How to change a culture

an obtuse lesson from the early days of Carey Price and PK Subban

Those were the days.

PK.

Carey.

Two young rookies full of promise.

They fit together perfectly.

Carey the collected. Positionally sound. Capable of the spectacular.

The flamboyant Subban. Showboating. In love with what he can do.

Together they were the future.

They were exciting.

At their most promising, they were not serious hockey players.

They were ‘a disgrace’ that made ‘a mockery’ of ‘the game’.

They had the audacity.

THE AUDACITY

To celebrate winning a hockey game by performing the satanic ‘triple low five’ at centre ice.

Pleasure?

Exuberance by twenty year old millionaires?

FOR SHAME!

No pleasure for you!

Eventually the critics wore them down.

They toed the line.

The triple low five disappeared.

And the world became a little smaller because of it.

So.

Don’t let the cops into your head.

Don’t let some critic’s moral offense to your little bit of fun sap the pleasure from your life.

Keep on playing.

Keep on with the triple low five.

Resist the narrative of conformity.

Enjoy what you enjoy.

Love what you …