Hockey. We’ve been watching it our whole lives. First it was the Calgary Flames and then my step dad Bruce’s team The Lacers. (we really didn’t know the difference between the NHL and our step dads league at age 7). Bruce also loved the Habs so we would cheer for Montreal if the Flames were bumped out of the play offs early. When the Flames won the Stanley Cup in 1989 Sara and I were 9 years old. My mom lets us get out of bed (we’d been listening on the radio in our rooms) and we drove around the neighborhood honking the horn of our 86′ Aerostar Van (color blue).
I’ve slowly became a Canucks fan over the last 9 years living in Vancouver. I didn’t jump teams the second I moved there or anything. But my love faded for the Flames gradually (though I still cheer for them after The Canucks). Don’t let this piece confuse you or mislead you into thinking I watch every season game of the NHL! I don’t. Its not really until the play offs that I get super obsessed. As a band we’ve sat and watched play off games until seconds before our own shows. While we were mixing So Jealous we watched games on the TV above the mixing board. Last year when we were touring The Con we carried street hockey gear and set up and played in nearly every city. In Reno the stage was big enough for all of our band instruments, an airplane and a game of street hockey.
In 2002, the winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City. Sara and I were home that year to watch the womens hockey team win gold against the Americans. After they won we proudly bundled up and marched through the streets of the west end cheering madly! It was only the 2nd time womens hockey were a part of the games. As you can imagine we were beside ourselves when they won Gold again in 2006. This time in Turin, Italy. Why am I telling you all of this? Well. A few nights ago we played 2 shows in Calgary, Alberta. Our hometown. We found out the night before while we were in Kelowna that 6 of the women from the national hockey team, our Olympic team, were going to be attending and wanted to come back to say hi and present us with hockey jerseys! I didn’t sleep a wink! I love hockey. As I said above. But I really love womens hockey! 4 years they train and play to compete for gold!! Its amazing! So they came to the show. We took a photo. (see above) They offered us tickets to a game they were playing a few nights later. A game that just happened to fall on our day off in Edmonton! So Ted, Al, Doug, our driver Dan and I took the tour bus 30 km to St Albert to cheer them on! I was so nervous I thought up reasons all day why I couldn’t go! But I went. Thank god. I nearly lost my voice screaming for them at the game. (final score 4-2 for Team Canada!)
The last few days have been a blur. We’ve snowshoed, done yoga, played the biggest shows of our career in Canada, seen countless friends, family and fans, but through all of it, the most exciting thing was meeting our womens hockey team. Thanks to all of them. And good luck! We’ll be cheering you on!
tegan