Monday night was another special evening at Viking Arena as the Monday Night Lights Hockey League hosted its annual “MNL Gives Back Event” hosting two special boys to a night they will never forget. In the past MNL has worked within the community at food banks, reading books to preschool children and helping old ladies cross the street. This year was a special project… “We partnered with the Make a Wish Foundation to grant the wish of these two young men to experience the pinnacle of beer league hockey” said league patriarch Troy Otto. “These guys come from non-traditional hockey countries and we wanted them to be exposed to the finer things about hockey like swearing, drinking Labatt Blue Lights and Booty Christmas pictures”. Adorned in Tiger jerseys donated by a local Goodwill store, the novice hockey fans were treated to the full MNL pageantry and environment. They were greeted by MNL legend Jeremy Panty Dropper Drager and quickly handed a sudsy refreshment. “I asked them if they were big Tigers fans, noticing they were dressed in former jerseys. They said no… we’re big Bin fans!”. The two settled themselves into the home penalty box to enjoy the fast paced action up close. Adding to more of the excitement the two got to witness bender OT and a shootout to decide the 9pm primetime tilt between the Scouts and Americans. “We don’t have hockey in Iraq because I don’t think you can skate on sand so this is pretty cool. We really came out to watch Mr. Bin play but we both have become huge David Judge fans” said Amjed Jawad. The pair quickly picked up on some of the intricacies of the league noticing some of it’s better players like Judge, Trent Young and Chad Paulinski. Some other not so obvious complexities of the sport had to be explained to the boys. Andrew Spicy Hetes had to explain why the goalie was pulled. “I told them that it gives that team a better chance to score a goal late in the game and secondly that Santi is over rated as a tendy anyway so they might as well put him on the bench”. James Wruble explained why it is called bender OT…”All I did was point to Cipps and they figured it out” said Wrubs who secured his invite to the Hat Trick Lounge. Dr. Mike Sikorski cleared up some confusion about the puck. “I had to explain to the one kid that it was not a black rice cake and the puck has no nutritional value”. The games were fast paced, full of banter and aggressiveness similar to the civil unrest unfolding in each of the boys country of origin. “I’m pretty sure that one guy named Wood had a suicide vest under his jersey and was speaking in tongues chasing another player down” said Amjed “In my country we would call a dude like that the Angel of Death!”. The Make a Wish Foundation received instant feedback from both participants. “I loved how graceful these big guys are on ice” commented Vietnamese born Dylan Fuentecilla, “Guys like Hal Doherty and that Whoop guy are so talented. We got to meet the famous Jason McShannock who is mentoring Mr. Bin’s son, we met MNL’s version of the perfect human Jack Serda who explained how to become the CEO of a company and gave us tips to become a financial tycoon, we met the slickest guy ever… I think his name was Rick? and we got our picture taken with the Temu version of Aquaman Brandt Miller”. Dylan and Amjed had never witnessed hockey in person before but they quickly understood that it’s not just what happens on the ice. They were fascinated with the competitive spirit between the boards and the brotherhood on the Labatt Blue Party Deck. Cheers to all of you who welcomed these boys into the fold and showing them a glimpse of what Monday Night Lights is all about…

Dickie Dunn