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Hi. I’m Sarah Ayres, New Blogger Here At DeanBlundell.com, Get To Know Me

Sarah Ayres Feb 23, 2020

Shit, I’m writing my first blog for Deanblundell.com. Albeit it’s being orchestrated in a hockey rink, watching my goalie husband Dave, play defense in a lackluster men’s beer league.

These guys eat this shit up and I’m pretty much the only significant other that comes to watch. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy being dragged along to freeze my ass off in the stands, only to relive every moment from his point of view on the drive home.

But seriously, I do love it.

The first time I heard Dean Blundell I was on the verge of 19 listening to the morning show on the way to work. Long before the days of social media where now everyone has an opinion and feels everyone else needs to hear it and all the while hiding behind a faceless Avatar.

Not Dean, Dean calls spades as he sees them and really there’s not much that’s more refreshing than that. Funnier than all hell but it’s his brutal honesty that commanded my respect and kept me listening.

I can’t say I agree with everything he says (my husband does say I’m wrong 98% of the time) but I won’t ever sit back and tell you I didn’t wish for 1/5th of the balls that he possesses.

Fast forward to a gross amount of years later; we have Twitter that put Dean and me in touch with each other.

I’m older, a Brady Bunch family with 3 kids that have a tendency to be little assholes and make me contemplate whether meth would make life more manageable…for now I’ll stick to Ativan.

I own my own business and I managed to marry for looks and personality. Trust in the fact that it took a LONG time to find someone with both.

My husband was playing for the Marlies when we met. Any diehard and I mean diehard Toronto fan will know him as the Zamboni goalie.

We married September 2017 and the very next morning he received a phone call from Maple Leaf management asking if he would be interested in fulfilling the newfound position of Emergency Goalie. A few days later, he signed his contract. No, it’s not the generic way of coming up in the system but it doesn’t mean he didn’t work his ass off for it.

The EBUG role is completely unpredictable. He dresses up for every game, to wait for a goalie injury. NHL rules state every home team must have one, which also means he goes in for whichever team is in need of his services.

This year he ended up dressing for Chicago when Corey Crawford came out of the game at the end of the second period with flu-like symptoms.

Dave got the phone call to head to the Blackhawks dressing room and suit up. I’m pretty sure I shit myself and he calmly and collectively made his way down the hall, all while I tried stopping the shakes long enough to call everyone we knew. Chicago’s backup goalie held the fort and Dave wasn’t needed but the experience was monumental for both him and I. But probably more some.

I’m not a girl who turned ‘puck bunny’ overnight.  I’ve loved the game since I was a kid growing up in Caledon. I figured out in order to get my dad’s attention all I had to do was ask a million questions about the game and suddenly,  I became the son he never had.

Now I have gotten to meet guys I’ve idolized growing up watching. I get to accompany Dave to pretty much every home game and when I’m not working he sneaks me into team practices. I sit in the stands sneaking a couple of pictures and reveling in this life I can’t believe is mine. As a tongue in cheek as I will ever get, I owe it all to him. He persevered through a kidney transplant 15 years ago and made sure his number one love stayed his priority, hockey. Not me.

He busted his balls harder than any human I know and works his ass off to maintain it and he always gives back whatever and wherever he can.

So if someone ever tells you-you can’t find happiness on Tinder, I’m telling you after about 20-25 dates gone bad, it’s possible.

Later.

https://crier.co/sports/nhl/nhltr-maple-leafs-and-golden-knights-talking-tyson-barrie-trade/

Sarah Ayres

Im a business owner, mum and a puck bunn...er hockey wife. I am the proud owner of a Toronto Maple Leaf Emergency Back Up Goalie. He got the gig the day after we got hitched, So I basically take the credit for it. That and the fact he has been with the Marlies for 7 years played a small role. Netting a hottie who can stop a puck or two obviously makes me super knowledgeable about the sport. I sit quietly in the shadows going to practices and games and secretly hoping for a goalie injury. I have an undying passion for sports, I’m outspoken and sometimes a little offside with my opinions. I carry a strong belief that life has to be called as it’s seen. When you’re able to do that, you influence those around you to do the same. There I did it! I wrote the whole bio up without saying ‘fuck’ once.

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