“Have Fun.”
Cam Ward writes those words on every stick he plays with. He has them inscribed on his mask. Sage advice from his father early in his junior hockey career, the phrase is less mantra than reminder that the game is just that.
For 13 seasons Ward wrote those words on his sticks as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes. If Eric Staal was the Hurricanes’ identity, as I said in this space when he was traded two years ago, then Ward was the Hurricanes’ standard-bearer. In those 13 years, Ward was as synonymous with his team’s net as Martin Brodeur, his idol and frequent playoff adversary, was with the New Jersey Devils’.