Posted on April 8, 2019 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

Some of these street hockey sticks have been around for 50 years

 

“The good old hockey game, is the best game you can name’

And the best game you can name is the good old hockey game.”

The Hockey Song. Stompin Tom Connors

If you’re not prone to fits of nostalgia or don’t care much for hockey, you can skip right to the bottom of the page or go and check your Facebook feed.

Another NHL regular hockey season is in the books. There was plenty of drama as the season wound down as several teams were on the bubble trying to make the playoffs. One of them was my old team, the Montreal Canadiens. Old, you say? Cheering for the Habs was my birthright as my mother was born and raised in Montreal. When I was born I knew I was going to be Catholic and a Canadiens fan. Neither was questionable or negotiable. There was a time that I lived and died on the outcome of every Montreal hockey game but these days, wins and losses are treated with a shrug. Call me old fashioned, but the original six prior to expansion, was the golden era of hockey.

I’m not going to suggest that hockey wasn’t business in the pre-expansion era. It just seemed that hockey was the primary focus back then rather than the gaudy display of glitz and glamour seen at many NHL rinks these days. Today, hockey is entertainment and business. You can attend a game in Vegas and never realize that a hockey game is the feature attraction.

Watching hockey on a Saturday night was a near religious experience for most Canadians back in the pre-expansion era. Families gathered around old black and white television sets and listened to Foster Hewitt or Danny Gallivan make the play by play call. On Sunday nights, we crawled into our bunk beds and listened to games on our transistor radios.

It is an interesting footnote; the last time that the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup was in the spring of 1967. The league would expand later that same year. To jog your fading memories, here is a short list of some of the players from the 1966-67 hockey teams:

Toronto Maple Leafs: Tim Horton, Dave Keon, Frank Mahovlich, Eddie Shack and Johnny Bower.

Montreal Canadiens: Jean Beliveau, Yvon Cournoyer, Henri Richard, Serge Savard, and J.C. Tremblay.

Boston Bruins: Bobby Orr (the greatest to ever lace them up), Gerry Cheevers, Derek Sanderson, Johnny Bucyk, and Don Awry.

New York Rangers: Rod Gilbert, Bernie Geoffrion, Vic Hadfield, Jean Ratelle, and Ed Giacomin.

Chicago Black Hawks: Stan Mikita, Bobby and Dennis Hull, Phil Esposito, and Glen Hall.

Detroit Red Wings: Alex Delvecchio, Gordie Howe, Doug Harvey, Paul Henederson (Yes. THAT Paul Henderson), Norm Ullman and Pat Stapleton.

This past Saturday, I decided to watch the last game of the season for Montreal as they hosted their hated (?) rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs. I question the fact that there’s much enmity in hockey anymore. In the pre-expansion era, you played every team with regularity. Bad blood became the norm especially in an era when fighting was an integral part of the game. My next door neighbor was a Leafs fan and the day after a Leafs/Hab tilt, one of us would be preening like a peacock while the other would be waiting for the next street hockey game to claim some retribution for the endless taunting. One year, I even sent a sympathy card to my neighbor when Montreal knocked the Leafs out of the playoffs. He wasn’t amused.

I’m long past the time that I will stay up late to watch an entire hockey game, even a Stanley Cup final. It’s a combination of old age and not really caring about the outcome. I watched this game to see (hear) legendary play by play broadcaster, Bob Cole call his very last game after 50 years in the booth. A rookie for the Canadiens, playing in his very first NHL game, scored a hat trick and the shootout winner providing a pretty decent script for Mr. Cole’s finale.

This was also the one year anniversary of the Humboldt tragedy. Every NHL team played a single stick outside their dressing room doors to mark the occasion.

If Bobby Orr comes out of retirement, I will stay up and watch every second of the game. My favourite player of all time and this, from an old Habs fan!

On the weekend, I had the honour of singing at a funeral of a former resident of the RK Nursing Home. I travelled to Louisdale and was welcomed as family. There’s something very special about funerals in small communities. They seem to be much more intimate and personal. There was a heartwarming and sincere eulogy delivered by the deceased’s nephew which is rarely seen these days at a funeral mass. I mingled with family at the local fire hall after mass. With a massive plate of homemade sweets on each table, I felt obliged to try a few so as not to insult the locals!!!

Have a great week.

P.S. This is Masters week. (Golf) This is the only television sporting event that I watch from start to finish. If I don’t answer your calls, texts, e-mails or personal messages, don’t take it personally!

