The Eurolanche book (5.)
Eurolanche will be gradually publishing the entire book about its history via its website throughout the summer.Late nights and first memories
Ever since Galaxie Sport entered my life in 2003, I began a peculiar lifestyle. At least compared to the rest of the Slovak population. Just picture 3 a.m. in the morning. It’s dark and quiet everywhere. Not a single soul out in the streets. Just a single window on the entire block is lit, either with the light of a PC monitor or the TV. Who could still be up at such a late hour? Only the most dedicated NHL fans, regardless of the team they support. I regularly watched Avalanche games live up until 2013. For ten years. Ultimately, they had to take the backseat to regular sleep because of my job, to which I had to go after a good night’s sleep. Work isn’t school, where you could take the occasional nap.
The number of games I watched grew with each season because of the new options available to me. I began with a handful of games on Galaxie Sport. For a brief time, the second channel of the Slovak Television, now known under the acronym RTVS, also broadcasted NHL games. In 2006, I finally got internet access at home. Back then, there was no official service, which would broadcast NHL games online in Europe. Therefore, I began to listen to radio broadcasts (yes, I woke up late at night to listen to a radio broadcast, which I couldn’t fully understand). The first illegal options to watch games online appeared shortly after. I immediately got into it, although the entire process was rather difficult. Do you remember SopCast? Paradoxically, the first game I watched online was once again against Minnesota, just like the first game I watched on TV.
The number of games I watched per season rose from approximately ten to more than dozens. During the best years the total number was always around 70. How did I manage it? I went to bed early, woke up at night, watched the game and then went back to bed and slept for an hour or two. If the game began around midnight, I went to bed after the final buzzer. On the other hand, if the game started at 4 a.m., I slept prior to it and went to school after the game finished. Sometimes, I had to leave home while Colorado still played. I then learned the final result second-handedly either from my mother or father. Mobile internet didn’t exist for me back then. In high school, classes mostly finished around 2 p.m. I compensated the hours I spent awake in the night with an afternoon nap. I managed just fine. At university, we had three classes per week at most. It was incredibly easy. It wasn’t until I started to work full time that I had to look for alternative options.
In case you’re interested in the unabridged, colored PDF version of the book, contact us at eurolanche@eurolanche.com. The physical copies are all sold out.
The ESPN Player pioneered legal game streaming. The paid service offered quality live streams of all games of each NHL team. It was later replaced by NHL GameCenter, followed by NHL.TV. In addition to live streams, the service offered a game archive. It was ideal for me as a full-time employee. I woke up around 6 o’clock, selected the game from the archive, skipped through all the stoppages and intermissions in order to watch the game in 60 to 75 minutes. Sure, watching a rerun didn’t lacked the feel of watching a live game, but it was better than nothing. At weekends, I still wake up at night to enjoy something, which was an integral part of my everyday life for ten years. We should be grateful that there’s a service offering to re-watch games. Although it’s a paid-for product, I think it’s definitely worth the price.
Hundreds of Colorado fans in Europe and all around the globe did it just like me. I even know about a fan, who watches live streams to this very day. I have no idea how he manages to do it while being employed. I mean, waking up in the middle of the night for so many years left its mark on me and the quality of my sleep. Years after finishing school, I still had trouble falling asleep, I woke up at night and had trouble getting used to sleeping through the whole night. What can I say, watching the NHL took its toll. Luckily, everything is back to normal, just like before 2003.
Despite several problems, I still miss waking up at night. Being awake while the majority of the Slovak population was asleep had its magic, its own, specific atmosphere. The feeling that you know about everything, that you’re watching the whole world while all the others are sound asleep. The feeling of being one of a kind. Unique. Exclusive. Accompanied by raw emotions. The pure joy of watching your team score a goal, or the sadness following a heartbreaking loss. Also, the feeling of being united with similar fans from different corners of Europe, even the world, with whom you chatted in the middle of the night. Great times.
Aside from my nightly escapades, my everyday existence was influenced by other factors as well. I’ll use news about the Colorado Avalanche as the prime example.They became like a time stamp etched in my memory and I remember everything I did in that moment. For example, do you know what you did when Gabriel Landeskog was named captain? I do. I was walking near the Bratislava castle when I learned about it. Do you know where you were when Colorado signed Kariya and Selanne? I was lying on my bed at summer camp. My everyday existence overlapped with that of the Colorado Avalanche and became one. Tell me about an event and I’ll tell you exactly where I was and what I did when it happened. The signing of Vincent Damphousse, who never played for the Avalanche due to the lockout and which is mostly forgotten by everyone? I was on holiday in Mallorca, sitting on the hotel balcony. Need more proof ?
During my early years of fandom, shortly before I founded the Eurolanche Fan Club, three specific events, of which I was a direct participant, greatly influenced my hockey life.
