March 26, 2021. Madison, Mississippi. Hockey Stars.

I have no idea how this happens but some players thrive in difficult situations, such as playoffs or overtime periods. They seem to raise the level of play to the next level. And then they win the game. Many years ago, Ken and I were watching Hockey Night in Canada, at the home of Don and Doreen, which we did every Saturday night. The Montreal team was into their third period of overtimes. It was in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The coach was interviewed between the second and third overtime periods. He seemed relaxed and commented that he was not worried because he knew that the Rocket would score in the third overtime and win the game. We four just laughed at his arrogance. But don't you know that Rocket Richard did exactly that. Within a minute, he scored to win the game. That was perhaps in 1960 when Montreal was wining a string of Stanley Cups. The other evening I was watching the end of a hockey game played by the Washington Capitals. I flipped to the channel with ten minutes to play and the Caps down two goals. After a few minutes, Ovechkin scored a goal. With one minute left in the game he scored again and the two teams went into overtime. One of the commentator mentioned that Ovetchkin with undoubtedly score during the five minute overtime and I laughed and thought back to the Rocket Richard comment years ago. But sure enough, that was what happened. Ovi scored within the first minute of overtime. Obviously, this does not happen every time but it occurs often enough that observes predict what will happen. Some players fade in high stress situations and some players rise to the occasion. And I have no idea why. But I love watching it happen.