I grew up loving hockey. My family had season tickets to the local professional team while I was growing up. I even celebrated my 13th birthday by taking a bunch of friends to a hockey game. I’ve bought game worn jerseys, ate horrible arena hot dogs, drooled over players and had beer spilled on me. I thought I couldn’t immerse myself further into hockey. Oh how wrong I was.
I’ll be the very first person to admit to anyone that I read fanfiction. What I didn’t realize though, was there was hockey fic. I read my first hockey fic (and although I had to google a few people so that I could know who they were) I was left feeling awkward. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy it, I really did, but it was an odd feeling having something that you have loved and “participated” in for years be presented in a format that you aren’t used it.
So from there I jumped down the rabbit hole. I follow hockey tags on tumblr, watch video clips, listen to podcasts and even read ‘self-insert’ fic. (I don’t ever use my name though in my head when reading it, I think for me that would be too much). One of my favorite things about the hockey fandom is the fan art. In a lot of the cases people wouldn’t call it fan art, but that’s exactly what it is. Art made by fans.
| #BoomerIsHere in my #GoT (Game of Torts) inspired #CBJ vs #GoKingsGo game day poster for tomorrow’s hard home game. | Prints are available at: etsy.me/2yu0mbE
My journey into the fandom of hockey has been entertaining and enjoyable, but I think for me the best part has been finding other people who are hockey fans. I love to hear others getting excited or worked up when their teams are playing and just sharing that love in general.
Go #CBJ! We Are the Fifth Line!
