Sweaters Pt 1

If you play hockey you probably have learnt that you can never have too many hockey sweaters.  Team sweaters should only be worn for game days, leaving a lot of practices to wear something else.  Odds are they'll get pretty grubby and smelly unless they get washed frequently, so you shouldn't just wear the same one again and again.  Add to that the occasional need for someone to change into red/white/blue/black colours to even up the sides in a small rink game or a shinny, and there's need for a few different sweaters.

That's my excuse, anyway, for beginning a bit of a collection of the things.  Add to that the fact that they tend to have interesting designs / bright colours /an emotional 'tone' and it then becomes somewhat easy to take them up as a type of regular clothing in their own right.

I started my collection with an Edmonton Oilers sweater I saw at the markets in Sydney a bit over a year ago.  To that was added a Canadian (away (white) colours) from the International exhibition game in June last year.  I got a Vancouver blue top on my next Sydney trip.  Then, gave the missus a shopping list for her next trip to the markets and she came back with Colorado, Montreal (with 2009 centenary epulettes and #11 - Koivu on the back (then time captain before being traded to Anaheim where he remains)) and Redwings sweaters.  The Redwings was her idea because she liked the red (more on this one later).

And this weekend, I was in Sydney with the wife again, and again it was a trip to the market stall to see what they had...

Came back with a St Louis Blues one (royal blues with a stylised yellow note as the front symbol, #41 - Halak on the back) and an oldschool Columbus Blue Jacket sweater (18th Century cannon logo on white roundel in front of a dark navy blue top, with lacework).  Also another one which I won't describe here because it's a gift for someone...

Next weekend I'll be picking up my own Vikings sweater (Royal blue, Viking helmet with crossed sticks beneath ala jolly roger on the front), and a Wheelers sweater (maroon, no logo).

I had a chat with the stall holder this time, enquiring at the absence of 'L' sized tops (so it goes comfortably over my body armour) or of 'S' ones (for the kids) and she explained it by the fact that they're all remainders.  Hence, no Winnipeg Jets, few of the other 'minority' teams, the old designs that have been supplanted in the most recent season (which is good as I wouldn't wear the stars and stripes design of the present bluejackets top, but I do like the older gun logo), etc.  The numbered sweaters become remainders when the player is traded (hence, my Montreal player these day is with the Ducks, and my Blues player was traded earlier this year to Washington, making the sweaters almost worthless on the usual market).

Maybe I'll continue this in another post some time...

Tigers, Rebels, Oilers, Canucks, Canadiens - can you tell me which one is different?

Being, as I am, half Canadian but living half a world away from Canada, I guess I've been aware of ice hockey for quite a while.  Even went to a game in Medicine Hat, (Alberta, Canada) as a kid.  Can't remember much hockey as such, the problem of being a kid and seeing a game amongst all those standing adults was as evident there as it was in the terraces at local footy games of the time.  I do remember watching the game a little, (an impression of size, speed and force still lingers as I write this).  My great memory of the night, though, was the great pile up of kids that formed a scrum on top of a puck that had ended up in the crowd.  I can't remember the detail, but I ended up with the puck in my victorious hands and a certain swagger in my step for the rest of the evening.  And the other kids stopped freaking at my aussie accent. I still have the game puck, complete with almost unscratched Tiger logo on it.

It's strange, therefore, that I kinda support the Red Deer Rebels in the Western Hockey League.  Maybe because I like their logo or their name, maybe because I stayed there for a few hours on my next trip to Canada (2012 - albeit didn't know they existed at the time).

At a higher level (ie. the National Hockey League) the choices of team(s) I support is simpler to understand.  I'm an Oilers follower because my family are mainly from around the Edmonton area (dim memory of the name 'Gretzky' when I was there as a kid (the year before he went pro)).  This didn't change up to being a supporter/fan when I was there two years ago, despite the fact that I was intrigued by ice hockey being on telly all the time (it seemed) just about everywhere, because no one I spent much time with was too enthused about hockey.  I didn't realise how depressing it was for them all that Edmonton was (is) seemingly stuck to the bottom of the league ladder, and how this dampens hockey conversations.

Spending time in Vancouver, amongst Canucks fans as their team entered the post-season as Conference leaders, watching Johnathan Quick and Cory Schneider battle out a great first game of round 1 playoffs (against the eventual Stanley Cup Champions that season, the Los Angeles Kings), I developed a soft spot for Vancouver.  Which was fine, except that they never seemed to do well after I got to know of them.  So I'm glad that underneath my continuing support for the Canucks I have a bedrock of oil.

While in Vancouver I also met a cousin's spouse who came from Winnipeg originally and was so obviously bursting with pride at the renaissance of the Jets' franchise in its home town, with all the starry eyed romance that goes with a come-back-kid story, that I got sucked in also.  The parting gift to me of the treasured Winnipeg Jets tee-shirt merely guaranteed that I've since taken a fairly keen interest in the Jets.

And my fourth team in the NHL?  The remaining Western Canadian team (Calgary Flames)?  Of course not!  Being an Oilers fan, that would be spiritually impossible, for starters.  And, secondly, I just couldn't do it.  Sigh.  No, but it is still a Canadian team.

The Montreal Canadiens, to be precise.  It's taken awhile, but a combination of my missus getting me a Montreal sweater with Koivu's name on it - being the centennial jersey of the Captain in his tenth season with the club (2009), and therefore feeling obliged to wear it occasionally, a more than passing enjoyment of the playing style when I've seen them on telly, and an appreciation of much of the hockey writing produced from its legion of fans, I've gotten interested in their journey this year.  And with that interest has grown fondness.  And the relief that at least one of 'my' teams will make the playoffs this year so that I'll have a natural team to support!

So, here's my excuse to pose the question of this post's title with a video reference to one of my childhood heroes...