Brrrr-aving the elements

Anyone who has ever played hockey knows that the mind is just as important as the body. You must be able to think positively, visualize scenarios and, more importantly, block out pain.
Hounding, I’m beginning to believe, is no different.

Standing for hours in all forms of inclement weather, dealing with hotel security guards unable to pass a police department’s psychological profile and getting the increasingly all-too-often egomaniacs to share 10 seconds of their precious time requires a certain mental toughness.

This past Saturday night in Portland, Maine, when the Hartford Wolf Pack played the Pirates, provides a good example. It wasn’t so much having to deal with the delightful, but dippy, beer-soaked Hockey Annies to my left, or the gargantuan, hockey-loving-but-face-stuffing Trekkies to my right. Even the overzealous, seat-stealing, cliché-driven, trenchcoat-wearing daddy didn’t bother me.

No, it was the fact that the crystal-clear night sky and the crisp northern wind reminded me that winter, and all of the booger-freezing wonder that goes with it, is right around the corner. Maybe it’s just that I’m another year older and that ecological changes apparently enhance the piercing effects of sub-freezing temperatures. But, boy, was it ever cold.

I’ll tell you something, though. This was the earliest I’ve ever had to employ the mind games I use (visualization of tropical climates, fireplaces and a certain Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue from the late 1970s) to help keep my nose and toes warm.

With any luck, my hounding efforts will soon shift way south of the Mason-Dixon Line, to a place where a long-sleeve T-shirt and cargo shorts will suffice in a year’s earliest months. Until then, it’s long johns and woolies for me.

Pucks, among the 16 gained during the shivering night, shown above:

Top row:
Hartford Whalers: Ulf Samuelsson
New Jersey Devils: Jim Schoenfeld
Washington Capitals: Jim Schoenfeld

Bottom row:
New York Rangers: Al Montoya
Hartford Wolf Pack: Al Montoya
University of Michigan: Al Montoya