I like hockey. I have so much respect for those dudes. Because it’s all on ice…
I grew up in Stamford, CT and I had a lot of buddies growing up that played hockey. It forced me to learn how to ice skate. I couldn’t go to their birthday parties and be in the only kid not skating. So I learned. In my younger years, I was also a video game junkie and two of my favorite games were NHL ’93 and NHL ’94 for Sega Genesis. I actually used to play as the Chicago Blackhawks all the time, but maybe I shouldn’t say that now…
I joke, though I’m not joking, that I know a few cities in Canada only because of those NHL video games. Calgary, Edmonton, Winnepeg…
I admit, I don’t pay much attention to hockey during the course of the NHL season, but I am interested to know who the Stanley Cup Champion is by the end of the year. In 2014, I had a tremendous opportunity to get under the skin of friends from Connecticut, and I ran with it...
I found it incredibly ironic that the first Stanley Cup Final after having moved to LA took place between the New York Rangers and the Los Angeles Kings. I normally would not have cared, but I took this as a chance to push some buttons. I decided that I was going to root for my new home team. A few days before the start of the series, I went out and got a fresh LA Kings t-shirt, proudly photographed myself wearing it, posted it to Facebook and let the taunting begin…
Needless to say, my CT friends had a few things to say about it.
Well, fast forward a few weeks and five short games and the Los Angeles Kings were holding their Stanley Cup victory parade in Downtown LA. I’d never lived in a city where there was a champion of one of the four major sports. I grabbed my D90 and made sure I captured the moments.
It was pretty cool to see Dustin Brown, Drew Doughty, and Bailey the lion, among other LA King faithful atop LAFD and Starline Tours trucks:
Btw, the Stanley Cup is really shiny in person and speaking of that image/moment, I have to thank God for the timing. It was one of those photojournalistic moments that had a 50/50 chance of success: Dustin Brown was hoisting the cup and showing it off to fans on both sides of the street. I watched him as his truck come all the way down the street. I thought the entire time, “please face me, please face my way, please look on my side of the street, come on…” Luckily enough…