#I just found the words to explain why hockey is so Important™️ to me

[mcdavidonthebreakaway]

I, an Oilers fan, moved to Vancouver a few years ago. Some of my favourite days to go out are Vancouver vs Edmonton game days, where Vancouver is the home team.

Blue and orange jerseys everywhere because the Canucks fans go to arena but Oilers fans find a screen and plant themselves there like their roots were never uplifted. Numbers are suddenly the most important thing in the world- 21 shots to their 17, 3-3, 46 seconds left in the 3rd, 97 to 29 passed back to 18 and back to 97 and SCORE -cheering every time the away jerseys make the puck find home in the net, waiting for the telltale sound of the buzzer to tell us it’s over- the anxiety, the pressure, the play, the period, the game.

Everyone cheers, strangers hug the person beside them because that’s our team and we won and every single point feels personal. It’s us against the Canucks, it’s us against the league, it’s us against the world, if you’re feeling a little dramatic.

And that little bar down the road from my house feels like home, if only for a few hours.