Gotta get right back to where we started from

They say you never forget your first love and in terms of hockey for me that's definitely true. Though I did start watching hockey with Hockey Night in Canada there is one place that will always for me definitively be the birthplace of my hockey fandom and that place is with the Silvertips.

I didn't become a hockey fan the traditional way and if you read my first ever post on this blog you know that.
If you don't want to read that lengthy tale, I'll give you a short recap.

My first exposure to hockey was at a WHL game when I was about 6. It was between the Seattle Thunderbirds and the Moose Jaw Warriors and  it was a fight fest. Needless to say I hated hockey walking out of the game, I didn't understand all the fighting at my age.
Fast forward a couple of years and by some stroke of luck our TV had CBC which meant that I could watch Hockey Night in Canada. For a short while, my family would sit around and watch the Canucks play. We even went up to Vancouver for a game, back when the exchange rate wasn't crap. So yes, I was a Canucks fan for a bit. Yes, I feel shame for that people. I was young and impressionable!
Jump to 03-04, the WHL expanded and the Silvertips were born. After attending a playoff series clinching game over the Vancouver Giants to send the Tips to the WHL Western Conference finals in their inaugural season, I was full on hooked to hockey.
From that point, I began my quest to become an intelligent hockey fan. Even if I was the only hockey fan in my family. Really I learned the game from watching the seats of the EEC before and through the NHL lockout. Then when the NHL came back (after the word came out the lockout was ending on my birthday) I was a Penguins fan and then three years ago I became Blackhawks fan. And no, I don't plan on changing my fandom anymore even with my soft spots for the Oilers and Kings.

While I have been a fan of three different NHL teams in my team has a hockey fan, there has always been one team I have always cheered for and that is the Silvertips.

Thinking about walking into Comcast Arena, which I will always call the EEC, for the first time this season makes me giddy excited. Whenever I walk into the EEC, it's similar to coming home, where even after being gone for a long period of time, everything is still familiar and comforting. Maybe for you it's your hometown rink, the first rink you played at or where you watched your first hockey game. Tonight I'll be lucky enough to see my Tips take on my adopted team the Chiefs.

I know that everyone has their own story to share with stories from different rinks but the EEC will always hold a number of mine. It was the place where I left with my ears ringing from the train goal horn after the Tips knocked out the Giants to advance to their first ever Western Conference finals. The place I saw my first ever favorite hockey player, Zach Hamill pull the puck & his stick between his legs and score in the shoot out and another time come down on a breakaway and score right in front the goal my mom and I were sitting behind after my mom had told me he wasn't playing very well. The place where at my 13th birthday party (my birthday is in July) I got my then-best friend to yell at Brandon Dubinsky, "Hey boys!" as we sat right next to the visitor's bench as the Winterhawks took on the Tips. It's also the place I watched Kyle Beach play his last game with the Tips before getting traded unexpectedly, in which  he scored & fought. I was also lucky enough to see a lot of now NHL players  play there like Dubinsky, Peter Mueller, Luke Schenn, Carey Price, Tyler Myers, Gilbert Brule, Jordan Eberle, Shea Weber, etc. And that's only some of my memories.

Now that I'm away at school, if I'm lucky I get to go to a couple games at the EEC. I still attend WHL games since there is a team where I go to school but it doesn't compare to going to the EEC and rooting for the home team. I know that eventually one day with my career aspirations, I'll most likely end up having to move away from the WHL and not get to catch a single game at the EEC. But for now, I'm appreciative of getting to go to a game at home. Even if it's starting to make me feel old now that the bulk of players on rosters are years younger than me whereas before they were so much older. Plus I love getting  to see great young players before they get drafted.

My hockey fandom grew from the ranks of junior hockey given my lack of an NHL team nearby, which will always give the WHL a special place in my hockey loving heart. So if you're lucky enough to go to a game at your favorite rink, cherish it. Memories from the rink are priceless.

Hello out there, we're on the air..

