Issue #41 – Hockey Cliches
Say what you will about hockey, it has never been accused of being the thinking man’s game. Even Fred “the Fog” Shero, while doing his utmost to protect the intellectual veracity of hockey, was simply mulling over when to tap Dave Schultz on the shoulder and send him over the boards to murder another Bruin. Which is why at the end of a hard day’s night, when the buzzer blows and the players leave the ice for the dressing room and the hot spotlight of the media scrum, I hold my cold beer close to my chest and with elation watch as the most predictable paradigms of linguistic stereotypes are spewed forth from the mumbling tongues of our hockey heroes.
I speak not pejoratively, I speak of the beloved hockey cliche. Below are a few I culled from the sports corner.
10. We just got to get pucks in deep and get in on the forecheck and get pucks at the net 9. We just need to get more shots and get traffic in front of the net
8. We need to play a full 60 minutes
7. We just got to take it one shift at a time
6. We just got to give it 110% every shift
5. I got to play my game and do everything within my control
4. I know I’m struggling, but I just got to keep working hard and hopefully things start going my way
3. We have to play our game and play to our strengths and we should be okay
2. Upper/lower body injury
1. We just didn’t get the bounces