GoalieHusband's Triumphant Return

After nine long months of watching from the bench or stands as his wife and friends played the game he loves and wished he could play, GoalieHusband made his official return to the ice on Monday night. I can't even imagine how difficult it was to be on the outside like that, wishing desperately that he could be out there on the ice with us, and I give him huge kudos for handling it so well. I know I would have been a cranky, moody, grumpy mess had it been me. That's a long time to be sidelined. (For those following along at home, he had ACL reconstruction surgery back in April. His knee was an absolute disaster when they finally got in there to make things right.)

To make matters worse, not only was he missing out on ice time with our team, which has become a pretty solid group, the team moved up to the next level while he was out. I know that had to sting, because he was ready to move up long before the rest of us were. Because of the long layoff, he was concerned about his stamina (rightly so) and about getting his legs and hockey sense back, so he reluctantly signed up for a season in the instructional league to spend some time getting the rust off. On Monday night, he played his first game, and I went along with him to watch - I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Being the rink rats that we are, we've become friendly with several of the staff and people who are there as much as we are. So when we arrived on Monday night and he stopped at the front desk to get his jersey, that was the first of several rounds of warm welcomes he was to receive that night. Since we were incredibly early (due in part to his nerves), we wandered over to see the other instructional league game in progress. As soon as we walked in the door, from across the ice both coaches threw their arms up in the air and cheered. We stopped by the penalty box and one of the refs came over and greeted him heartily through the glass. Granted, some of these people are our drinking buddies, but it was clear that they were truly happy to have him back. And it didn't end there. When his team came out on the ice to warm up, the same ref came over and gave him a big clap on the back in welcome. And I saw him also get similar greetings from the coaches when they arrived. It actually almost made me misty-eyed.

He played extremely well for having been gone so long, and was part of two 5-on-3 penalty kills. (His team had a revolving door installed in the penalty box. It was mind-blowing. As was the forwards' failure to grasp the concept of "offsides". But that's why its an instructional league...)And there is no doubt in my mind that he is truly "back", because after being slammed pretty hard into the boards by a player who uses his lack of ability to stop as an excuse to hit people, he turned around and yelled (and I heard this with my own ears all the way over on the bleachers), "You hit me like that again and I'll f*&#in' deck you."

Ah yes... Welcome back, GoalieHusband. I have no doubt that you'll be joining the rest of the team after this season is over. It's been a long time and I miss my "big dumb defenseman". ;)