Just imagine ... it's dark outside - real dark.  And, after coaxing the old plymouth to start, you finally get to the rink - early.  You enter the empty, dimly lit lobby hoping to see a familiar face but all you see id the red exit lamps reflecting odd the glistening sheet of black virgin ice.

    The only sounds heard are the shuffles your little hockey star makes as he drags his feet and his hockey bag across the floor about 10 paces behind.  His eyes are only slightly more open than they were in the car as he reclaimed 15 minutes of lost sleep.  It's 5:30 am, you've just dragged your overworked butt out of a warm Sunday morning bed , and the rink guy thinks your team still has a practice.

    So, as you lead your ten year old into the dressing room, he asks if he can go out onto to the ice as soon as he gets dressed.  But before you even have a chance to answer he has already tossed his official NHL ball cap onto the bench, his Toronto Maple Leaf jacket is hurled lop-sided onto the single hook and his pants are half off.

    As you re-enter the rink after retrieving your luke warm coffee from the car, you hear a puck banging off the boards.  The foggy ice surface is still dark but you recognize the ghostly silhouette darting around almost gracefully around as your son.  He is now full of energy and huge empty ice surface seems to challenge him to make full use of it.  After a few more thundering shots off the boards the puck ends up in the corner.

    Suddenly, you notice your son standing motionless, about center ice, pondering at the puck at the far end of the ice.  He slowly lifts his head and scans the bleachers.  He's all alone with his thoughts ... his dreams.  He loves playing hockey and it's fun.  He dreams of being a great hockey player and he's dreaming now - imagining the arena is packed with cheering fans, television crews, reporters and play-by-play announcers.

    Slowly, he breaks into motion.  The weight of his little body thrusts from side to side.  His arms move back and forth in sync with the rhythm of his acceleration.  Almost at full speed he takes one step to the left, breaks to the corner and begins crossing over to the right.  Still accelerating behind the net, he picks up the puck and heads up the ice.  As he approaches his blue line he draws the puck back, fakes a pass to the far side and quickly extends the puck to his right - beating an imaginary fore checker.  With a sudden burst of deceptive speed, he crosses the blue line, races through center ice, dekes the defenceman to the outside, cuts to the net and, as the goalie leans to the left he wrists a rising shot to the short side.  Just as the fired disc bulges the shelf of the net, the rink guy flips a switch and the rink is suddenly illuminated with a flash of bright lights like a dozen cameras capturing his brilliant end-to-end goal scoring rush! 

    He raises his stick and arms high into the air, head humbled down in modesty, his momentum coasting him into the imagined embrace of his ecstatic team mates - a dream
rush ... a dream goal ... every kids dream ... the Canadian Dream.

    The dream of playing hockey is exciting, it's real and it's fun.  A dream is what all the great players have.  As children  they used their imagination to create a picture so vivid and so real in their mind that it inspired them to greatness.  They dreamed their hockey and they played their dreams.

    It's the dream that drives.  The dream inspires.  The imagination creates and the dream grows.  And as hockey season begins, dreams are being played out all over our great country.  And the dream that lives is the dream that is encouraged and supported.  The dream that grows is the that is nurtured with good words and fun times.

    Share in your hockey players dream.  Temper it with the reality of hard work and discipline but keep it fun.  In this way your child will be rewarded - in the short term with a great season of accomplishments and enjoyment  and he will be inspired to become the best he can be.  In the long term, he will be rewarded with success in whatever endeavors he pursues.

    Great players are made - not born.  If the dream is alive, even the most scraggly, herky-jerky, fumbling kid can improve, accomplish, progress and develop his talents into a treasure of opportunity.  Love your kids - support their dream - play the game!!