The first time's always awkward...

Well...here goes nuthin'. I started blogging at open.ice.hits a couple of weeks ago and am honoured to be asked to join in here...

1. Where you're from, what you do - basic things.
I'm from Calgary, I live and work in the suburbia that is just north of Toronto and do computer related stuff for a living.

2. Your team and why you like them.

The Flames. Because I've been a fan since I was six or seven and because they're my boys.

3. Your least favourite team and why?

The Oilers, because that's the religion where I was raised, and there were tremendous battles through the 80s and early 90s, but the Leafs are moving up there too, the longer I live in Toronto. I talk to too many "hockey fans" who are too dense about anything that doesn't wear blue & white.

4. Your favourite player of all time & now?

All time: Theo Fleury. Because he started out right when I started following hockey, and he was hella fun to watch. And was the only player ever who might have been close to my height ;)

Now: Iginla. Because he's stuck with the team for so long and through so much, and because really, he _is_ the team. Becaus he's a player you can ask to do anything, and he'll get it done. Because I love his passion to win and beat the other guys, but also his class when it comes to dealing with Flames fans and the city of Calgary as a whole.

5. If you had to punch one hockey player or member of the NHL organisation, who and why?

Bettman, because he just doesn't get it He isn't the kind of leader the NHL needs at this point, and seems to be unwilling to accept that fact. He's botched TV deals in the US, let the league stagnate for ten years prior to the locketout, misplayed the entire scheduing drama, and isn't enough of a hockey fan to be running a professional hockey league.

6 What you'll be looking forward in this group blog.

Seeing other writers' points of view, and styles of writing. Up until recently, being a hockey fan was a very solo pasttime for me. It'll be interesting to see whether I can behave myself.

7. What you don't like in general?

Stupidity, a general lack of common sense, dishonesty, Toronto-area drivers. Bad grammar.

8. What role do female fans play in keeping the game alive?

I think female fans and women in general have always been the most important to the game at the grassroots level - making sure the kids got to the games and practices on time, supporting the teams and their players through volunteer work, to say nothing of playing hard themselves, with all the girls' and womens' leagues which have sprung up (and about time!) On the professional level, male fans can dissect the game at an abstract level (I admit, this is also my preferred approach), but it's the female fans who really build relationships between the teams and the communities which surround them.

9. What role do female fans play in picking heroes for the community?

Again, female fans ensure that it's not just raw numbers and stats which determine whether a given player is a "hero" in the community or not - they can highlight other qualities which are valuable to a given community, or just deserve to be appreciated in and of itself. Also, I think female fans better appreciate a given's players connections to the community - the stories about his family, his time growing up, all the people who've been touched and changed by the game. It's really understanding that it's not about what a player takes from the game, but what he (or she) gives back.

10. Hockey just isn't the same without...

Peter Maher's broadcast at the Fan 960. I have been known to put the game, on, but throw the TV on mute to listen to Pete. And I was in raptures when he did the World Championship broadcast in 2005 during the lockout.

11. If you were on a deserted island, which player would you pick to
stay with you?

Andrew Ference. We could get in some great debates to pass the time, plus his penchant for extreme sports means that he'd be able to adapt to anything on the island that came our way. Plus he could surf away to find us some help.

12. Crosby, Ovechkin or Phaneuf (hey he tried!)?

Phaneuf. Because he's ours. And he had perhaps the most impressive rookie year I've witnessed from any player in a long time, for his strong physical play and maturity in handling whatever he was given. And how well he handed being in the shadow of the other two.

13. The player you'd like to take for a grand night out/a movie/a boring event?

Matthew Lombardi? Because he'd look pretty damn good in a suit/tux or just plain old civvies.

14. If you could make your own team, regardless of whatever players, what would it be called and where will it be/how would it be like?

I think I'd want a minor hockey team that played outside all the time like old school hockey players did. And call them the Icemen or something like that, 'cause that what they would be! But I'd make sure they always had hot chocolate and smores ready to go...