Derek Boogaard and Death

My first post.  It seems a little depressing to start a blog by talking about death, but that's where my thoughts have been going of late.  I can attribute that to the sudden passing of New York Rangers forward Derek Boogaard.

Now I didn't know Derek personally.  I watched him on TV (not often, he played in Minnesota for most of his career and the Leafs didn't see them that often).  "The Boogeyman," as he was known, was not a star.  He could barely skate compared to some of the guys on his team.  He could shoot, but he didn't use it that often.  His greatest strength was his fighting ability.  He went toe-to-toe with the best of them.  Laraque, MacIntyre, Ivanans, Belak, Orr, Godard.  They all had the same role: to raise hell and get the other team off their game, but also to protect their star players.  And Boogaard was one of the best at it.  He stood 6'7", making him one of the tallest players to play the game - I can only think of Tyler Myers and Zdeno Chara as player taller than him off the top of my head.  He wasn't lanky, though: weighing in at 265 pounds, he had 10 pounds on the man they call 'Big Z' and 40 on the young defenceman Myers.  I'm not a small human being, but this guy had five inches and 60 pounds on me.

He had highlight-reel fight after highlight-reel fight.  He rarely lost.  Fans loved him in Minnesota.  Even when he became a free agent and departed for New York, there wasn't a lot of hate there - who wouldn't turn down a job that paid you $6 million over the next four years of your life?

He struggled in New York.  He scored one goal, had two assists, and dropped the gloves seven times.  He played his last game of the year on December 9, 2010, when Matt Carkner of the Ottawa Senators landed one solid punch to the noggin that gave him a concussion.  He also was suffering from a damaged shoulder and would miss the rest of the regular season.  Micheal Russo, a reporter for a newspaper in Minneapolis and a friend of Boogaard said that Derek was looking forward to getting back to hockey, back to being a Ranger, back to doing what he did best.

Then yesterday morning, his brothers Ryan and Aaron found Derek dead in his apartment.  He was 28.

There is so much that Boogaard did that was good for the communities he lived and played in.  But those stories are not mine to share, I'll let others more qualified do so.  The one thing I will remember most from his career, however, happened on November 30, 2010.  Washington Capitals defenceman Tyler Sloan misplayed the puck at the blue line and Boogaard chased down the puck.  He caught up to it at about centre ice, crossed into the Washington zone, and simply wound up and fired the puck.  I don't know if Michal Neuvirth ever saw the puck as it went over his right shoulder and into the net.  In the ensuing celebration, Boogaard looked so happy - he hadn't scored in four years before that slapper worthy of a player like Shea Weber or even the previously mentioned Chara.  Goals were hard to come by for guys like him.  But when it did happen, he could cherish those moments.

And that kinda leads into what I want to say about death, or rather, life.  We only get one chance at life.  We don't get many opportunities to really do something big.  So when you do get those opportunities, don't waste them.  Don't believe the lie that says 'oh, you'll get another chance at it.'  You don't know that.  Derek Boogaard had a choice when he scored that goal.  His teammate Erik Christensen was wide open on the break, and could have scored had Derek decided to pass it over to him.  But Boogaard went for it and he scored.

I'm not saying here that every time you take that chance you are going to do something big.  I'm not saying don't ever pass the puck.  I'm only saying that you have a finite number of opportunities to be the person God calls you to be.

Don't waste them.

This is your life, are you who you want to be?
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose?
-Switchfoot, "This Is Your Life"


Seize the day, or die regretting the time you lost.
-Avenged Sevenfold, "Seize the Day"


Arise and be all that you dreamed, all that you dreamed.
-Flyleaf, "Arise"


I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
-Linkin Park, "In the End


It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you
It's what you leave behind you when you go.
-Randy Travis, "Three Wooden Crosses"


RIP Derek Boogaard (1982-2011)