World Junior Hockey - The most wonderful time of the year! How Evan helped to shape one of the top goalies of all time

 Ahhhh...Christmas. Time for cozy fires, turkey dinners, magical winter nights and....hockey.

That's right - any true Canadian hockey fan spends the Christmas holidays glued to the TV watching one of the most exciting sporting events of the year - The World Junior Hockey Championship. 

Only the best of the best up-and-coming young hockey stars are invited to play in such a prestigious sporting event, so when Evan Lindsay, aged 18 and sporting an impressive fro of gingery curls received the invite to try out for the Canadian World Junior Hockey Team in 1997, we were all pretty damn excited! 

Evan was traded to the Prince Albert Raiders at aged 17 with the intent of backing up the Raiders experienced older goaltender, Blaine Russel.  However, everything changed suddenly when Russel suffered a broken leg halfway through the season, forcing a young and inexperienced Evan into the top spot. 

Although Ev had a shaky start (first game losing 14 to 2 - eeks!), he quickly stepped up his game and became one of the top goalies in the league. By February of that year, he received the "rookie of the month" award for the Canadian Hockey League. The team exceeded expectations and made play-offs that year, with Evan been touted as "the one to watch."

That summer, Ev was drafted 32nd overall in the second round of the NHL draft to the Calgary Flames. Ev was in good company with Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, and the renowned young goalie from Quebec who was drafted 4th overall, Roberto Luongo. 

Side note: Coincidentally, or not so coincidentally, Ev's rise to fame coincided with the beginning of our epic love story, so you know - I do have to take some credit for Ev's sudden success. ;) 

We were all pretty pumped when Evan received an invitation to try out for the Canadian World Junior Hockey Team in Fall 1997. He was scheduled to fly to Kitchener, Ontario for the week-long try outs. Four goalies in total were invited, including Matthew Garon, Patrick Derochers, and Ev's draft buddy, Roberto Luongo - you may or may not have heard of those guys if you follow NHL hockey. 

Now I'm not sure if perhaps Ev was feeling the nerves or if his raging 17 year old hormones were causing him to make terrible decisions, but about 4 days before try-outs, Ev instigated a fight with another goalie, who, unbeknownst to Ev, was nicknamed "The Cuban Assassin."

 The Raiders were not having a stellar game in Brandon and were losing 7 to 2 to the Wheat Kings, while being outshot 55 to 18.  Ev was pissed off. It was apparent that the team had given up and left Ev in net to deal with the onslaught of shots. Tempers were high and a line brawl erupted. As the crowd went crazy jeering on players as they threw punches, Ev looked down the ice at the opposing goaltender and motioned, "Let's go." Brandon's goalie initially didn't have much interest in fighting, but once Ev angrily shot the puck directly at him, he threw off his gloves, indicating that he was game, and the two goaltenders lumbered to center ice to "settle the score" (as you recall it was 7 to 2!)

Long story short, Ev quickly learned that one should not fight a young man who holds the title of "Cuban Assassin." 

Ev threw a few punches, but eventually ended up on the ice where he separated his shoulder, lost a little blood, and earned a legit black eye. Watch the fight here. 

Heading into world Junior try-outs with a separated shoulder and black eye is not ideal - I mean, Ev looked "tough" I suppose, but typically world-class goaltenders don't sport black eyes. With a shiner and shoulder shot full of cortisone, Ev made the trip to Kitchener, Ontario. 

Evan says now that as soon as he arrived at World Junior Try-outs it was very apparent that the invited players were next level. He noticed immediately that the other goalies had much larger pads and their equipment was far superior to his. Initially, he rationalized that Luongo was playing better due to the larger pads and expensive gear, but Ev admits now that as he watched Luongo move in net, it was apparent that he possessed a very special talent. 

Despite the separated shoulder and black eye, Ev faired well. The try-outs consisted mainly of intersquad exhibition games. Because there were 4 goaltenders, 2 would play half a game and then switch out so the other 2 goalies would play the next. By the second game, Ev was feeling pretty good. Letting in only 1 goal on 21 shots in half a game, Ev skated back to the bench feeling as though he had "won" against Luongo, whose stats were not quite as stellar as his at the other end of the ice. 

As Ev stood behind the boards next to Luongo, watching the second half of the game unfold, he could see that Defenseman, Mike Van Ryan was about to clear the puck out of the zone. Ev knew this particular player had a bit of a wild shot under pressure, and Ev could predict that things were about to go sideways. Leaning over the boards, Ev carefully tracked the puck as it sailed directly toward the players bench. 

Ev leaned his body further over the boards, directly blocking Luongo's line of vision. Ev waited. And waited...and timing everything just perfectly, quickly jerked his head back just as the puck collided directly with Luongo's face. 

