some.” But always from the Canadian side. There is the spectacular Horseshoe Falls and the most spectacular views – including the one on the can. Until the time I ended on the American side. It was a long weekend gifted me and my then She by her offspring. And it was in winter!
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