It was tough learning to skate and play hockey, especially getting into it later than most children, but joining the game really did change my life.
Hello to anyone new reading my blog! My name is Shandi, and I love hockey. But it wasn’t always that way.
My brother grew up playing hockey, and I didn’t have much interest in the sport until I was around ten years old. By that point, I had grown tired of dance lessons and thought the idea of playing a team sport was a needed change.
I was first enrolled in CanSkate to learn the basics before finally getting a taste of playing hockey in 2006. Like most young girls, I had to start by playing hockey with boys before there was enough interest in my age group for an all-girls team. It was tough learning to skate and play hockey, especially getting into it later than most children (my brother was three when he first started playing), but joining the game really did change my life.
Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins
Before then, I hadn’t heard much about the National Hockey League. My knowledge of the NHL consisted mainly of the Toronto Maple Leafs being everyone’s favourite team.
That all changed in 2008 when I was asked who I thought would win the Stanley Cup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings by a family friend. Not knowing anything about either team, I chose the Penguins.
A year later, I was asked the exact same question. Shocked that the same two teams were playing in the Stanley Cup Final, I again replied the Pittsburgh Penguins. This time, they were victorious.
In 2010, all eyes were on the Winter Olympics being held in Vancouver, British Columbia. One of the final events of the Winter Games was the women’s and men’s hockey finals for the gold medal. While the women cruised to a 2-0 victory against the United States, the men’s team had the entire country on the edge of their seats.
After going up 2-0, Canada gave up a two-goal lead, which forced the game to go into overtime. When Sidney Crosby scored the game-winning goal seven minutes and forty seconds into overtime to secure the gold medal for the host country, over 20 million Canadians jumped to their feet to celebrate the historic occasion. This incredible moment rivalled that of Paul Henderson’s Game 8 goal to win the Summit Series back in 1972 and Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky coming together on the game-winning goal of the 1987 Canada Cup.
After the embarrassment of the 2006 Winter Olympics for the Canadian men’s hockey team, they were finally on top of the hockey world once again, thanks to Crosby’s Golden Goal. My admiration for the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins grew three sizes that day and has only continued as the years have gone on.
Falling in Love With Hockey
Since then, I’ve fallen in love with the sport. I played hockey throughout my teenage years for my school’s team and in a girl’s league. I chose not to play in university as travelling around Toronto carrying a hockey bag without a vehicle seemed like an absolute nightmare. I didn’t get back into playing until ten years later as a 27-year-old when I recently joined a local women’s league and have been attending a weekly stick-and-puck at my town’s arena to improve my skills.
Hockey is also what began my love for writing. Despite thinking the career I wanted was being an on-air personality, writing was what really spoke to me after disliking it so much growing up. I started my first website, called Fleury of Saves, in 2017, where I wrote about the sport and the players I love.
The blog was actually prompted by my rage over Evgeni Malkin not making the National Hockey League’s Top 100 Players of All-Time list, which was the first post I ever made. I’m grateful to my 20-year-old self for taking that leap and falling in love with writing because I haven’t looked back.
As for the NHL, the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs were the first I really tuned in for. As I watched the Penguins, now my favourite team, lose to the Tampa Bay Lightning four games to three, I realized then that it wasn’t that easy to get to the promised land each and every year.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are by far the most exciting time of the year for sports. Playoff hockey is on another level, and I’ve luckily seen my favourite team win it all and lose in the most heartbreaking ways. The Penguins’ core group of players — made up of Crosby, Malkin, and Kris Letang — have been with the team for their entire careers, and I truly hope it remains that way.
This sport has brought me many tears — both good and bad — but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’ve gotten to meet some amazing people and been able to visit new cities because of it, travelling to watch the Penguins play. Ultimately, my goal is to visit every National Hockey League arena to watch the Pens and other hockey superstars play the sport we all love.
What the Future Holds
Since 2013, I’ve been lucky enough to see the Pens play many times in a handful of different arenas located in the Eastern Conference. Before the 2023-24 season, I had visited six NHL arenas so far: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, Buffalo and Pittsburgh, catching the Penguins at five of those locations.
At those six arenas, I’ve been able to watch eleven teams: the Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Vegas Golden Knights, Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadians, Vancouver Canucks, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Philadelphia Flyers.
I was fortunate enough to add another two teams to that list when I visited Chicago and Columbus in 2024, bringing the total to eight NHL arenas and 13 NHL teams. While there are a staggering 32 teams in the NHL, I know this goal is something I’ll be excited to accomplish in the future.
I’m planning to share my journey of visiting the remaining NHL arenas I have left on my blog and YouTube channel, and I hope you’ll come along with me as I travel to some pretty cool places to watch my favourite team.
