One year ago today...

My life changed forever as I became a hockey fan! It all started with this thread on the Trading Card Database, one of the rare threads that is actually kind of negative. The Vegas Golden Knights revealed their logo that day, and the thread made me curious...you can see I commented twice in it...I wanted to see the logo, and remembered that every day when I would turn to channel 221, NBA TV, just above that on channel 223 was the NHL Network. I decided to put it on, to see what was going on...and I got hooked. By the end of the show, I had become completely enthralled with what is my new sport. I left on the repeating "On the Fly" for several airings and that did it. I loved every second of it. After that, I started watching games in secret. I also began to read the rules and lore of the sport on Wikipedia, and eventually I read the entire history of every team. (Including those no longer in existence)

I watched in secret until January 14th, when I wrote up this post and revealed to the world that I was now an NHL fan. The amazing thing is that I was able to keep it a secret from my mom and brother, I knew I was not going to be able to keep it a secret for long. I wanted to be sure that I was really a fan, and that this wasn't going to be some passing fad or infatuation that would fade in time. It sure hasn't. I don't remember the first game I actually saw...but I do remember the first one I saw from start to finish. That was the Winter Classic, the outdoor game, between Chicago and St. Louis on January 1st. Every other game previously I caught after it had already begun.

Since that time, there has not been a single day where hockey did not play some sort of role. Even during the summer, when there were no live games being played, I was watching repeats on TV, or finding old clips on YouTube, and dealing with the cards people sent me- I'll get back to that in a moment. It's just an integral part of my life already, and has already surpassed NASCAR in my list of favorite sports. I still list the NBA first- but I actually watch more NHL games in their entirety. Hockey now takes up a large part of my life, and I am thrilled about that!

Although I credit the Golden Knights with getting me into the sport, there are a couple of other things that could have...should have...gotten me into it sooner. My poor eyesight is why I didn't...I had tried in the past. I just couldn't see what was going on. In 5th grade, I played floor hockey in school...my favorite sport to play, and the only one I was actually good at. I used to watch roller hockey on ESPN, and I also enjoy field hockey in the Olympics. Air Hockey is a lifelong favorite- my brother is really incredible at it. If it was an Olympic event, he could still win gold, despite being in Jaromir Jagr's age bracket. Because I've been playing him all these years, I'm pretty good too. Not as good as him, but if I play somebody...I win. Unless I'm playing him. These days, I can only play three games before my back gives out, if I'm lucky- I wish I could play more. Even though I usually lose, I still enjoy it every time. He sometimes lets me win, but in 30 years of playing, thousands of games, I've only ever beaten my brother fairly maybe 4 or 5 times. I've never lost to anyone else I've ever played against. He's that good.

If my TV hadn't died in earlier 2016 I might not have been able to become a big fan that I am now. It was old- about 15 years old- and one day it just wouldn't turn on anymore. I began watching everything on my phone, via my cable provider's app. I put that right next to my computer, (So I could charge it via USB while watching) and can look at both without even moving my head- just my eyes. That played a huge role. If I had to look up and to the right, I probably would not have actually watched and then woudn't have become a fan. If the phone was not in HD, I probably wouldn't have been able to follow the puck and not know what was going on. Also, by putting it on the phone right next to me, I could actually hear it. When my TV was on, halfway across the room, I would have to lower it at night and usually couldn't hear what was happening. My brother gave me my smart phone only in May of 2016. Although it's technically a phone, I don't use it for calls. It's basically a handheld TV to me...and also a better camera than my actual camera!

And now, back to the cards. Hockey card fans have been incredibly generous to me, over the past 11 months. Once I made my announcement, linked above, that I was a hockey fan and going to begin collecting hockey cards, they started rolling in from my fellow collectors, usually as gifts. And not in small quantities. In the thousands. I keep track of how many new cards I get in a day, and in 2017 two gifts from hockey collectors rank in my top 5 all time new cards in one day...#1 was also mostly hockey cards, from a friend in 2015, who is a big hockey fan and thought I would enjoy it, so he sent me almost 3000 cards to get me into it. In a way, it worked, because I really enjoyed the cards he sent. They are the backbone of my collection. I began 2017 with exactly 3000 hockey cards, and as I am writing this, I have over 8000. 8346 to be exact. While I have purchased some for myself, the vast majority have come as gifts. My fellow hockey collectors have nearly tripled my collection in under a year's time! That's just....incredible. Truly. I don't have a superlative compliment that can properly express how grateful I am. I'm not sure that word exists. And it's even more than that, because I've held some of the cards back for next year, when I celebrate my 30th anniversary collecting cards. (More on that in January). Of the 5346 new hockey cards I've gotten in 2017, I purchased for myself maybe 1500 of them, through packs and repacks. Maybe a little more, but maybe a little less too. The rest all came from friends. Isn't that just the most amazing thing?

I hesitated slightly, due to the vast expanse of different people who have gotten cards, but I decided that I would indeed add the NHL to my project of trying to get at least one card from every person to ever get a card in the sport. Doing that project for the NBA has been exceptionally rewarding, and I've also done NASCAR, coming fairly close to completion in fact. I have not yet made a list of who is missing for the NHL, but it's going to be a lot. Getting cards since the 1920s, 20 years before the NBA and NASCAR were even founded, let alone got cards, there are more NHL players with cards, and in fact, the different people represented in my hockey collection is already within about 400 names of my NBA collection, which has been my main focus since 1996, essentially. This is a project that I don't think I will ever finish, but I am sure going to have a lot of fun trying over the coming years.

I am a fan of every team, and I will watch whoever is on. It doesn't matter. I will watch it and enjoy it. And not just the NHL, I also watch minor league games when they are televised. Of course, I watch the Golden Knights a LOT. But in that time between when I started watching and when they started playing, the New York Rangers had become "my team". From the steady stoicism of superstar goaltender Henrik Lundqvist,  (my favorite player in the league), to the scrappy determination of Mats Zuccarello to the enthusiasm of Brady Skjei (who does not yet appear in my card collection) and everyone else on the team, they have captivated my attention and become "my team". I realized the Rangers had become my team when I missed a game last year due to my schedule, and reading the scores the next day, being sad that they lost, instead of just reading the scores to see what I had missed, something I do each and every day. I don't know what date that occurred, but I know it was a loss to the Calgary Flames. In time, I am sure there will be a stratification of the teams for me, where I find I root for some more or less- it's already begun. But last season that didn't yet occur, it was just information to be processed. When I was sad they lost, I knew, then and there.

I am eagerly looking forward to getting my first Golden Knights card. I know they have existed since early October, with the first appearing in the Panini Stickers, and also two inserts in O-Pee-Chee, and the first set showing images of the team in action appeared in the Upper Deck Flagship which came out a few weeks ago, I have not been able to get to the local Target to get any. I hope they still have them if/when I do get there.
One interesting thing, I have been a sports fan for many years now, but I had never seen the first game of a team's history until this year, when I saw the Golden Knights play their first games. Either pre-season or regular season, I saw them both.

So, today marks 1 year since I've been a hockey fan. There will never be a time in my life where I can't say that, so it's year 1 of many. Thanks to all the hockey fans and fellow collectors who have sent me cards- as I tried to relate above, I can't thank you enough!

Oh yeah, happy Thanksgiving!