Avalanche Roundtable: Why hockey?

It’s been just under three months since the NHL season abruptly came to a halt just when things were getting really good and we’re still finding things about the Avalanche to talk about.

Couple the (unexpected) long break with what’s going on in the world around us and it has me kind of curious. So I ask the Avalanche guys for today’s topic: why hockey? What is it about the sport that has sucked you in so deeply that you’re still finding ways to talk about it on a daily basis?

AJ: It’s a combination of everything. I fell in and out of love with hockey as my life took certain turns during the 2000s after going hard as a kid when the Avs moved to Denver. When I rediscovered it in 2008, it’s just been a slow descent into an obsession.

It’s the speed, the physicality, the insane skill involved with the combination of the elements plus handling a puck that bounces unpredictably. It’s being around the game where even the people covering hockey have a different level of passion than those who cover other sports.

Hockey fans, players, coaches, media, they’re just a different breed. I guess I should say “we” because I’m part of that media corps. Everyone just cares so deeply about the game in a way that doesn’t hit with other sports. Hockey is very tribal in that way and I love that passion. It’s not just a game, it’s a lifestyle. Being a “hockey person” is just…different. As sort of an odd dude, that resonates. I hope I’m involved in this game for the rest of my life.

Evan: I played just about every sport growing up but once the Avs came to town, I got hooked and wanted in. I don’t know how but I was good almost immediately, to the point where I stopped playing other sports to focus on hockey alone. To me, the sport combined a little of everything and that’s what excited me. By the time the Avs got to town, I was 8, so it was the perfect time to start and I have been in since. I’m sure it helped that Colorado inherited a great team to get excited about and watch play. I will also have to attribute the mid-90’s EA Sports games as having hooked me in too. NHL 94 gets the pub, but played the hell out of NHL 96 and 97.

It’s actually funny to me how I’m still involved. After two years of AAA, I went to play Junior hockey and was going to play D-3 in Minnesota after, but by the time I got to juniors, I was burnt out. I ended up quitting Juniors and just going to school. I remember telling my parents that it wasn’t fun anymore, and I needed to stop and take a break to find that love of the sport again. Nevertheless, it worked, and I’ve been playing and following again since.

I think what keeps me excited to this day is the skill and speed being greater than it ever has. That’s how I played, so it brings me in more so than the physical, grind it out, hooking and holding games from the early 2000’s

Rudo:  Growing up I played baseball, a sport I still enjoy to this day but hockey was something different. Hockey was about as far from baseball as I could get. I learned to skate at a very young age and that is what really set things into motion, the ability to go so fast with such little effort. Then the Avs came to town and brought home the first championship in my young life on the backs of multiple Hall of Famers and I was hooked. On the ice, I never really played much at an organized level. I certainly didn’t have any of Forsberg’s skill but hockey boots did always bother my ankles. The lack of playing probably help me fall in love with the sport, a bit of mysticism around just how NHL players could do the incredible things they do. For someone who has never been a big football fan, I could rally behind the Avs in the ’90s and early 2000s as a successful team.

As I grew older watching hockey became a family and friends affair watching regularly with my father and a few of my close friends (including a Wings fan that would become the best man at my wedding). In high school, I fell out of baseball, and hockey was my only real tie to the sports world. In College, it kept a line of contact with the same friends and family as before even if we were in different places. In my 20s instead of getting my life together, hockey was something I could commit all of my time to and here we are.

Hockey has always been unique; the ice, the line changes, the lack of a ball. It’s hard to put into words exactly how it all came together but my love for the sport is something I will never lose. In a way, hockey has always been there for me and the fact that now in my own small way I get to be there for hockey is something I cherish.