Face-Off

"Mr. Hockey" Gordie Howe once said, ~You've got to love what you're doing. If you love it, you can overcome any handicap or the soreness or all the aches and pains, and continue to play for a long, long time.~ If you think about it, life can oftentimes be compared to Canada's favorite sporting event and that is the game of hockey. In a sense, we're all on the so called ice rink of life all suited up with hockey stick in hand and ready for battle each time we wake up in the morning. For it can be a tough situation indeed to get to one end of the blue line to the other knowing full well you're going to quite possibly encounter obstacles in front/all around you in order to reach and slap the puck that represents our own individual goals, ambitions, aspirations, dreams, etc. between the pipe.

Let me ask you this question to all you hockey fans out there, what aspect of the game itself do you thoroughly enjoy? For some, most, or all people its rooting for their favorite team such as the Red Wings, Canucks, Rangers, Islanders, Kings, Habs, and the list goes on. Though each of us may not be on a well known professional hockey team being cheered on by the crowd, we do however have groups of people rooting us on as we skate with the puck in our possession towards the pipe in hopes of hearing the blaring siren of sweet success. You see, no matter how many mistakes made, losses suffered, close personal/professional victories taken away. etc. its your "fans" known as family/friends who will always cheer you on whether you win or lose.

Without a doubt, there are times in life where we metaphorically find ourselves in the penalty box of life, so to speak. I think it would be safe to say where we've all experienced those stressful days where absolutely nothing goes right leaving you with a plethora of emotions to the point where you want to just drop your gear in order to throw down. When I say throw down it doesn't necessarily mean in the physical sense when taking your "opponents" jersey, pull it over their head, and just beat the living snot of him/her. It can also be in the verbal sense as well. Let me tell you something, there have been days where I've wanted to and actually at some point have body checked certain people through the plexiglass and felt good doing it afterwards.

For the question can be asked to those who are single, how many of you have felt or are feeling as if you're always being tripped, trapped, speared, slashed, roughed up, penalized, kneed, high sticked in the face, head butted, elbowed, cross checked, and/or have found yourself triple decked when it pertains to matters of the heart? Thinking about it, hockey is physically a tough sport and yet when it comes to your own heart there is an emotional toughness you go through as one will metaphorically be beaten up, battered, and bruised trying to maneuver your hockey puck of a heart into the five hole of someone's heart, whoever it may be, all-the-while up against "opponents" who try to stop you seemingly by any any means necessary from accomplishing that goal.

Gordie Howe said, ~You find that you have peace of mind and can enjoy yourself, get more sleep, and rest when you know that it was a one hundred percent effort you gave - win or lose.~ In retrospect, in the ice rink of life we're going to be up against "opponents" that will try to take you out either in a mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual way. Hey, like the saying goes when life hits you then you hit it back. We all may not be a Mario Lemieux, Brett Hull, Patrick Roy, Eric Lindros, Jaromir Jagr, Mark Messier, or the great Wayne Gretzky but we use the skills we have to overcome life's obstacles in order to not only get our puck into the net, but win our proverbial Stanley Cup. In the end, every day we find ourselves at center ice in a face-off with life itself and win or lose we hope to leave everything on the ice giving 110%.