Master of the Sticks...
Today June 9th, I embarked on a unique journey. It was not about how I got out of bed before 10:00am. It was not about how I found gas for 2.69 and saved myself a couple of dollars. Rather, this journey dealt with me playing NHL 06 and finding a true mastering of the sticks and ending my losing streak in NHL 06. There were some doubters, including myself, who had seen past shaky performances with the sticks. Some who didn’t think I had what it took to thus master the sticks on the highest difficulty, but I was up to the task, and wanted to climb the highest mountain.
It all started, in the afternoon portion of the day, as I played two games of NHL 06 and dropped both of them, losing to the Dallas Stars and Los Angeles Kings. The first game against the Kings, I jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the opening minutes, only to see that dissipate into a 5-2 loss as the final product. This left me wondering what the hell had to be done in order to win in this game, as me playing NHL 06 had gone from a relaxing activity, to feeling like Wayne Gretzky lost behind the bench with the Phoenix Coyotes. I decided to play another game to possibly lighten my spirits, and it proved to be a very demoralizing loss to the Dallas Stars. In losing to the Stars, I held a 3-1 lead midway through the third period. Victory was inevitable, and I seemed on the winning track, dominating the game from the start. This was only a temporary feeling, as I saw it vaporize like a hot fart in the summer air, and I blew the lead, as Dallas tied the game 3-3 and sent it into overtime. In overtime, the game seemed winnable, and I treated it like a new life and a valid chance to claim victory. But as Tom Petty once said, it was all “Too Good to be True”. This song/feeling proved to be evident as with 2:00 left in the overtime, Mike Modano took the wind out of my sail and ended up beating me with a top-shelf selection. This shot into the net also sent Dwayne Roloson’s Gatorade bottle into oblivion as it was launched off the top of the hockey goal, and into the rafters. Meaningless to say, I had lost 4-3, and I sat there, demoralized and staring at my Dell computer screen. This damn hockey game had sucked the emotion out of my bedroom as well as Oilers crowd on my computer screen who I spotted heading for the exits. At this point, I put down the sticks and seemed undetermined to ever touch them again. I figure that I was done playing…or at least that’s how it seemed.
At 10:30 pm, (the time in which I develop my second wind at night) I was on a high. I don’t know if it was from sniffing new Nike sneakers, drinking all that Mountain Dew, or simply the fact that I closed the windows in my room, I decided that I needed to take to the virtual ice, and end my losing streak. In giving myself a Rocky Balboa pre-game pep talk, I decided to just go crazy and win this game. Besides my losing streak, coming into this game, I had never beaten the Calgary Flames in this game…ever. This was David versus Goliath, and having seen Glory Road the night before, I was ready to win this game and be my own Don Haskins, and guide my team to glory and overcome adversity.
As the players came out of the locker rooms and onto the ice, I could see the Flames were scared shitless. Word on the street was that they saw the aftermath of my Dallas loss, and my tossing of the video game sticks onto the floor had them intimidated and shaken. With both teams on the ice, it was time for the game to begin, and for all the nonsense and bullshit that comes along with it.
Coming into this game, I don’t think I had ever really given 100% blood, sweat and tears towards a video game (I usually play them for fun). That however changed, as I took this game seriously and was poised to leave it all on the ice. I was tapping the many buttons, maneuvering analog buttons and configuring game strategy with the directional pad like never before. As the first period went on, my players were constantly firing shots at the net, and making countless attempts to score…something that has never happened. However, Calgary goaltender Mira Kiprusoff was up to the task and was stopping everything in sight. But then with 6:00 left in the first period, I saw a glimmer of hope as Kyle Cooper (aka “Lew Barrel”) spotted Theoren Fleury (all 5’6 of him) open, and he fired a shot into the back of the net. It was first blood and I was up 1-0. I then took this lead into the first intermission. In the second period, the fast paced game continued. With the computer firing all kinds of shots, and me playing the hockey equivalent of the Dallas Mavericks offense, shots were being fired like the US military hunting down an Al-Qaeda insurgent. Through all this fire, I struck again scoring on a fluke shot from the point, and going into the second intermission, I held a 2-0 lead. Seeing like this before, I didn’t take it lightly, and went into the third period thinking I would end up losing the game. This was the wrong attitude though, as I should have followed the words of Babe Ruth, as he once said, “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way!”
At the start of the third period, the computer quickly clanged two shots off the post, and started their constant barrage of shots. It almost seemed like the momentum had shifted, and some sort of A.I. glitch was about to occur where I would allow 3 goals this period and ultimately lose the game. Surprisingly, the computer missed a net that was open like Paris Hilton’s legs twice, and along with the clanging of shots off the post, I felt lucky. Just as that thought crossed my mind late in the game, Calgary scored to make it 2-1. 5:00 remained in the game. At this point, I was nervous, and decided to not even try anything fancy and just close the game out. I cleared the zone several times at the end, and narrowly ended up beating the Flames 2-1, as one of their players was on a breakaway as the final horn sounded.
I felt like I had won the Stanley Cup, but what I had really figured out was that I had finally had what the greats of video game lore would call, “the mastering the NHL 06 sticks.” In beating the best team (Calgary) in the game at the highest level (difficult), my life was complete and I could move onto something more useful in my life, rather than this virtual world of hockey I lived in for part of my Friday.
