A Winnipeg Beer League Team Going Bananas On The Bench After The Jets Won Their Game 7 In Overtime Is What Beer League Is All About
People don't understand the sacrifices you make as a beer league hockey player. It's not just the late nights at the rink before having to wake up at 5am the next morning for work. It's not just showing up to games knowing you'll only have 3 guys on the bench and everybody's lungs are going to be burning 10 minutes into the 1st period. It's not just hanging your goalie out to dry after everyone inevitably stops backchecking.
But it's nights like Sunday night. The Winnipeg Jets are playing a game 7 in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I'm sure all of these fellas would love to be at the bar for this one. I'm sure all of these fellas would love to be on their couch to watch that game. They live and die by the Jets, and the season is on the line. This is beer league hockey we're talking about. There's no coach to impress. You're not going to get bag skated at practice the next day if you skip to watch game 7. It would be so easy to just throw a quick text in the group chat 45 minutes before game time saying you're not going to make it that night.
But that's not what beer league hockey players are all about. They signed up for this life, and they know the sacrifices they need to make. If you happen to have a game on the schedule at the same time as the Jets' game 7 in the playoffs? That beer league game is the most important game of the night to you, regardless of the fact that nobody else in the world outside of the guys on the ice care about that game. You can check in with the Jets game while you're on the bench, but you never bail on the squad. Not if your wife is pissed at you, not if work is giving you shit, not if the Winnipeg Jets are playing game 7 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
P.S. -- Love the ref immediately going over there to celebrate with the boys. Probably gets shit from them once a week every week for the past few years. But nothing brings everybody together quite like a a game 7 2OT winner.