I Got To Watch Him Play

Photo by Andre Ringuette/Getty ImagesWhen I was growing up my living room had a small triangle of wall between the stairs leading to the second floor and a piece of furniture. I would often use this wall as a goal, and donned in foam goalie pads, threw a rubber bouncy ball against the opposing furniture and pretended I was Mike Richter.

I would dive across the crease to make a flashy glove save. Split toe stops at the post were commonplace. Often the ball would bounce off one of the drawers at an awkward angle and I would have to thrash my blocker out and barley deflect the ball over the cage. I always won the Stanley Cup. Occasionally we would lose Game 6 on a very unlucky goal against,…