Up close and personal with a hockey puck

I am probably like most sports fans when it comes to remembering the first live sporting event I attended. My memory is a bit fuzzy. But I have a good excuse. I was hit in the face by a hockey puck.

I haven't been able to track down the exact game, but at some point during the 1987-88 NHL season I took a trip to Landover to see the Washington Capitals play at the Capital Centre.

My Dad and I, along with a friend and her dad, rode over to the arena together. When we walked into the building, it wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. Hey, I was 4, and thought the place would be freezing.
We took our seats, which were about halfway up looking on from the side, and the game started.

I don't remember the details, but I'm sure there was plenty of skating, passing, hitting and not scoring. After a while, I must have become frustrated with my point of view because I asked my Dad if I could sit on his lap.

I immediately regretted this decision.

According to my Dad, one of the players attempted to clear the puck, but instead sent a moon shot into the stands.

My Dad put his hands in front of my face, but he was unable to track the arcing puck against the dark ceiling.

The next thing I remember is lying down on a table, staring into a really bright light. No, I didn't get a glimpse of the afterlife. I was still at the Capital Centre getting patched up.

I sat up on the table and a guy in a suit handed me a hockey puck that he said was used during the game. I believed him because the puck was still ice cold.

It wasn't the puck that hit me, though. Some other fan probably kept that one.

From the arena, my Dad took me to the hospital. The damage: Five stitches and one woozy 4-year-old.
When we got home, my Dad propped me up in the living room and took a picture of me with my new keepsakes: a Washington Capitals hockey puck and a brand new scar over my left eye.

I still have both.

Sometimes I wonder which player hit the puck into the stands. Perhaps it was center Dale Hunter. Maybe it was left wing Kelly Miller. It could have been goalie Don Beaupre. I like to think it was Hall of Fame defenseman Rod Langway.

This memory was especially vivid after the Capitals lost to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 7 of their first-round series during the Stanley Cup playoffs this past season.

Why?

Because being a Capitals fan is a lot like getting hit repeatedly in the face by a hockey puck.
 
Originally published on www.carrollcountytimes.com.