Lucky bounces, that is how my Sunday was defined. I went into Sunday knowing I had two things on my mind: The Canadiens are going into a Game 7 showdown against the Lightning, and my first round of golf this year.
For most of Canada, we’re lucky if we get four or five months of good golf weather. Sunday was round number one of the season and I entered it with very low expectations. Just don’t be a disaster out there is my basic mindset. Hit a few good shots, enjoy the day with your buddies, and get home for the actual thing that matters, Game 7.
It was a beautiful day and the whole group was playing pretty well. Little did I know that my round was going to take a dramatic turn on the 17th hole.
The special thing about the course we were playing is they feature a number of replica holes inspired by some of the most famous courses around the world. Amen Corner at Augusta National, The Postage Stamp hole at Troon, 18th at St. Andrew’s and probably the most fun and famous is the iconic par-3 Island Green at TPC Sawgrass.
I’ve played this course and this hole many times. Sometimes I get lucky and hit the green but most of the time I dunk it in the water and take my drop and move on.
But on this day, I had one thought in my head as I drove up to the 17th hole, hit a good shot for the Habs. One good shot as a sign, an omen, that maybe today is the day good things will happen.
I stepped up to the tee with pitching wedge in hand and hit a good shot. One of my buddies said that if that lands the right way it could be really close. It landed safely on the green and then the unthinkable happened, it started rolling towards the hole and kept rolling, rolling, rolling and then disappeared into the cup. A hole in one!
Something I never dreamed of happening, happened. My buddies and I were screaming and hugging as none of us had ever seen that happen in person before.
I can’t tell you the feeling I had walking up to the hole and fishing my ball out of that cup. True elation. I’m riding that high into Game 7. Could this be a sign of things to come? A good omen for our Habs?
The lucky bounces that changed everything for the Canadiens
Could my lucky bounce carry forward into this series finale where it seemed like the only way anyone was going to score against these two goalies was by luck. Who knows, but I was going to hold that belief.
Cue Nick Suzuki. The Canadiens Captain and the number one line had received a lot of attention for not scoring in 5-on-5 play the whole series. Well, what a time to turn that narrative around and score a huge go-ahead goal in the first period. Suzuki deflects the point shot from Kaiden Guhle and it bounces off Tampa’s J.J. Moser and into the net. A lucky bounce. The Canadiens are up 1-0 after the first period.
I can’t believe this may be happening. But just when I let some hope and possibility creep into my brain, the Canadiens play the worst period of hockey in their entire series.
Tampa is relentless and not giving the Habs anything. The shot clock is ticking up in Tampa’s favour and the Habs are sitting there stuck on four shots. Tampa continued to bring the pressure and got the equalizer on the powerplay. But, thanks to the brilliant play of Jakub Dobes, the Canadiens escaped the second period still tied 1-1 which is even more remarkable considering they didn’t register a single shot on net.
We head into the third period and my stress levels are at an all-time high. The Habs are not playing a bad game but they just can’t get anything sustained in Tampa’s end. Just past the midway point in the period, Montreal finally gets in and pins the Lightning in their end. It’s the most activity in Tampa’s zone since the first period.
The Canadiens keep the puck in and Alex Newhook jumps into the play fresh off the bench. Newhook feeds it back to the point, the pass comes to Lane Hutson who fires a wrister on Andrei Vasilevskiy who blockers it away to the glass.
What seems like a nothing play turns into something in an instant. Newhook heads behind the Tampa net, where the puck after ricocheting off the glass takes a hard bounce off the ice at the side of the net and Newhook swats it out of mid-air. The puck bounces off Vasilevskiy’s pad and pants and into the back of the net. Another lucky bounce has given the Canadiens the improbable lead.
Now they just need to hold Tampa at bay for the next few agonizing minutes. Dobes stands tall, making save after save, the defense blocking shot after shot. The time ticks away and with only a few ticks left who is it but Captain Nick Suzuki making one last big block to seal the win.
This team found a way. Only nine shots on net. No team in history has ever won a Stanley Cup playoff game with fewer shots. But the bounces came when they needed them. It’s not about how many shots you get but what you do with those shots that counted in the end.
Just like my one shot on the 17th hole that Sunday afternoon. I had one shot and I made it count. Do I really think my hole in one on Sunday had any bearing on that game? Not a chance. But it sure helped me cling on to some hope and belief that if I could do that, anything is possible. Because sometimes you need a lucky bounce in life, on Sunday I got a few.
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