Hockey

(If Lauren Conrad can blog about hockey, so can I.)

Growing up, I never payed much attention to hockey. Don't get me wrong: I was vaguely aware that my dad was a Rangers fan, and that, in New Jersey, we had the Devils. But it didn't catch my interest. And then we moved to Florida, which, other than football (college and otherwise) was pretty much a sports vacuum. But then, during the year I left for college, we magically acquired both hockey and baseball.

I remember going to my first hockey game during college. Back then, Tallahassee had a minor league team, the Tiger Sharks. I thought it was fun to watch, but never got obsessed about it the same way I did with college football or baseball.

Then I moved to DC and went to my first Capitals game. Without baseball in town, the Caps were the only local team I could bring myself to root for -- albeit as a casual fan, going to a game or two each season. But since the strike -- and especially with the Nats in town -- I just never found a reason to go.

Until November. Right after Thanksgiving, a couple of friends and I went to go see the Caps lose in an overtime shoot-out to Florida. And I remembered how much I liked watching hockey -- even if "my" team wasn't playing particularly well. But for the fact that I spent most of this miserable winter in Newark (or preparing for the trip), I think I would have gone to a whole bunch of games. (I know that we were seriously considering going for the mullet wigs.)

While in Newark, every day we'd walk by the Devils' brand-new arena -- and every day, I'd tell my coworkers that we should take a break and go check out a game. Alas, we were always too busy, and never quite managed to make it.

But then I came home. And last week, I went to an amazing game. Not only was it a ton of fun to watch, but the crowd was so excited and into it. So now I'm wishing I could get my hands on some playoff tickets.