Friday, June 3, 2011

Never Forget an Old Friend



My childhood friend Brad will never believe this. I am putting up pro-Bruins videos for all to see. As a kid, with only the Western Pro League and then the WHA Denver Spurs to cheer on, I was free to pick any NHL team to support.

On 30th Avenue, between 4th and 5th streets in the Broadview Park section of Greeley, Colo., a clash was born. Brad was a die-hard Boston Bruins fan, or as much as a die-hard as you can be at age 12. I supported the bad and the good: the Los Angeles Kings, because they were the closest NHL team in the West that did not wear white skates, the Montreal Canadiens, because my table hockey game had two sides. Canadiens or Leafs. You decide. Yes, I can see you follow my logic. Already have one bad team on my roster, time for a good one.

There were frequent battles on the table hockey rink, and post-game wrestling matches and fights to settle scores that were not decided on the rink.

When the Canadiens were on a run of Cups in the late 1970s, Brad and I were in high school. Locker partners, but still with a determined split. Canadiens on the top shelf; Bruins just one shelf down. (As it should be, some might say.) By then, the Rockies were amid an endless string of horrible, so we were able to embrace both the bad and the good.

Brad never let me forget that he held the Canadiens in contempt, and that included a note on graduation day that said, rather than congratulations, "Hey locker partner, the Bruins are the best."



The Rockies moved on and I moved on and around the country, finally landing in New York. My interest in the Canadiens has dipped, but I have managed to retain a spot in my heart for the Kings.

But today, with the Kings still waiting for another day in the sun, I think of my friend Brad. For him I put these videos in circulation in the Lounge. They capture the youthful enthusiasm of being a hockey fan, and they allow me to relive those days in Broadview Park, when it was the center of the hockey world.

Yes, I am crossing over to the dark side, but I am doing it, temporarily, for an old friend.

(Ps. But to be fair, if you have a Canucks video to link to, send them along. They are a western team, and the West, as we all know, is the Best.)

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