On Oct. 8, avid NHL fans woke up with the childhood feeling of Christmas morning, knowing that the start of the 2014-2015 season was about to get under way. Growing up in a household with my father, a diehard New York Ranger and overall hockey fan, my love for the sport was inevitable. I am constantly reminded by TV and fan demographics, as well as my football loving friends, that hockey is considered the fourth most popular sport, out of the major four sports --basketball, football, baseball, and hockey. While some may complain that hockey does not get the recognition it deserves, I could care less. Why? Let me explain.    

Although the supposed fan demographic for the NBA, NFL, and MLB is much larger than that of the NHL, these so called fans are more than half made up of people who are simply casual fans, and by a casual fan I mean that they watch for the social engagement rather than the game itself. They only sort of keep their eye on the game while sitting in the stands scrolling through social media and picking the right filter for the stadium pic they snapped a picture of earlier. They cannot name more than three players on the team and they do not keep up with what is going on with the team on a day-to-day basis, nor do they have any desire to.

I have nothing against casual or bandwagon sports fans. I am just stating facts. However, you do not see fans like this at hockey games. That’s because hockey exists only for diehards. I have never met a casual hockey fan. They are either a diehard or nothing; there is no in between. 

When you go to a hockey game, hockey fans are screaming and chanting and stomping. It is like a ginormous family of people, with the same manic demeanors, for whom -- in that moment -- hockey is all that matters. I am not sure if it’s the fast pace, physicality, toughness, tradition, history, comradery, or passion that keeps me and other hockey fans coming back game after game, or if it is simply in our blood -- but something has got us hooked.       

I don’t feel like I wear a badge of honor for so dedicatedly following a sport that very, very few of my friends and family follow, but I wear a badge of devotion. Despite how corny that sounds, it’s the truth. No matter how bad my team gets, I will never stop watching their games. When we experience heartbreak, I know I can always follow it up with a reason why I am so proud of my team. I am not ashamed of “bleeding blue,” as my friends so mockingly poke fun. And I can honestly and shamelessly say, I have shed tears of both happiness and sadness due to wins and loses over the past years.      

So, as I sit here in my dorm room, risking the chance of my laptop contracting a hundred different viruses from the sketchy websites I have to use, just so I can watch the Rangers game live, I can honestly and fearlessly say -- we don’t care if you like our sport or not. Because it's ours, and we love it.