It would appear that between the hubbub that was the race for Lord Stanley's Cup, and the excitement engendered by the selection of the national teams for the powerhouse nations of hockey, a seminal moment in ice hockey history may have been overlooked by the international hockey press. See, a few months back,
Ireland defeated Armenia 15-1 for their first ever international ice hockey win, and in doing so clinched
#44 in the world ice hockey rankings. And they did it on St Patrick's Day. And they did it in spite of not actually having a regulation sized ice rink on their sovereign soil.
In the lead up to the tourney, the majority of the
Emerald Bhoys would make the 2-3 hour trip north to Belfast 2-3 times a week, to get in some quality practise time on an ice sheet that I imagine has two nets and hopefully some sort of blue lines. Or perhaps the rules were temporarily changed to a more soccer-like offside rule whereby the defenseman becomes a sort of moving blue line. I don't know, I wasn't there. But one would imagine that with such traditional Irish names as
Dimitriy Slavashevshiy, John White, and Laurence Jurovich, they probably have a pretty strong grasp on the fundamentals of the game. As you can guess, this victory
rocked the Irish news world. We're still waiting with bated breath for them to hoist Lawrence Jurovich's #12 over the outdoor skating rink in Dublin.
But of course we kid. My most heartfelt congratulations go out to the Irish team. In fact, if you have an opening for a fairly speedy winger with pretty soft hands and absolutely no shot, drop me a line (seriously, I'm a
beginner/intermediate all-star!). You see, my wife is Irish, and not in a 'my great-grandfather was born in Galway' sort of way. No, she was born and raised in Armagh, the Ecclesiastical capital of Ireland. (True story, one day my wife was talking to a woman at work who proudly proclaimed that her grandfather was from Ireland. Soon the subject of religion came up and when the woman found out that my wife was Protestant, the lady [who had never set foot in Ireland] said 'oh, so you're not really Irish then.' I say to you: this is why there are no outdoor garbage cans in London.)
So back on topic, at some point the cross-cultural aspect of our relationship mandates that I will have to serve a term living on the Emerald Isle. This means either leaving my hockey gear at home, or settling up north where the constant threat of bombs would do nothing to ease my somewhat constant indigestion. I thought briefly about maybe trying out for the Irish team, but I'm not very good, and I'm thinking that the constant drinking of Guinness that I plan on doing would wreak havoc on any regimen that would be introduced by the team trainers. Or maybe it wouldn't, it is the Irish team after all. So again, if anybody knows anything about ice hockey in Ireland
drop me a line. I promise to buy you a pint when I get there.
On the plus side, at least I'll be able to view a little hockey in a safe environment now and then, although I may have to buy my tickets in advance. I have it on good authority that the
Belfast Giants are a bit of a cultural phenomenon right now in Northern Ireland, and apparently sell out every game (unlike the Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, etc, etc). Since hockey doesn't have any real history in Ireland, it doesn't have any religious affiliations. Which means that a person of Catholic decent (eg. myself) and one of Protestant decent (eg. my wife) may go to a game together and not have to get into a fist fight. I mean, we could get into a fist fight, but it's totally optional.
On a side note, I see that
Turkey defeated Armenia 11-1. I also notice that there were only 3 penalties in the game, which is somewhat surprising, what with the genocide and all. Maybe it's another of these cross-community things. Perhaps hockey truly does bring people together. Except of course for Rangers fans, after 1994 they deserve all the suffering they receive.
[Editor's note: Dave e-mailed me this article, and I'm happy to be able to share it on Just Wide. If other readers have similar essays they want to share, they're encouraged to e-mail them to me.]