Hello Hockey Season (or how Bobby Orr made my day)

It’s hockey season, which means my favorite sport is back. I’ve loved ice hockey ever since I was a young girl. Back in 1972, my favorite team was the Boston Bruins because I loved watching Bobby Orr (#4).

This distressed my father, who loved the St. Louis Blues, but my dad supported me and played along. He took me to a game (we sat way up in the nosebleeds of the old St. Louis Arena and were out way past my bedtime). But he made sure I saw the Bruins. Not sure who won the game, but it didn’t matter because the Bruins took home the Stanley Cup that year.
For the longest time my prized possession was an autographed picture of Bobby Orr—I’d written him a letter and he’d written me back. That meant when I was in Toronto in September, I had to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame and search him out. Believe me, this one took a minute or two to find because of its location.

Somewhere during a move in 8th grade, the autograph disappeared, and it’s one of my top regrets that it’s gone. If there’s one thing I wish I could tell him, I hope he knows how much he made this young girl’s day and created a fan for life. Maybe that was a reason that when I was older, I let my stepbrother talk me into playing goalie with nothing but a pair of pillows strapped to my legs during our neighborhood street hockey games. I’d like to say I was good but I’d be lying.
To this day, Boston is my second favorite team, with the first my beloved St. Louis Blues. I have tons of memories from attending games, like the time I took my stepbrother to a Blues game for his birthday, and before we could buy tickets, this guy walked up to us and said “Here. She’s not coming. Take these” and we sat on the blue line about eight rows from the ice.
The Blues used to practice at the Brentwood Ice Arena, and many times my students and I hung out and watched practices. Two years ago, I got a chance to see a practice at the Enterprise Center, on a guided tour, this time chaperoning a group of journalism students from out of state. The funny thing is, I’d sat by one of the Blues front office staff on an airplane just a few weeks before as she and her husband were off to Vegas for his birthday week. the kids were like, who is this woman? It was a lot of fun, and I went to the game that night. Now if my Blues could just win another cup….