Category: Hockey
The Day When Everything Hollows Out
Sometimes my Instapaper reading list has a running theme. On the train home last night I read two ruminations on that curious period just before a transcendent athlete’s decline:
From ‘Still Life’: The Long Autumn of Roger Federer by Brian Phillips:
The saddest moment in the career of a great athlete is the one when he’s tagged with the word “still.” One day you’re fast. One day you’re slow. There’s an in-between day when you’re “still fast,” and that’s the day when everything hollows out.
I liked Brian Phillips’s piece, because it captured what makes Roger Federer so much more interesting (to me, at any rate) these days. I didn’t really pay much attention to him when his victories had the air of inevitability about them. Now that he’s in that weird “still” phase—as Phillips calls it—any victory seems born more from sheer willpower than effortless magic.
Another bit that I enjoyed:
Watching Federer increasingly feels like looking in on something private. It’s as if his game is just somewhere else, on some secret corner of the map where it can stage its weird encounter between beauty and death.
That brings me to the other piece I read, a blog post by Justin Bourne: Will Nicklas Lidstrom’s return be one year too many?. In it he writes from the perspective of a hockey fan, making the case that Lidstrom should retire and go out on top. Bourne, like Phillips, talks about mortality casting its shadow over sporting gods:
I just don’t want him to look mortal and I fear that may happen.
Earlier he writes:
He had the opportunity to do something completely unheard of – win the Norris and retire. The concept of that is mind-boggling. Returning won’t sully his legacy any and may in fact add to it, but I just hate that there’s the slightest hair of a possibility he might come back and not play up to Lidstrom-like levels, or worse, get hurt. He’s accomplished it all. I wanted to see it end like that.
I understand the appeal of going out on top (Bourne mentions Mark Recchi’s retirement after winning the Cup with the Bruins days ago). But I’m also selfish, and I want to see Lidstrom give it one more season. There’s something curiously compelling about seeing a great athlete pull through when you’re no longer dead certain they can do it. For me it raises the stakes as a spectator. For why cheer at all if you’re not convinced on some primal level that you can somehow will an athlete to greatness, even if it’s for just one last time?
By the way, what is it with essays on Federer and footnotes? Reading Phillips’s Grantland piece I was reminded of David Foster Wallace’s Federer profile from 2006.
Back on the Ice
Hopped onto the ice for the first time in about six months. The Sled Dogs were having a practice and scrimmage, so I took the opportunity to shake off the rust. My stickhandling and shooting have definitely taken a hit during the layoff, but was a lot of fun to be skating again. Hopefully I’ll get in a game before the season is over.
On the Break
photo by penjamins
This is my breakaway goal from last night’s game, a throwback to early-80s hockey that the Sled Dogs won 9-4. Lots of people getting goals in this one. I centered the first line and we all got at least a goal and an assist. I ended up with a goal and two assists. For the most part the team was in sync — our passes were crisp, people were getting to open ice, and we weren’t running around too much on D.
I’m trying to catch up after a bit of a hiatus here. It’s been a busy last month or so. Jordan and I took a trip out to Chicago and then Colorado Springs. We had a good time seeing friends and family in what is probably our last big trip before our daughter’s scheduled arrival this September. Thanks again to Torry and John for hosting us in Chicago, and Pete and Sarah in Colorado Springs.
The new iPhone is out, and Jordan’s going to try and get one this week. I’m on the hook with Sprint until the end of the month, so the mad rush will have ebbed by then.
Selling Pucks
Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images. Yes, I believe that is a built-in beer holder on that Hulk hand.
Slate recently ran an article on the difficulty of selling hockey through star power. It’s a good read, touching on a few common hurdles to watching hockey: stars only playing part of the game (what are these shifts you speak of?), the difficulty identifying players on the ice (helmets + visors = robocop), and the difficulty of following the play.
Bounced
I hadn’t played a game in about a month, not counting scrimmages. I centered the third line with Kapp on LW and Todd on RW. Despite the time off I felt like I played a strong game, with a couple of chances that I just couldn’t put away. The first came off a partial breakaway, when Kapp made a brilliant touch pass at the blueline to send me in alone. I tried a deke but put the puck right into the crest of the goalie, which was pretty much where all our shots were going during the game.
I got a second chance in the third when Bryan drew the D to the left circle on the rush while I coasted down the slot. I managed a decent one-timer, but again the goalie smothered it. I also got a few crisp passes to my linemates and generally felt like I was strong on the puck in the defensive zone.
It’s easy at this level to get discouraged because everything needs work — skating, shooting, stickhandling, passing. Forget about holes in my game, sometimes it’s just one big black hole. But if I think back to the start of the season (when I could barely get over the boards properly) it’s nice to see small improvements: learning positional play, keeping my legs moving after a pass, keeping my head up at all times. I know that I’ll be spending extra time this spring and summer working on both my shot and stickhandling. There’s a few weekends off before we get back into it for the Spring season.