14 Comments
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Mark White's avatar

I was a Bobby Orr fanboy, so i smiled seconds before you mentioned him, knowing that his name was about to come forth. Wonderful writing. Envious.

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Kenneth Mills's avatar

Thank you so much Mark. Orr could not go unmentioned... Your own blend of extraordinary images and writing is leading deeper all the time (still thinking about your last one)...

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miter's avatar

Really great stuff, Kenneth. The 70s hockey aesthetic is a thing. I saw Guy Lafleur play once at an exhibition game and remember the flowing locks. He was on the Nordiques at the time near the end of his career and they played the Great One’s kings of LA in Denver. Obviously, this was before the Quebec Nordiques became the Colorado Avalanche…now realizing this was incredible foreshadowing.

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Kenneth Mills's avatar

Miter. Thank you! Honoured. What a thing, to think with and otherwise, 70s hockey and its echoes, I'm glad you felt this too. To have seen Lafleur live like that...

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

A thoroughly engaging memoir, Ken. The hockey review is outside of my personal universe, but I am completely in with the TV trays, the view from the kitchen window, the beige phone on the wall, the moments when I just had to write something down and suddenly -- and with certitude at age 11, knew I was a writer. A great writer? Maybe not. But a writer nonetheless. You are a masterful writer.

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Kenneth Mills's avatar

Thank you so much. I really mean what I say about hockey (or any number of any of our enthusiasms, vehicles) becoming beside the point.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Understood. I am curious how you are dealing with reverse culture shock now that you have left the Netherlands. Did you write about it and I missed it?

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Kenneth Mills's avatar

Watch this space...

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James Cullingham's avatar

Very cool. Grazie.

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joeygaitanis's avatar

Love it!

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Kenneth Mills's avatar

You wld have had your own little table...

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joeygaitanis's avatar

Yes, but mine is not nearly as vivid and transportive.

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Kenneth Mills's avatar

The Leafs' doing...

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joeygaitanis's avatar

LOL!

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