Ice-capades 0.5: About Me
Hello and welcome to Ice-Capades! While my next post will focus on my pictures and recollections of hockey games, I wanted to introduce myself, and by myself, I mean my hockey fandom.
I am a recent convert to following hockey. It started in 2023 with the Sabres, thanks to my friend Brinkley. While I was not a big hockey fan, I found her posts about the Sabres’ losses (and wins) on Instagram fascinating. I started watching Hockey YouTubers like The Hockey Guy and Hockey Psychology as aids for understanding the game. I also watched some Sabres games with Brinkley; while we lost both games, I at least got to see a hockey fight.
I then added the Panthers, Flyers, and Hurricanes to the teams I follow. I had to respect the Panthers after I saw highlights from their Stanley Cup run in 2023; any team that beats the Boston Bruins like the 2010 Flyers did will earn my veneration1. Speaking of the Flyers, I had to follow them because I believe that if I did not have them as one of my teams, I would have to return my Philly sports fandom card. And the Hurricanes…I mean, what’s not to like about a team that has Rod the Bod, I mean Rod Brind’amour, coaching them? It also does not hurt that they have some exciting players in Seth Jarvis, Jackson Blake, Jacob Slavin, and my favorite poke-checking goalie, Pyotr Kochetkov.
Below is a tier maker on how I feel about the other twenty-eight teams not named the Panthers, Flyers, Sabres, and Hurricanes.
Two notes here: One, all of these are my opinions about the team, not about the fanbase. If the hockey team you follow is at the bottom, know that I do not think poorly of your fandom. Second, the NHL tier maker I used has the Arizona Coyotes logo; that team moved to Utah at the end of the 2023-2024 season and became the Utah Hockey Club.
My appreciation has heightened while listening to Panthers games on the radio. Doug Plagens’ calls of the games made me invest in what the team does, plus he has an amazing podcast covering the Panthers called Territory Talk.