The newest member of the NHL fandom.

My goal in life is to become  a Sports Journalist.  There are many aspiring journalists out there that cover just the mainstream sports, such as I have, but I feel it takes more to become a well rounded and talented journalist.  In my opinion, you must exit your comfort zone and try to cover other sports to really show off your journalistic skills.  There are exceptions to this off course, there are people who cover their respected mainstream sport with perfection, such as Niteowl with baseball.  I am also realizing as I get older, to become a true sports fan, you should be familiar with as many sports as possible.  Get beyond the sports that fill television screnns around the nation.  Let your mind expand into the different realms of sports.  That is what I have decided to do, I have decided that I need to EXPAND.  I start my expanding with my entrance in to the hockey world.  I, Casey Lee, now announce my new beginning as a fan of the NHL.

To be a fan of a sport, it helps to follow a team.  A team to call your own, your FAVorite team.  You know, a team that when you talk about them you refer to them as your own.  EX. “We should have won that game.”  So I needed to find a team that suits me.  I first began to look for a homestate team (California) since I only have one favorite team from my homestate.  I also wanted a team that had a chance at a championship, or as US hockey fans would say, a chance at winning the Stanley Cup.  My teams always seem to fall short and I hope that my new team breaks that trend.  The team I selected to follow was the Anaheim Ducks!  Yes the current holders of the Stanley Cup.  Here comes the bandwagon hopping yelps.  Like I said before I wanted a team from California and a team with success and the Ducks are both, as they are fourth in the western conference and second in the pacific division with 75 points.  Yes, I did learn about the poitns system and will talk more about that later in this article.

Now for a favorite player and of course this player needs to come from my favorite team.  I wanted a player that was young and at the top of his game.  Young, so that my knowledge of the NHL could grow along with my favorite palyer.  Talented because I don’t know what skills it would take to pick a rookie player that is developing, plus who wants to root for a sucky player.  I decided to pick third year wing, Corey Perry.  He leads the Ducks in goals, tied for third in assists, and is second in points which I also learned about.  Corey Perry is only twenty-two years of age, so he is perfect to grow-up with in the sport of hockey.  Perry was present in the NHL all-star game this year.

I selected my team and player, but now to actually learn how this sport is run.  First I wanted to learn how the standings worked because the teams weren’t sorted by wins, they were sorted by points.  A team is awarded two points for winning a game in regulation and the loser is awarded zero points.  However, if the teams go into overtime, the loser is awarded a point and the winner is still awarded two points.  Now that I can follow the standings accurately I wanted learn how they sorted their players stats.  Sports have their main stats, as football is yards, baseball is batting average, and basketball is points.  Hockey did it differently, they are sorted by points, which aren’t just goals.  Points are two stats combined, goals and assists, you add the two stats to get your point total. 

After learning about these two major parts of me following the sport I realized I needed to learn the positions of the players.  I quickly found out they just don’t put some guys on the ice and let them go at it.  The positions are split up into three basic categories: forwards, defencemen, and goalies.  Each team has three forwards: a left wing, right wing, and a centre.  These forwards usually split up into their own three lane which open sup for strategic play.  Each team also has two defencemen: a left defencemen and a right defensemen.  Then of course there is the goalie.  So now that I have done my research I have officially begun my journey as a hockey fan.