Daydream believer

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/06/2010 (5577 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PHILADELPHIA — Here’s what happens when your childhood dreams grow up and marry reality.

Consider: As a boy, Jonathan Toews spent hours on his backyard rink in St. Vital. Thousands of games. On some Saturday afternoons, when Jonathan’s buddies would come in for lunch, he’d just stay out by himself, skating in circles, fending off imaginary foes. Eventually, they realized Jonathan wasn’t coming in, so they headed back out again.

But then came last call, like it comes for every boy and girl. Time to go home. Time for homework. So you say, "OK, last game for the Cup!"

So, you see, Jonathan Toews has won the Stanley Cup before. In his mind. Then he went inside for soup and grilled cheese. Maybe watched his hero Joe Sakic play on Hockey Night in Canada, if he was lucky.

"Countless times growing up," Toews acknowledged Tuesday, when asked how often he’s dreamed of capturing a Stanley Cup. "I mean, any kid growing up in Canada anywhere as a hockey player, that’s the dream. That’s the one thing you keep telling yourself, you know you’re going to do it someday."

Someday has arrived. Toews is all grown up, although just 22. And tonight, Toews will indeed play a hockey game where his Chicago Blackhawks could win the Cup. For real. Not only that, if the Chicago Blackhawks end the Philadelphia Flyers’ season in Game 6, they will hand Lord Stanley’s silver chalice to Toews personally.

Last game for the Cup.

But if those long ago winter afternoons were the fancy of a young boy’s imagination, the vision morphed into an accepted possibility for Toews — cemented by watching Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins hoist the treasured mug last June.

"That’s when it really set in that I felt our team and myself personally… never felt closer," Toews told reporters in Philadelphia on Tuesday. "This is something that could really become a reality.

"It’s been a long year, but I think we knew all along we could make it this far. Hopefully, we can find a way to do it tomorrow."

True enough, Game 6 might not be the dream come true for Toews. The Flyers are 9-1 at Wachovia Center, after all, and no team wants to watch the enemy make the victory laps in their own building. Said Flyers’ defender Chris Pronger: "I think we know what we’re up against. They’re obviously trying to close this out and we’re trying to get to a Game 7. I think everybody in the (Philly) locker-room understands what’s at stake."

But just the thought is enough to give at least one interested party goosebumps.

"Wow," sighed Toews’ father, Bryan, at the image of his son lifting the Cup aloft. "It would be surreal. Although I’m sure (Flyers captain Mike) Richards’ parents are thinking the same thing, imagining their son doing it. Only my son has a chance to win it (Wednesday night). Hopefully, it will happen."

Toews has admitted to his family that it’s hard, being so tantalizingly close, not to fixate on winning it all.

"He says going to bed at night, you can’t help but think about it, but you’ve got to get it out of your mind," Bryan said. On the Hawks’ off day on Monday, Toews spent the day playing video games and table tennis with younger brother David and a few buddies. "He’s just as intense at those games, so it’s good to get away from the hockey side."

Knowing Toews, however, to expect his mind not to wander to a place where the Stanley Cup is over his head is to ask a five-year-old to go to bed on Christmas Eve and not think about Santa Claus.

"It’s been flashing in my head since Game 1 of the playoffs," said Toews. "Every time you win one game it feels like you’re going all the way to the Cup. And I’ve always said when you lose a game it feels like your season’s going to be over.

"It’s been such a crazy ride. The last day here hasn’t been any different. You just try to get those thoughts out of your head that get you all excited and jacked up in the middle of the afternoon. You try and save your energy. The time to be focused and ready to go is (Wednesday) night when the game comes around. That’s when you want to be energetic and ready to play."

Sometimes, if you want it hard enough, childhood dreams never die. They never grow old.

And if you dare, they might just come true.

One last game for the Cup.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

briere a black-eyed pea C5