We met 25 years ago, discussing hockey in a message board. We got married 20 years ago, just as the 2004-05 NHL lockout was coming to an end. Hockey brought us together, but lots of more important things kept us together for my entire adult life.
She did love the Devils though. My sister in law put together this collage, all the pictures are hers. That's Ken Daneyko at one of the many Devils meet and greets the family attended. In the center is a picture of the family before attending Game 2 of the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals. Di insisted on going despite being very pregnant with our second child. I stayed home with our first. Of course the game went to Overtime. She gave birth the next day. We watched Game 3 from her hospital bed.
At one of those Devils Dinners (before Di and I met) she was at a table with Bob Carpenter.
Fun fact: Carpenter has been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.. but Martin Brodeur has not.
Carpenter asked "who's your favorite hockey player?" likely assuming she'd say him, or at least one of his teammates.
"Trevor Linden" she replied.
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| Di has over a dozen NHL jerseys, including this authentic 1992-era Canucks sweater |
She was always a Trevor fan, before she even liked the Devils. She once wrote to Hockey Illustrated asking the editor in chief why he wasn't featured. She cited reasons like being the youngest captain in the NHL, a rising star, and a top two-way forward. The EIC wrote her back and sent a regional cover.
While she lived with her parents, Di collected hockey cards along with jerseys and magazines. Aside from a brief L.A. Rams fandom during Jim Everett's peak years, hockey was the only sport she liked.
She had a knack for pulling Steve Yzerman and Curtis Joseph inserts.
These massive hits are still here. I don't plan on selling anything out of her collection - except maybe her Theo Fleury stuff. She soured on him pretty quick. Bummer she didn't collect Marc-Andre Fleury, he's much more likeable. But "Flower" debuted right before the lockout.
Once we got married, she stopped collecting hockey cards and saved every spare penny for our first home. She was always financially responsible, and we didn't have a decent enough income for the fun things we used to do before - dinners, movies, hockey games, card shows, concerts - until recently.
In recent years, her favorite bands were Muse and Nothing But Thieves. A few days ago I washed and folded about a dozen of her t-shirts/hoodies of just these two bands. We saw Muse together four times, and NBT twice.
Before she got sick I was able to make small purchases at Target and on Sportlots. I even made it to a fairly big card show shortly after she was diagnosed. There have been local shows since, including one in a mall right after my birthday. She wasn't able to go to any of those.
Since I was about eight years old, sports cards have been a constant in my life. A comfort in hard times. But there's no way that retail therapy can get me through this. I'm planning to finish the 1956 Topps Set for my girls' college fund, but not much else seems worthwhile hobby-wise. I might pick up some hockey cards here and there as a reminder of our first years together - though Di wasn't really keeping up with current players after our daughters were born.
I'm still collecting cards though. Too many.
I don't want any more of these for a while.
