The Power of Hockey: Never Underestimate It!

The power of hockey is about the years it gives a parent and child when everything else feels so foreign

By Allyson Tufts

How do you possibly describe the power of hockey?

Is it the moments as a hockey mom when you see your child score their first goal, knowing they have been shooting pucks at your garage door for hours on end?  The look on their face when the team surrounds them to celebrate and you realize they created a bond to last a lifetime?

You smile to yourself, knowing that all the moments you let your child stay outside for that extra hour, under the floodlight, has finally paid off. A moment that only you and your young hockey player fully understand. As they cheer and smile the purest of smiles, because they accomplished something with the help of their teammates that nobody can ever take away. The moment you realize that letting them stay up a little later, in the dark, gave them so much more than the extra hour of sleep ever could.

Is it the moments when Dad gets up extra early to take his teenage daughter to practice? This young lady who is now unrecognizable to him when she’s anywhere but on the ice. The moments in the car when she’s all yours, no other chatter from her friends, no boyfriend on her phone, just you and her; just you and her talking about the one love that puberty, boyfriends, or years can never take away.

It’s the simple experience, the simple love of the sport that you have in common, no matter how much they are growing up. Even though they no longer look to you for advice, or no longer need you to tuck them in at night. You drive them, safe in the knowledge that yours will be the face they look to when they score that goal; yours will be the eyes they need to see when they cough up the puck; and you will be the one they hug when their team makes it to the playoffs.

Yes, the power of hockey. The years it gives a father and his child when everything else about their relationship feels foreign… If that’s not power, I don’t know what is.

All About the Escape

Perhaps it’s the spectators who come to the games faithfully each week, horn in one hand, cowbell in the other, to cheer on the team they love so much. They come to watch because they know on that day their biggest worry is if their team wins or loses. For those 60 minutes there is no thought of their bad day at work, or the job they’ve lost, the spouse they’re arguing with or, worse, the illness they are fighting. For this night it’s all about the escape that hockey provides, the wonderful sport that carries any passionate spectator to a place that leaves no room for anything else but the outcome of the game.

Maybe it’s the glow of the TV as you watch your favorite team together. The moments spent in the warmth of your home, curled up with a bag of chips and blanket. Is it the volunteer that wakes up at ungodly hours, when the snow is flying, to get to the early-morning practices to teach our young superstars how to skate? The Zamboni driver who always takes the time to wave at the little ones, who are as excited to see the ice get cleaned as they are to see the game? Is it the coach that has worked all day, and raced to get to the rink so their team can see how important it is to be on time?

Or… is it our friends to the north, who take such pride in this sport they call their own? A place where they celebrate the coldest days of the year because they know it means the ponds will freeze over and provide hours of endless hockey with friends and family?

I honestly can’t decide what it is about hockey that makes it so powerful. I guess when a game can bring a country together, a family together, and quite simply bring people together the way that hockey does, do we ever really need to question its power?

So I guess it’s as simple as this: “Don’t Ever Underestimate the Power of Hockey!”

This article is the property of Allyson Tufts and is not to be used or changed without her permission.
Written by Allyson Tufts, Author, Speaker, and Passionate Hockey Mom.