JCC Floor Hockey

 

Juranka's Corner

Nov 28, 2011

the nature of game,
random plays unfolding,
blending craft, ingenuity,
motion, and marksmanship
with unbridled imagination...
Back in the cage the goalies
study team style, runners,
deekers, grinders and shooters,
the persistence, the lucky
bounce and the skilled
opportunism... Creativity
when your team
doesn't have possession
Ronan remarks...

the styles of preparation
uncover our rituals
within the routine,
game-faced in body and
mind, addressing needs
to get loose and serious...
so individual is our inner game
played long before we enter
building and walk up
those steps... strategic
rehearsals in mind's crystal
eyeball previewing
future dynamic potential...
forethoughts and even
foreshadowing... reading signs
and misinterpreting... all these
add layers to this game
about to unfold or
un-bounce from its
time-trapped wrapper of
inevitable possibilities...
this game in our heads,
subtle, obvious, inconsistent,
plays us into our experience,
plays us hours before the ball
drops... when we are caught
in a brief moment of unexpected
anticipation...

Tonight was amazing for
this goalie... back after
a month of deprivation...
great because of the wealth
of his inner game... the
energy is palpable as teams
line up and radiate vibrations,
fears of failure and eager
anticipations of
inevitable glory...
the game already half-played
in imagination before it begins...
like watching a highlight reel
reveal itself in real time...
as deja vu or grand misconception...
the rerun of the show in our head
but always slightly different...

some are less certain of the
events' un-bouncing and all
of us experience trepidations,
delusions & humiliation,
fulfillment from let-downs
and whether loving to win
or hating to lose we all
deal with pain physically
and psychological and
welcome or not, it adds
to the rich experience
of the game... loved
since we can remember,
since TV or those hockey sticks
for toddlers... we evolved
to yelling "car" and
re-enacting in slow motion
replays narrated by the
Foster Hewitt in our heads,
in our made in Canada
collective unconscious...
"he shoots he scores"
no different from pros...
the NHL trying to be more
like the child's dream, our
mind games were complete
with cheers, pipe-organ,
commercial breaks for cars
pretending to be zambonies...
then the theme song of
Hockey Night in Canada
breaks an imaginary silence...
the psychic plane bounced
tennis balls off sidewalk curbs
like they were the boards...
details professionalism were
rarely overlooked... the NHL
does its best to emulate our
dreams but always falls short...
and now that time has passed
we find almost nothing has
changed... our zambonies are
garbage bins rolled by
maintenance staff while

Jason is Don Cherry,
candid cutting remarks as
the Hot Stove lounge
of commentary erupts
from players assembling
by the door, watching
the end of a previous game...
hockey theory and
scholarly analysis...
rinkside strategy adding
its layer of pure and rich
imagination, more vital
for the un-dauntible spirit
of play than mere mundane
reality...


Juranka's Corner Archive

The complete archive of anecdotes, game recaps, rants and ramblings.