The 2004-05 NHL season was lost to a lockout.My world came crashing down. The only consolation were two events, with which the NHL and others tried to cheer up desperate hockey fans. I don’t remember the exact order in which the events took place, but it doesn’t really matter. One of those events was a game featuring hockey legends from all over the world. The rosters included legends like Larionov, Fetisov, the duo of Makarov and Krutov, Peter Stastny, Alex Mogilny, Paul Coffey and many others. One particular name stood out – Stan Mikita. The first Slovak playing in the NHL. An icon of the Chicago Blackhawks. His age and health didn’t allow him to play, which is why he was symbolically the head coach of one of the teams. At the time, the security controls at the old HC Slovan Bratislava arena weren’t so strict and thorough. I waited for Mr. Mikita in one of the hallways near the locker rooms. No problem. He came and we took a photo. It was the experience of a lifetime. I also got an autograph. I met a legend, who was born in the same country as me and who, despite all odds, became a superstar in the world’s best hockey league.
While I’m typing this, I’m getting a sense of uncertainty. I’m not entirely sure if it was the same event, or if it was a different one. Anyhow, same type of event, same place, with the exception being that Michel Goulet was one of the legends taking part in it. A Quebec Nordiques legend and then-longtime scout of the Colorado Avalanche. I waited especially for him. My Colorado cap, one of the first from the Vietnamese market, sent him a clear signal when I met him outside the arena. He gave me several signed cards, a puck during the pre-game warm up and his stick following the end of the game. Remember the stick, because we’ll talk about it later. To call the security baffling would be an understatement, as I managed to get to rink side places, where only journalists were supposed to be, as well as outside the locker room, where I waited for Goulet and the other players. Those were the times. No problems, no restrictions, no conflicts. We were all one big hockey family. By the way, I mentioned our first encounter to Goulet about eight years later, when I had accreditation to one Avalanche game in the Pepsi Center during the Eurolanche Invasion V. Several NHL scouts were present in the press box, including Goulet, who was working for a different team at the time. We chatted for a bit and I had another opportunity to once again thank him for the beautiful memories.
Another event organized during the 2004-05 lockout was the Stanley Cup coming to Bratislava. The NHL literally had nothing to do, which is why the league sent the keepers of the Cup on a trip around the world. And it was a great idea! Although it was only one of the two replicas (the sole original is in the safe of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, where you can go without any problems), I didn’t really care. The players also receive the replica after they’ve won their final game en route to the Cup. I arrived at the same, old arena of the local club with my father in advance. Believe it or not, I was the very first one to touch the Cup. Do you think I would be satisfied with a normal touch on the ice, where hockey’s Holy Grail was displayed on a table with a tablecloth with the NHL logo? You guessed it. I wouldn’t. That’s why I waited for it in the exact same hallway I met Stan Mikita. Suddenly, one of the Cup keepers appeared. He held the Stanley Cup and was heading for the ice, where the waiting fans were already gathering. Yet another dream was about to come true. The Stanley Cup, the very same trophy the Avalanche won in 2001, was a mere meter away. As the keeper came closer and closer, I decided that I won’t let him pass. I told him something with my broken English and took the Cup from his hands. Really! Suddenly, I had the Stanley Cup in my grasp. The man just stood there and looked at me. From the photo my father took on our old camera, one can see that the keeper didn’t look all too excited. Anyhow, I held the Stanley Cup in my own hands. I was so ecstatic that I don’t even remember if it was light or heavy. But I held it. The Stanley Cup. Yes, the Stanley Cup. A moment of a lifetime, which was the main reason the pain from the cancelled 2004-05 went away. Will this be the reason I won’t ever win it? I’m not superstitious and I don’t believe in curses. I still believe that one day, I’ll officially win the Stanley Cup.
The last event, which further cemented my NHL fandom and kind of played its part in the creation of Eurolanche, was ProHockey magazine competition. During the 2005-06 season, the grand prize was the biggest and most prized one the magazine has ever offered – a trip to New York to watch NHL hockey live. The task? To guess the weight of Jaromir Jagr’s stick. The stick I received from Michel Goulet during the locked out season helped me in my calculations.The name on the stick read Andrei Nikolishin, a Russian forward who used to play for Colorado in 2003-04. Goulet, then employed by the club, most likely received the stick from an equipment manager for that one exhibition game. Much to my surprise, I found several photos of Jagr using the very same type of stick. I didn’t hesitate and weighted the stick on a classic kitchen scale used for flour etc.I’m not kidding. I got somewhere between 400 and 500 grams, I don’t exactly remember.
I then sent the number in and waited. The result? Second place. I was only about five grams away from winning the competition.Somebody else went to New York. I won a dinner with players from the so-called Jagr Team made up of the best Czech hockey players.The dinner was in Olomouc,Czech Republic and the program was great. Jagr didn’t came, but that didn’t really matter to me.It was an awesome experience.Jan Hlavac,who played 436 NHL games and played in the Czech league up until 2016-17, left the biggest impression on me. We had dinner, played bowling and really enjoyed ourselves. I was accompanied by my mother and grandfather, because I just turned 16 at the time. On the next day, I received my report card at school. It was a great start to the summer holidays! During the meeting, I also met the Editor- in-chief of the Czech ProHockey Petr Novotny. We knew each other from our e-mail conversations since 2005, when the magazine published my first two reader’s letters. I was beyond myself. I also wrote about the meeting in Olomouc, which Petr later published. I’m glad that we’ve been friends ever since. ProHockey remains an important magazine, although its situation has been difficult since the age of the internet began. I still buy it every month. It’ll always be one of the pillars of my NHL fandom.
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
27/07/2018 - 21:51
