Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Happy retirement, #11

Saku Koivu announced his retirement today. I want to say, congratulations on a marvelous career. You were an inspiration to me when I had to overcome a debilitating injury. You always amazed me with your professionalism, whether it was talking down Sergei Kostitsyn when his brother had been injured by a dirty hit, or when you addressed the media immediately after a BS penalty that delivered a Leafs win on a silver platter. Or when you scored the first goal of a game and showed an inordinate amount of emotion--until I realized that the reason you were so excited was that you wanted to score that goal for the deaf boy who had just sung the National Anthem. You were the hero Montreal needed, even when it didn't deserve you.

I have two wishes: that you had been able to retire a Montreal Canadien, and that you had been able to win the Cup with the Habs. But you showed us that there are even more important things. The highlights I mentioned were about more than just putting the puck in the net. (However, I must point out that it was you who scored the deciding goal in the 6-5 comeback win against the Rangers on February 19th, 2008.)

For everything you did, thank you.

Have a wonderful retirement.

With best wishes,

GW (KK)