When I was in junior high school, I would go to Cedarhurst Lake during the winter. The lake was once a very deep old mine pit, which happened to get flooded out, thus forming a lake. Back a lifetime ago, winters were much colder, and there was a great deal more snow than now.

I lived a mile away from the lake. On weekends, I would carry my skates, stick, and puck to the lake and imagine that I could be a protégé of Gordie Howe. I wasn’t the only kid who was filled with the dream of being a great hockey player. We all had dreams, but none of my friends and I obtained even a small amount of success at hockey. Nonetheless, we had fun in our attempt at hockey greatness.

I found these two photos that I found on the Internet recently. It is amazing how much the woods around the lake have changed in seven decades. I don’t want to imagine what I’d look like trying to skate today at 83.

Cedarhurst Lake

Nonetheless, hockey has intrigued me for most of my life. When thinking about players like Gordie Howe, I realize that if I played against any player in the NHL who had to skate backwards while playing one-on-one with me, I couldn’t have scored even one goal. Had my opponent body checked me while he was skating backwards, I would be flat on the ice in pain.

That being said, I have followed the Pittsburgh Penguins since the late 60s.

This is a recent photo.

This photo is of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ arena, often called The Igloo.

A pretty large igloo

While I recall the handful of Stanley Cup wins by the Penguins, the fifth victory is still etched into my psyche. It was their first back-to-back victories of the Stanley Cup. This is a photo of that win.

That was their second year in a row of Stanley Cup victories.

Nonetheless, millions of onlookers watched the game called the “Miracle on Ice.” It took place during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. America played the Soviet Union in the medal round on February 22^nd. The odds were stacked against the Americans. Nevertheless, watch the last 28 seconds of the 3-3 tied game.

Talk about exhilaration. Millions of Americans found sheer joy beating the Russians.

Those feelings happened again, but not beating Russians. It was the US vs. Canada, and it tied 1-1. Even more fascinating, it took the US against the Russians before the end of the game, and the US against the Canadians the same amount of time in overtime to win, less than half a minute.

This essay was a recap of the last seven decades of ice hockey. However, Trump has his version of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). They aren’t good at ice hockey, nor are they good at doing their job well. Trump’s ICE has spread throughout our nation. These ICE players wear masks and don’t have body cams. That is especially true in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. They have arrested more than 3,000 from that area, the worst of the worst murderers, rapists, gang members, drug dealers, and terrorists.

Trump’s ICE agents detain them in detention centers, which is the PC term for gulags. Many are shipped to even worse concentration camps outside our country. Some of those are American citizens or immigrants with papers allowing them to remain here while being processed. An example of this is the Conejo family. The family’s attorney said, “They did everything correctly when they arrived. The family is pursuing an asylum claim, which is legal.”

However, Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old child, was arrested while walking home from school.

Liam

Trump loves to say that we shouldn’t believe our eyes. However, a protester in Minneapolis carried a sign that said, “Believe your eyes, not the lies.”