I don’t know which season it was, but in the past, NPY told me that if the Canucks won the Stanley Cup, he would move to Toronto, the Canadian city he has grown up to hate.
Then the Canucks’ 40th season kicked off in October 2010 and a couple months later, my huge pangs of regret/remorse/”what if” started to kick in. I can see myself living either in Toronto or Vancouver for the next 5/10/forever years and do not know how to decide what move to make next. The cities are polar opposites. My life would be polar opposite–with NPY and utter predictability in Vancouver or an exciting upheaval and uncertainty in Toronto but at least be really close to my family that I’ve spent way too long living away from.
Somewhere in this timeline, NPY himself reminded me of that “bet” he made a couple years ago and this time around, I was surely not going to forget it!
I started writing this post on May 22, during Game 4 of the conference finals against the San Jose Sharks, but I don’t mean to publish it until the play-offs are over for the Canucks at which point I can include that result. I haven’t wanted to Tweet about this “bet” because I’m superstitious, you know.
So, with a little more interest than usual this year, and exuberant broadcasters and fans had declared throughout the year that the Canucks were good enough to go all the way this year, I watched with a modicum more interest as the Vancouver team racked up wins and points and won NHL awards. Then they made it past a big obstacle–the Chicago Blackhawks–and their other obstacle–the second round.
Today, on May 22, NPY is seriously regretting both ever saying he would move and then mentioning it again this year. It was a glib remark and not necessarily one that shows how little faith he has in his team. Afterall, he did not know that a couple years after that “bet”, I would feel so strongly the need for change. Still, he swore on his team’s name which, for diehard fans like he who watch every game of the season without fail, is akin to someone swearing on his mother’s grave. Will he honour his team? Will I give in?
(Early hours June 16, 2011)
Now we all know the Canucks’ results in the 2011 Stanley Cup play-offs. They made it all the way to the end, but lost in the seventh, and final, game in a best of 7 series.
So we can always wonder what NPY and I would have done if the result had been different.
On this day..
- Longest Day Road Race 2016 - 2016
- DineOut Reviews: A slice of Saskatoon - 2012
- Three Years - 2009
- Because everyone needs a "theme book" - 2006