<p>I have been a casual fan for about 40 years, sometimes more than casual, like when Mario played. I love to watch the skilled skating and the athleticism of the goalies. Tonight is the skills competition before tomorrow’s all star game. I think that it might be more fun than the actual game tomorrow.</p>
<p>There are several hockey fans here on CC but we tend to only congregate when the playoffs start. 
I’ve been going to hockey games for 45+ years. Grew up in arenas and have been a longtime fan of the game. The skills competition is always more fun than the actual game. Did you watch the draft Thursday night? Two of my Ds and their significant others are going tonight and to the game tomorrow. </p>
<p>Mario was a joy to watch when he played, and he’s a wonderful human being, too. Pittsburgh is a great hockey town. My H was there last weekend visiting friends who are involved with the team and to see the two weekend games. I, unfortunately, didn’t make it due to weather but I always enjoy seeing games there. The fans are great.</p>
<p>My son is a big hockey fan and I have become more of a fan as a result. He has always preferred the skills competition over the actual game and has a few years’ worth downloaded on his iPod to watch when he wants.</p>
<p>We are actually going to the AHL All Star festivities this weekend. Their skills competition is tomorrow in Atlantic City with the game on Monday night. They had good deals on ticket packages and for less than $150 total we have three tickets to each event. Should be fun.</p>
<p>I missed the live showing of the draft but caught the replay on the NHL network last night. So many of the players are so YOUNG! You don’t realize that when they have their helmets on. I caught the replay in the 5th round when Letang was chosen, so I had to watch the re-replay the next hour so I could see Malkin. </p>
<p>Sorry that you missed last weekends games. I watched Sunday’s game from my motel room in easton after driving son 5 hours back to school the day before. I planned to stay two nights because of the weather and it turned out that the roads weren’t bad at all. So, I had a mini vacation for no reason. I was glad the game was on network.</p>
<p>Msmayor, that should be fun! I usually like watching sporting events on tv to get instant replay, commentary, etc., but hockey and the skills are so much better onsite.</p>
<p>Big hockey fan household here. We are lucky to live someplace where going to a hockey game is reasonable both in cost and in travel (Go Preds!) so we’re partial season ticket holders. DH is a lifelong Rangers fan and we both still chuckle at the very passionate, yet not so thoroughly schooled southern hockey fans :)</p>
<p>Best line we’ve ever heard at a Preds game? PUT THE BISCUIT IN THE BASKET!</p>
<p>Huge hockey household here. In fact, my dad gave me a puck to sleep with when I was a baby rather than a stuffed animal. My third word was hockey (seriously… we have it on tape). My dad has been a die hard Wings fan his whole life and I inherited that passion. We were season ticket holders until the lockout and NHL hockey is less appealing to us than it used to be.</p>
<p>Now my dad and I both work for the OHL. THAT is a fun group to watch. A lot of our alumni have gone on to do quite well in the NHL. </p>
<p>Fun fact: I’ve met Gordie Howe numerous times. He and his wife (may she rest in peace) are two of the nicest people on the face of the planet.</p>
<p>Long-time Chicago Blackhawks fan here, but more a fan of the NHL comeback in general. The games are almost always tightly contested, with only a few ‘bad’ teams. I listen to XM/Sirius Home Ice on the way home from work. Took my 87-year-old father, who had season tickets back in the '50’s/'60’s, to his first game in 30 years at the United Center a couple weeks ago, a rousing tilt between the Hawks & Red Wings. Sat next to a friend of Niklas Lidstrom, who defies age.</p>
<p>NHL hockey is what keeps me going in the wintertime!</p>
<p>I actually started playing hockey when I turned 40. I no longer play, but one time I was at a skating clinic taught by a former Wing. That was when they were winning all those cups, and this particular Wing (can’t remember who) brought a Stanley Cup ring. Which he showed to everyone. I actually got to put it on my finger. In fact, he had me take it in the dressing room to show some of the other players. </p>
<p>He did not know that dressing room had another door. I could have walked off with my very own Stanley Cup ring.</p>
<p>By the way, Sharks fan perspective here: Logan Couture may have been picked last, but he’s a terrific player and we love him.</p>
<p>Cardinal, we felt the same way here in Toronto last year when Phil Kessel was last to be chosen, and look at the year he’s having this year! </p>
<p>Plus he gets a car, so it’s not a bad deal.</p>
<p>Hockey fan here … go Wings!! :)</p>
<p>D lives in Nashville now & likes to go to Preds games, but she is still a Wings fan at heart.</p>
<p>And I admit to actually enjoying Hockey Night in Canada. Love Don’s jackets.</p>
<p>Romani, we used to go to OHL games when they were playing at the Palace. We also went to Vipers games all the time … even the championship! Our kids grew up watching hockey, but Wings were for tv (too expensive to see live) - the other leagues were what we went to see.</p>
<p>I am a big hockey fan…</p>
<p>I cheer for the persistently underperforming Capitals. We finally got rid of our bozo of a coach and now some of our best players are injured and our window to get the Cup might be gone… ugh.</p>
<p>kels, I very vaguely remember going to a Vipers game- the one where Gordie Howe either played or skated (can’t remember- I was very, very young). What a relatively short-lived thing that was! They were also actually the IHL, not the OHL. Slight difference, but I believe the IHL didn’t have age restrictions whereas the OHL only has players between 16 and 21. </p>
<p>The OHL has the Saginaw Spirit and the Plymouth Whalers (my boys!) from Michigan. They used to be the Detroit Junior Red Wings before they moved to Plymouth. They are VERY fun games and VERY reasonably priced.</p>
<p>I had Canadian officemates in my first two real world jobs (one was the D of a Flyers player, the other a sports management major who had been a team manager at the college level), so I got hooked a while ago. Was a Flyers fan in the late 80s, but then we moved to DC. Am now a Caps fan, with all the ups and downs involved. S2 is also a hockey fan, so we go to games together when we can find cheap tickets. Last year, he and S1 got me a playoff ticket for Mother’s Day. 
Have been to three Caps games this year, and then we roadtripped to South Philly for the AHL Winter Classic.</p>
<p>We also do ECHL games when we can.</p>
<p>Romani, we liked OHL better than IHL just because they were working their hind ends off to get into the NHL … the games were awesome!</p>
<p>^ Absolutely! It makes them so much more fun to watch.</p>
<p>Huge Sabre fan here living in Rangers’ territory! My dad and I attended the very first Sabres game at the Aud in Buffalo many, many years ago. I then spent more years than I care to count shlepping boys and bags to freezing rinks at the crack of dawn. My D played hockey for her university’s club team for 4 years and declares her hockey loyalty to the Sabres as well, followed by the Rangers and then the team located wherever she is living at the time! So far that includes the Black Hawks and the Caps. And don’t get her started on the Staal brothers . . . if there was a Staal brothers trivia game, she’d be a champ!</p>
<p>Minnesotans love high school hockey. When I was in high school (in MN), I am pretty sure we used to get time off school for the state hockey tournament even when our (up north) team wasn’t in it. I still like to watch Bantam and high school level hockey but it is not the same here (in Ohio). </p>
<p>I enjoy going to (AHL) Lake Erie Monsters games but I don’t really follow the team.</p>