Let's Go

Photo credit Francois Lacasse / NHLI via Getty Images

The lights are dim. Empty stands echo silence save for the muffled clang of a closing door and the whisper of vented air. The stillness is heavy with silent anticipation. A fresh sheets of ice awaits.

History looms heavy over Centre Bell for the players who slip on a jersey that is both new and as old as the game itself. They will carve the ice with blades of gleaming steel and bask in the glow of hometown adulation and echoes of voices silenced by the passing of time. They will grasp and raise a torch, light enough for strong hands, but laden with the weight of past glories and future aspirations.

Anxious spectators far and wide will bind their dreams of greatness to those blessed with extraordinary skills and steadfast determination to rise to this challenge. An elderly fan will don a threadbare jersey for another in an untold number of seasons. A child will don a jersey for the first in an untold number of seasons to come. Records will be set. Records will be broken. Heroes will rise. Heroes will falter. Those passed will live again.

Honouring history and embracing the future falls equally upon the shoulders of those who charge fearlessly into the blinding spotlight. They seek inspiration from the past and in a multitude of voices unified in a common dream. They will fortify themselves against the strength of adversaries, the derision of cynics and the murmurs of self doubt. Eyes locked with rivals and demons alike in the pursuit of a dream that began with their first tentative steps onto fresh ice.

History looms heavy for those that slip on the jersey of the Montreal Canadiens, but greatness is not defined by the achievements of the past. Greatness can only be found in the relentless pursuit of excellence. What matters now, what has always mattered, is the history yet to be written.

Let the ice be carved by blades of gleaming steel. Let the multitude of voices rise. Let rivals face off. Let dreams of greatness be fulfilled.

In the stillness heavy with silent anticipation, a fresh sheet of ice awaits. History waits.

Drop the puck. Let's go.