Girls Ruined Hockey

Girls Ruined Hockey

Thanks to Erich Emerson

When I was a kid, I could hardly find another kid who would play hockey. It is a tough sport. There are some long moments of time that pass in baseball and football where a player can catch his breath. Hockey is a game that requires top physical conditioning to play. Not only is it played on rock solid ice instead of soft grass, but there are huge sticks and a puck that can break bones as it travels along over a hundred miles per hour. Back then, no girl was interested in a guy with missing teeth because of his affection for playing hockey.

Then when I was about 20 the fan base changed. All of a sudden there were hordes of women who were buying up the tickets to the games and all of the fan merchandise. I saw a black SUV the other day all decked out in Pittsburgh Penguin logo stuff. A middle-aged blonde woman got in the driver's seat as I was walking into the store. Here I thought it might have been owned by a crusty old coal miner like me. The blonde lady was even wearing a Crosby jersey.

I followed the Penguins all the way back to when Michel Brière died from injuries he received in a vehicle accident after the 1970 playoffs. I was ten years-old. Brière endured for a year before passing away. His number 21 jersey is one of two that were retired. Mario Lemieux's number 66 was retired too. I ended up marrying that blonde who was driving the SUV. We are both fifty now and watch most of the games on our satellite TV that we got after researching Cable TV vs satalite tv.