Today is the gold medal game dudes!

Now I’ve never been a hockey player myself but I’m definitely a fan. I’d go so far as saying I’ve tried to play, but actually classifying my actions as “playing” might be a different story. Haha.

I consider myself decent at lots of stuff but skating is not one of them! Let alone stick handling and shooting..eshk, me attempting any of that would not pretty.

Thankfully there are many people who are amazingly talented at hockey! So even though I can’t be impressive, I can be impressed by the athletes who do it right. It’s always cool watching the pro’s live and on TV. It’s a good laugh watching my buddies play rec hockey for something to do. It gets intense watching my cousin play in the highway hockey league all winter too. 

Luckily for Saskatchewan this year’s World Jr. Hockey championship was held here. Two cities, my home town, Regina and S’toon welcomed some of the best young players from around the world to play for gold.

First Hand

I wasn’t able to catch team Canada play live, I did get hooked up with some tickets though (thanks Dad)! I made it to three games and got to see Sweden, Russia, Czech Republic and Finland hit the ice.

It was good clean hockey with some future greats working to be noticed by the big leagues. It was inspiring to watch and reminded me why I used to play competitive sports. Now I’m content to go out and giver’ a go! It’s not about winning or losing anymore. It’s just about giving something a try, or getting a rush, more often than not a laugh. Usually at my own expense, but that’s cool. Being involved with sport and competition at different levels all my life gave me the confidence to try something new. It might seem completely out of my element, like snowboarding initially did. All the skills I’ve developed throughout my life helped me do alight though. I’m no star, but I did ok!

I think that’s what is so deadly about watching any competitive sport. It can be inspiring, and usually fires me up to do something myself.

What makes you want to get out there and play? For me, the competitive spirit is more than enough motivation.

 Kenji