Why it's OK to feel conflicting emotions about the NHL's return to play

Did you know that you, as a human being, can experience multiple conflicting emotions at the same time?

Wild, right?

This is essentially how I feel about the NHL returning to play tomorrow. I’m excited that my favorite sport is coming back. I’m very worried for the health and safety of the players, coaches, and support staff. I’m happy they have created bubbles for safety and that so far they seem to be working. I’m frustrated that they tried to force this instead of cancelling the season and coming back at a later date when it’s safe.

I’m feeling all of these emotions at the exact same time and probably will throughout this tournament. It’s not exactly the most comfortable emotional state, but it’s reality and trying to pigeon-hole my feelings into one state or the other would have an awful effect on my mental health. I should know, since I’ve been going to therapy for nine months now to learn to avoid doing exactly that.

There are a lot of people out there who have drawn lines in the sand and believe that you can only feel one emotion at a time. People who think you should only be happy and not a downer because sports are happening while the rest of the world runs around on fire. Some think you should be angry at the NHL for putting so many people at risk with this return to play plan.

I’m not here to tell you how to feel. If you want to only feel anger or only feel happiness or any other emotion in between, that is perfectly ok! What I’m trying to say is that every person has their own way of processing emotions, and that forcing yourself or others to think in a one-dimensional way is unhealthy.

Even with the bubbles, no fans, artificial crowd noise, and unique, socially-distanced media coverage, the return of hockey offers some semblance of normalcy in a world where chaos has seemingly become ingrained into our everyday life. It can be exhausting.

And while we should not forget about the issues facing our world today; racial injustice, bigotry, the global pandemic, where Auston Matthews got his sense of style from, we can view the NHL’s return to play as just another therapeutic tool to help us deal with our current reality.

No matter how you feel about the return to play plan, know that there are plenty of others who are feeling the exact same way as you, and that experiencing a host of conflicting emotions is perfectly normal.

The Anaheim Ducks may not be part of the NHL’s play-in tournament and Stanley Cup Playoffs this year, but we at Crash The Pond still plan to have regular content for those who are craving hockey. Here is our plan for the next few weeks:

Fridays: Article from either Jake, Felix, or myself with a summary and individual analysis of the week’s games.

Sundays: Live podcast discussing the previous week’s games with all three of us. You can tune in and join the conversation at twitch.tv/crashthepond every Sunday at 7 PM PDT.

Mondays: For those of you who cannot join us for the live podcast, we will publish the recording Monday morning. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube, or wherever you get your podcasts!