Hockey lovers in the house tonight!

So the Husband always tells me that one of the things he found attractive about me in the very beginning was the fact that I was a girl who loved to watch hockey.  Well, that and I shared his love for PB cups, which as you may or may not remember, we've already discussed in fairly great detail!

What I loved about hockey when we met, was watching some pretty amazing guys strapping on the blades and playing together as a unit.  In other words, I loved the excitement that was generated by the team because of the fact that they played AS A TEAM!  

Sadly, that team slowly started to break up and move on from our great hockey town and that excitement, that passion seemed to go with them.  And, for me, hockey kind of lost its spark.  

A few weeks ago, we got an email from the administration of the hockey league that they boys both play for saying they had some tickets available on a first-come-first-served basis for the Hockey Hall of Fame Legends game .  Luckily, the Husband is almost always glued to his phone, so he jumped on that email as soon as it came in and we secured tickets.

The Husband read me the roster for the teams and before he was more than 4 names into the list, I was already in.  It was the dream team reunited back on the ice and I HAD to be there!  

We didn't have football at my school when we were growing up.  We didn't really watch football at home.  We watched hockey.  We went to the High School hockey games.  It's a part of the very fabric of our great country.  Not having hockey this year has been tough in our house.  The Husband loves nothing more than to sit in front of his 65" TV on Saturday night watching Hockey Night in Canada.  Don Cherry and Ron MacLean have been our Saturday night guests for as long as I've known the Husband - at least whenever we've been home for it OR they've actually been on the air.  

Fast forward to this amazing game that was played yesterday.  This past weekend was the Hockey Hall of Fame's big weekend.  Four new members were inducted into the Hall of Fame, and Mats Sundin was among those four.  I can't tell you specifically what it was about Mats being on the team that really brought it all together for me, but I can tell you that when he left, I felt the loss.  So, having the chance to see him out on the ice, playing for OUR team again was really a dream come true.  

They brought all of the guys being inducted out on the ice one at a time to do the presentation of their Hall of Fame blazers.  They of course kept Mats for last.  When he walked along that blue carpet, not a single person was sitting in their seat.  The electricity and excitement in that arena was just like the old days and it was amazing!  He smiled and waved to the crowd and told us all how being back in Toronto felt like coming home.  My heart melted!

I was disappointed when the game started because it looked like maybe the inductees were only going to watch the game and not play.  However, about 5 minutes in, they interrupted the game to introduce each of the 4 inductees again, now all dressed and ready to get out on the ice!  Again they left Mats for last.  Let me tell you though, when he put his first skate down on the ice, it was like we were back in the golden days!  The golden boy was back!

It was amazing getting to watch that game.  Watching Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark, Curtis Joseph, Darcy Tucker and Mats all play together on the same team.  It was even better watching my boys watch those guys in action.  

I don't know if we'll ever have the opportunity to see those guys in action again all at the same time, but I'll tell you this.  If they're back out there next year, I'll be there and I'll be loving every second of it all over again!  

Who says you can't go back?