The Stanley Cup's the most legit!

[southerndog]

Hockey players care the most about their trophy. Followed a close second by NFLers. Baseball and Basketball players don't give a damn. If you've ever known how hockey players feel about their sport its a lot different than the rest. Hockey players go out their and fight for their teams and sacrifice their bodies. Playoff hockey is distinctly different from regular season hockey. Its because these guys know they are gonna sacrifice their bodies in the playoffs.

I've been around a lot of successful hockey players, and I know how much they care about their sport. It just seems like basketball players are more interested in being celebrities and baseball players are more interested in personal STATS.

[Gamblor]

Read two books:

The Game by Ken Dryden
Home Game by Ken Dryden

I never read words that so aptly described what it's like to play hockey in Canada, and it is a testament to the literature that two hockey books made the top ten in SI's Best ever books about sports list.

[BeerMoney]

Thanks,

Dryden was a great goalie.. Have you ever known a goalie that wasn't totally wierd? I have a friend playing goal in the minors who has some of the wierdest superstitions. He's absolutely crazy!

[Gamblor]

I'm a goalie too and I've got some weird ones.

Glenn Hall played 500-odd straight games, and wouldn't play unless he puked before every game and between some periods (he puked out of nervousness, and if he didn't, he thought he was too relaxed to play well).

Patrick Roy talks to his goalposts.

Ron Hextall plays drumbeats with his stick on the posts during the play.

Martin Brodeur won't wear a chest protector, only shoulders and arms.

But every team has what I like to call routines.

What routines do is let you forget about the self-doubt and fear that accompany a game. You're getting ready, and if you're concentrating on how to do your skates up, there's no time to think about any shots you're going to let in.

Each player does the same, he does his own little thing, careful not to step on the toes of others' routines, so what it looks like is a big chain reaction of events.

My team in minor hockey?

Put on cup, hockey pants, right skate, left skate, buckle right pad bottom 4 straps, left pad bottom 4 straps, pee, right pad top 2 straps, left pad top 2 straps, uppers, helmet, catcher, blocker, stand by door in crouch.

one guy comes taps me on the left (closer to center of room) pad, walks outside, stands to left of door. Second guy taps same pad, stands to right of door. I go out between them, get both gloves tapped. Make a left turn to tunnel entrance, walk last 10 feet always staring at the ground.

Always left foot on ice first, push off with right. Straight to crease, rough it up to get rid of excess water and to prevent sliding around uncontrollably on fresh ice. Last minute stretch left leg, right leg.

Everyone has their own routine, some guys go hard only at the top, others go hard only behind the net, others coast the whole way.

Lean back on the crossbar. Always the Captain next to me on the right, One guy taps left pad then left post, another guy taps right pad, then left, then peels off to the bench. Another guy who has been waiting in the faceoff circle, comes in skating hard and taps the post with his stick and my chest with his glove. Finally, the Captain smacks my pads with a one handed swing of the stick and heads straight to the bench. Everyone muttering things to themselves, theres so much energy that nobody can stand still.

We don't think about it, and it isn't co-ordinated by anyone - it's just the result of a build-up of little things that were noticed before a particularly good game.

The demons gone, we can play.