I’m not a hockey fan, but after the unusual game played last week when the Carolina Hurricanes visited the Toronto Maple Leafs, well, I’m still not a hockey fan.

But I love a good story.

Thanks to my husband who keeps me apprised of all-things sports, knowing that there will be a small portion of those things that I am interested in hearing. He didn’t let me down with this story.

First of all, he had me at Zamboni, which is a fun word to say. I actually knew what a Zamboni is, because they use it in the Olympics to resurface the ice for the skaters. I guess it makes sense that they would use it to prepare for a hockey game as well. I hear hockey has a big following.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Evidently, every hockey team has two goalies. I’ve seen a little bit of hockey, so I was surprised that they only keep two, but seriously, what do I know? (Rhetorical question, but in case you’re wondering – not much.)

There is a provision in place in the event that both goaltenders become injured. It’s a weird one. The guy who drives the Zamboni becomes the goaltender. It doesn’t matter that he may be playing for the visiting team. That’s his job. (He also practices with his home team, which makes it a little less like they picked him up off the street.)

It reminds me of being back in school and learning to debate the other side of an opinion, only there is a chance you could lose teeth in the process. You have to give it your all and try to win the debate. That’s tough – hockey tough.

Well, the stars aligned and 42-year-old Dave Ayres became the emergency backup goalie for the visiting Hurricanes. He was met with great encouragement and admiration from both sides. Amazing. Carolina was leading 3-1 when Ayres entered the game. He ended up stopping 8 out of 10 shots, and Carolina won 6-3. He was the hero of the game for both sides.

Talk about stepping up to help in time of need! That’s what he did and now as a result of his 15 minutes of fame, he’s being featured in my blog! He also received $500 for his work and was allowed to keep his jersey. Pretty cool. He has an interesting story and you can read about it and more about the game here.

It all made me think about how we don’t really know what our day ahead is going to look like. Maybe we’ll have to step in for someone else doing something we’d never dreamed of doing. I’m fresh off of a conference at our church about the Holy Spirit. One of the sessions talked about such things – adventures with God. So I’m going to keep my eyes and ears open and drive my Zamboni (or Ford Escape) until called upon to step in. It almost happened as I left Costco today.

The lady two cars up pulled out of the parking lot, and her wallet went flying off of the roof of her car. Horns sounded loudly to alert the driver, but it was to no avail. The woman in front of me quickly emerged from her car, snatched up the wallet, and tore down the road to make the goal. I hope she wins. She’s a winner in my eyes.