Even after a semester in college, I find that my high school spirit is still alive and well. Monday night I decided to attend a hockey game between my St. Peter-Marian Guardians and our archrival St. John's Pioneers. Being the perennial underdogs - we only beat them once in the 6 years I was there - it was incredible to see the Guardians jump out to a 3-0 lead. I found myself talking out loud to myself about what the players should be doing - who to pick up, who to pass to, when to overload one side of the ice. There was the deflected shot from the point to make it 1-0. Then an amazing pass to the backdoor man on the power play which led to a 2-0 lead. Halfway through the 2nd a screened slapper from the right point flew right into the top left corner to make it 3-0. Every time we scored the cheers were louder than the goal before. And when a rebound was knocked out of mid-air and signaled a goal to make it 4-0, the SPM fans were on their feet.
But then it was waved off for high-sticking, and - regardless of whether it was the right call or not - I joined in on the cries of "you're blind ref!" And immediately after, St. John's netted one to cut the lead to 2. But after another SPM goal to make it 4-1, time slowly ticked away to zero, and SPM took the victory. After 6 years of never being able to beat the hated St. John's, I was psyched to see this year's team beat our rivals. It felt good seeing the team you grew to hate lose. And when you're always getting beat, each win you take means that much more. Rivalries are what makes sports. Because no matter how you do in the season, everyone will always ask if you beat your rival. And for some of us, we fill with pride and say, "Hell yeah we beat them."
