Hockey Swag

My laptop has recently been decked out with some awesome new stickers I found on redbubble.com. If you haven’t checked out their selection of hockey stickers, just do it.

Here are some of my favorites:

Oh Pierre

Good life motto

Low blow. But I like it.

 

Coach Q mustache. Nuff said.

Tazer’s creepy facial hair deserves a canvas of its own.

Chi City

Personal favorite

#retro

Slapshot love

Because who doesn’t want to see Kaner’s flow in four different colors?

 

Even if you aren’t cool enough to be a Hawks fan, they still have awesome stickers for you too! 

this was bound to happen

We feel you Eddie Lack.

Pretty clever

For when you need to channel your inner Jagr.

Oh Jeff Carter and his goodness.

 

The Staal Wars

This is hilarious. Oscars selfie hockey style.

Finally, the proceeds of THIS sticker go to Charity thanks to Erik Karlsson! It also promotes his healthy mantra “be kind to yourself”.

 

NARCh 2014

This summer I have been lucky enough to intern with the Florida Everblades of the ECHL. Though the Blades are not in season until October there is still tons of fun to be had at the arena. For the past two weeks the rinks have been devoted to hosting the North American Roller Hockey Championships, dubbed NARCh despite the fact that the acronym is a tad off. It has been a really cool experience to watch another form of hockey. All age groups play the games, which lead to a crowning of the best teams across America and Canada. Today the NARCh Pro division, ages 18+, begins competing and the games have been awesome. According to Wikipedia, NARCh Pro teams compete for cash prizes and for the “NARCh Cup”. Have an ice aversion? Fumble every time you lace up? (#me). Consider roller hockey! According to my research (aka. more scrolling through Wikipedia) NHL players Ryan Kesler, Bobby Ryan, Paul Stastny and more have competed in NARCh. #themoreyouknow

http://narch.com/photos

http://narch.com/photos

http://narch.com/photos

Beaut Convention 2014

This past weekend I was blessed with the opportunity to totally nerd out about my favorite team in my favorite city. I was able to meet Blackhawks legend Bobby Hull, take a picture with Brandon Saad, ask Niklas Hjalmersson (who is hilarious btw) about the upcoming Winter Classic game, and more. Essentially all of my wildest dreams came true (thanks Pedro).

Most importantly I got to experience this all with my favorite man in tow, my dad. So here are some photos from the 2014 Blackhawks convention. To anyone thinking about going in the years to come I would highly suggest it. It was such a fun feeling to be surrounded by so many other fans.

 

Brandon Saad and me!

Me & Pops

JC with Kaner

The History of the Blackhawks Sweater

Dad and Bobby Hull!

Opening Ceremony

 

Duncs bringing it home #NorrisTrophy

A Fandom’s Best Friend

Photo Source: http://ottawa-senators-confessions.tumblr.com/post/89969281309

While the ever-popular blogging site Tumblr is known more for angsty “soft grunge” teen blogs than sports ones, earlier this year I came upon a wonderful underground hockey community bursting with life within the confines of Tumblr. I found some great bloggers with some witty urls including “dont-puck-with-me.tumblr.com”, “saad-squatch.tumblr.com”, “brentseabrookshair.tumblr.com”, and the like. I was stunned to find this fandom thriving amidst a hipster web world known for avocado toast, “thinspo” and shoe porn. Not that I don’t love pictures of shoes and avocados. I do. I found this online hub of hockey freaks like me to be inspiring. The hockey tumblrs that I follow are written predominately by women. Perhaps those just happen to be the blogs that I follow, but I have a pretty good sense that the hockey fandom on tumblr is majority female. I suddenly felt infinitely less alone in my passion for hockey as a teenage girl. And while there is certainly a lot of Tyler Seguin and Patrick Kane fan-girling going down, there is no denying that these chicks know their stuff when it comes to the game of hockey. That can easily be proved by their informative live-blogging during season. These blogs really do bring life to a whole new hockey community and spice it up with infographics, gifs, and rad memes. One of my favorite features brought to life via the hockey tumblr community is the “ask” feature. Those familiar with tumblr are used to seeing an ask button on each homepage which enables users to ask a question to the blog writer or comment on a post. In my opinion, it is really important that all fans, new or old, male or female, have a place to ask someone else a question they have about a rule or regulation without feeling stupid or judged. Additionally it is awesome to have a forum to discuss what you love with other people just as interested in Coach Q’s mustache as you are. Tumblr gives hockey fans that forum.

As if this all wasn’t enough, enter Erik Karlsson: the hero this fandom deserves. Ottawa Senators defender #65 Erik Karlsson joined the party this past January and hasn’t looked back. His first tumblr post, a picture of his bed with an adjoining comment about his need for a nap, still only has 17 notes. His tumblr is more under the radar than Shia LaBeouf post -Transformers. Since then he has gained a very loyal following but his tumblr still remains unknown to many. His posts are too adorable to seem real but his personal posts (including Sochi updates) and pics back the page up as legitimate. His interactions with his fans are earnest and kind. He invests so much into the answers he gives to fans and is always reblogging fan artwork and selfies. Which, in the tumblr world, translates as: This guy is a gent. When he is not posting the latest music video he’s obsessed with or pictures of puppies, he is helping fans through hard times and promoting his simple mantra “be kind to yourself.” Erik is the prototype for all-star fan interaction if there ever was one. So now whether or not you are a Senators fan, you have a million more reasons to love Erik Karlsson, as if you needed any.

Check it out:
http://erikkarlsson65.tumblr.com