Laurie Boschman and The Legacy of Faith In The NHL

I’m told that Laurie Boschman is a distant relative of mine. That, however, is not why I am writing about him here.  In a sports league that is much more reserved than its peers, Laurie Boschman has played a significant role in blazing a trail for Christians in the National Hockey League.

Whether it’s that vocally reserved culture of most hockey players, a possible frowning upon of outspoken faith in the league or just a more secular media coverage in Canada than we are used to in the U.S. , you don’t hear too much about an athlete’s personal faith in the NHL. The “PDF” ( Public Display of Faith) is a bit more rare in the good ol’ hockey game.

That’s not always a bad thing – it is, of course, far better to walk the walk than merely talk the talk. But as I have begun to research this topic of Christianity in the NHL (both now and in the past)I have discovered a real legacy of faith amongst some of its most popular players.

I’ve discovered that Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, inventor of the “slap shot” and winner of 6 Stanley cups with the Canadiens, wrote these words at the end of his autobiography:  “Once upon a time I used to believe that hockey was everything. It isn't. God and family come first. Being happy with the Lord and my family is a lot better than winning 500 Stanley Cups! When you are flat on your back the only place to look is up-to God.”

I’ve discovered that Paul Henderson, scorer of perhaps the most famous hockey goal in Canadian history, found his faith in Jesus Christ through a friend who told him he “hadn’t  (yet) taken care of his soul”. After all the glory days Paul says he still felt bitter, angry and discontent and that, after a long struggle with his pride and fears, he said he finally: “…gave my life to the Lord”.

I’ve discovered that Mike Gartner, one of the game’s best right wingers and member of the 700 goal club, was led to Jesus by none other than Jean Pronovost.  Pronovost  (who himself was led to faith  by Atlanta Flames defensemen Ed Kea and his wife) mentored Gartner in the position and  also invited him to Bible studies at his home. Later , on a flight between games,  Gartner recalls that Jean asked him a very direct question  “ Mike, if this plane goes down, do you know where you will spend eternity?”  In the book,  “Toward the Goal” , Gartner tells of his personal experience with Jesus Christ when “In the quietness of my hotel room, I got on my knees and said : ‘ Lord, if You are real, come into my life now and change me.”  

But now back to Laurie Boschman. His story from top draft pick of the famed Maple Leafs, to being in the club’s doghouse , then back to resuming a successful NHL career and now to current chaplain of the Ottawa Senators and member of Hockey Ministries International is inspiring.

Boschman was born and raised in Saskatchewan and later moved to Manitoba where he played for the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings. He played 14 seasons in the NHL for the Leafs, Oilers, Jets, Devils and finally, in 1992 , the expansion Ottawa Senators where he became the first captain in team history.  

It was in Toronto though where he had two profound encounters. The first and most important was meeting and getting to know the Leaf’s forward Ron Ellis. He respected the way Ellis carried himself n and off the ice and finally asked him “What makes you tick?” . Ellis went on to explain his relationship with Christ and the guidance he found in the Bible. Not long after,  Boschman prayed with Ellis , believing and receiving the Gospel.  Similar to the fears of Paul Henderson before him, Laurie said to Ellis as he was leaving “Just don’t tell the other players, OK?”.

The second was much more a trial than a joy. The infamous Harold Ballard was the owner of the Maple Leafs at that time and , like a number of other players, Boschman had his run ins with him. After a poor game at Madison Square Gardens verses the Rangers, Ballard singled him out for his “soft” play – but what’s more he blamed it precisely on his new found Christian faith.

“He said I had too much religion, and that he was going to trade me or send me down to the minors,” says Boschman in a Calgary Herald article.

Some would say that a perceived image of the Christian hockey player as being “soft” started right  then and there. But this image is not held by all. Mike Gartner said that his conversion made him more motivated than ever. “I played to glorify God and I played my best. I felt responsible to God to use the talents and abilities He had given me.”

In the same Calgary Herald article, former NHL’er and now ESPN Analyst Barry Melrose says:  “A lot of people in the hockey world feel you can’t be a big tough physical hockey player and be a Christian, but my history of being around Christians is totally opposite. They’re some of the most fierce competitors there are in the world.”

Boschman’s stats speak for themselves though as he is one of only 16 players to have scored 500 points and amassed over 2,000 penalty minutes in a career.

Since retirement in 1992, Laurie has suffered the loss of his first wife of 21 years to cancer. Of this tragic event he says:  “The reason I was able to survive the days, months and years after I got the news that somebody I loved very deeply had been diagnosed with cancer was my faith. That’s the foundation. Faith in Christ is the foundation for any relationship and for anything that happens inside that relationship. Faith doesn’t take away the tears and the sadness, but it gives us hope and provides us with a foundation to keep on going.”

