No Words
The NHL has done an exemplary job this past post-season with ads that celebrate the history of the sport, and the where-were-you-when sense that the sport carries with it.
I can remember being a ten year-old boy and being allowed to stay up later than even by father cared to be, so that I could watch the Islanders and Capitals play one of the longest overtime games in history. I watched the end of the game with my mother, who had tears in her eyes when it was over — she didn’t really care about either team (and I seem to remember her referring to the Islanders as “sons of bitches”), but after having watched so many men play for so long to such a standstill, it didn’t matter who won. Someone had to lose, and that was hard to see.
That moment stuck with me, more than many others I’ve seen since, and whoever has been doing the ads for the NHL lately has tapped into that emotional experience perfectly. In the end, the game is played by individual people playing their very hardest, sometimes beyond every limit of their endurance, and they have no words to describe it.
If you’re wondering, this is why we Canadians get all worked up about hockey. We still can’t put words to it, but at least this can show you how it feels.
Lynn on June 7th, 2010
There is so much to love about hockey, and it’s a shame that so many people here in the US don’t have the opportunity to fall in love with it. Once I went to a game (in 1988) I was hooked. Now I follow the NHL, World Juniors, Olympics…it’s all just so good.
I also love the CBC’s brilliant montage every year after the cup is won.