My Dog; The Hockey Fan

I feel like the title of this post could be misleading. After all it's not like my dog ever insisted upon wearing her favorite Gretzky jersey, or partook in any $1 beer nights at the local rink.

But make no mistake, my dog was a hockey fan in a very metaphorical, very literal and very real way.

On Wednesday January 26, 2011 Chloe, my close companion for 13 years, passed away.

While thinking of what to blog about that was hockey oriented, all I could think about was my dog. Then, it hits me. My dog was a hockey fan.

Each night following a UCO or Oklahoma City Barons' hockey game I would return home hungry and tired, in no particular order, having most likely skipped dinner and normal sleep hours.

I would come home and sit on my couch, trying to relax and unwind while everyone else around me slept.

That is when Chloe would waddle over in her old age to see who was coming home so late and if they had any food to share.

She would lay her head on my lap and stare at me for seconds, minutes, hours at a time and she would listen.

She would listen as I told her about my day, but she would listen most intently as I described the night's hockey game in detail. She almost seemed to show emotion in her glazed over, old dog baby-brown eyes.

She was my escape from a long day and my conversation buddy when no one else felt like talking hockey until two in the morning.

Now I come home and all there will be is the television and an empty square of carpet where my dog used to be. No one to listen to hockey stories and no one to enjoy the sport with me while everyone else slept.

Perhaps it is foolish of me to believe that my dog was a hockey fan. But then again, Chloe never acted like a dog. She was very much a person, and I loved her as such.

The sport of hockey lost a fan yesterday.

In Loving Memory of Chloe Wescott

AHL Team Foreshadowing Bigger Things?

I used to keep an old sports blog. I rarely use it anymore.

If you would like to read an old post I wrote about the Oklahoma City Barons and prospects of an NHL team in OKC (written prior to OKC's newest AHL team's inaugural season) click the link below.

Disclaimer: The blog post linked below was written on May 12, 2010.

CLICK for article

"Flow" Sets Hockey Apart

The cadence of the sport is almost an art form.

From start-to-finish, a good hockey game is hard to beat. The constant movement of the puck, the shifting of players and constant stimulation is the epitome of a sporting event.

The one thing that hockey has above all other sports is consistent, intense flow. It is a rhythm that can keep a fan on the edge of their seat from the start of a period to the end, and following a quick trip to the beer stand, put them back on the edge.

From the opening whistle there are the sounds of skates grinding out patterns in the ice, the startling BANG of the puck against the glass, the smell of beer, popcorn and hotdogs on the artificially chilled air and the roar of the crowd at just the right moments.

Hockey would lose its appeal if not for its "flow". The constant shifting and substitution of players and the (almost) never-ending, but ever changing,  puck movement create a primal need in spectators to keep their eyes on the game.

It could be because the game is intriguing. Or it could be because you're afraid you might miss something if you look away, even if it's just for a second.

From start-to-finish, hockey just may be the most engaging sport in the world.

While I pride myself on being an all-around sports fanatic, there just isn't anything like a good hockey game.