Hockey has been around since the mid-1800s which is so long that historians can't specify where it was created but can only narrow it down to Windsor, Nova Scotia, Kington, Ontario or Montreal, and Quebec. In 1877 the Montreal Gazette published the first known rules.
During the first quarter of the 20th century the NHL, today's premier league, was formed in the United States and Canada. It was originally composed of six teams but now has 30. The "Original Six" were in Canada and the Northern U.S. Now there are teams in every corner of the country from Tampa Bay, FL to San Jose, CA. Nearly every boy in Canada is raised with dreams of playing in the NHL. While most of the junior professional teams are in Canada, the majority of the NHL teams are in the U.S. for financial purposes.
On the road to the NHL, players must succeed at sevreal levels before they are elite professionals and with the expansion of hockey to the U.S. some of the homegrown Canadian Boys find themselves living in the most random cities they could have imagined in the U.S. This lifestyle brings players closer with their teammates like a group of brothers.
Troy Bodie of Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, is a former 9th round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. He was assigned to the Stockton Thunder of the ECHL. Stockton, CA, is 1,854 miles from Portage La Prairie, where Bodie grew up and Portage La Prairie is 1,150 miles from Kelowna, BC, where Bodie played junior hockey from 2002-2006 for the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL.
Bodie says "wherever you go people determine how good that place is by how good the people are" and he thinks "Stockton's pretty nice."
The experience of being a professional hockey player is "a complete lifestyle and its tough" says Bodie. He followed with "in the hockey world no matter where you go you meet someone besides you and start chatting it up and you become great friends." The Canadian players' families back home are very likey to tune in for their loved ones' games every chance they get.
"Growing up, I'd never picture them sitting by the radio on a Saturday night listening to my games," says Bodie who added the fact that his parents listen to every game on the internet radio network.
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2 comments:
I love troy. He is a great guy. I am glad that he is apart of stockton thunder. That's cool that he has the support from the parentals. I think troy is missing his friend tyler. I know I am. I want tyler back. We just got doobadoo now we need tyler then we will be a big happy thunder family again! :) Go Thunder!
Ya, I couldnt have asked for a nicer guy to interview, he even said "call me back by all means" if I had more questions or needed to clarify something. During the interview I began talking to him like he was one of my buddies because he's so down-to-earth. When he gets to the NHL he'll be great with the media. I know my little sister and all her friends love those Thunder players and they say Bodie is one of the nicest. A cool guy.
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