Reasons You Love Hockey Part 8

Today’s reason comes from Josh, a steady, if quiet, stalwart among our Gentle Readers, and contributor to the magnificent Devils blog 2 Man Advantage. Josh gets an A-plus in our book for being a Devils fan, and an A-plus-plus for writing such an awesome reason to love hockey. This is also the last of the Reasons You Love Hockey in IPB’s vaults, so if you’d like to see your name in lights (and get all the ensuing adulation and crazed groupies that follow), just email us at interchangeablepartsblog [at] gmail [dot] com. In the meantime, let’s give it up for Josh!

Hi, my name is Josh, and I love hockey.

There’s many reasons to love hockey. The speed, the intensity, the French Canadian names (It’s spelled Guy Damp-house but pronounce GE DAHMP-HOOS! C’MON! IS THERE NOTHING MORE AWESOME?!). But when it all comes down to it, the real reason to love hockey, the real reason all that time is invested as players, coaches, trainers, and fans, is the ultimate prize: The Stanley Cup.

Hockey may be relegated to the fourth most popular sport in a four-sport race, but ask any casual observer the name of a pro sports trophy and 90% will come up with the Stanley Cup. Hey basketball fans, what did the Spurs and Cavs play for? The what trophy?

The Cup has been left at the side of the road in Canada, used to plant geraniums, and dropkicked across a Canadian canal. Marty Brodeur has eaten popcorn from it, men have used it to propose to girlfriends, babies have urinated in it, mortgages burned in it. I haven’t done the research, but I’m reasonably certain that the Stanley Cup is the only professional sports trophy who’s Wikipedia page confirms buoyancy (it does not float). Can’t say that about the World Series trophy.

No other professional sport engraves the name of all those who have won it onto the trophy itself. When you win the Stanley Cup, your name does not go down in ink on paper. Your name gets etched into metal. It is going nowhere, and forever your name will be known as a champion.

The Stanley Cup is why I love hockey.

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Reasons You Love Hockey Part 7

Today’s Reason You Love Hockey is brought to us by Katebits, author of the fantastic (non-hockey… for now) blog Oh For Fun. She’s new to our fine sport, but what she might lack in experience with hockey, she more than makes up for in passion and intuition. We’re honored that she’s chosen IPB as one of the places to learn about hockey and hope that we don’t let her down when the season finally starts up again. It will start up again right? Right now it feels so far away… Anyway, there is still plenty of time to submit your reason you love hockey. Just email us at interchangeablepartsblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Momentum

As many of you know, I am a very new hockey fan. In my entire life I would estimate that I have watched less than twenty-five hockey games total, but from the very first game I ever watched, I’ve been mesmerized by the momentum. At the risk of sounding unforgivably cheesy, sometimes watching hockey feels like watching a gathering storm. The momentum towards a goal can build gradually, or it can strike suddenly, but always there is a sense of flow. The momentum can shift dramatically and quickly during a game, but always there is a palpable turning point. Even without knowing any of the rules, I find the flow of hockey engaging and easy to follow. I still don’t always see the puck, but I can always feel who is controlling the momentum.

I know the exact moment that my interest in hockey went from “enthusiastic” to “rabid”. It was Game 5 against the Rangers in the second round of the this year’s playoffs. Drury had already scored the miracle tying goal to send the game into overtime, and the Sabres undeniably had the momentum. As the team flew down the rink during the game’s last moments, I actually whispered aloud under my breath “He’s about to score” a split second before Maxium Afinogenov slapped in the game winner. I have no idea what subtle clues of the game I was picking up on in that last minute of overtime, but I could taste that goal coming.

Hockey has a pulse and a rhythm that even the most unseasoned fan can feel.

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Reasons You Love Hockey Part 6

Today’s Reason is the second of two submissions from kikeri; if you missed her delightful first one, you can find it here. It’s probably fair to say this is a reason a lot of us love hockey (spoiler alert!), so give it up for kikeri! (And as always, if you’d like to contribute your own reason to this series, just email us at interchangeablepartsblog [at] gmail [dot] com.)

Kikeri’s Reason I Love Hockey #2 – The Stanley Cup

It’s a familiar sight. Neighbourhood kids throwing their battered sticks to the ground and randomly picking teams for a game of hockey. Sometimes it’s in the dead of winter on a frozen pond or in a backyard rink. Sometimes it’s in high summer when heat waves sizzle off the asphalt. Whether it’s children or teens, whether it’s 1 on 1 or full teams, whether they plays posts or with a goalie, when the game winning goal is scored a boisterous chant is sure to follow. “We won the Cup!”

No explanation of which Cup is necessary – it’s the one we all dream of. Either as kids playing the game, imagining how we would relish the initial hoist, or as fans cheering for our team, living the emotional roller coaster of every high and low. I can’t even imagine how it must feel for the players to dream, practice, work relentlessly hard, and actually get the chance to play for the Stanley Cup.

There is the superstition amongst players that if you haven’t won it, you can’t touch it. To win Lord Stanley is to earn the right to raise it up to the heavens. Until then, it’s best for your own chances to stay far away from the shiny mug. Hey if Rob Niedermayer can do it, you can too.

