You Don't Know What You've Got 'Till It's Gone...

Bear with me, this almost ties into the "Where is the oddest place you have seen hockey" question that's up...Well it's more like the un-answer to the question, since I always expect to see hockey everywhere.
When I was choosing a college to attend, I refused to attend a school anywhere near my family. Man oh man I could not wait to leave Minnesota. Now looking back on my decision, I've discovered that I really, really like living here in Minnesota. I just needed to go to a completely different climate/culture to realize this. Right now I'm thinking about it even more as I start to pack my bags to head back to hockey hell (AKA Oregon). Here we have the State Tournament, an event that is played out in St. Paul, and is on public TV to the exclusion of everything else. We have a pro team, tons of good college hockey, we can get the Canadian networks, and everyone I know follows hockey at some (usually multiple) level (s). I went to some games and sat in my parent's seats, and all the people around me were asking about school, they knew/remembered things about me, were careful around my arm after surgery, and were more than happy to shoot the breeze about a variety of subjects. (Fishing, hunting, Twins, Gophs, armchair GMing, weather patterns, etc) All of this made me think about how much I miss striking up random conversations (and snow, hockey, non-Asian food, cream based everything, Caribou Coffee....). I guess I just couldn't fathom a place that didn't love hockey that much. On the flip side, my friend at school can't fathom anything about Minnesota. They seem to think it's some alien planet. People told me how it would be in Oregon, but I'm clearly a slow learner and need to figure these things out for myself. Mark Parrish and I are having our very own" We love Minnesota, and damn is it good to be back" club.

Centre Ice online is about to become my god again since I will no longer have hockey on local TV or even cable, because I could not get 350/1,800 students to sign a petition saying they wanted more hockey on our TV package. Stupid Willamette.

I really should stop rambling and procrastinating now. I have to go and pack, clean out the fridge/stuff my face, and watch the Leafs vs. Sharks on CBC.

Read More......