Ken A Hora (poo poo poo)
My late grandmother used to say “No ken-a-horas,”, loosely meaning “don’t give early blessings” but figuratively translating into “avoid the evil eye.” Even tangentially touch on a compliment, and “poo poo poo” was the required punctuation to avoid inviting harm as punishment for vanity.
The Devils went 9-0 and I celebrated that accomplishment in these very online pages, poo poo poo. The just-ended 4-game road trip, in which 2 of the “away” games were within 100 miles of home, saw them go 1-2-1, remaining scoreless in the last seven periods played. Seven periods? That’s like watching an entire feature length film without seeing a goal. Shutting out the Islanders is nice; know me and know I have no love for anything on Long Island, including traffic, misnamed parkways, and hockey teams owned by my employer’s sometime competitor. Following that by being shut out twice? Not nice.
What’s wrong? Passes without looking. Too much passing, not enough shooting. How can the Devils have power plays in which they don’t get a shot on goal? How can they have power plays in which the first minute goes by fishing the puck out of their defensive zone? Watching them the tail end of the week, they looked like, well, poo. Hockey is a game of small bounces, like the puck thrown at the net that turned into Thursday night’s game-winner in Tampa Bay. It’s a game of small momentum turns, like Gomez deciding to back skate to the blue line Friday night instead of touching the puck for an offsides. He slowed down, the Panthers didn’t, and the resulting 2-on-1 iced the game for the Devils. The EGG line laid exactly that, checking in at minus-three Friday night.
I’m going to wear a red ribbon. I’m going to throw salt over my shoulder, and spit “poo poo poo”, and turn my Hockey News clipping projecting Patrik Elias scoring 86 points upside down, to avoid the evil eye. Back to practice back at South Mountain Arena, a comfortable old place that should bring back comfortable old habits. No ken a horas.
Tags: elias, gomez, ken+a+hora