"I went to a shower and a hockey game broke out ..."

I will be returning to more stories and pictures about India, but thought you might like a glimpse into the events of this past Monday evening in which two of our TH family played significant roles ...

The evening started at 6:30 (okay, a little after -- you know me!) as friends of Nilgiris and Lois arrived to celebrate her upcoming nuptials with a kitchen shower. 

Lois, radiantly beautiful and with a joyful confidence about her, told us of her and Greg's plans for the next year (10 moves! including one up to Alaska!), and we took a little quiz called "Lois by the Numbers".

Our girl gets married in a little over two weeks. What a fortunate man Greg is!

Absent from the shower were Brent and Curtis, who had planned on being present and giving Lois a run-down of what they would look for in a wife (fortunately, our dear Brian was there and he summed it up succinctly: "Be on time!").

The reason the boys were absent is that Brent's hockey team, the Sabres, was in the final game of the season, and the league championship was at stake. "Throw them out by 9:00 ... move the shower to the arena ..." were two of the suggestions I received. 

After the shower Lois and I met up at the arena. It was the second period. The Sabres were leading 2-1. They were clearly the stronger team, with shots on goal almost double those of the rival.

And then, weirdly, everything seemed to go into slow motion for about four minutes and in that time the visiting team managed to score. Fortunately for all concerned about #4 he was not on the ice at the time, so his plus-minus ratio was not affected ...

The third period skidded by, and the game remained a tie. Eight minutes of full-strength overtime ensued, followed by three minutes of four on four and three minutes of three on three. STILL no score. So it went to a shootout. Five shots were caromed at the hapless goalies: our goalie managed to save four of them, while the visitors' goalie allowed two shots to bypass him and land in the net.

Pandemonium broke loose from the Sabre bench. Gloves, helmets, odd bits of equipment hailed onto centre ice as our valiant young men flung themselves at their teammates like exuberant puppies. The banner to hang from the rafters was unfurled and skated around the ice.

I texted Brent shortly after the win: "Congrats, #4! Almost as exciting as Team Canada's gold! Well done."

I could tell he was already putting it all into perspective by his response: "Thanks"