How A Typical Girl Became A Hockey Fan

Since I’m basically the worst hockey blogger on the planet Earth, in terms of punctuality and timing, I thought I might as well tell you how I got addicted to this fast paced, rough and tumble game.

I’ll be honest, I was never much of a sports girl. I loved Barbie’s, clothes, and hiking with my dad. While he (and his side of the family) love Alabama Football, I could just never get into it. To me, it was about as interesting as watching grass grow. I remember going to Single A baseball games with mt grandma and mom in Lynchburg (go Wildcats!), but I was bored to death the entire time not to mentioned confused.

I didn’t even watch hockey until I was 8 (or so), when my dad took me to a Caps game because it was free admission for Girl Scouts (Oh yeah, I was a hardcore Girl Scout, guys. I was Cookie Diva 4 years running). I don’t remember a single lick about that game other than it was cold, I got a free hat, and the seats were purple.

I had basically written off all sports and wanted to be a flutist (I have AWESOME career plans, guys). That was until 8th grade when I wanted to do more with my dad and he was watching a Caps game, so I plopped down on our leather couch with my pooch and watched a bunch of guys in red skate around with sticks and a puck. Boy, was I confused! Luckily, my dad patiently explained the game, penalties, and what people were doing and I caught on. I remember I used to only watch the 2nd period and go to bed, but as my curiosity and love for the game grew, I started watching it in its entirity.

I slowly learned the roster, Niklas Backstrom being the first guy I could spot with Ovie and Sasha following closely behind. In fact, I called my first icing in a game against either the Devils or Islanders. Not bad, eh? It’s been 3 Cups, so about 3 years, since I fell in love with the game and I’m still learning and expanding on my knowledge.

Hopefully one day I can help someone else learn to love the game themselves. I’d like to thank my dad for getting me into hockey, putting up with my stealing the sports section and taping all the Caps articles on the walls, driving me all over the place to get to my Schools team’s games, and thanks for occasionally editing my articles and correcting my spotty grammar.

--Written By Camilla A, reposted from her former blog Capital Connection--