Reason I Love Hockey #1

The Buffalo Sabres

Obvious? Yes. But appropriate, nonetheless. You see, I always liked hockey. It was hard not to, growing up in a place like Western New York. Unlike a lot of places in the US, it is actually more difficult to ignore hockey here than it is to notice it. So I did notice it as a kid. I recognized it as a sport far less boring than football, but much harder to learn than soccer. I was familiar with names like Rick Jeanneret, Lindy Ruff, Pat LaFontaine, Michael Peca, Dominik Hasek, STUUUU Barnes. I'd been to a few games, and always had a lot of fun cheering for the hometown team. I knew about icing and the two line pass. And I certainly, certainly knew about the crease rule. I knew hockey, and I liked it. I just didn't love it. That's where last season came in. Last summer I came home from my first year of college, and my house was in hockey frenzy. I remember being in my room, talking on the phone with a college friend while I unpacked, trying to grasp the idea of being under my parents' roof again, when I heard my living room downstairs erupt into cheers and high fives. Jason Pominville had just scored to eliminate the Ottawa Senators in overtime. The "Scary Good" Sabres were going to the Eastern Conference Final. That's when I knew I had to watch. I don't know what happened to me over those seven games against Carolina, but somehow that group of players wormed its way into my heart and the sport won me over completely. So much so that when Daniel Briere scored to force a game seven, I wanted to marry him for it. So much so that when I heard McKee couldn't play the next game, I wanted to cry. So much so that when Carolina won, I did. A lot. But from that series on, I was hooked. On hockey, and on the Sabres.

So, what did I love so much about that team? I suspect a lot of it had to do with the fact that it seemed no hockey team could fit its region better than the Sabres. They resembled Buffalo in so many ways. They were a bunch of nobodies: not a super-star in sight, only one Ring among them. They were the underdogs: no one had given them a chance to make the playoffs, let alone the Conference Finals. They were blue-collar: scrappy, hard-working, they left everything on the ice. They were Buffalonians: McKee, Afinogenov, and Biron had all begun their NHL careers with the Sabres back in the '90s. But they were more than that. They were also something Buffalo wasn't. They were winners, or at least they looked enough like it to have us all convinced. To make us all believe in them and love them. I know I did.

Maybe hockey fandom is like real estate: location, location, location. Even in the years when I was just a casual fan, cheering for a different team was never an option. So maybe I was just born into it. But it's more than that. As corny as it sounds, I don't cheer for the Sabres because they're in Buffalo; I cheer for them because they are Buffalo. This is my team, and if that means another 37 years of enduring heartbreak like last year and this year, then so be it, because that 38th year will be all the more sweet.

So there you have it. I thought it was appropriate to start off this list with not just "one of" the reasons I love hockey, but the reason I love hockey. Don't worry, my love for this sport doesn't begin and end with the Sabres, and this list won't just be about them. Without them I wouldn't stop loving hockey. But I probably never would have started.