Hello, lovely people (are there people reading this?) and welcome to my little corner of the interweb, also hereby known as Defense, Dangles & Dagger.

Somehow I've decided to start a hockey blog which basically mean this space will be filled with my nonsensical hockey rants most likely about the Blackhawks or one of two WHL teams, the Chiefs or Silvertips. Most likely the Chiefs since that's the team I get to see on a regular basis now.
I'm sarcastic & passionate but most of all love hockey. In other words, keep your expectations low for this blog.

But before we can get into that though, I thought I'd tell you all the story of my hockey background. That sounds better than it should considering that I've never played the game itself, I'm merely a hockey fan and this is how it came to be.

I'm from Washington (no I will not put state after that) which isn't exactly known as a hockey hotbed.

Once upon a time we had an NHL team,the Seattle Metropolitans, that won the Stanley Cup in 1917 playing in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association & participated in the Finals that were canceled because of influenza. That's pretty much the only claim to hockey fame we have, aside from TJ Oshie but that's debatable.

My first memory of hockey was with the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds & the Moose Jaw Warriors, I was six and the game was at Key Arena and my family and I were sitting in the upper bowl. I only remember who the T-Birds were playing because I was utterly confused by a place called Moose Jaw. I hated hockey after the game. What I remember of the game was fights, and lots of them. I didn't understand it and I most of all didn't like it.

Fast forward to about when I was about twelve. By some gift from God, we got CBC on my television which meant that Hockey Night in Canada could be seen in my house. I don't remember how or why but my family started watching it. My dad had lived in Montreal for a bit as a child so he of course had rooted for the Habs and played hockey for a brief time. I assume that meant he also watched HNiC and somehow decided we would watch it too. Though I cringe at the thought now, we sat together and watched the Vancouver Canucks play. We even went up to Vancouver a few times and were lucky enough to go to a game or two. All I specifically remember from attending was the obnoxious lady in our section who yelled the entire game. Sadly what stands out to me from my time as a Canucks fan is watching Todd Bertuzzi clock Steve Moore from the blindside live on TV and being in utter shock at what had happened.

Of course that happened the year before the NHL lockout and it was also the inaugural season the Everett Silvertips in the WHL. Somehow with my family & a friend of mine we ended up going to a regular season game, from then on I was interested.

Let's be honest, I was twelve and these hockey boys were sixteen to twenty. I'm not going to lie I developed a school girl crush on one of them. My parents even considered billeting, until they found out how old the guys were. But to be honest, it was probably one of the best things to happen to me, it got me to follow hockey.

Not in a puck bunny way either, I wanted to know the rules, what the signals from the refs meant and most of all I wanted to go to games. It was just a bonus that the guys were cute and it always had been.

The moment that sticks out to me of me being officially hooked though was going to going to the Western Conference Finals Game 6 between the Vancouver Giants & the Silvertips. The Tips wrapped up the series winning 3-2 and my ears were blasted by the train horn that is the Tips goal horn. I remember driving home from that game being unable to properly hear & electrified by the excitement of the game. As the Tips continued their remarkable inaugural season playoff run, I found a portable AM/FM radio (Yeah, I'm a sport nerd like that) and heard Keith Gerhart scream with joy as the Tips came back from a 3 games to 1 game deficit winning 3 straight game in OT including winning the series in Game 7 over the Kelowna Rockets in Kelowna. I remember running around after the Tips won, there was a windstorm that night and we had lost power at my house and my parents couldn't have cared less. Eventually though the Tips were swept by the Medicine Hat Tigers 4 games to none and I left Game 4 of the WHL Finals thinking about how sad I was the season was over but I couldn't wait to get back to the EEC.

The 04-05 season however was the year of the NHL lockout, I held out hope that the season wouldn't be canceled until it was. Luckily for me though, I had the WHL and the season most definitely wasn't canceled. I went to as many games as my parents would let me go to (which was a theme until I had my license/ left for college) and I kept learning about the game. Basically my hockey obsession grew. As much as the lockout sucked, the WHL & the Tips kept my hockey love alive. I also kept hearing about this kid Sidney Crosby who played in the QMJHL, I tried listening to Rimouski game or 2 online but let's just say my French isn't up to par, at all.

