Living my first twenty-four years in Mississippi and the past twenty-two in Manila, I’ve had little exposure to hockey, but I do know some Canadians. Last night, I attended my first hockey game—with my sons and Rice Broocks and his sons—and I officially became an NHL fan.
I still don’t know much about the sport. For instance, I expected the game (or is it a match?) to be over after what I thought was the second half, only to find out there was a third one coming. They weren’t halves because there were three of them, and they couldn’t have been quarters or one was missing. There were only three, so what were they? In baseball, there are nine innings. In cricket, there are about 1000 overs. But what are they in hockey? Whatever they are called, they are non-stop speed and action. I expected non-stop fighting. I had always thought of hockey as a combination of Olympic skating and Smackdown. Watching it live, I realized there was much more fitness, athleticism, and finesse to this sport than I ever realized.
The home team, the Nashville Predators, scored four quick goals in the first quarter/half/third right in front of us. On the fifth goal, the crowd went wild and started throwing hats on the ice. I am glad I decided not to wear my favorite red NY baseball cap because a big drunk guy stood up and yelled at everyone in our section who still had a hat on his head.
Many thanks to Curtis Brown of the Chicago Blackhawks who gave Rice eight tickets for us and our boys. Some of you may remember that Curtis visited the Philippines with Rice during one of our Asian Invasion conferences in PICC many years ago.
We are praying about planting a new Every Nation church in Chicago. Please contact us if you are interested in being part of this, especially if you are a Victory person now living in the Chicago area.