Boschman is now happily re-married with a blended family and is not only the chaplain for the Ottawa Senators, but the coordinator for all the team chaplaincies in the NHL. In regards to his work ( which is in accordance with his role with the faith organization Hockey Ministries International) he states: “We’re pretty low-key about how we go about the business of faith in hockey,” says Boschman. “We understand that some people still have pre-conceived notions. The bottom line is that the chapel program is player-driven, and the teams who have chapel and who offer it to their players have benefited greatly.”

I was recently talking to one of my pastors ( who just happens to be American) and we were discussing the difference in openly Christian players between the NHL and the other three major North American leagues. He said that he believed one of the biggest reasons was team chaplains or rather the historic lack of them in hockey. If this is true then Hockey Ministries International and Laurie Boschman are on to something.

As it stands today there are a growing number of openly Christian players in the NHL including Jarome Iginla, Mike Fisher, Shane Doan, Eric Staal, Ryan Smyth, David Booth and Dan Hamhuis to name a few. They are respected players who don’t just talk the talk but also walk the walk.

Its been often said that hockey is religion in Canada. If that is indeed the case, then perhaps it will be through the legacy of these players, past and present, that other lovers of the great game may just find their way from the religion of the rink to the gospel of the Cross.

“Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath (crown), but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.” Paul, 1 Corinthians 9:25-26 (ESV)

Sources:

Bernie Boom Boom Geoffrion :  http://www.hockeyministries.org/rwt-blog-44338

Paul Henderson http://powertochange.com/discover/faith/paulhenderson/

Mike Gartner:  “Toward the Goal” by Cathy Ellis

Laurie Boschman:

Calgary Herald Article: http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Christians+hockey+coliseum+National+Hockey+League+tentatively+embraces+players+religion/8273238/story.html

http://manitobahockeynews.com/former-jets-star-laurie-boschman-twice-blessed/

Wikipedia

More Info on Christians in the NHL:  https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2796219864124063055&pli=1#editor/target=post;postID=1698163683768725397;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=2;src=postname

Hockey Love

Here’s why I don’t get too carried away with hanging on every win or loss of the Canucks (insert your team here)  – I get too emotionally invested in it.

If they win its great – but if they lose I get depressed, irritable and even angry. Not only is this a complete waste of energy but it actually affects my  REAL life as a man – and it affects my wife and child too if I let it.

I sometimes get accused of being negative ( and I know I can be with sports) and I often am not “hardcore” enough to watch a game from beginning to end – but here’s the thing, you can never call me a bandwagon jumper.

I’ve been a diehard Canucks fan since 1989 or so when I first started really paying attention to hockey.  When all my friends were wearing Gretzky or Lemieux Jerseys at road hockey – I was wearing  a Trevor Linden one.  I remember the crushing loss to the Rangers in ’94 and still feel a little sick when I think about last year. 

I greatly admire and respect players from the past ( like Linden, Bure and Ronning) and the present ( like Burrows, Kessler and the Sedin Twins  and Coach V) and I cheer them on with all my sports devotion.  But I can only invest so much of my time, energy and emotion into sports.

I am only speaking for myself here – not judging others. If they can handle being neck deep in sports mania then cool –but I, apparently, cannot.

So I will continue to cheer on the Canucks and my other favourite sports teams whether they win or lose… you don’t have to question my loyalty.   But I will do my best to not put anything more into it then what its worth – it is, after all,  only a game.

Having said all that, if the Nucks ever win the cup  - I will be driving all around town with twenty Orca flags! ;) 

LANDSBERG: HIS DEPRESSION AND HIS FRIEND, WADE BELAK

LANDSBERG: HIS DEPRESSION AND HIS FRIEND, WADE BELAK


Original article here:
here

E-mail, texting and instant messaging all have places in our lives. But I believe I have relied too much on them, often replacing personal contact with letters and words and symbols that are like the Buckingham Palace Grenadier Guards - conveying no emotion, revealing no subtlety. They are zombies devoid of anything meaningful outside of the obvious.

How many times have you wondered while reading a text whether someone was serious or joking, sarcastic or straight? Have you ever wondered when you ask someone how they are, whether fine really means fine?

Fine written in text always looks the same, but in person, on the phone, fine can reveal so much more. I am having a tough time forgiving myself for texting Wade Belak seven days before he died and accepting his fine.

Wade was my buddy. That didn't make me unique. Wade was everyone's buddy. Even guys he fought with on the ice liked him. Even guys he scored on liked him, even if that list is pretty short. He was the definition of the big fat jolly guy without the fat. Honestly, I don't know a soul who met Wade who didn't immediately like him. He made friends the way most people pick up germs -- gathering more every time he touched someone.

