Ever since I was a young boy I’ve been watching hockey. Hockey has always caught my attention with the hard hits, and fighting.  The first time I had played a game of hockey was when I was five, my sister and I would shoot our puck or our orange street hockey ball into our green recycle container. Unlike most kids playing hockey we had used cheap plastic hockey sticks as oppose to the wooden or fiberglass sticks the more fortunate would use. Every day during the spring my sister and I would go out and shoot around after homework. One of us would always get yelled at by our mom cause the ball or puck had gone into the flower bed and ruined a flower or two or three.

Then one day I winded up for a slap shot and CRACK went my stick into two pieces. The was the last time I had played hockey until a few years later when my sister and I got our first real hockey sticks for Easter. As I got older the sport of hockey changed to from being physical to being more skilled oriented. But every now and then a bone crushing hit would be delivered and chaos would ensue.

When either playing or watching hockey any worries or stresses I had would all go away for a while. In a weird way hockey was more than just a sport to me it became an addiction if you will. As I continued to get deeper knowledge of the sport and players I found out that a former player Steve Downie and I are kind of similar. With the exception of him losing his dad at a young age and him also playing hockey professionally. A couple ways him and I are alike is that we both struggle with bad hearing, at once we shared having some behavioral issues, and lastly growing up with a lower income family. About 3 years ago my sister and I had gotten our first ever hockey net. Now when we play we feel as if were actually playing a real game.

Since finding hockey I have become closer to my sister and we have really gotten to talk more about the sport. I also have gotten my Nan into hockey over the past 5 years or so. And now when I go over to her house that’s all her and I talk about, and when my team isn’t doing so well she’ll start chirping me and I’ll do the same if her team is performing poorly out of love. So I believe that if It weren’t for hockey I wouldn’t have the relationship that I have with my sister.