When gouges in the ice = perfection

Carved ice
London, ON
December 2010
Thematic. Shadows. Here.

As the clock ticks down to the seemingly inevitable cancellation of the entire National Hockey League season, I'm reminded of the fact that hockey continues to be played in rinks across the land. Kids gather for chaotic games shinny on neighbourhood rinks that they painstakingly maintain themselves. Moms and dads play with their kids on homebuilt sheets of ice in the back yard, while minor leaguers play to packed houses in smaller communities, ever hopeful that they'll someday get their shot.

Indeed, hockey hasn't disappeared from our landscape. Only the particular brand of it played by a particularly well paid contingent of players, for teams owned and managed by a particularly greedy bunch of businesspeople. The concept of "for the love of the game" apparently means nothing to any of them, which is shameful on so many levels.

Whatever. I took this just before the local Ontario Hockey League team, the London Knights, dropped the puck on a game at what was then known as the John Labatt Centre - and is now called Budweiser Gardens. The seemingly random carvings in the ice were from the kids from local minor hockey leagues who had skated during the pre-game show, and to this day remind me that simple is always better, and dreams always start at a very young age.

Your turn: For the love of the game. What does this phrase mean to you?