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Reasons You Love Hockey Part 5

Today’s reason you love hockey is the first of two from kikeri, who is an active Gentle Reader and sometimes Irregular. We think this is a delightfully eloquent and wonderful reason to love hockey, so give it up for kikeri! (And as always, if you’d like to contribute to this award-winning series, just email us your reason at interchangeablepartsblog [at] gmail [dot] com.)

Kikeri’s Reason I Love Hockey #1 – The Playoffs

The 82 games of the regular season are a warm-up. I’m not always the most faithful fan – like when I didn’t give that road game against St. Louis my undivided attention because I was sitting on a bar patio with a pitcher of sangria. Often in late fall TSN.ca/Hockey Night in Canada/Globe on Hockey aren’t stops number one, two, or three on my daily internet check-in. The call of other sports (I’m looking at you, Premiership Football) can seep onto my radar and divert attention away from hockey. What reels me back in is the drama of playing in the Northwest Division, where the Canucks can start the night tenth, win on the road, and wake-up in third place. However, when April rolls around, there’s no need to question where my concentration is – it’s playoffs time!

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Reasons You Love Hockey Part 4

Today’s installment of Reasons You Love Hockey comes to us all the way from sunny Scotland, courtesy of Gentle Reader Iain! We firmly believe that the Hockey Gods take care to make sure every fan is found by the team that fits them best, so that the strongest bond is forged. Iain’s delightful essay clearly demonstrates that we’re onto something with this theory.

We’ve really enjoyed this “Reasons You Love Hockey” guest blogging experiment, but this is the last submission we received so far. If you want to see your name in lights, and if you want to see this experiment continued, please email us at interchangeablepartsblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Iain’s Reason He Loves Hockey

My flatmate Natalie & I live in the distant hockey wastelands of Scotland. We took a holiday to New York in March 2001, and decided to take in a hockey game, knowing nothing in particular about the sport. We saw the Bruins beat the Rags at Garden, and were instantly hooked.Football (or soccer to you guys!) was my sport of choice at this time, and I was blown away by seeing fans from both teams intermingled in the seats, exchanging (mostly) good-natured banter without fights breaking out. This was not what I was used to at all! Great game, great fans – yeah, we’ll have a piece of that action.

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Reasons You Love Hockey Part 3

Today’s post comes to us from John F., the man behind In Lou We Trust. ILWT is, for our money, the preeminent Devils blog out there, and if Lou actually believed in things like accessibility, the legitimacy of blogs or the internet in general, John’s the guy who would probably get to interview him. We owe a lot of our Devils readership (don’t laugh! Iain and Genna have nearly doubled our ranks!) to John, and we’re delighted to host such an august voice here on IPB. So give it up, Gentle Reader, for John F. and his reason he loves hockey! (And remember, we are always open to submissions to this ongoing series, and we are, frankly, running out of entries. If you have a reason you love hockey — any reason — and want to see your name in lights, send it to us at interchangeablepartsblog [at] gmail [dot] com.)

The Reason I Love Hockey

One thing that is quite obvious to most people who know me is that I really enjoy sports. I like soccer (namely the NY Red Bulls, Fulham, and the U.S. national team). I like football – both the pro game and the college version (thanks to Rutgers stepping it up). I even like playing basketball (though watching it has gotten difficult lately). However, one sport rules above them all: hockey. That should come as no surprise, as I spend quite a bit of time looking forward to New Jersey Devils games, other hockey events (e.g. playoffs, NHL Draft), and blogging about the best team in the tri-state area (it’s called In Lou We Trust, if you must know).

However, a valid question that you can ask me is why hockey? Why is hockey #1 in your heart, why do you say you “bleed Devils red” and so proudly? Why not, say, the classical works of Jean Sebastian Bach or literary works of contemporary authors of the mid-1800s?

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Reasons You Love Hockey Part 2

Today’s entry in our ongoing, open-ended series is from Patty (In Dallas), who has brought a surprisingly welcome Stars-fan perspective to the world’s most Sabres- and Ducks-centric Devils blog on the interwebs. So settle in, Gentle Reader, and give it up for Patty! (And remember, if you’d like to be as big a superstar as Patty, just email a reason you love hockey to us at interchangeablepartsblog [at] gmail [dot] com.)

Why I Love Hockey – Skating

I spent my formative years in Houston, Texas. We had a snowstorm when I was 13 and school was closed for two days. It didn’t even stick to the sidewalks. If you had neglected to mow your grass that week, it would have been poking up through the snow. That was my first snow experience. And my last, until I moved to Tulsa in high school. I say this to explain how absolutely foreign ice skating is to me.

Therefore, I’m fascinated by the fact that grown men can skate. I’m wildly impressed by what they can do on skates. I love the big, wide arc that defensemen cut when they back up to defend a breakaway against. I love the huge dig that they make when trying to avoid the opposition behind the net. I love watching the game in HD, because you can see the skate cuts in the fresh ice at the beginning of a period.

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