A Hockey Night in Canada: The Link Between NHL Playoff Stars and Everyday Heroes

Flame Cory Sarich shifts momentum in Calgary's favour with a hit on San Jose Sharks captain Patrick Marleau in the opening round of the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs 

The NHL post-season is barely upon us, and already the action has given the fans fits. The Ottawa Senators, an early-season favourite to repeat a visit to the Finals, were swept out of contention by the Pittsburgh Penguins in a four-game rout. The Nashville Predators - ultra-underdogs with the fewest regular season points in the playoffs - are giving the President’s Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings a solid run with a 2-2 series split thus far. And look no further than the San Jose Sharks/Calgary Flames series to find surprise performances, good and bad, as the star-studded lineups battle their own demons to overcome the opposition.

Over the coming weeks hockey fans shall be treated to skill, heart, and humility from those lucky players involved in the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. Sixteen teams will become eight, then four,  finally two, and on the way the clubs and players therein will expose the grit and identity it will take to challenge for the mug. Only a few days into this year’s tournament there have been illustrations of the type of performance required to make even the smallest dent in the world’s toughest championship.

As some stand tall in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, talented favourites fall unceremoniously by the wayside, and I find myself wondering about character and where it comes from.

I recently began - and shall continue as the playoffs progress - a series of player profiles from this year’s Cup run, and as I look through the names and faces, the areas of origin widely differ, but they all tend to have one thing in common: cold. Arctic winds, icy climates, long, grey winters. Canada, the Northern United States, Finland, Russia, Sweden, Latvia, etc, etc, the list of nippy nations from which hockey heroes hail circles the globe. Having lived much of my life in the Canadian Rockies, seasonally surrounded by snow and daily ice-strife, I realised that even the most unassuming of us have the same steadfast roots that built the game’s best athletes.

Hockey is just one of many diversions created specifically for these icy habitats, and those who choose to play, even casually, commit absurd amounts of energy and time to the sport. Luckily the game is generally well loved by populations in these places, and so no one need feel left out; hockey is everywhere and for everyone, and all varieties of people find a way to be involved. Most join in and, while incredibly passionate about the game, never really pursue it professionally. These unsung legends are the heart that keeps hockey such a community event.

The men we watch in the NHL and various other leagues are a different sort. They dedicated themselves to learning to play the game over years with heaps of hard graft, an endeavour which the average person would see as daft. But it is the culmination of these extraordinary efforts that we are following so earnestly through the post-season, and as I look at the common bonds that brought each man to the world stage I see where hockey’s typically intense spirit and sportsmanship can come from.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?