Well We All Shine On

Maybe John Lennon was right. In February 1970, John Lennon released the song Instant Karma! as a single on Apple Records after spending a year in Aalborg, Denamrk - home of the Metal Ligaen's Pirates, a favorite team of this blog - where the concept of "instant karma" was discussed by Lennon, Yoko Ono, Ono's former husband Tony Cox, and Cox's girlfriend, Melinde Kendall. It's funny how that phrase - "instant karma" - seems to pop up in hockey because the young man to the left may have just handed out some instant karma last night. That young man is St. Francis Xavier X-Men forward Sam Studnicka, and he earned the Subway Player of the Game nod in Game Three of the quarterfinal series against the Acadia Axemen.

With the game tied 1-1 midway through the second period, Studnicka found a loose puck in the slot, and he spun and fired it home past Acadia netminder Logan Flodell to put the X-Men up 2-1 - a lead they would not surrender as they went on to down Acadia 4-1 on home ice and advance to the AUS Semifinals against Saint Mary's after winning this series 2-1!

After everything that this young man has been through over the last couple of weeks and after all these two teams have been through over the last two weeks, it's almost poetic justice that Sam Studnicka would score the series-clinching goal to push StFX past Acadia. In a bit of a karmic twist, that was also Studnicka's first goal of these playoffs. It's almost as if this was meant to be.

Instant karma's gonna get you.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!