My favourite sport, hobby, and pastime of all time!
How I got into hockey:
I got into hockey during the 2006-07 season, and while I wasn't fully
that knowledgable about it, my favourite team was my home team, the
Toronto Maple Leafs. Two years of no playoffs followed, and at that
point I was starting to like the Avalanche more and more. I found myself
ignoring the Leafs' Saturday night games, and began focusing on the
Avs. By the end of the 2007-08 season, I knew I would never be a Maple
Leaf fan. I knew my cheers came from the excitement of an Avalanche
goal.
By the beginning of 2008-09, I knew the entire Avalanche off by heart. I
was excited to watch Joe Sakic, Paul Stastny, and the rest of the Avs
battle for the cup. But injuries plagued the team, as Sakic and Stastny
went down. I hoped Sakic would return for one more season, especially
after the season concluded and the Avalanche had the 3rd overall pick.
On draft day, I watched eagerly on TSN as the Avalanche selected Matt
Duchene 3rd overall. I had watched Duchene play, as a member of the
Brampton Battalion, a few months earlier during a playoff game. I knew
with no doubt that he would one day become the next star for the
Avalanche. But I really hoped that Super Joe would mentor Duchene just
for one more year. On July 7th 2009, I was at Upper Canada Mall's food court,
watching the updated news on the mall TV, when I saw that Sakic had
decided to announce his retirement.
The next year proved to be success. Duchene nearly won the Calder Trophy
(although he really should of), and coach Joe Sacco was a nominee for
the Jack Adams Trophy. I stayed up late for every single playoff game
that the Avalanche played the Sharks. I hoped the Avalanche would move
to the second round. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. The season after
that proved to be frusterating for me, but I was able to see Forsberg
play with the Avs for the third time (second time for me). This year was exciting too, as the Avs almost made the playoffs but fell short.
My favourite Avs players of all time are Joe Sakic and Peter "Foppa" Forsberg, both are going in the HOF in their first year without a doubt. My favourite players on the Avs right now are Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog and Semyon Varlamov. Other formers Avs I like are Patrick Roy, Valeri Kamensky and Pepe Lemieux :D
2011-12 Conference Finals predictions:
New York over NJ in 7.
LAK over Phoenix in 6 games.
