Stay home for the holidays

In the old days, hockey fights were a sure thing.

Each team had a fourth-line enforcer, a vampire on skates, a guy who everyone knew couldn’t control the puck, but who would throw the gloves down just because he liked the taste of blood.

In most sports, like in the real world, the cost of punching another man in the face is generally steeper than the reward. A multiple-game suspension, a huge fine, a sullied reputation—deterrence has worked, going all the way back to the Old Testament.

The deterrence in the old days of hockey? Five minutes in the penalty box. And maybe a broken tooth.

Today, for better or for worse (some might say), hockey has evolved. If you’re going to fight, you fight for a reason—to defend a teammate who took a dirty hit from an opponent, for instance.

What does all of this have to do with the Elevate magazine?

A lot, actually. In this issue, we are asking you to stay home for the holidays and defend your city, the Black Hills, and the region against a dirty opponent, Covid-19.

Look—we didn’t think we’d still be talking about the virus in to late December. But it’s still with us and cases are rising in the region, even as I write these words. The virus doesn’t play by the rules. It shoulder checks our friends, family, and neighbors. It threatens our economy and our very way of life. It doesn’t care if you’re on the first line or the fourth.

But we can fight back. We can social distance. We can wash our hands. We can wear masks when we go out. We can stay home when we feel sick. And we can shop local, stay local, and be local so that this virus doesn’t wipe out our local economy.

We did it once before, my friends, in the early days of the virus arriving in the area. And we can do it again. Whether we want to call it flattening the curve, taking personal responsibility, or supporting the local economy, we can throw down our gloves and fight.

Just bring the hand sanitizer.

Stay safe and god-speed.