Community and Togetherness: A View on Hockey.

While I was searching for topics to write about I had to think deeply about my interests and how I look at them differently than a simple spectator. That's when I thought of hockey. All my life I have loved watching and learning about the sport. While I have never played on a team (Because I can hardly skate without bruising myself) I still love hockey.

This brought me to deeper thought. Why do I love hockey? Is it the fast-paced play style of the game? or maybe even the rough and tough aspects of the game you don't see in many other sports. No, my favorite part about hockey is the community that comes with being a fan. I have been to countless Boston Bruins games and have experienced feelings of joy, bliss, heartbreak, and hope. Sometimes all in the same game! This feeling comes from being in a stadium packed with people who have at least one thing in common; their love for Hockey.

I have made so many friends and met many people just based on our shared interest in the Boston Bruins. You haven't really made a bond with someone until you experience the devastating heartbreak that was the 2019 Stanley Cup Championship Game 7. Moments like that aren't seen as necessarily bad in my opinion. I got to share something with not only my friends but all of Boston. And while we all may have that scar, at least it is something we all dealt with together.

Hockey is a beautiful thing, but the sense of community, friendship, and togetherness I feel when even think about the sport is what enthralls me the most.

https://www.buriedpuck.com/blogs/the-concourse/ice-hockey-more-than-a-game

Hockey

Hockey is a sport played on ice where the intention is to score a goal using a stick and puck. This sport has a different meaning to different people.

For someone in an office position in the sport, such as general manager, they may see the players as numbers, per say. They are paying each player and decide if the given player is playing well enough and deserves for the team to be paying them. If they don’t like the game play they see, they trade people. These business men and women may have a less sentimental approach to the sport.

 For fans, it is a connection to a city and a passion for the sport. The fans support their chosen team and celebrate goals, and mourn losses. They are the ones that get chills when their favorite player scores a game winning goal and that mope for days when their team gets eliminated from the playoffs.

Players have a different outlook than the fans. They have more on the line every game. For them, they feel responsibility for every minute spent on the ice. Each win is a personal victory, and each loss is, well, partially their fault. But players understand it is a team effort and move on from the losses and work up to the ultimate victory, in the NHL, The Stanley Cup. For an NHL player, having their name engraved into the Stanley Cup means they accomplished what they have worked towards their entire lives.