Hockey is not a sport. A sport is what you call something that is played for a few months then take the rest of the year off to only start back up again. A sport is something you call that you like to keep tabs on and pay attention to for a couple hours while your team plays, then you pay no attention to it after. Hockey is neither of those things; hockey is a lifestyle.

There are few things in life where you start at the tender age of three, competitively play for 40 years and continue to play for several years after. However, you do not get the privilege to do so if you only pay attention to it when need be. Hockey requires more than an hour and a half practice, five days a week for only six months of the year. Hockey is something you have to work at 12 months of the year, several hours a day. Most people would call taking up that much of your life for a game crazy, but hockey players have never been ones to be called normal.

Every Minnesotan hockey player's dream is to play in the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament held in the Xcel Engery Center every spring. It's what drives most players to work as hard as they do. Those who play in that tournament are considered royalty during those four days. Every player wants to be them, and every girl wants to be with them. After all, nothing screams popularity quite like the 20,000 fans that attend the championship games.

The state tournament is the pinnacle of a player's career, and rightly so. However, it is not the only fun part. Each game of the season is unbelievably astounding. With adrenaline pumping for two and a half hours straight, sweat pouring into your eyes, legs so sore they feel as though they may fall off next time you jump over the boards and your heart feeling as if it will explode on its next beat ... ask any player you want, they'll all say the same thing: they wouldn't trade it for the world. There is something about spending four or five hours after school blowing off steam in the weight room, or pouring all your anger into your slapshot, or the feeling of stickhandling around everyone that you just can't beat.

So yes, to some hockey is merely just a sport. To others, hockey is a way of life. Not many people understand where hockey players come from and why they enjoy hurting themselves like they do. The funny thing is, though, hockey players don't feel pain. Normal people pretend they're hurt so they can get out of what they are doing, but hockey players pretend they aren't hurt so they can continue to play. To those who think hockey is just a sport: I am so sorry for you.