Zen and the Art of Playoff Hockey

That’s better, boys! Philly now has home ice advantage, having taken game 2 away from the Rangers. It was close—they won 3-2—but they played more like themselves than in game one. And it only cost me a dollar in poor language penalties! Game three is in Philadelphia on Tuesday. I’ll be leaving work early to catch the opening face off.

Ter observed that I was awfully quiet during the game. Aside from not wanting to incur further financial infractions, I was practicing mindfulness. No easy task when one’s heart is pumping panicked adrenalin: when NY went up 2-0 halfway through the first period, I blew my cool, tossed a loonie in the swear jar, and decided I’d better get control of myself. After all, there were still 50 minutes of game left to play. Too early to go off the rails in despair. Stupid penalties notwithstanding, our PK was way better and one of my favourites, Jakub Voracek, popped one past Henrik Lundqvist before the buzzer rang at the end of twenty minutes. That helped to steady my resolve. The third goal can make or break a game, depending on who pots it. I was immensely grateful that it belonged to the Flyers. Gratitude is a good place to start in the mindfulness department.

So, rather than leap ahead in terror that, if they’re down by 2 in the first, they could blow the game, go down 2-0 in the series and be punted in the first round, I breathed in (calm), breathed out (smile), breathed in (present moment), breathed o—and screamed with glee as the puck sailed past the NY goalie. Once they were on the board, it became a matter of one more, just one more, hold them off, just one more, what the ^&%$, “chink” into the jar, reframe, one more boys, just one more … The officials were relatively fair—the Flyers will always be nabbed for trifles, but the Rangers took their share of penalty minutes, too. A couple of them were cited for embellishment, and while I disagree with the existence of the rule in principle, a) it stood the Flyers in good stead today, and b) it reminded me that the NY coach was too recently in charge of the Vancouver Canucks, who, while under his tutelage, doubled as a dive team depending on the importance of the match.

For years I have heard hockey players say that you must play one shift at a time and focus on getting one goal at a time. I’ve never fully understood the message until lately. Athletes of any ilk must be present in the moment; if one is fully mindful, one can achieve flow and make magic happen. I know, I know—hockey is just a game, but I also wonder if the team that wins is also the team that’s fully “present”.

Of course, being bigger, stronger and meaner helps, too. Just ask the %$&$# Bruins.

*chink*