 

 

Posted on April 4, 2019 under Thursday Tidbits with one comment

 

After a brief retirement (https://www.week45.com/monday-morning-musings-290/), I’m back at my desk typing (pecking) my 985^th post. The response to my April Fools’ story was quite interesting. It was one of the most read posts in seven years. I was pleasantly surprised that so many people actually read the entire piece. Sometimes, I can’t tell if anyone is reading my meanderings other than my stalwarts.

Thanks for all of the comments, even to those who called me 1) a brat, 2) an asshole and 3) a bastard!

Count your blessings. Repeat.

I walk every day of my life and am consciously grateful for all that I have, especially my health. It was not that I needed a reminder but last weekend, I was in Halifax and paid a visit to a friend who is a patient in the Nova Scotia Rehabilitation and Arthritis Centre. If you want a quick reminder of your good fortune, just walk the halls of the Rehab Centre to gain some perspective.

There’s an entire floor dedicated to brain injuries, another for stroke and heart attack patients and another for people who are either paralyzed or recovering from paralysis, such is the case with my friend. Most of these peoples’ lives were changed in the blink of an eye. So if your internet connection is slow or you find the lineup at Timmy’s too long, please feel free to give yourself a quick boot in the arse. If you can’t accomplish this task on your own, I’m sure there any number of friends who would accommodate the request. Actually, I suspect there might be a long lineup of people who would wait patiently to assist you.

I realize that I’m constantly haranguing you about various fundraisers. Last week, I received a lot of unnecessary attention when I decided to donate some of my India books to help raise a few dollars for the Benoit family who lost their beautiful daughter, Olivia, a few weeks ago. I wrote a comment on my Facebook page which I am reposting here. “I appreciate the messages and the sentiments behind them. I am certain that there are countless people who have reached out to the Benoit’s in a quiet way. Silent acts of kindness carry as much weight as public ones like mine. I don’t think any of us feel particularly heroic when a family is in such pain. We just do these things because we can and we should.”

If you are passing through Sobey’s, please go to one of the checkouts and purchase my latest release for $10. All of the money will go to the Benoit family. If you’ve already purchased my book earlier, go and buy another. Give it to a friend. If you’re short on friends, give it to the Easter Bunny!

I am very pleased to have a new advertiser on my website. The MacDonald Notebook gives the reader a behind the scenes look into politics and the business world, much of it here in our own backyard in Nova Scotia. Owner and publisher, Andrew (Colin R.) MacDonald has been writing for decades and provides keen insights on what’s really going on. Check out his website: https://www.themacdonaldnotebook.ca/ if you know a business that would like to advertise on my Week45 website (for $10/week), let them know that I have the most sophisticated and erudite readers in the free world and that their business should be on my website!

Four weeks from today, I will arrive in Madrid to begin my Camino.

Have a great weekend.

 

Posted on April 1, 2019 under Monday Morning Musings with 13 comments

The last word

 

All good things must come to an end.

Nothing is forever. Things change and time moves on relentlessly. And we get older. We have aches and pains and we have memory lapses. Our energy wanes. We’re just as happy to stay home with a good book as to go out for a night on the town.

The last post.

Yes, indeed. After writing at least two stories every week for over seven years on my website along with numerous other newspaper stories. I’m done. Out of gas. Finito. What started out innocently enough on a trip to Florida in November of 2012 turned in to passion which has resulted in four books and some 983 stories. But trying to be original week after week, year after year, has taken its toll. The well is dry.

Writing has taken me to places I could never have imagined. The very first story I wrote took place on a flight from Toronto to Tampa. I still have the boarding pass and the bar napkin on which I penned my first piece. I have written about travels throughout North America. Writing has taken me to the Taj Mahal and the slums of New Delhi. But mostly, writing has taken on a trip down memory lane. Most of these trips are in my head and I had so much fun trying to cobble together old memories, most of them good.

I have met and interviewed so many interesting and amazing people through Faces in the Crowd. Everybody’s life story is so unique.

I have had a lot of laughs, many at my own expense.

Rarely did I try and provoke people with political statements. Not that I don’t have some fairly strong views on the subject but there are enough (too many) news sources to get your daily fix. Mainly, I tried to entertain. To give you something light and upbeat as you started your day. Many people have told me that they start their Mondays and Thursdays with my “musings and tidbits”.

The best part of this experience has been getting to know you. Yes, you. Even though I haven’t met some of you, I feel that I have hundreds of new friends from different parts of the world. You shared your comments and occasionally your own stories.

So, there you go.

Come on now. You really didn’t think that I would stop at 983 posts with 1000 lurking just ahead?!

Check your calendar. It’s April Fools Day!

This is my last post until my next post which will appear as usual on Thursday.

You can’t get rid of me this easily.

Have a great week.