The Game I'll Never Forget (V) - Falling Stars
Well, unfortunately nothing lasts forever and our team started to disband; key members left here and there for whatever reason and our losing streak began once, again. Not only was it because our team had a face lift, but also because we were moved in the difficulty of our division. One would think that after winning the C division, you would advance to the B division, but that's not what happened with us. We had just won the B division, but for some reason the next season we were put in the C division. The odd thing about that is that all the teams were so much better than who we played in the previous 2 seasons. Strange but true.
One game in particular was especially exciting for me, as Q was visiting and doing a rotation at Davis and so he stayed over at my place. We shared my room for a month, just as we did when we were kids although this time it became a bit cramped with all my junk, all his junk, and my tiny little bedroom. Not to mention we were both a lot bigger.
With Q's visit, I invited him to play on our team in Sacramento to sub for some of our players. It was a tremendous opportunity to play with Q, again. It was like reuniting Gretzky and Kurri, or a more modern analogy would be putting Crosby and Malkin together (Q would be Malkin, the sniper. I would be Crosby, dishing out the pass to him). Little did I know at that time, though, was how out of practice and how out of shape Q was, but understandably so. I mean, in med school there ARE more important things (there are?) like studying. Actually, that game that Q played in, I felt more and more like Darth Vader as the game progressed.
"When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master." I remember one particular play where I got the puck and skated end-to-end before deking the goalie out of his jock-strap and passing to Q for a shot at a wide open net...AND HE MISSED! WTF? But that's okay. You play long enough and you're going to miss a few open nets.
At this time I was at the top of my game, no question. The biggest problem or obstacle to overcome at this point was...boredom! How could I possibly get bored? Well, there was a limit to how much I could improve, as I didn't live at the rink like some people; I actually had an outside life. And I have to admit that my kung fu class was actually much more interesting to me, then. I mean, at least Sifu would teach us new things and techniques that we could perfect and work on. With hockey there was no coach, no mentor, no example to follow. And at this point I was stagnant. I wasn't going to do this for a career, I wasn't trying to get noticed by scouts. I had already won 3 championship titles with 3 different teams in 3 different leagues. What else was there to do?
Despite getting bored, though, I did finish out the rest of the next season before heading off to med school, myself.
One game in particular was especially exciting for me, as Q was visiting and doing a rotation at Davis and so he stayed over at my place. We shared my room for a month, just as we did when we were kids although this time it became a bit cramped with all my junk, all his junk, and my tiny little bedroom. Not to mention we were both a lot bigger.
With Q's visit, I invited him to play on our team in Sacramento to sub for some of our players. It was a tremendous opportunity to play with Q, again. It was like reuniting Gretzky and Kurri, or a more modern analogy would be putting Crosby and Malkin together (Q would be Malkin, the sniper. I would be Crosby, dishing out the pass to him). Little did I know at that time, though, was how out of practice and how out of shape Q was, but understandably so. I mean, in med school there ARE more important things (there are?) like studying. Actually, that game that Q played in, I felt more and more like Darth Vader as the game progressed.
"When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master." I remember one particular play where I got the puck and skated end-to-end before deking the goalie out of his jock-strap and passing to Q for a shot at a wide open net...AND HE MISSED! WTF? But that's okay. You play long enough and you're going to miss a few open nets.
At this time I was at the top of my game, no question. The biggest problem or obstacle to overcome at this point was...boredom! How could I possibly get bored? Well, there was a limit to how much I could improve, as I didn't live at the rink like some people; I actually had an outside life. And I have to admit that my kung fu class was actually much more interesting to me, then. I mean, at least Sifu would teach us new things and techniques that we could perfect and work on. With hockey there was no coach, no mentor, no example to follow. And at this point I was stagnant. I wasn't going to do this for a career, I wasn't trying to get noticed by scouts. I had already won 3 championship titles with 3 different teams in 3 different leagues. What else was there to do?
Despite getting bored, though, I did finish out the rest of the next season before heading off to med school, myself.
posted by V-Hume at 9:36 PM
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