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Ranchers love hockey, too

Good job — if ‘plan A’ was for the Vancouver Canucks franchise to fill (sell) as many playoff seats as possible, for the maximum number of games — they have executed on target so far.

Good job — if ‘plan A’ was for the Vancouver Canucks franchise to fill (sell) as many playoff seats as possible, for the maximum number of games — they have executed on target so far.

Tuesday’s seventh game (sigh) versus the Chicago Blackhawks was a real nail-biter, but courtesy of a little magic from Alexandre Burrows in the first period and in overtime, they won.

If you think hockey news hardly makes a ripple in cattle country, you’d be wrong.

With satellite television, the games can be viewed in the most remote locations.

In the old days (1960s) my husband’s family had to pile into the pickup truck, drive toward town for seven or eight kilometers on Joe’s Lake Road and then park — just to get good enough radio reception so they could listen to the hockey game.

My husband is a dedicated Vancouver Canucks fan so it was a nerve-wracking evening in our ranch house living room as the game suspense heightened.

My mom Mary in North Vancouver and my aunt Joan in Williams Lake, both in their 80s, are die-hard Vancouver Canucks fans, as well.

I’ll bet they were worried, too — but look for Joan to still be flying those Canucks flags, with pride — on her car.

She finished 14th in the Tribune Hockey pool this year, and was a recent winner.

My home is situated just below the Esketemc First Nation Reserve at Alkali Lake — they’re hockey fans — I might as well have been trying to sleep in a condo on Robson Street Tuesday night.

There was a huge post game celebratory parade — city style, here at Esk’et.

Honking, light-flashing vehicles — filled with cheering fans — drove loops around the reserve, flags flying, of course — having fun quite late into the night.

My cattle dog howled in tune from his outside kennel for several hours — more than a little nervous about the strange night-time hullabaloo.

I’m sure the cattle and horses in the valley were just as disturbed by the extraordinary, out-of-the-ordinary night racket.

All in good fun!