NHL Newbie Seeks a Team: The Journey Begins

I am no stranger to the National Hockey League (NHL), but I’ve never sat down and watched a full game or really got stuck into it.

As an avid Australian ice hockey fan it’s a little embarrassing to confess that I don’t follow NHL or a team. So this year, supported wholeheartedly by my Grassroots Sports brethren, I decided to change that. I am setting out to find me a NHL team!

Now, I am no easy lady to sway. I like a little flashiness, but won’t settle for the best looking team. Nor am I about to jump on any bandwagons. I want a team that I can really support, one I love to watch, that has a little pizzazz but nothing too over the top.

I’m sure every NHL fan could give me an opinion on what team I should give my heart to. But where is the fun in that?

This season I am going to take you on my journey to find a NHL team. My plan is to watch as many games as possible, to try and see each team in action, watch highlights, follow teams on social media (see who throws hot fire on Twitter), even take a quiz or two and see who the internet recommends.

I’ll be charting my progress each week until I come to a decision at the end of the season, before the playoffs. Sound good? Well let’s go then.

My first game comes a few weeks after the start of the season, on October 29 (US time), but it was Pittsburgh Penguins verse Philadelphia Flyers. I did it in style too – pizza and wings in hand.

I chose this game over the many others played on the same day because a) I knew a bit about each of the teams due to the fact a number of my friends follow them b) I wanted to watch some dude I had heard so much about – Sidney Crosby – in action and c) had to start somewhere.

I quickly understood the whole Crosby thing. The Flyers scored the first two goals of the game. There were celebrations, cheering, general happiness. Good on them. But then in swoops Crosby with an impossible shot that somehow lands over the goalie’s shoulder in a space no bigger than a puck itself, which he quickly followed with another to equal the game. I chuckled at the commentators’ quip: “Flyers 2, Crosby 2”.

A hockey game isn’t all about goals, and I am not picking my team based off how many goals they get, but what really impressed me about the Pens (totally using the lingo already) was the second goal. What I loved was the quick, concise passing between three players as they moved in on the goalie. It was bing, bang and boom – in off Crosby. Beautiful.

After that I really noticed the Pens’ puck handling skills. They’re not afraid to pass the puck, and when they do, it connects.

I noticed that I had a moment when watching the game where I really admired a quality about the Pens. That didn’t happen with the Flyers. Not in that game, at least. All I could think when watching the Flyers was “that’s a whole heap of orange going on”.

I enjoyed the game, but was expecting a bit more board action based on what I had heard about the Flyers.

By the end of the game it was the Pens who had swayed me the most.

Hockey aside, what I enjoyed when watching the game (via NHL TV) was the replays. I loved that you could re-watch the game defining moments over and over. What I disliked was the commercial breaks! Seriously NHL, if you’re going to have commercial breaks at least let us watch them rather than hanging out in silence.