20 Signs that You’re a True Ice Hockey Fan

aNewDomain — Like a rugby enthusiast, the true ice hockey die-hard isn’t your typical sports fan. Ice hockey, to many people, is a weirdly strange sport. Guys skate instead of run. A team may take 40 shots and not score one goal. Players carry around big sticks the entire game. There’s a “puck” instead of a ball. A “point” means what, exactly? Also, why are they playing a Winter sport in May and June?

To see if you’re a true ice-blue hockey fan, count off the list below. If it describes you at all, you can be sure you’re part of that unique hockey club — and if it describes your friend, your partner or anyone close to you, now you know them a whole lot better.

Signs You are an Ice Hockey Fan

1. You never blame the refs for costing your team the game.
2. You find the refs’ calls to be correct 99.5 percent of the time.
3. You don’t like boxing or MMA, but you can’t wait for your team’s guy to beat up the other team’s guy during a hockey game. You also go nuts for awesome body checks.
4. One of your conversation starters is “So, can anyone explain why Wisconsin doesn’t have an NHL team?”
5. You actually understand what a “shot on goal” is, and understand the difference between that and a “scoring chance.”
6. You can always follow the puck without any problem at all.
7. You always hope that your favorite team and its opponent are tied at the end of regulation and the overtime period (during the regular season) so you can witness a shootout.
8. You’re an American and you have no qualms about cheering for Canadians or Russians.
9. You wish ice hockey players were paid more money.
10. You will readily argue about whether or not Geordie Howe was better than The Great One.
11. You will readily argue about whether or not Mario Lemieux was better than The Great One.
12. You let nothing get in your way of watching the Winter Classic every January.
13. You watch the movie version of “Miracle on Ice” every February.
14. You’re an American and you don’t start watching major league baseball games until the NHL playoffs are finished.
15. If you met someone online or through a mutual friend and wanted to date them, met them in person and discovered they love a hockey team that you despise, you would immediately break everything off.
16. You think it’s perfectly logical and reasonable that less than half of NHL teams are eliminated from the playoffs during the regular season.
17. You know, before the announcers announce it, that a player has committed a penalty that results in a penalty shot for the opposing team.
18. You never get confused between a player’s individual points and a team’s points, an individual player’s goals and assists and his points, a team’s points and a team’s goals, or a team’s points and win-loss-loss record. (You also never get confused as to how a team can have a win-loss-loss record.)
19. When a player gets thrown out of the face-off circle, you understand why.
20. You’re disturbed that the Stanley Cup may be getting too big — as in the actual Stanley Cup trophy is literally becoming too big and unwieldy for players to lift.

So … does that sound like you?

For aNewDomain, I’m Brant David.

Featured Image: Frozen Nabokov by pointnshoot  via Flickr Creative Commons