Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

The play's a thriller.

When I was a kid, the year before the Caps started playing, my mom introduced me to hockey on television. NBC broadcast the games, and what impressed young me was the cartoon Peter Puck.

When the Caps were still new and hockey quite the anomaly in this part of the world, I found a copy of a Peter Puck book called Love that Hockey Game in the remainder bin at K-Mart. It was essentially the cartoons in book form, explaining the basic rules of the game. I memorized that book. (The only other hockey book of my childhood was Tough Guys of Pro Hockey by Frank Orr. I treasure that because of the chapter on Bugsy Watson, who played for the Caps at the time.)

Anyway...every time I see a penalty shot, and we had one last night in the Caps' win over the Bruins (Dainius Zubrus scored), I think of Peter Puck. I think of the big blocky cartoon goalie and "Peter's" description "[t]his one-on-one is considered the most exciting play in hockey."

In fact...lemme just show you.

I said it last night when I stood up to watch Zuby take the shot, the same way I've said it for probably every penalty shot I have ever seen...the play's a thriller.

Posted by Nic at December 12, 2003 09:24 AM | TrackBack