I knew Wade walked with a limp. I knew it because he spoke to me about it. I have the same limp. It's how I refer to depression that doesn't disable us – even though we feel it every step of our lives.

Wade's limp, however, was worse than I knew. Seven days before he died, we chatted on e-mail. He had heard an interview I did for TSN Radio about my own depression and he had written, It was good.

I wrote back jokingly, Did you feel sorry for me, that's what I was looking for.

He responded, I thought you were a big pussy. Ha ha. Who am I to say? I've been on happy pills for 4-5 years now.

I wrote back, And how are you?

And Wade wrote back, Fine.

Fine. Ugh.

Fine. It's four letters, one word. One simple word. No means no we're told, but fine doesn't always mean fine. He wasn't fine. Seven days later he was gone.

I'm looking at my hands. I don't see any blood, but it's there. Luminol won't show it, but my conscience does.

Out, damned spot; Out I say. It's not that easy.

A Common Bond

Wade came into my life eight years ago when he first appeared on Off the Record. He and I together looked like a photo from World War II. Wade, with his huge size, chiseled features, pale skin and blond hair. And me - eight inches shorter, a million shades darker and with a large, slightly hooked nose. Well, you get the picture.

Despite our many differences, we bonded right away, a friendship based on a mutual ability to make the other laugh. Men show contempt with insults and affection with harsher insults. Wade and I had a no limit, no safe area, no boundaries and never hurt feelings. I loved him for that. And I know he felt the same way.

I'm not sure why Wade confided in me about his depression. I assume it was because I have spoken publicly about mine. Or perhaps, in the code of us depression sufferers, I was a veteran depressive and he was a rookie.

Whatever the reason or reasons, I felt blessed that he shared with me. Sharing something personal with another person is one of the greatest compliments you can give them. It says, I trust you and I feel safe with you. It also says, I know you won't judge me. Can you truly call someone a friend if you're afraid they may see you as weak?

This all made me like Wade so much more. I think we end up liking people because of their good traits. Sometimes we end up loving them because of their flaws.

I felt that I knew Wade in a different way than almost anyone else. I knew that his perma-smile was at least partially manufactured. I knew that his constant cheeriness was at least partially faked. It felt good to know this because I too, have done the same things. In that way Wade was the guy I related to perhaps better than anyone in my life. We were both good at fooling people. Like most depression sufferers we are counterfeiters in human emotion. We create fake happiness and for that reason sometimes people can't spot what's truly happening inside.

Obviously.

Tragically.

When I close my eyes and think of Wade the only memories I have are of him smiling. I can't remember anything else. Even knowing that he wasn't always smiling inwardly, doesn't change how I see him.

I see him now smiling in my hallway with his daughter Andie on his shoulders. Together they seemed to be 15 feet tall. Wade was one of those dads who couldn't put his kids down. He was always embracing them as if telling them he loved them wasn't enough.

I see him smiling and crying having eaten Armageddon chicken wings. I think I called him a big suck.

I see him smiling after my son had whipped him in NHL ‘11 (Not even Wade picked Wade).

I see his huge smile after we won a summer roller hockey championship with him in goal. He took it incredibly seriously. Who takes a pre-game nap for roller hockey?

And I see him smiling -- the last time I saw him at our kitchen table eating more pancakes than all of us combined.

When Wade and I were texting on August 24th, he inquired about the documentary I am working on, which is about celebrities with depression. He said, Are you gonna put me on?

I asked, Would you consider sharing your illness with the public. His exact words were, I don't think I would have a problem going public with it.

He added, I don't even think my parents really know.

Wade had no idea just how public he would go with his depression.

Trying to Understand

We don't know what happened to Wade a week later that saw his flame go from brilliant to extinguished in just a few hours, but we know why people usually take their own lives. People kill themselves when the fear of living another moment outweighs the fear of dying at that moment. With Wade, I believe he was struck by a tsunami of depression. In an instant he somehow went from calm to calamitous. Love for family and for life no longer made sense. Instantly one and one was no longer two.

I know what you've wondered. And don't feel bad, we've all asked the question. You're thinking it right now. Well, I will ask it for you; how does any parent choose to leave his kids? How does a guy share with me the joy of hearing his five-year old at violin lessons, and then eight days later plug his ears forever?

I don't know the answer, but I do know this; I pray that you and I won't ever figure it out. Some things you don't want to know. And some things you can't ever judge.

You don't think you know what Sept. 11 felt like on American Airlines flight 175 as it roared towards the World Trade Center, do you? So can you really say what you would have done?

