Split Loyalties: A Hockey Love Triangle
If you asked me to change allegiances in football, I’d laugh in your face. I actually would. I’ve grown up with, lived and breathed my chosen football team my whole life. It wasn’t even a case of choosing. I was Watford FC by birth.
When you start following a new sport at the age of 29, it’s not that easy. You have to CHOOSE who to support. Newcastle Vipers was a given, but in the NHL, I hadn’t a clue. I knew nothing about hockey and yet I was expected to select a team to follow – it was the right thing to do. I chose Calgary Flames based on an entirely arbitrary set of reasons including Canadian-ness, location, and jersey. It was all, well, pot luck really.
This year I find myself in something of a quandary. I’m attached to my Flames, don’t get me wrong. And they WERE having a good season, although the wheels have come off of late in no small part due to a spate of injuries to key players. It’s quite similar to last season really, in that the play-offs are a distinct possibility – and after our massive win over LA a couple of weeks back, I could really see us pulling it off. We’re scrapping for that 8th spot but the Western conference is so tight at the minute it’s anyone’s guess who will get that precious final play-off berth; the Ducks are storming, Phoenix were on streak that seems to have faltered, ironically following a loss to the Flames themselves, and San Jose and LA both have games in hand on those around them.
And despite being relatively quiet in the transfer market, there’s no denying what a great bit of business trading stuttering forward Rene Borque for former Flame Mark Cammalleri was on the part of Jay Feaster; Cammalleri has come up big for us time and again, scoring game winning goals and penalty shots and giving us options despite injuries to key forwards in Curtis Glencross, Lee Stempniak and Mikael Backlund, and Miikka Kiprusoff has been as strong as ever and will be massive down the stretch if we are to have any hope of squeaking in – although I fear at this stage our fate may be out of our hands.
So what’s the quandary? I hear you shout. You did shout, right? Because I was about to make a point a couple of paragraphs ago, remember? No, neither did I – I had to look back and check. Well here it is: what would happen if I accidentally stumbled across a team I really, really liked this season – because of the way they played hockey? Was it too late to change allegiances? Well, yes, as it goes. I can’t just dump my chosen team, it’s not within me to do that. It would be like ditching a faithful old dog because a cute new puppy was on on the scene. But can I have ANOTHER team? Is that allowed? The team in question, who are causing me to be unfaithful to my beloved Flames, is the New York Rangers. And I’m going for ‘yes’ for the following made-up reasons, that sound fair enough to me:
1) They are in a different conference AND division. So I will have very little cause to worry about my two teams playing each other and hence throwing up difficult loyalty issues. It’s almost like supporting a Premier League and Championship side. Especially as my new team are actually good.
2) One’s Canadian and one’s American. It seems fitting that I should have a team in both of the countries in which the NHL takes place.
3) Timezones. New York’s location and the subsequent scheduling means I actually have an opportunity to catch a few games live, instead of having to disrupt my sleeping pattern for a week to catch one of Calgary’s, which are invariably broadcast well after midnight.
4) One wears red and one wears blue. So it’s advantageous to my wardrobe and, and… contrasting colours… er… I’ll stop.
Is that enough? Besides all that they play very different styles of hockey, and if it wasn’t for the pesky hockey, I may not have found myself with this problem in the first place. It’s all the Winter Classic’s fault. And stupid HBO. As the story unfolded and the game took place I could just as easily have found myself falling for the charm of the Philadelphia Flyers, but no. I only had eyes for one team, and it was the New York Rangers. I didn’t choose them – they chose me. Just like that, I had fallen in love with another hockey team. My feelings for the Flames have been growing gradually for just over a year, and it’s been difficult at times; this by contrast was love at first sight. And boy, am I smitten.
Before we go any further there’s something I need to address. It’s not because they’re top of the league, mmmkay? I hate the idea that I might be perceived as some sort of glory hunter, because I have never, ever been that, in any sport that I have followed. In fact I find winning all the time quite boring if I’m honest. And it’s the prospect of NOT winning all the time that excites me with the Rangers. Despite the fact they sit atop the Eastern conference and have clearly had a standout season, come play-offs it will be a different story entirely, with key players from both conferences a major threat over a seven game series, and nothing guaranteed. And let’s face it, they do make hard work of winning.
So what is it about the Rangers? They typify everything that I love about hockey, and are the finest exemplars I’ve seen of those assets that made me fall in love with the sport in the first place, just under a year and a half ago. They are young, feisty and physical, and have the strongest team spirit I’ve seen in any side I’ve viewed this season. They have heart and tenacity in spades, and appear to have the kind of chemistry that wins championships. They play for each other, wear their team’s colours with pride and put their bodies on the line night after night. They may not be as pretty as Detroit, or have individual stars like Stamkos or Malkin, but they will sure as hell play to win for 60 minutes every game, and it’s reflected in the standings. The only individual star player they could legitimately claim is Henrik Lundqvist, arguably the most valuable goaltender in the league, and instrumental in Rangers’ success thus far.
They proved against Boston just what a nuisance they can be, causing a robust and skilful Bruins team real problems, Lundqvist and his imperious defence soaking up waves of Bruins pressure, and a couple of moments of brilliance from the likes of Derek Stepan and Marion Gaborik enough to nick the two points. It wasn’t a beautiful game of hockey but it proved just how dogged and determined this season’s Rangers are, standing up for themselves where necessary, and not allowing the Bruins to dominate them. They have their issues yes: their powerplay isn’t up to much. They don’t create as much as they should going forward. But all this seems to disappear when they come together as a team. The magic just happens, and they grind out wins in true champion style. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And its parts aren’t half bad.
I could go on to extol the virtues as I perceive them of such current favourites of mine as Brandon Prust, Brian Boyle and Michael Del Zotto, but I fear I’ve taken up enough of your time already. The upshot of it all is, having recently purchased my first NHL jersey (Calgary), this sharing of loyalties could ultimately prove costly for me, and in the long run it may cause some internal conflict when an inevitable meeting between the two will call me out, and make me choose between my first love and my illicit bit on the side. But on the positive side – I’m definitely going to have someone to pull for in the play-offs this year. I’ll be a fully fledged, card-carrying Blueshirt, and proud. I’ll just have to hope that the Flames are out of town that day.
