Thursday night was all the proof anyone would need to show that hockey is hard on one's health.
Over at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, the Heart Attack Kids (better known as the Prince George Spruce Kings) were at it again in Game 5 of their conference final with the Powell River Kings.
There was no score heading into the third period, raising the anxiety levels of the more than 2,000 people in the rink. When Powell River scored with less than 10 minutes left in the game, the anxiety was amplified.
When the Spruce Kings pulled the goalie with less than two minutes left, no one breathed and hearts pounded. When Prince George scored to force overtime, everyone screamed, damaging vocal chords and ear drums. The same thing happened when the Spruce Kings scored near midway through the first overtime to win the game and clinch the series.
At almost the same time, at Rogers Arena in Vancouver and in living rooms across B.C. and Canada, Canucks fans were weeping tears of sadness, pride and joy as Henrik and Daniel Sedin played the final home game of their illustrious 17-year NHL careers, all in a Canucks uniform.
The tears were flowing long before the game started, prompting the Vancouver International Airport to issue this travel advisory on its YVR Twitter feed: "Heavy precipitation expected in Vancouver tonight due to excessive tears falling while Daniel And Henrik play their last home game for the @Canucks. Airport operations should be normal but may be some misty eyes in the building."
Thousands tweeted heartfelt and emotional messages about their favourite Sedin memories and what the twins meant to them. One of them was from a young man who recalled waking up in B.C. Children's Hospital after life-saving surgery and the first face he saw was not a nurse or his mom or dad, it was Henrik Sedin telling him everything was going to be OK.
Canucks For Kids, the team's fund for children's charities (which received half of an incredible $1,014,555 50/50 jackpot Thursday night), tweeted that the Sedins, over the course of their careers, bought 1,475 game tickets for kids, visited with 960 kids and families at Canucks Place, the children's hospice, coached and skated with 1,117 B.C. minor hockey players and visited with 1,296 sick kids and their families at B.C. Children's Hospital.
As a result, many of the #ThankYouSedins tweets also included the hashtag #Imnotcryingyourecrying.
Even players and fans from other teams paid their respects. Edmonton Oilers fans tweeted clips of the Sedins leading the Canucks back out onto the ice to congratulate Oilers legend Ryan Smyth after playing his final game in 2014. The Sedins will take to the ice in an NHL game for the final time tonight in Edmonton.
It wasn't all hearts, flowers and messy blubbering.
Brad Marchand - an NHL veteran best known for putting the ass in class - also sent out a tweet.
"Congrats on a great career to the Sedins. Two of the best play makers to ever play the game! All the best in retirement."
That would be the same Boston Bruins Brad Marchand who speedbag punched Daniel Sedin several times in the face with his glove right in front of the officials. Daniel patiently took the punishment, waiting for the penalty call. It never came and Marchand and the Bruins went on to beat the Sedins and the Canucks in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.
Canucks fans were furious and blasted Marchand, momentarily forgetting that the Sedins had several Marchand-like teammates over their careers, players like Matt Cooke, Alex Burrows and Raffi Torres.
As if all of that emotional upheaval wasn't enough, the Sedins had one more act of Sedinery (that's Canucks hockey slang for on-ice sorcery) to perform on Thursday.
Down 3-1, Daniel scored, with an assist from Henrik and fellow Swede Alex Edler, to start the comeback. The game went to overtime and, with Phoenix down a man after taking a penalty, 33 (Henrik) passed to Daniel (22) who fired it into the back of the net at - get this - 2:33 of overtime.
Cue more tears and a seven-minute long standing ovation as the twins circled the rink, arms raised to applaud the crowd and hugged their teammates and coaches. Every Phoenix player congratulated the Sedins before leaving the ice except for defenceman Niklas Hjalmarsson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who enthusiastically embraced their Swedish boyhood heroes.
At least that hockey drama is over.
The Heart Attack Kids aren't done yet with Prince George.
They're already put the city through two nerve-wracking seven-game series, the second one coming back from being down three games to one.
Sure, they beat Powell River in five games except four of those five games were tight one-goal games and two of them went to overtime, one of them to double overtime.
How much more can the nerves of Prince George hockey fans take?
We're going to find out next weekend when the Spruce Kings, by far the northernmost team in the B.C. Hockey League, open the Fred Page Cup final at home against either the team from the West Kootenays with the best nickname in sports - the Trail Smoke Eaters - or on the road against the league's southernmost and only American team, the Wenatchee Wild.
The hockey drama may drive up our blood pressure, make our hearts race and leave us hoarse, deaf and a snotty, tearful mess but what an exhilarating ride.
Thanks, Henrik and Daniel.
And we're with you all the way, Heart Attack Kids.
-- Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
