Paying The Price
The National Hockey League is right smack in the middle of their first round of playoffs, and each of the sixteen teams that qualified for the right to play for The Stanley Cup are basically battling each others’ brains out to try to do what it takes to survive, move on and advance. There is nothing quite like the NHL playoffs because there is nothing quite like the dedication hockey players have towards their pursuit of THEIR championship, and their symbolic trophy, The Stanley Cup.
Every series, each of two teams wage a form of physically exhausting “war” on ice against each other. These playoff opponent teams are basically crashing into each other from all angles, smashing each other into the sideboards, throwing their elbows into their opponents, jostling into each other to gain just the slightest advantage for every minute of every game. They will throw their bodies into harm’s way (meaning in the way of a puck flying at them at 100 miles per hour), and have been known to even sacrifice their face to do whatever it takes to try to keep their opponent from scoring.
Of course, each of the two teams are doing the same physical and intense battling on offense to try to score a goal themselves. Battling on offense. Battling on defense. Skating one way at top speed on offense and then having to immediately turn around and go the opposite way to play defense can happen in a split second. Using physical force to try to overpower your opponent, while at the same time, they are fighting back to hold onto every inch of ground themselves. (And let’s be honest, it doesn’t hurt to have a goalie standing on his head making great saves during the playoffs)
All of that battling to try to do what it takes to score a goal. You as a team keep grinding away, trying to wear your opponent down, trying to physically and mentally have more strength and stamina than the other team. And maybe, just maybe, you score one more goal than your opponent and you win that game.
That’s just one game. Then, you get one day off and are back at it, battling each other again. There is not enough time to recover from the previous game’s bumps, cuts and bruises and yet you are out there playing again just two nights later. And you battle and fight and scratch your way through another game, as your opponent is battling and fighting you back with just as much tenacity as you.
Often times, the two teams are so evenly matched that the series goes a grueling seven games and the team that is mentally and physically tough enough to win out can breathe a sigh of relief that they have survived their series and advanced.
Only, that is what makes their achievement so impressive. They battled their butts off for one of the most intense week and a half, two week periods of their life, and it is ONLY the first round of the playoffs. It’s like an infomercial where you think you’ve seen them offer just about everything. But wait, there’s MORE. Hockey playoffs are just getting started when teams have survived their first round battles and have moved on to the second round, and ANOTHER obstacle awaits in another potential seven game series.
Football has their great playoffs. They are intense games, but they only last one game per team per week each. Some teams get a week off before their first playoff game, but all of them just play a game a week, with several days off in between. A team loses and they are out. Winners move on.
Baseball has a playoff structure with long, drawn out series also, but, they are only playing baseball, for goodness sakes. Baseball players have been known to sit out three weeks on the disabled list for injuries that hockey players do not deem worthy enough to miss a shift. Hockey teams can go up and down the ice five times in the time it takes for a pitcher to throw his first strike.
Basketball has a similar playoff structure to hockey, but they too are only playing a sport that, by its rules, does not even allow the opponents to make contact with each other. Basketball players think their game is intense when someone drives to the net and a defensive player draws a charging foul. Hockey has two or three “charging fouls” every minute. If a basketball player gets pissed off and punches his opponent, he is banned from the league for about ten to twenty games. If a hockey player does that, he gets five minutes in the penalty box.
More than anything else, winning the playoffs in hockey and being awarded The Stanley Cup is the total reward for the ultimate sacrifice in sports, giving your absolute EVERYTHING for your team on the playing field. It is a battle for survival and they who win will be they who have endured. Even the participants, who traditionally won’t shave their beards as long as they keep winning, look like survivalists.
And the team who ends up winning will be the team that has paid the price for winning. ALL of the teams want to win. ALL of the teams play really hard in the playoffs. ALL of the teams will sacrifice their bodies for the betterment of their team… some of the time. Many will sacrifice personal glory for the success of their team… a lot of the time. But, the team that ends up winning The Stanley Cup will be the team that paid the price the MOST often to keep their opponents from scoring, and who have found that one extra bit of inner strength to score that winning goal to triumph over an opponent that really did want to win just as much as they did. (That, and a hot goaltender)