You don't know what it was like to be marched to your death in Auschwitz, so can you really say what you would have done?

And you don't know what my buddy Wade Belak was thinking when it made sense to him to leave all that he loved. So can you really say what you would have done?

I sure as hell don't know, but I know this; when you're severely depressed, logic can become fallacy and fallacy can become reality.

If you know me, you know that I am a confident person. I can hear you thinking, No, he's arrogant. Fine, think what you want, but when I've been depressed that confidence is replaced by insecurity. When I've been depressed, ‘me' no longer exists. I am replaced by my own Slim Shady, and he's a guy I don't know or particularly like. He hosted 60 shows in 2008. He sucked.

So if as you read this, you're thinking, I have no idea what any of that feels like, then you're blessed. Have you ever thought, man, am I lucky not to be mentally ill? Likely not, because we seldom celebrate our normality. I'm the same. I don't celebrate having two arms and two legs but an amputee would suggest I should.

But in your mental health arrogance do not ever think for a second you can understand why Wade made the choice he did. I can't understand it, but I know this; Wade loved life as much as anyone I have ever met. His love for his wife Jen and their girls, Andie and Alex, was every bit as strong as anything any of us have ever felt. So, if depression could make him give that up - how bad must it be? And would you or I be any different?

The damn tsunami washed away all the joy and replaced it with something else. The devoted father and husband and friend who had everything to live for drowned in a sea of sadness.

Vincent Van Gogh, the genius Dutch painter whose sophisticated works changed art forever, had these simple last words explaining why he took his own life; the sadness will last forever. In general, Wade didn't believe that. But somehow, for some reason, for one moment he did.

At that horrible moment Wade, we can assume, had two rival instincts battling inside him. On one side was the survival instinct. On the other was the instinct to end his suffering. We've all felt the first; many fewer have felt the second. In Wade's case its clear which side won. Think of it this way. Suicide is what happens when the angel of death and the angel of mercy start working together.

Has Wade gone to a better place? Who knows? You may believe in the afterlife, but you don't know it exists. No one knows. But my guess is that Wade wasn't betting on heading to a better place. He just knew at that one moment there is no worse place than where he was.

Depression is not a Demon

I don't expect you to understand why Wade made the choice he made. It's tough for me to understand. But I do expect you to accept the seriousness of his disease. If you were saddened by Wade's death then here's what you owe him; you owe him the belief in his pain.

We can't see depression. We cant biopsy it. Blood tests don't show it. Neither do x-rays. Believing in depression takes faith, and surveys show that more than half of us are depressive atheists still believing somehow that depression is not a disease, but a sign of weakness. Wade wasn't weak. Neither was Churchill or Lincoln or Hemingway or your cousin or your neighbor or your son.

Depression is a disease. It's not an issue or a demon, although it may act like one. And if you want to honor Wade's memory, do it this way; never ever tell someone to snap out of it. And never ask anyone, what do you have to be depressed about? Start accepting depression as a serious and sometimes fatal illness.

Waiting for the R

My last message still sits on his smart phone and mine. After hearing a crazy rumor that my boy Wade had died, I called his cell immediately, assuming I would hear his voice and I would greet him with, So I guess this means you're not dead!

But I got no answer. My heart fell as I heard his voice mail, This is Wade -- leave a message. I didn't. What would I say? Please don't be dead? Please call me and I will come there and help you through anything.

One more hope - I texted him these words and waited.

Are you OK?

The D appeared right away. My heart began to race waiting for the R. If you don't speak the language of messenger, the D appears when the message is delivered. The R appears when the person has read it or seen it. Most of us use that to decide whether we are being ignored. But, on this day the stakes were far different. I knew that D meant death and R meant life.

Please change. Please change, I prayed. I waited. And I'm still waiting in disbelief. It never changed. The D sits there for eternity, ironically speaking volumes to me. Ironic because I began by saying text usually fails to communicate true meaning. In this case it says everything I feel.

The D sits there, a solitary symbol to me of one of the great tragedies I have felt.

D for depression.

D for the death it brought.

And D for Dear Wade, I hope now you really are fine.

Out damn spot, out I say. Not yet I fear. Maybe not ever.

Your Turn

O Canada

A tribute to my country  - some of the best videos to honour and explain our great Country!

                                                Sidney Crosby - The Golden Goal

                                         
                                               Shane Koyczan "We are More"

                                                Tom Brokaw explains Canada to Americans

                                                   The Trews "Highway of Heroes"

                       
                              Terry Fox !

I am Canadian

Bob and Doug McKenzie

Dwight sings about Canada

Paul Henderson's 72' goal!!!!!

The ANTHEM!!!!!!!!!!!