March madness is behind us (I'm sure someone won some kind of championship recently but I haven't watched basketball since Jordan, Rodman, and Pippen were playing for the Bulls in the early 90's).
I want to talk Hockey here- specifically AHL Hockey. NHL is fair game but in hockey terms- the regular season is over and regardless what league you follow the team's are chasing after their respective cups for the season.
Here's where we're at for the AHL bracket...
While I'm more equipped to talk AHL here- since we're talking Hockey I'll throw in the NHL bracket (I'm doubtful "my" team has the juice to bring home the cup here) but regardless...
This has been a particularly notable year for me personally and my enjoyment of hockey. As mentioned- I've primarily been focused on AHL games as this was the first year I committed to purchasing passes for the local team. The game of hockey has changed (or at least it seems like it has to me over the years) but I was able to witness some 'interesting' moments during the 18+ games I went to. One of which was seeing the opposing team's goalie clock a player from the home team. "Loyalties" aside- I don't know if I ever saw a goalie initiate a fight before this year. I also saw a fight break out... twice that seemed to include the entirety of both teams. It took something like 20-30 minutes for the refs to work out the penalties afterwards and added something close to an extra hour to the game while they sorted out the penalties for both teams.
I started a thread here after the experience of one particular game, titled something like "you matter". I stand behind the sentiment of why I started that post but the gist was our seats this year were next to two brothers... one of which was part of the Army National Guard and the other had some special needs. As the season progressed, I came to talk to these two and found out that there was something about the game that 'settled/calmed' the one brother and the other (for years at that point) was his 'hockey buddy' to take him to these games. A really impressive young man in my opinion and in his "just doing what needed to be done for his family".
Those are just the top highlights in my head tonight- not to get unnecessarily reminiscent either, just want to talk hockey here.
So what say you Hide, any hockey fans out there watching either the AHL or NHL teams chasing after this season's cups?
-LD
I want to talk Hockey here- specifically AHL Hockey. NHL is fair game but in hockey terms- the regular season is over and regardless what league you follow the team's are chasing after their respective cups for the season.
Here's where we're at for the AHL bracket...
While I'm more equipped to talk AHL here- since we're talking Hockey I'll throw in the NHL bracket (I'm doubtful "my" team has the juice to bring home the cup here) but regardless...
This has been a particularly notable year for me personally and my enjoyment of hockey. As mentioned- I've primarily been focused on AHL games as this was the first year I committed to purchasing passes for the local team. The game of hockey has changed (or at least it seems like it has to me over the years) but I was able to witness some 'interesting' moments during the 18+ games I went to. One of which was seeing the opposing team's goalie clock a player from the home team. "Loyalties" aside- I don't know if I ever saw a goalie initiate a fight before this year. I also saw a fight break out... twice that seemed to include the entirety of both teams. It took something like 20-30 minutes for the refs to work out the penalties afterwards and added something close to an extra hour to the game while they sorted out the penalties for both teams.
I started a thread here after the experience of one particular game, titled something like "you matter". I stand behind the sentiment of why I started that post but the gist was our seats this year were next to two brothers... one of which was part of the Army National Guard and the other had some special needs. As the season progressed, I came to talk to these two and found out that there was something about the game that 'settled/calmed' the one brother and the other (for years at that point) was his 'hockey buddy' to take him to these games. A really impressive young man in my opinion and in his "just doing what needed to be done for his family".
Those are just the top highlights in my head tonight- not to get unnecessarily reminiscent either, just want to talk hockey here.
So what say you Hide, any hockey fans out there watching either the AHL or NHL teams chasing after this season's cups?
-LD