The Tips only made it to the 2nd round of the WHL playoffs before getting swept but that summer gave me one of the best birthday presents ever.

July 13th, the NHL and NHLPA agreed to a deal in principle. The NHL was coming backand it was announced on my birthday and I just happened to be in Canada which meant I could watch the crap out of the round the clock coverage TSN had on, much to chagrin of my parents.

Well, that kid that I had heard so much of went number one overall to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the lucky winners of the Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes. After being disenchanted with the Canucks post-lockout, I decided to follow the Pens. And I did and most importantly I got my parents to order NHL Center Ice. Lucky for me that spring break my family was going to New York City and I got to catch a NY Rangers & Ottawa Senators game at the Garden. Plus Sidney Crosby & the Pens at Nassau Coliseum playing the Islanders to which my dad just happened to score me glass seats to the game. Sid of course didn't have a very good game with no points and missing in the shootout & there were people walking in front me despite sitting on the glass but I enjoyed every moment of being at that game.

Through the magic of NHL Center Ice, I was a dedicated Pens until one day in 07-08 I came across a game with the Chicago Blackhawks who had two promising rookies, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews who I had been hearing a lot about them and I was curious. And from then on began the slow but determined take over of my hockey fandom by the Blackhawks. Luckily that season I also was able to go to a game in Tampa Bay and see the Lightning play Ovechkin and the Caps.

By 08-09 I was watching Blackhawks games on Center Ice and my love of the Pens faded. By the time playoffs rolled around I watched the Hawks beat the Flames and then saw Patrick Kane take down the Canucks and Luongo with his first ever hat trick only to see the Hawks fall to the ever powerful Red Wings devastated to see the playoff run. I was happy to see the Pens win the Cup but I wasn't in love with the Pens like I was the Blackhawks. I was happy to see the Pens do well since they sparked my interest in the NHL again.

My NHL game of the year was getting to see Silvertips' Alumna Peter Mueller play the San Jose Sharks in Phoenix, oddly enough going to buy tickets to the game I saw Devin Setoguchi walking to the rink. Funny that, that game the trivia question was what junior team did Peter Mueller play for?

Now that leads us to this past season, going off to school leaving behind my favorite WHL team for another WHL teams territory & no more NHL Center Ice or Gamecenter (prices are not college friendly).

It's not as fun being a hockey fan in a non-hockey market with no access to NHL Center Ice but I still kept track of the Blackhawks through the magic of the internet. Games on NBC or Versus despite the less than satisfactory coverage was great to me since, it was and is the only way that I get to see NHL games on TV. The whole season I lived and died with the team, to the point where when the playoffs rolled around I was giving myself stress-induced stomach aches watching playoff games.

Before we get to the Blackhawks playoff run I have to mention international hockey. I watched the entire World Junior Hockey Championships aside from the New Years' Eve game between the USA & Canada. Seeing the USA beat Canada in OT for the gold I thought was going to be the best hockey moment of the year for me. The USA had barely won the 5th place game the year before with names like Colin Wilson and James van Riemsdyk and then won the gold the next year over a typically stacked Canadian team in Canada to stop them from winning their 6th consecutive gold medal.

Then there was the Olympics which being Canada just magnified hockey even more, the USA blew away expectations and won silver. I was okay with it because the games were in Canada and of course is anyone going to play darling of Canada scoring the gold medal winner in OT, it's going to be Sidney Crosby.

Going back to the NHL though, for spring break I went to Boston and unfortunately there were no Bruins games, so I ended up going to a Manchester Monarchs & Binghamton Senators (my first AHL game) & a Providence Bruins & Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins game AHL games.
Getting to to go to these games I got to see former WHL'ers including my first favorite WHL'er Zach Hamill who was playing for the pB's.

The big thing was I was getting to go to my first ever Blackhawks game, however to do so it would require a road trip to Philly.

