Cassie: Hockey – not as bad as I thought

Allison loves hockey and insisted that one of us covers the NHL Hockey Playoffs. Oh, sorry, Colin just said I don’t have to say “NHL hockey” since “NHL” already has hockey in it. Plus, it seems they’re called the “Stanley Cup Playoffs” instead. How was I supposed to know that?

Anyway, it  turns out, Jesse’s the psychology, movie, and baseball guy; Holly’s TV and the voice of reason; Michael’s…well, we don’t really know…he just types and we’re stuck with what comes out; Kevin is music and football; which leaves me for hockey apparently. Since my brother Colin actually is a big hockey fan, I was also the only one who watched some of the games. So, here goes.

Wednesday night was my first real taste of hockey. I thought I would hate it, but I have to admit, it wasn’t bad. Some of the players are actually pretty cute. I wasn’t sure what to write about since I don’t know much about the teams or what’s going on. Colin is a Flier’s fan. Fliers? Flyers? I don’t know. Something like that. They lost last night and he’s furious, so I won’t talk about that. We did watch other games too though, and we still cared about them because the Flieyers (sp?) could win whatever whatever final and face one of the teams we watched. Yeah, I have no clue what I’m talking about. BUT, I do know that it definitely wasn’t what I thought it would be. Here are some myths I learned weren’t true.

Myth 1: Hockey players don’t have teeth. Alright, well, some don’t. But Colin says that’s because they’re the team’s “enforcers” and it’s part of their image. Most of the players do in fact have teeth, and as I hinted above, some actually have great smiles. This might not be as bad as I thought.

Myth 2: You can’t see the puck. Again, you kind of can’t. But the implication is that because you can’t, it’s impossible to tell what’s going on. That’s not true either. Even for a newbie like me, I just had to follow the players. If I looked where they did, I caught a lot of the action. THEY saw the puck at least. Also, usually someone ended up getting slammed onto the ice near the puck. That’s always a good clue as well.

Myth 3: All they do is fight. There actually wasn’t a lot of fighting in the games we watched. Colin says it’s because it’s early in the series. Later there will probably be more because a rivalry will be built. He says a lot of the time it’s part of the strategy. Fights are a good way to build momentum, or change it if your team is down. They also help protect a team’s stars. I guess if someone on their team hurts your star, your fighter guy fights their fighter guy. That’s so medieval. I love it. Oh, I just found out those are the guys with no teeth. Now it’s all starting to make sense.

Myth 4: The trapezoid behind the goalie is for decoration. It’s not. It actually has a purpose. But I still think it looks nice. I forget what it does. Hold on. Ok, Colin says it’s for the goalie. He’s not allowed to go outside of those lines. It keeps him out of the “corners.” How an oval has corners, I have no idea. You know who has really cool uniforms? That Chicago team. The Blackhawks is it? Oh crap, I wasn’t supposed to say that apparently. Colin’s about to explode. Never mind. I only like the Fleyres. Flyers. I think I have a crush on Claude Giroux. Yep. He’s my new favorite Ice Hockey player. I hope they win the NHL Hockey award or whatever. Err…Stanley Cup. Shut up, Colin. Get a girlfriend and then you don’t have to watch the games with your sister.