hockey stick

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Taking The Plunge On The Right Opportunity

When the right opportunity presents itself, you have to take the plunge.

plunge, hockey stick curve

If you don’t, you end up kicking yourself later – like when you missed the sale and the store is now out of the product you want … and they don’t know when they will be getting more.

It’s a bad feeling. When you have experienced it once, you don’t want to experience it again.

So I bought the hockey stick last week. … That’s right, that was my right opportunity. I found a stick with my curve pattern. That might not sound like a big deal, but stores don’t normally stock my stick pattern. 

Hockey sticks all have a pattern name and number unique to the curve of that stick, and specific to their manufacturers. I’ve been using the same curve for twenty plus years. But fewer and fewer people are using the heal curve and now it is near impossible to find it. 

So when you see one in the stores, you really have to consider taking the plunge and doling out the $100 or more to get it. 

There are lots of people who spend more money on their hockey sticks, but not many who spend more time on them than I do. 

Finding a stick is a long process, but so is getting it ready to use. 

I cut my sticks down. In fact, the guys I play with tease me for using junior sticks.  

But not only do I cut my sticks down by maybe eighteen inches, I also use a six inch wood insert at the top of the handle. And before I’m ready to tape it, I take a rasp to that wood handle and shave it down so that it comfortably fits in the palm of my right hand. Then I take a heat gun to both the stick and handle to insert the handle into the shaft of the stick. 

Finally, I’m ready to tape the stick. 

The other day I was in a sports store, checking out their selection of hockey sticks … because that’s what I do. 

I’m ever hopeful that I will find a stick with my curve – it’s the Lidstrom curve. Nicolas Lidstrom was a NHL all-star who played for the Detroit Red Wings for twenty seasons but hasn’t played since 2012.

My stick’s curve pattern is still referred to as the Lidstrom curve. Every store clerk that knows anything about hockey sticks, even if he never saw Nick Lidstrom play hockey, knows the name. 

So when I found a Lidstrom stick last week, I bought it. 

The next day I used the stick for the first time and, based on how I felt about it after the game, I went back and bought another one.

Yes, I dropped $200 on two sticks, one of which I might not cut down and use for a couple of years. But I took the plunge because the opportunity was before me and the next time I need a stick, I might not be able to find one. 

Here’s the thing: When you are presented with the right opportunity, you need to take the plunge. Christ came into our world to live a sinless life and take upon Himself the punishment for our sin. He did this so that we could be accepted by God who is Himself sinless. There is no possible way we can be accepted by God on our own. What Christ has done is an opportunity we can’t get any other way. Don’t miss this opportunity – take the plunge.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What opportunity are you being presented with right now? Leave your comments and questions below.

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I’m Facing A New Hockey Reality

This morning I faced a reality that I knew had been coming for some time – I broke my hockey stick.

I know many of you are thinking, “Big deal; just get a new one.” And you’re right; that’s all I have to do. But there is a little more to the story than simply picking up a new stick.

First of all, I’ve had this stick for about four years – that’s a long time in stick years. Pros break their sticks on an almost weekly basis. But I have protected this stick by taping the entire blade and rubbing a heavy layer of stick wax on it.

Another thing that has kept this stick going so long is that I don’t take slap shots. I play mostly shinny hockey and that really isn’t a place for taking many slap shots.

Besides that, I cut my sticks down so that I take away any of the flex in the shaft, making my relatively poor slap shot even worse.

Getting a new stick is not a simple process. I’ve known this day would come and so, from time to time, I’ve check out hockey equipment stores to see what might be available. My biggest problem is that I can’t find my curve any more.

It seems like no one in the NHL uses a heel curve any longer, and I have been using the same one for about thirty years. It’s not something I’m looking forward to switching.

Finding a stick that I’m going to like and be happy with is not going to be fun or easy … or cheap.

Sticks are expensive. Four years ago when I bought this stick it cost $300. Now at the time it was on sale and I had $100 in Christmas money that I also put towards it.

I still paid $100 for that stick.

The stick really owes me nothing. It’s been an awesome stick and I’ve scored a lot of goals with it. But it’s time to move on.

I only wish it was as easy to move on as it was when I was in my teens.

Back then all sticks were made of wood, and Canadian Tire had a crazy return policy. If you had the receipt, you could take your stick back for a replacement up to two weeks after you bought it. (Their previous replacement time frame was a month!)

Wooden sticks broke quickly and there was one year that I think I only paid for two sticks all year. The rest of the time I simply took my broken stick, with its receipt, back to Canuck Tire and they gave me a new one.

… That was awesome! It was also back in the day when a good stick cost about $18. Now they’re hundreds, but with all kinds of technology built into them; they are feather-light and last a long time.

All I have to do now is dig deep into my pocket for some serious change and hope I can find my curve somewhere.

Here’s the thing: When you’ve been spending time with God in the same way for a long time, you will get to the place where you need to make a change. That time with God either won’t be long enough, or it’ll become very routine. You’ll get to the place where your devotional time is stale and dry and uninspired. That’s when you know it’s time to make a change. You need to do something different, add something, search for a way to make your time with God fresh again.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you tell when you need to change something up? Leave your comment below.

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I Think I Might Be Losing My Touch

I may be losing my touch; on the other hand, I might just need a change in equipment.

I’m leaning towards it being the equipment’s fault, and not me because I don’t want to give into the idea that it’s really me.

Over the last month, I’ve noticed that I haven’t had the same touch with the puck when playing hockey.

I seem to be aiming right at the goalie when I shoot, or I’m missing the net. I just don’t seem to have the same authority when I fire the puck any more.

It could be that I’m in a slump right now … that happens even to the pros.

When I watch the pros on TV miss the net, I get frustrated with them. I figure, as professionals practicing or playing pretty much every day, they shouldn’t miss when they shoot, and they shouldn’t put their shots right into the goalie’s body. But they do sometimes.

I guess, based on that, I should give myself a break. But I don’t; I figure there is something wrong.

In some ways I’m hoping that it’s my stick. I’ve had the same one for a while now. It could be suffering from carbon fibre fatigue – that’s something like metal fatigue, only with the material the stick is made out of.

If it’s the stick, at least it wouldn’t be my fault. But purchasing a new stick that runs in the $300 range isn’t something I would like to have to afford right now.

If it’s me, I can’t fix that, but at least it wouldn’t cost me so much money.

I remember the days when I was in my 20’s and I would take my wooden sticks back to Canadian Tire for a refund when they broke.

All sticks would break, but if I could get mine to break within the first two weeks, I could get a new stick for free.

It was a good deal. I don’t think I paid for more than about four sticks per season … but in those days sticks only cost about thirteen dollars.

Now they are crazy expensive but are supposed to last a long time. I try to avoid taking slap shots to reduce the wear and tear on mine.

I do that for two reasons: first, economically, I want my stick to last a long time; second, I don’t have a great snapshot anyway.

I cut so much off my sticks that I ruin the flex point and technology of the shaft’s design.

Right now I don’t have any answers; I’m just a little frustrated.

Who knows? Maybe in a few weeks I’ll be able to work it out. Then I won’t have to blame my hockey stick for any of this.

But up until then, I’m putting all the blame on my stick … that way I don’t feel so old.

Here’s the thing:  Some people always look for someone else to blame. When something really bad happens, they blame God. It’s easier to blame God for something than to admit you are the problem or that it is a natural consequence. That way you don’t have to take any responsibility, or change, or admit to anything. But doing that only keeps you from owning up to the truth; it keeps you from getting back on track.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you blamed God or someone else for this week? Leave your comments below.