Today is opening day of the 2009-10 NHL Regular Season, it is a day of celebration for this crazy hockey nut. After a boring summer of no real hockey news, the fun begins. This is the time of year that gets me pumped and plants me firmly in front of the old tele watching games. Sure I like to see 'em in person now and then, but heck it's so much better at home. No long lines for the potty, no annoying fans sitting behind you spilling beer on you or gasp! cheering for the wrong team. Sports from the comfy confines of the couch is what makes life grand.
I am one of those crazy hockey fans that will watch any team, any game being played anywhere. Yep, if I could pipe in hockey 24/7/365, by golly I would. But like all rabid fans, I do have a fave team, a team that I cheer for through thick and thin, a team that I will always follow with glee at the triumphant times and sadness at the worst of times. I grew up with this team and stuck by 'em through the good, the bad, and the ugly. I am a WingNut, I bleed red and white and I call the Detroit Redwings the fave team of all time.
Last season was so disappointing that I could barely keep up with the off season news. To lose the Cup on home ice in a game seven makes even this old time die hard fan check his faith. Fear not my friends, I have held on to my fave team through this worst of times. In retrospect it still burns my hockey soul that my fave team lost, it really does. However, like all good things, I know have a new archenemy on the horizon, a new team to cheer for this season.
I figure it goes something like this see. The Wings took the Pens to the cleaners oh-eight and the Pens snuck one past the Wings last season, now it is rubber match time. As hard as I am going to cheer for the fave team, I have another team to root for this season. I have faith in the WIngs ability to get back to the finals, to play for the cup. I do not have the luxury of my beliefs when it comes to the Pens and I have to use hope to help see them through.
You may ask yourself why I would want to see success for the Pens and it is very simple. I want those aquatic birds to storm the ice and race right through the east proclaiming their greatness and 'dynasty' and all the other hoopla that surrounds that team and it's players. I want them to rule the hockey world and rise to the cup. The Wings will be waiting. The quiet Wings, the old Wings who every season are too old, too many European players, a shaky goalie, need I go on? Yeah, those Wings.
As a fan I ask one thing only, play and have fun. Do the best you can, strive for success. No excuses, no crap, just the pure pursuit of the dream. That is why I have always been a Wings fan. The organization has one goal, to be successful and to do it with style and class. As a couch fan who hung up the skates many, many years ago, I say, go get 'em. Bring it on hockey world, the red fanatics are ready!
Predictions for this season? It will be great and disappointing, awesome and fun and all the other parts that make up the pursuit of the Cup so worth watching. Go Hockey, go Wings.
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