In honor of the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting again, the world's greatest Playoff Tournament. If only so because of their great sudden-death, "play till you die", overtime rules we can get games running to 2am on the regular. Hasn't happened yet as I write this. Sadly on day 4 of the playoffs we've had just one OT game to date, and it was two Florida teams, and it ended in the first OT. But inshallah, we'll get our 2am like always sooner or later.
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As a child of the 90's, I grew up with the newspaper being my daily sports bible, and I always hated the fact that the West Coast games ended too late to get the scores printed in the next days paper. Given that I have lived most of my life in the internet age, and today can cue up any baseball or hockey game with HD quality on my computer, this seems almost ancient. But it was true.
Prior to 2008, the Western Conference Playoffs were always some mythical experience that started at bedtime, and ended way afterwards, I may have snuck a few games in here or there, but never enough to really enjoy San Jose, or Anaheim, or LA, or Vancouver, or Calgary, or so many others. In 2008 that all changed, to disastrous effects which I'll get too.
I've written about 2008 a few times, whether it being my learning to love soccer wholeheartedly in Euro 2008, or my unabashed joy of the 2008 NFL Season. But the other aspect of that magical year was me watching those night games, the Calgary's, the Anaheim's, the San Jose's, and all the rest. By May or so, 2008, I had finished my AP Exams, which essentially meant I finsihed those classes in school. I had a license. My parents decided to first travel to the Balkans, and then to India. I was alone at home (something I mentioned in the Euro 2008 post). Some would say that this was iraresponsible of them, but truly, I was the only irresponsible one, watching NHL playoff games past midnight on what were ostensibly school nights.
I can picture it now, me sprawled out on my family room couched, all the lights off, with the playoffs in Calgary or Vancouver on the TV, on what was at the time the 'Vs' Network. I knew little of these Western Teams, aside from my pull for the Sharks. But what I quickly learned was the game was a little bit different out West - faster, more skilled, more loud, more exciting.
The Goal Horns are deeper, punching the air with bellowing pitch. The crowds are just as good, if not better. Nowadays, every team does the 'have all fans wear the same color' gag, but it was started by teams out West during this era, the Flames and Oilers and so many more.
I have no idea if the hockey was better, but just the time itself made it more exciting. At the time, I had to technically get up around 6:45 to get to school by 7:40. But that didn't stop me from enjoying every second. If I wasn't alone at home sprawled on the couch, I was on my bed watching a stream of a game at a time when watching a stream meant shaking hands with the computer virus devil, and closing every ad and pop-up and rapid-fire pace. Streams are so much better now, but I do miss the old-days of vagabond sites that forced you to learn which of the three 'x' buttons was real.
Let's get to the disastrous effect. In 2008, my school band, of which I was the tuba player for (a story for another day), had a concert tour to Virginia in the May period. My parents were vacationing in the Balkans. I was supposed to go to my neighbors house the next morning around 7:00 for them to drop me off to school to catch the bus to Virginia. I decided to watch the playoffs the night before, once again sprawled out on the couch - never leaving that position until late AM.
I awoke to my neighbor in my house, yelling (more our of concern) for me to get up, woken to a stupor - one of the last 'woken up in a stupor' moments that had no alcohol involved in my life. Apparently I overslept various alarms, various phone calls. Somehow, my neighbor reached my parents in Croatia, who gave her the garage door code. I was late, probably reached around 8:00 instead of 7:30 - though I will say was definitely not the last person to arrive to teh school that day - maybe someone else was watching late night hockey too.
I can say surprisingly little about the 2008 playoffs out West. I do know the Sharks beat the Flames in seven games, a time when they were still seen as choking chokers (something they would skid into the next round losing in six to Dallas). The Avalanche beat the Wild, something that was fairly common back in teh day. The Stars beat the defending champion Ducks. I remember little about the actual games. I have no idea which late game it was that I was watching the night I should have been resting before our band trip.
One forgotten aspect that increased the joy of watching these games was that at the time since NBC was reticent to put any money into the NHL coverage, most of the late games were simulcasts of Canadian broadcasts, be it CBC or TSN. They had Canadian announcers, Canadian music, Canadian joy of hockey, most importantly. It was a great indoctrination into hockey for real.
By 2010, I was in college, a time when my earliest class went from 8:00 my first semester, to 2:00pm by 2nd semester Junion Year, I was routinely watching late night hockey. In fact, I coveted it. If anything, I wanted those late nigth games to go to triple OT, ending around 3am EST. I didn't want the intensity, the joy of the game, to end. I would cherish that first day of playoff hockey, when the last game would start at 10:30 or 11:00, and I could be up until 2:00am watching hockey, instead of mindlessly browsing the internet (let's be real, 'being asleep' wasn't a real alternative by then).
If anything, the worst part of getting to the Conference Finals round was that there were no more 10:00pm or later start-times. Things would be normal, would be sane. But I wanted the insane, the late nights, and it all started because I was able to experience it the year I finished my school effectively in April. So much of my life, be it my love of driving, the friend group I still have, my love of football, is due to my highschool life, from an academic pressure standpoint, more or less ending in early May, 2008. The first gift that period of my life bestowed upon me was the ability to stay up to watch the games I never could, and love hockey more than ever before.
