Well, I believe this weekend will be my hockey fan “coming out party.” The youngest of the Peterson grandsons plays on the mini-mites team for Redwood Falls, and they’ll be in town this weekend taking on the locals. It’s almost un-American not to be a hockey fan in Luverne, and while I never played hockey, nor do I fully understand the rules, maybe it’s about time I did.
One of my coffee buddies is always trying to educate me on the game of hockey. He is also the same guy that tried to improve my golf game, and we know how well that turned out.
My hockey knowledge to this point is very limited. I know that there are three lines. I also know they are red and blue in color. I’m not sure why those two different colors, but maybe it’s a patriotic thing.
Not long ago I asked our in-house hockey mom what the two different colors meant and what the color of the centerline was. She completely skipped the question on why red and blue, but she told me the centerline was blue.
So, with that information in hand, I went to coffee ready to show off my new-found hockey knowledge to Mister Hockey Know-It-All, only to find out hockey mom (Chantel Connell) was wrong. It seems you can go to hundreds of hockey games and never really notice the colors of the lines.
The reason this will be my hockey fan “coming out party” is, like I mentioned earlier, the grandson is playing in town this weekend, and I believe he could be playing as many as three games over the weekend. As if that wouldn’t be enough hockey for this hockey fan newbie, our hockey-playing grandson’s aunt made arrangements for box seats at the Sioux Falls Stampede game Saturday night.
By the way, I had to ask what the name of the Sioux Falls hockey team was for this column.
Back to the red line/blue line thing, I tried to find out why those two colors, but I was unsuccessful. It’s most likely a visibility thing, but until I find out differently, I am staying with the patriotic theme.
By the way, while I was searching for an answer on the color question, I did learn how hockey got its name.
The name comes from the French word for a shepherd’s crook, hoquet.
I bet even Mister Hockey Know-it-all didn’t know that.