the Hat Trick

The hat trick is one of hockey's most famous traditions, and in a sport that has been using the same trophy since 1892, tradition means a lot.

In hockey a hat trick is when a player scores three goals in one game, not an easy feat. I've only done it once or twice, though I'm not that good anyway. According to the Old English Dictionary, the term originated from the sport of cricket, but it is unclear exactly how the phrase “hat trick” became associated with hockey. Researching the origin of the hat trick yields several conflicting stories but seemingly the most creditable is the story involving the Montreal hat store, “Henri Henri.”

Back in the day, when there were only six teams in the NHL, the store's owner promised to give a free hat to any player who scored three goals in a game. Nowadays when a player scores three goals it is customary for fans to throw hats onto the ice. When it's a home game you can expect to see hundreds of hats, when it's a sold-out home game on free hat night – thousands.

The hats start raining down at 1:50

I've heard the players will usually autograph all the hats then donate them to be sold for charities.

Some teams take it further than hats. In Florida they used to throw rubber rats onto the ice, and fans of my favorite team, Detroit, like to throw dead octopuses onto the ice during the playoffs -- though they have to sneak them in. Weird right? That's hockey.

So what's this blog gonna be about?

I've toyed with the idea of maintaining a blog for some time now. Way before this class, so in a way I'm glad to have the incentive to keep up with one. My problem was always trying to find a driving topic to write about. I would always have these ideas that sounded like a good post but when writing them up it seemed out of context, not relevant to anything I had written in the past, or anything I would likely write in the future. As a result, the length of time between postings got longer and longer, then stopped altogether. Before this class, my last post was almost a year ago.
This time around I want to have a subject that is at least semi-consistent from post to post. When brainstorming for a topic that I could really get into writing about one thing kept coming to mind -- hockey. I know, kinda lame right? That's what I kept telling myself as I searched my head for deeper, more meaningful topics, but the more I thought about the role the sport has played in my life, the more I started liking the topic. Hockey has been about the only consistent thing in my life since I was 15 years old. I have been playing for going on seven years now, coaching on and off for about five. I actually did my senior project on the sport and coached a team of eight year olds to a second place finish. I've worked at the rink for years now, doing everything from cleaning bathrooms to driving the Zamboni.
Literally all my close friends either play hockey or work at the rink. I mean every single one. Fun fact: Three of the four girls that I have ever been in long term relationships with, I met at that rink. Plus, the fourth one works there too (I just met her before that) but we're cool. Wow, got a little more personal there than I expected, but I guess I'll leave it -- I keep it real.
My parents moved to Michigan three years ago when my dad got a job managing a rink up there. Almost a year ago now, I was sitting in my apartment when my mother called to tell me my father had a heart-attack at work and was in the hospital. He was walking on the ice while one of his employees drove the Zamboni. His heart stopped and he fell face first to the ice, hitting his head. He laid on the ice, technically dead, for around five minutes. The rink's defibrillator and the quick response of the EMT's saved his life, but he remained in a drug induced coma for almost two weeks. Later the doctors told us he had a 10% chance to live.
I didn't know what to think at the time, but having not seen my family much in the last two years, I didn't have too many memories to pull from. One of the last things I did with my dad was play in a father/son game in Michigan when I visited for Christmas the year before. Thanks to Facebook, here's a picture from the game. I'm #15, Dad is #4 and my younger brother Zack is in the orange and black. We were playing against my youngest brother and the rest of his travel team. We won like 12-9 or something, owned those little kids. There's my little brother on the left. He's the one on his knees getting worked by the dynamic father-son-son offensive power line. (and I'll be sure to show him this post.)

Anyway, it's fun to joke about now because that was a year ago, my Dad is fine now and they have even moved back to Wilmington. My Dad hasn't played since then, but we do have plans to play next week, though under dark circumstances. Almost two weeks ago a 47 year-old man named Rich had a heart attack during his hockey game and died on the ice. His story is enough to fill another post (which I will likely do) but the first time my father will play since his accident will be with his kids, at the memorial game next Saturday, held to raise money for the Rich's family. Sad as it is, it almost feels like things are going full-circle.

I don't really know exactly how I feel about that, but I do know that hockey and its culture is a major part of my life, and it will always provide some topic for me to babble on about.