Thankful that I never
played against
Wayne Gretzky
in an NHL playoff series;
I probably would have had to break his hand.
I would not have wanted to injure Gretzky, mind you;
I loved the guy.
I never touched him on the ice
in a regular season game.
I had too much respect
for how he played
and how he carried himself.
But I can say without question
I would have tried to hurt him
if we had been matched up
in the playoffs.
In my mind,
there are no friends
in a playoff series
I’m not talking about
elbowing someone in the head
or going after someone’s knees.
I’m talking about a strategic slash.
To me, slashing someone’s hand or breaking someone’s fingers was nothing.
It was part of the game.
Broken hands heal.
Fingers heal.
The pain that comes from losing does not.
• from Overtime (2014) by Chris Chelios with Kevin Allen; excerpted, edited, and poemized.
“The first thing the student of Darwin learns is that what evolves does not necessarily improve — a truth that might just as well be sensed by considering the modern history of jazz or ice hockey.”
• Adam Gopnik
I’ll do it for Reg