Hockey's Newest Fan

Yes, that would be me. As of three days ago, I'm a hockey fan. Maybe I'm a sucker for hype, but the Stanley Cup game last night was one for the ages. In a lot of ways, my hockey-fandom was a long time coming. When I was a little girl, we had the original PlayStation. We had a lot of games, but I never really enjoyed any of them. Then one day I tried the hockey game and loved it. That was the only game I ever really enjoyed playing on the PlayStation. In 2002, I went to an Olympic hockey game in Salt Lake with my dad. It was Russia vs. Finland, and the atmosphere was so electric. It was so exciting and I remember really enjoying it even though I didn't understand anything about the game. Also during the Olympics, my friend and I became Canada fans. I'm not sure, exactly, how one manages to become a fan of an entire country, but we did. We drew Maple leaves on our notebooks and everything (that's embarrassing, but I was in Jr. High). About 4 months ago, I decided I wanted to move to Canada someday (for a variety of reasons). And 3 days ago I became a hockey fan. So basically me, Canada, and hockey have been in a collision course with destiny (now I just have to convince baseball-loving Chris to come along for the ride).

Anyway, as a new hockey fan I decided I needed a couple things: First, I needed to know the rules of the game--that was key. So I turned to trusty Wikipedia to learn all I needed to know about the sport itself. For example, there are 6 players on the ice from each team (like how I said "the ice"?): a goalie, 2 defencemen, and 3 forward positions (left wing, right wing, and centre). The 2 defencemen and 3 forwards are called "lines". To substitute they do a "line change" where the whole line is switched in for a whole new line. (Ok, most people might know that, but I didn't). And while fighting is not an officially recognized part of the game, it is recognized as a de facto aspect of the sport. The players that fight most frequently are called "enforcers" (they sometimes aren't quite as good at actually playing hockey). And when fighting all players follow "The Code", which includes only fighting someone who wants to fight back and fighting fair. Anyway, if you got through that paragraph, congrats, and if you didn't I don't mind.

The second thing I needed was a favorite team. After last nights' game that was easy: the Pittsburgh Penguins. (And I'm NOT a bandwagoner. If I was I would have chosen the Detroit Redwings, who are like the Yankees of hockey). The Pens (that's what we fans call them) are fan-worthy for a variety of reasons. Their goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury is my favorite player. In the game Monday night he had 55 saves--it was amazing. They also have Sidney Crosby, who came to the NHL at age 18. He's like the Golden Child of hockey and lots of people compare him to Wayne Gretzky (he is also the captain of the team). Finally, Mario Lemieux played his entire career for the Pens and now owns them. He seems like a really great person and does a ton of charity work in Pittsburgh. He also has young players (like Crosby) come live with him when they first get the the NHL to make sure they adjust well and don't do anything stupid. Awwww. . . he's like the daddy! Ha ha. Well, in the two days of research I've done on the Pens, I feel like they're a valid choice for favorite team. Now I just need to think of some connection I have to Pittsburgh so I feel all the more validated. Any suggestions? (I went to Philadelphia one time--its in the same state!).

Sidney and Mario. . . Awww.

Marc-Andre Fleury~my favorite player;-)Crosby scores!Well, that was a lot of stuff about nothing in particular. But I think this hockey thing will stick. Too bad the season is almost over.

Go Pens!!! Game 6 is starting as we speak.