Keep your eyes peeled for any signs of hockey. Oh wait, there it is, right there where we left it.
Sure, we had to wait a couple weeks. That hockey-free holiday break can get a little long for even the most minor of hockey fans.
The World Junior Hockey Championships, which took place in Russia this year, might have satisfied a small portion of our craving for puck. But really, when it comes down to it, don't we all want to be watching one of the fastest, most intense sports live and in person?
Personally, I could not wait for the break to be over and for hockey to return to Bonnyville. And when it did, the Jr. A Pontiacs did not disappoint, shutting out the Drumheller Dragons Friday and playing one of the most captivating, most entertaining games I have ever seen at the R.J. Lalonde Arena on Saturday where they capped off one of the best games ever by beating the best junior A team in Canada 4-3 in a shootout.
Oh, you thought I was talking about another brand of hockey – one that currently doesn't exist but has now come to some sort over-covered “tentative deal” to re-emerge as the product they once called hockey.
Nope. I haven't, until now, mentioned that billion-dollar business, which has appropriated the Stanley Cup as its trophy and the best players in the world as its products, once in a column or editorial, and as far as I have taken it in this piece is about where I'd like to keep it.
And now back to some real hockey.
On Friday, over 700 fans filled the R.J. to watch as the Pontiacs returned from the team's holiday break.
On Saturday, more than 850 fans packed into the Pontiacs hometown rink to witness one of the best hockey games ever played in Bonnyville.
To their credit, the Pontiacs players played up to their fast-paced, hard-hitting potential. Add to the mix, the best team in the AJHL over the past two seasons, the Brooks Bandits, and you have a recipe for real beauty of a game, which is what we got and then some.
Both teams had the lead at one point, with the Pontiacs opening the scoring and tying it up in the third period, giving the fans plenty to cheer about.
There were tense moments, hard hits, blocked shots, smooth moves and huge saves and that was all before the shootout, which required six rounds to decide a winner.
It was like a playoff atmosphere during a midseason game, with the entire crowd just waiting to explode into cheers, as Pontiacs starting goalie Tyler Santos made the game-winning save in the sixth round of the shootout.
You'd be hard-pressed to convince anyone these junior hockey players are the best players in the world, or that they provide hockey fans with the top tier of hockey available.
But, while others laud the NHL and its players for bringing hockey back, I say to them, hockey has been here all along and will continue to be, no matter what some business or its products have to say about it.
I've already said too much.
