When I started working at my new job in the big city in the late 1980’s, the shift I was assigned to had a gentleman who ran a hockey pool. The pool was based on the Saturday night Toronto Maple Leaf games and the winner was the person whose randomly selected pool numbers matched the final score of the Maple Leaf hockey game.
So I joined the shift hockey pool and, of course, I never won. But one Saturday night we happened to be working and nobody’s numbers matched the final score of the game that night. That meant the pot was carried over for the next Saturday night and be double the size it would normally be.
Come the next Saturday night, I had the weekend off and was home watching that game with great interest. I distinctly remember it was a Detroit-Toronto game and the score was tied going into the third period.
With time winding down in the third period, Detroit scored to take a one goal lead.
And with that goal, it suddenly dawned on me: I now had the winning score in the workplace hockey pool! The possibility now existed that I could win the double-sized pot that night!
And in that unprecedented moment, with the clock winding down and the possibility of me winning a double-sized hockey pool within my grasp, for the first time in my life I did the unthinkable as a die-hard Toronto Maple Leafs fan:
I STARTED CHEERING AGAINST THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS!
Sure, I felt like a traitor, but hey, I had a chance to win a double-sized hockey pool! And after the lifetime of losing the Leafs have given me, you’d think that for once I could use it to my advantage.
Near the end of the game when play went back down into the Detroit end, Toronto pulled their goalie and the thoughts of me winning the double-sized hockey pool started to evaporate before my eyes as the Leafs mounted their desperation last-gasp attack on the Detroit goal.
Down by one goal with under a minute to play, Wendel Clark was left all alone in the slot when the puck came right to him! With the game on his stick, he teed up the puck to fire one of his blistering wrist shots point-blank at the Detroit net.
Horrified at the thought of losing the double-sized hockey pot, I sat on the edge of the couch and yelled “NOOOO!” at the TV and prayed a silent prayer that one of my all-time favourite Leaf players wouldn’t score!
Wendel Clark fired the puck; AND WENDEL CLARK MISSED THE NET! My relief was palpable as the puck sailed wide of the top corner of the goal and bounced off the glass.
And after what seemed like an eternity, the clock finally ticked down to zero with neither team scoring and, wonder of wonders, I won the double-sized workplace hockey pool!
Surprisingly, at the end of the game I felt as much relief as I would have as if I had watched the end of a playoff game! It’s surprising how much more emotionally involved you become in a game when there’s money on the line.
And that night I learned something about myself as a devout Leaf fan I never believed was possible: When there was money on the line, I could be bought if the price was right. And my price was double the regular pot of the workplace hockey pool. Not really that much when you think about it.
As animated character Fred Flintstone once said in a Flintstones TV episode, “It’s not winning the game that counts, it’s collecting the dough!” And he was certainly right about that!
When we got back to work on the following Monday evening, first thing I did was seek out the organizer of the pool to collect my money. Work be darned, I had to get the important stuff done first! It was only about eighty bucks, but it certainly felt nice to win one for a change. It was the only pot I ever won over all the years of working there, and doubtless I gave it all back and then some on all the subsequent workplace hockey pools I lost down the road.
It was just a fun way to make the Saturday night hockey games a little more interesting, especially on the Saturday nights you had to work. Just a little icing on the cake, as it were.
But the icing was usually the sweetest part!