So almost a year ago today ( in 3 days but oh well I’m in the mood to do this now) was when I really really got back into Hockey. Now I’ve been a fan since I dunno I was 5? Back then I was like GO RANGERS because my dad loved the Rangers and actually watched the games. We also had MSG way back then too so yeah. And then I got one of the games which I don’t remember how old I was I think it was NHL 2000 or 2001 could have even been as late as 2003 ( for PC) I’m not sure but it was old enough to have the Sabres old black Jerseys and being a little kid I was like OHHHHH those look cool and quickly I was like oooo Miroslav Satan he became my favorite player. That lasted like a year and then I met the good old Devils who were my team and then I didn’t really watch or do anything with Hockey or a long time. On one of my birthdays my dads friend ( who used to be a goalie in local club, he also played a game against Elias back when he was in the AHL and needed practice before the season) bought me a nice Mario Lemieux stick ( which I sadly broke =( ) but a few years after I got that I decided to do floor hockey in garage with it and my dads friend taught me how to shoot and stuff with it so I would spend hours outside in the garage, in the drive way in the winter when it iced over ( I fell once and broke my gasses ( woops)), and in the back yard. I’d take card board and put it in the grass and shoot at the dog cage for hours.
Then I kinda grew out of it. And didn’t do anything for the longest time with Hockey besides play a few of the games. Like NHL 2k7 and 2k8. Then Christmas 09 my spark was reignited when I got NHL 10. I would play that like no tomorrow I went through the GM mode and did like 5 82 game seasons and took my teams to the cup and won it every time. First was with New Jersey of course but there was this song on the game called “Keys to the City” the New Blackhawks like war song and I was like hmm Blackhawks. So I looked at them on the game and Lovedddd their jerseys and was like okay I’ll play as them. And well fell in love with the team all because of that song. So in school I was part of this e-commerce team and on the site we had, I asked and was okayed by the teacher to do the NHL Corner where I’d pick a game a night that had the highest seeded teams playing together and write about what happened and so on and as it turned out the Blackhawks were like number 3 in league or something and I was like wow my new team is up there man. Then of course they won the cup and I got labeled a band wagoner. But I didn’t care I bought my Toews and Kane shirts anyway. But I still wasn’t back into hockey fully that didn’t happen until January 17th 2011. Almost a year ago.
On that day my wonderful girlfriend had gotten me for Christmas Devils @ Islanders tickets. First NHL game I had ever been too. I had been to an Albany River Rats game many years ago that I couldn’t remember I just have the stuff from it.(but that was an AHL game) But that Devils game was so great. All but like 1 goal was scored on our side of the ice and I got to see Marty play before he got injured that season and it was amazing. Even though he let in 2 goals he didn’t do as bad as the Islanders goalie who let in 5. Their goalie the whole game was Poulin I think. I have a picture of him but I don’t remember if he got pulled or not. I don’t think he did. But it was such a great experience. Watching the game, watching Sparky the mascot that makes no sense but he was cool ( he “beat up” a young Devils fan), and the ice girls. Not to mention the girl doing the interviews and stuff happened right next to us. And it was priceless every time me and my gf were like YEAHHHH GOAL this little girl in front of us who was an Islanders fan would turn around and glare at us. But that game lit a fire.
I finally had a sport that my girlfriend liked =D and I just re fell in love with the sport because now I’m not just a one team fan. I like the sport. I like the Devils, Blackhawks, Flyers, Bruins, Sharks, Jets, Lightning and like watching just about any game. I mean I only hate 2 team and that the Penguins ( I have a problem with Pittsburgh sports) and Vancouver. And my girlfriend for all the shit she gets for liking my team knows now more about the Devils then I do and she like the Bruins and that’s pretty much it with a soft spot for the Hurricanes. But now I have shirts from a bunch of teams and the new games and stuff like that. New Hockey stick too. A nice Jagr one that I have yet to break which is always good. But shirt wise I have Kane, Toews, Thornton, Briere, A custom Devils, a plain Jets, Lucic, and Stamkos. I might have missed one I dunno. I know my girlfriend is giving me here Marty one because it’s wayyyy to big. But hey I even got her a Zajac Jersey for her birthday because he’s her favorite player. And even got her a Hockey stick so we could play when I’m down there. And now even her brother like hockey after making fun of us. Only we dunno what he did wrong with him he’s a Sharks fan and well I thought we’d Devil him up but it didn’t work. We even got a friend of ours to go from Islander fan to Devil’s fan but that’s not that important.
But what I want to say here in all this because it’s huge is I love hockey. It’s the best sport in the world and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Because it’s the one sport I can watch with my girl or have some friends over and watch (because I found out a bunch of my friends like hockey =D ). So here’s to the NHL, for playing the game we all love.
( side note all teams I mentioned are going to be tagged. Sorry if you team isn’t mentioned I still love them too. Except Pittsburgh and Vancouver you know what you did. Oh and I fucked up the page break so sorry if it’s long)
This is a post my boyfriend made. Love for sports still counts as love. :3
Also, some love for me is mentioned in here, so if sports don’t count, that does!