It was quite the experience for a first Blackhawks game, the weather decided it wanted to rain as hard as possible and be as windy as a hurricane all the way from Boston to Philly. We ended up missing the first period & the Blackhawks ended up losing the game after leading 2-1 going into the 3rd. Scott Hartnell scored the tying goal & Chris Pronger scored the game winner with 2.1 seconds left, needless to say I wanted out of Wachovia Center as soon as possible. Not the desired result after driving 6 hours in hurricane like conditions. I walked out of the rink saying I wanted the Stanley Cup after that horrific experience which wasn't made any better by the drive back. Have you ever parked on a freeway? Cause I have once on the New Jersey Turnpike.

I knew that I was being a whiny and upset fan but I said I wanted the Cup but I never expected what happened in the playoffs.

The playoffs were a lot of fun for me. Between the stress stomach aches, we ended up matching up with 3 of my least favorite teams the Canucks, Sharks and Flyers. Aside from the Finals, I do have to say I most enjoyed knocking out the Canucks for a 2nd year in a row on the exact same day as the year previous. There is no other word for that besides awesome, let's just say I have no love left over for them.

By the time we reached the Finals, I was shocked that we were taking on the Flyers of all teams. Needless to me the irony was not lost on me, at all.

Having the Hawks win the Cup in the Wachovia Center months after I sat heartbroken in the stands of that exact arena, was a bit mindblowing.

My initial feelings after realizing that Patrick Kane did in fact score was shock. Complete and utter shock. I mean, I'm from the most miserable sports city in America. We don't win championships, we're pro in sucking. So seeing a team that I lived and died with and absolutely loved win a championship was incredible, it never ever had happened before. I mean I didn't even sleep the night after it happened. The 09-10 Stanley Cup winning Blackhawks will always and forever be my favorite hockey team.

Now here we are in 10-11, the Hawks & all the fans trying to adjust to new faces and losing old familiar fan favorites and who knows what this season will bring us. 11 games in and what the end result will be is anything be known.

I do have to say though, I like the feeling of being a fan a winning team and I find it highly amusing to have people hate on my team. (This doesn't happen with Seattle teams, no one is jealous of suckage)

So that's me and my hockey fandom from start to finish.

Yes, I bounced around as an NHL fan, I attribute it to not living in an NHL market & where the team that's close gets vastly ignored. (Did you know that Game 6 of the 2010 NHL Finals wasn't even on the main NBC channel in the Seattle area?)
But I've pretty well settled in as a Hawks fan & I don't see that changing any time soon.

I know this got NHL heavy at the end but that doesn't mean I stopped going to WHL games, I mean $16 dollar glass seats? Who am I to pass up that opportunity? I love the WHL and going to games and getting to see future NHL'ers play before anyone knows who they are.

Yes as a naive 12 year old picking up hockey on my own, the boys drew me in but I love the game. I love being in a hockey rink, it's relaxing and to me it's comforting to me to be wrapped in the thick coldness with a tinge of the unmistakable hockey smell of a small rink. Or sit in the 2nd level of the EEC back home, being able to see the entire ice.

At times I feel like I'm out on an island as a hockey fan where I am. My family is far from being hockey fans let alone to the extent I am. I'm the odd one loving hockey while my brothers are huge baseball fans/players. I don't have friends who are in to hockey like I am despite me slowly trying to turn my friends in to hockey fans and dragging them to games with me.
You know those awkward ice breakers where you tell facts about yourself? My fact is usually that I like to watch hockey.

Simply, I'm a hockey fan who is far from knowing everything but wanting to learn as much as possible about anything hockey related.
I have my own opinions and I know that not everyone is going to agree with them and they may not always be right, I love healthy debate.

Most of all though I love the hockey community and I want to get to know more people in it. So here is my small space for my hockey blather and I'd love if you joined in the conversation.

So thank you for reading, and hats off to you for reading this whole thing! Sorry for all the rambles.

I hope to see you all back here soon.