It is confirmed, I am bad luck

It+is+confirmed%2C+I+am+bad+luck

Logan Flake, Reporter

Picture me two years ago on Christmas day. Even though I knew exactly what my gifts would be, I was eager enough to rip off the wrapping paper of the main attraction that l felt like a little kid again. The time came, and I finally opened up the package that I’d been waiting for all along to find it: an Indy Fuel jersey. Not just any jersey, but a Cody Reichard jersey.

Excitement took over as I quickly threw the jersey over my shoulders and looked at myself in the mirror with pride. After all, Reichard was the first goalie ever to record a regular season victory for the Fuel. It was at “pink at the rink” night, a game that I had the pleasure of attending. He was a bright spot in what was at first a very dark patch for the Fuel’s inaugural season with Reichard picking up the win after the team lost its first three games of the year.

Flash forward 12 days later to Jan. 6, the day that I learned that Reichard was traded from the Fuel in a deal for another goaltender not even two weeks after I decided to choose his replica jersey as my big-ticket present for the holiday season.

This experience sums up the basis behind my hypothesis that everything I like relating to hockey is seemingly bound to go wrong right away.

Let me give you another example. The whole Reichard fiasco wasn’t the only time something like this has happened. In fact, I’ve had an extremely similar experience involving the goaltender of my favorite team in the big leagues (the National Hockey league, or NHL) the Montreal Canadiens. As a fan of the Canadiens, I’ve been lucky enough to watch all-star goalie Carey Price mind the net. At least I used to be able to watch him play until he got hurt as soon as I started considering getting his jersey for Christmas last year.

Oh, and that jersey wasn’t just any ordinary jersey. It was a specialty one made for the 2016 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, an outdoor game played with the players sporting one time use jerseys to commemorate the event. So, all things considered, I ended up with a Price Winter Classic jersey, a game in which he was not involved with at all due to injury.

Have you ever heard of the infamous video gaming “cover jinx”? Well, that might have also had a hand in dooming Price down the path of injury. However, Price didn’t grace the cover of every copy of NHL 16. That position belonged to Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, who found himself on the cover with the Stanley Cup trophy raised above his head. Stupid me decided to find a custom printable cover of Price to put in the case of my copy of the game. So, all things considered, sorry for destroying your season, Price.

In fact, the entirety of the Canadiens organization has seemingly gone under since I first started actively supporting them.

Last year, they made the playoffs only to get shafted in the second round by the much better team, the team that later represented the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final, the Tampa Bay Lightning. This year the Canadiens have been nothing short of a major disappointment. They were recently eliminated from playoff contention entirely, sitting on the outside looking in and being left to go golfing while far superior teams will soon go at it in the playoffs.

But, here’s the kicker. Two years ago, a year before I started watching hockey at all, the Canadiens made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, one step away from the grandest stage of them all. Then, of course, I had to come on board the fan base for the 2014-2015 season and have seemingly screwed everything up since.

At this point, I might as well start endorsing the rivals of people’s favorite sporting teams and start selling my services of sending players and teams on immediate downward spirals off to people for the greater good.