Roberto Luongo fell to the ground and the medical team quickly rushed in to assess the situation. This was their star. He was going to win the championship for Team Canada! Everything had to be done to ensure Luongo was ok.

Ev recalls watching as the Luongo lay motionless on the ground. He also recalls silently chanting in his head, "Please don't get up please don't get up." Deep down inside, Ev knew that Luongo was a better goalie, and Ev's chances of making the team would significantly increase if Luongo was rendered blind.

Luongo eventually stood up and proclaimed that he was fine. The medical team quickly stitched up his eye, and with blood dripping down his face, he went out to play the next game where he effortlessly stopped every puck that came his way. 

At that point, not only was Luongo proving himself a world class goaltender, but he was a world class goaltender that persevered with blood dripping down his face and limited vision in one eye. 

Sadly, Ev was cut from the team the very next day. 

Luongo went on to play 19 seasons in the NHL where he earned a career total of 107+ million dollars. 

To this day, Ev insists he promoted Luongo's resiliency,  basically making Luongo's career. ;)

I, for one, firmly believe this is why Ev is such an incredible business coach today!

So...Cheers to Roberto Luongo and Evan Lindsay for the assist! 

The tribe has spoken. Extinguish your tiki torch. Game over.

 Typically my posts are pretty light-hearted in nature. I dislike conflict immensely so I tend to avoid  anything political, and to be honest, I don't enjoy reading political commentaries, so I choose to blog about topics that I enjoy reading about. But, hey, it's my blog, and I'm pissed off. I feel like venting. If you're not into reading a short vent, I recommend that you skip this one...because here I go...

Over the past two weeks, two separate groups of travellers arrived in Cayman, were mandated into 14 day quarantine, proceeded to tamper with their tracking devices and breach quarantine. One couple, whom I am embarrassed to admit are Canadian, managed to get caught on camera breaching quarantine 15 times. That's right...FIFTEEN. Once to visit the liquor store (can you hear the squeal of steam emitting from my ears?). The other breacher decided to attend her boyfriend's jet ski competition, where hundreds of onlookers watched her hold someone's baby and interact closely with the crowd. WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. F? 

I realize that there are a multitude of beliefs circulating the world about Covid. I've heard that this is all a conspiracy theory. We are all puppets of our government. Death rates are being inflated. Human rights are being violated. Covid is a plot by big pharma. Yes. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion. However, if you intend to step one foot into this county...if you wish to live or visit the Cayman Islands where we, as a collective whole of nearly 60,000 people followed our government's rules to a "T" since this Pandemic was defined, resulting in one of the few countries in the world living freely without community spread, then you better follow our damn rules for F^%#'s sake!

One of the breachers was fined $10,000. I hope that stings. The couple from Canada was fined $1000 (not nearly enough) and their tiki torches were immediately extinguished casting them off the island. All of the breachers were shamed incessantly on social media. But...what if they unknowingly infected someone and began the spread in this utopian paradise that we have worked so hard to create? What if someone on their flight was positive (we are identifying positive travellers on a daily basis), and unbeknownst to them began community spread across an entire country because they had a hankering for gin at 3:00 on a sunny afternoon? What a selfish act to place 60,000 people at risk. It's vile and I am disgusted by this blatant disregard for our rules. 

If I could speak directly to these selfish humans I would ask:

- Do you have any idea that we were essentially locked down for 3 straight months without any contact with family or friends?

- Do you have any idea that helicopters literally tracked our movements to ensure that we did not so much as leave our yard on mandated days?

- Do you have any idea that many of our students live in less than ideal conditions and returned to school in August with PTSD after experiencing and/or witnessing violence in the home during lockdown?

- Do you have any idea that's it's taken our students months to become physically and emotionally regulated enough to be in a position where they are finally equipped to begin learning again?

- Do you have any idea that our servers donned masks outside in 90 degree temperatures for entire shifts, all while maintaining friendliness while relieved to still have a job to return to?

- Do you have any idea how scared we all were to take that first trip to the grocery store after being locked up in our homes for months?

- Do you have any idea what a relief it's been to safely attend birthday parties, happy hours, and celebrations with friends while the rest of world is concerned about making their family members ill?

- Do you have any idea how incredible it feels to be able to safely hug or high five your students without fear when they desperately crave human contact and wish to celebrate an achievement with you?

- Do you have any idea what we've all sacrificed to get to the place that we are at right now?

No. I don't think that you do. 

If you don't like rules, please do not come here. 

As for everyone else who is enjoying 2 weeks of solitude in quarantine...enjoy the beautiful views. Welcome to paradise. See you at happy hour in 2 weeks. 

Cheers.