Barely rest during the game. The only sport where player lines and individual players go into play from the bench. NO stoppage of play other than penalties or icing. This makes for an exciting game to watch!
(Some do not like hockey because hockey is a low scoring game to win. I prefer the extreme hard work it takes to earn one than up and down a court scoring over and over and over or the up and go and stand for what seems like minutes. (I do like basketball and football though!) And do love baseball. Partly because playing in our yard as kids and rolly bat and Daddy could have been a professional in the 40s. ( I think the decade?))
Back to the wonderful world of the hockey player and how hard the sport is to play.
Their feet standing and skating for hours a day on a thin blade of metal. Their thighs. My, how they must burn. I've skated, I know how it feels. Well...like four times. Mostly my bum hurt. Not my thighs. I couldn't stand long enough for my thighs to burn!
Hips, back, shoulders, arms aching and bruised and hurting from checking people on and off the boards. Not to mention the many times their bums hit the ice, eh? Headaches and neck pain from all the above. Bruises from getting slashed by sticks. (Their pads aren't quite the same sa football lol) And the occasional blackened eye from the occasional scrum, eh?
And poor goalies. They have to play the full 60. Constantly posed to pounce on the puck like a cat on a mouse after trying to be brave enough not to duck at a piece of rock solid, hard, frozen solid rubber coming slapped shotted at you 105 mph. (Think Shea Weber.)
All this body abuse playing 3 to 5 games per week all over the US and Canada. The travel has to add to the physical and mental toughness of players.
Ah, ice hockey. That's why it's the greatest sport in the world. Players love the game, are dedicated to their teammates. If it's their shift on the ice they keep playing no matter what (flashback last year's Stanley Cup playoffs and Boston Bruin playing through the pain of a broken leg till his shift was up). There's no running to the bench with a bloody cut to the face or nose. No. Players stay with their line until their shift is done. Then they come off the ice after no stop in play. They'll be needed again in, oh, about three minutes?
Hmmmm...why did I start this blog post....oh yeah. I was fixing to get on a pity party tangent about my surgery complications from last week while watching the Predators play Boston thinking I now know what it feels like to be a hockey player. Well.....I don’t quite have the dedication to pain and hardship to reach a glorious finish like they do.
