Our New Sport

When we moved to Western New York, we noticed that people were more interested in the Sabres than in the Bills. People here just LOVE hockey. They think that it is the greatest thing ever. They seriously go crazy for it. At one of our favorite restaurants, Duff's, they even have an alarm like they have at the hockey games for when the Sabres make a goal.

This kind of peaked our interest. One of Spencer's friends, Mark (aka Big Sweaty), is obsessed with the Sabres. He was so excited to find out that Spencer had never been to a professional hockey game. He has season tickets and so he told Spencer that he wanted to be the one to take him to his first hockey game. He talked about it like it was this wonderful, and magical experience.

So, in November Spencer attended his first hockey game. It was the Buffalo Sabres vs. the Atlanta Thrashers. It really was something magical. Spencer was hooked. Since then he has fallen in love with the sport. He loves to watch it. And he has gone to a few games since then.

And finally, in December, I was able to go to my first professional hockey game. It was really fun to watch them get into fights and hit each other. It reminds me of soccer, except more violent.

Spencer got the NHL PlayStation game for Christmas from Greg. This was by far his favorite present. He plays it all of the time. And we often play together. It has been fun to become familiar with the sport and it's rules. We are officially hockey fans. More specifically, we are forever Sabre's fans.

Here are some pictures of the ring and of the players warming up.

Spencer's favorite player is Patrick Kaleta because he instigates fights. He is a Buffalo native. He also likes Jochen Hecht and Derek Roy.

My favorite is Paul Gaustad because he is tough and a team player. He also reminds me of Spencer. And his nick-name is Goose...like Moose.