I'm Enjoying This Whole Hockey Thing

Marquette used to hold the title for the team that I represent on this blog but talk about the least, but that throne has quickly been taken over by the Buffalo Sabres. As most of you know, the Sabres were the team I selected when deciding to finally like hockey this season, and it's turned out to be a pretty lucky choice as Buffalo is surprising a lot of people by legitimately contending for the postseason. I haven't talked about them too much on the blog, but that doesn't mean I'm not following them.

It hasn't been easy though, mostly due to the fact that tonight's game on Versus against the Maple Leafs was really the first full game I actually could get to watch. For some reason, my cable provider doesn't have NHL Network available to us, or NHL Center Ice for that matter, so it's rare I can actually catch a game (although I do love my cable provider, just want/need to make that clear...). So watching the Sabres on Monday was quite a treat, especially because the result was a 3-0 victory over Toronto.

I'm not as knowledgeable about this team as I'd like to be - I'm still learning players names for the first time - but at least I finally have somewhat of a vested interest in hockey. One of the biggest knocks on me as a sports fan was that I not only didn't watch hockey, but I didn't like it either, something I regret now that I've decided to give it the time of day. Even though this was really the first time I've been able to watch the "Sabez", I've already been heavily using the royal "we" when referring to them, much to the chagrin of morethanjake I'm sure.

I guess that moral of the story is that I wish I would have had more of an open mind about hockey before, because it's actually really fun to watch. It does look great in HD, and fellow rookie Sabers fan and I, Bear, are already planning a trip to watch our first Sabres game in person (which I desperately want to actually be in Buffalo). I'm looking forward to try and catch some more hockey this season, and can't wait to actually get into playoff hockey this year, assuming the Sabres don't choke this season away of course.