Why Hockey is so Great!

I got this forwarded from my dad today, and thought I would share. It just seems appropriate.





The Family of Hockey- from a fan



In the middle of a grueling six game road trip where a very young hockey team is away from home, the third game of the trip ends late on a cold Canadian Saturday night. This is the only break on the trip and the three days between games allows them the only break to get back home and into their own beds for a couple of days before going back on the road. A scheduled commercial flight waits for them at Toronto 's International Airport for the short flight home; they could be home by midnight. This plane departs on schedule, but without a single member of the hockey team onboard. Back in the locker room, a vote was taken after the game was completed,and a unanimous decision was made by this young team to skip this flight and stay one more day.

They make arrangements to check back into the hotel and on a frozen Sunday morning, charter two buses that have no heat and begin a journey two hours straight north into a sparsely inhabited part of Canada, but where hockey is its passion. They arrive at their destination to the surprise of the team's general manager, who is there attending his fathers wake.

After a few emotional hours, this team boards the buses and heads back for a two-hour trip back to Toronto. On the way, they ask the drivers to stop in a tiny Canadian town because they are hungry. To the shock of the patrons and workers at this small hockey town McDonald's, a professional team walks outof two rickety buses and into the restaurant, which just happens to have pictures of two members of this team on its wall. The patrons know every single one of these players by sight being Fanatic fans of hockey in these parts. One can only imagine the amazement of the locals seeing the entire professional hockey team sit down and have a meal in their tiny little town in the middle of a hockey season. After awhile they board the buses and catch their same flight 24 hours later, giving one day to their general manager.

Have I made this up, is this an excerpt from some fictional book? No. This a true story of the Chicago Blackhawks last Saturday night as they decided to attend Dale Tallon's father's calling hours. It's amazing that such a good story can be found nowhere on the internet, and not even mentioned in the Chicago papers. Had one of the Blackhawks got into a fight and punched some drunken loser in a Toronto bar, it would be plastered all over papers and the television. This being said, its hard to imagine any professional football, basketball, or baseball team doing this, but the members of the Blackhawks claim any "hockey" team would have done this. This is one reason I continue to be a big hockey fan, and another reason Iam excited about this Chicago team. I thought I would share this with you, as this story appears to have gone unnoticed.


My friend Michelle found this further link to the story:
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/1327646,CST-SPT-hside12.article

Thanks Michelle!! :)