This one hits home, and it hurts

RE: HUMBOLDT TRAGEDY

What more Canadian picture is there than a bunch of Canadian kids, living the hockey dream, getting on a bus and going to a hockey game, across the snow and the miles and the empty? How many games? How many miles piled on, every Canadian winter? There is something poetic and essentially Canadian about this dream; the time and the miles and the emptiness. It’s something that touches us all, because most of us have done it, or know someone who’s been through it. Hockey is a brutal, physical, and unforgiving test, but perhaps the finest mix of speed, grace and violence there is in sport.

Hockey is a tribal culture. Maybe that’s why it appeals so much to so many Canadians. I saw that team picture. All those young heads with their hair dyed blond for the playoffs. Silly and crazy on one level, but on another level, it’s the “Band of Brothers.” Going through a war together, and together is the key word. It explains it all. It is likely the same with different games in different countries around the world, but it’s why hockey is Canada’s game.

Having had the privilege of being on a hockey bench with a team, on a bus, or in a dressing room, with a season and a dream on the line, I ache for the people of Humboldt. I ache for the team, and the busload of people with a dream, belief and the willingness to try to make it real.

Thinking of you. This one touches home, and it hurts. George Naylor, Caledonia