Alright-- so in this blog I'm going to endeavor to be real with you, and real with myself. I'm not going to mince words, and I'm going to give the best and most accurate accounts of things that may or may not be of interest to you. But before I launch into the heart of what I want this blog to be about-- the ins and outs of my on-ice experiences, the words of my wise mentor Wienk, the great men and women I know and play with on a regular basis, the cold hard truth about the politics of women's hockey, my true love of passing, positional hockey, dangle goals, on-ice presence, and the responsibilities of centerhood-- you deserve to know why I feel like this would be interesting at all to you, my new reader. If you don't care or if you know already, then hey-- check back in later this week or the weekend or next week. I will absolutely love to hear your thoughts, comments, concerns, and opinions on anything and everything that I write-- I am open minded and always want to learn, about hockey and about life!
I started actively learning to skate about 1394 days ago-- that's 3 years and 298 days. I started playing hockey roughly 1356 days ago-- that's 3 years and 260 days (I give myself the anniversary of March 15, not because it's the ides of March :) but because I'm pretty sure that was the first time I ever attended open hockey, and I haven't looked back since-- excepting this purpose right now). From the second my feet touched that ice, as wobbly as I may have been, I knew that I had looked destiny in the eye, and accepted it's dare.
I know that there are a lot of women and men who are in my shoes. For whatever reason, hockey became a part of our lives much later than, now, we would have liked. But the point is just that-- we have it now.
Hockey transformed me. Now, really, what kind of person am I that I can experience my own personal revolution at the hands of a sport-- believe me I get that all the time. But really, think about it. In the tri-state area, hockey is a community. You have your teammates, your fellow beer leaguers, your pros, and your fans. You have your hockey moms, your pro-shop guys, your your rink rats, and sometimes your roommates. You have your coaches, your refs, and your scorekeepers-- your zam guys, and your fill-in goalies. And after all this, you leave the rink to drive home and turn on the TV or the radio-- where you have your analysts, your players, your coaches, your GMs. There is LIFE in this sport. I found love in this sport, and we both love, with all of our hearts, this sport. From young to old, there is a contagious, distinguishable, and, sadly for many significant others of hockey players, insurmountable, undeniable desire to play, watch, live, breathe, and die with hockey.
My goal here-- is not to bore you with the theoretical musings of WHY hockey is the greatest, but to show you, through my experiences, HOW hockey is the greatest. If you're interested, stay tuned.
