It is said that time is relative.

And while Albert Einstein might have been saying something profound about the nature of time and space, each of us understands that statement on a more personal level: some days race past quickly, some weeks seem to be interminable, but time marches relentlessly on.  Eventually, at the end of a month, a year, a decade -- we stop and wonder where the time has gone.

A number of us here have been able to witness the entirety of Henrik and Daniel Sedin's time in Vancouver.  We watched the young men, really still just boys at 18 years of age, pose for pictures at the 1999 NHL draft with no idea as to their future.  We watched them game in and game out, season after season, as they pursued their careers undeterred by criticism and the challenges that professional hockey players face.  Now, as they head into one final game on Saturday night, it seems as if no time has gone by at all -- and yet the teenagers from Ornskoldsvik are now fathers, pillars of the community, team record holders, and are entering retirement together with the respect of their NHL peers and fans from all over the continent and across the ocean.

It's not necessary for me to list their hockey accomplishments; many have already done so very well this past week.  However, I will commend them for the example I have seen them set with their approach to life.  I see two men of character, who determined that they would be humble and gracious in the public eye.  I see men who were grateful to the community that accepted them.  The Sedins knew that their fame gave them the unique opportunity to encourage and lift up families and children who were enduring difficult times, and so they did.  I see two professionals who were dedicated to refining their craft -- inventing new ways to play the game of hockey, honing their already considerable skills, and training to stay as fit or even to be fitter than teammates 10 or 15 years their junior.  All this they did in a city sometimes notorious for chewing up and spitting out its sports figures.  They set a standard as high as any I have seen in sport.

So what will be their legacy?

Will it be the records they set as two of the most dominant players of their generation?  The innovations they helped introduce?  The slap pass?  The cycle game?

How about this: the legacy of Henrik and Daniel Sedin will be the example they have set for those players who will come after them.  The example of how a wide-eyed, naive young hockey player can navigate the twists and turns of a pro career while remaining true to himself and to those around him.  The example of how to live as someone of character.

Of how a boy becomes a man.

The time has gone by...

...so quickly.

 Thank you, Henrik and Daniel.