A Hockey Day In Denver

Happy leap day! Is it weird that I'm motivated to get a post up today just so I can have it up on February 29th? Probably. But hey, in this period of blogging drought, I'll take whatever motivation I can get!

This past weekend, there was an NHL game played at Coors Field as part of the Stadium Series. As someone who's been to several Colorado Avalanche games and spent kind of a lot of time at Coors Field, it was really weird to see the Avalanche playing at Coors Field. It was incredibly cool, sure, but really weird. And it reminded me that, hey, I've blogged about Coors all over the place but I still have some hockey adventures that I haven't blogged about yet!

So today we're throwing it all the way back to October 10, 2015. Honestly, I only know the date because it was the night of game two of Mets/Dodgers in the NLDS. I missed Noah Syndergaard's first career playoff start AND I missed the Chase Utley slide that caused the recent rule change. But you know what? It was kind of worth it. Hockey's a great time.

Anyway!

I went with my friend Barbara, she of all my prior Coors Field adventures. As the hockey game was at night, our initial plan was actually to tour Coors Field that afternoon and hang around Denver until the game. But lo and behold, all stadium tours were cancelled that day. (That would become something of a pattern with our attempts to tour Coors.) We decided to make a day of it in Denver anyway, and started things off with a stop at Voodoo Doughnuts. Real talk: if you go to Denver, go to Voodoo Doughnuts. I got a buttermilk bar and a grape ape donut and, because the shop has no seating, we drove to (shocker) Coors Field to sit outside on the benches and eat. That's when I took this very embarrassing ~purple aesthetic~ photo:

And holy wow, guys. Those donuts. So good. It was a beautiful day outside, I saw a bunch of people wearing Mets gear (in Colorado! WHAT?!), Barbara met some dogs, and it was basically just a great life decision.

After a little bit of time we wandered down Blake Street to Union Station, where we were given some free yogurt (Denver rocks) and explored a little bit. It's a really cool building, and you know how much I love those! (Though, I will admit, it's a little underwhelming compared to some of the train stations I experienced in Europe. But hey. No complaints.)

We killed some time in the Tattered Cover bookstore in Union Station, and then... walked to the real Tattered Cover store down the block and killed some time there too. Because books are great. THEN it was off to Larimer Square for a quick stroll-through.

It seems like a cool area to shop and eat, but as we were interested in doing neither of those things, we weren't there for very long. Instead, we adventured our way to the Denver Museum of Art. It was a pretty decent walk, but I love a good wander through a city. (And we came across a guy giving away free iced tea on the street. Seriously, Denver rocks.)

Another thing I love? REALLY COOL BUILDINGS.

*drools*

We didn't even go to actually "go" to the museum. I just wanted to see the building. We would've walked around the museum if we a) had more time, and b) didn't have to pay for admission, but instead we sat in the cafe for a bit to rest (and finish our donuts, of course). Then we walked back to the car, and it was time to actually, y'know, go to a hockey game.

I was very excited about this game because the Avs were playing the Dallas Stars. The Stars used to be the Minnesota North Stars, and I'm the proud owner of a Neal Broten Minnesota North Stars sweatshirt (because I love Neal Broten a lot). So I finally had an excuse to wear my sweatshirt! It was strange wearing the color of the enemy while rooting for the Avs, but I survived.

We went to the arena really early so we could get close to the boards for warm-ups. It was very successful.

 I was taking a panorama and the lighting changed. Awesome.

We were total newbies and ended up on the Stars' side of the ice by accident. But in the sweatshirt I was wearing I totally fit in, so it worked.

And then we went to our (kind of nosebleed) seats and watched the Avs destroy the Stars for their first home win of the season. It was AWESOME.

Hockey games are so intense. I'm not really a yeller when it comes to watching sports, but at live hockey games, everybody is a yeller. It's great. You should try it sometime.

...And then I left the game and discovered that Noah Syndergaard had a playoff loss to his name and that Chase Utley had broken Ruben Tejada's leg. What a night.

While I can't recommend losses and broken legs, what I CAN recommend is Denver and donuts and hockey. ;)

The Shirsey Struggle Of The Female Sports Fan

"And I can't get a Sidney Crosby shirsey, because..."

I'll bet that any female sports fan can fill in the end of that sentence.

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day; we're both relatively new NHL fans, and we're both trying to figure out which players' shirsey we want to get. My friend is a Penguins fan, and she was debating the merits of various players, whose she was considering getting, and who she'd ruled out. She said she can't get an Evgeni Malkin shirsey because he reminds her too much of her dad, and she can't get a Sidney Crosby shirsey because...

I answered for her.

"Because it's Sidney Crosby."

Because it's easy to be a Sidney Crosby fan. Because he's the team captain so he's well-known and accessible. Because he's generally thought of as being attractive. Because a girl wearing a Sidney Crosby shirsey won't get any respect or credibility as a hockey fan.

I've been having the exact same dilemma. I'm a Colorado Avalanche fan, and I'd love to get a Gabriel Landeskog shirsey. The only problem? This is Gabriel Landeskog:

Are you kidding me? If I have this dude's name on my back, I go from "hockey fan" to "oh, she only likes him because he's pretty." It doesn't matter that he's a phenomenal hockey player and a great person and a lovable goofball. He's an attractive face with a C on the front of his jersey, so there's no way I could like him for any other reason, right?

I can't get a Gabriel Landeskog shirsey because it's TOO EASY.

It's weird how deeply ingrained this desire to prove myself as a sports fan is. Of all the player-specific merchandise I've gotten in my adult life (only three things, to be fair), two of those athletes are long retired (one of them played for a team that's now defunct, and one of them is literally known for avoiding publicity). The other, R.A. Dickey, was the gem of the Mets' starting rotation when I got his shirsey, but he was never typical "star" material; he's older, nerdy, scruffy. And he's not even on the Mets anymore. So whenever I wear any of them, they all subtly say, "I know more than you do. Try telling me I'm not a real fan."

(I also want a Jacob deGrom Mets shirsey, but I've suffered through an entire lifetime of Mets fandom. I'm allowed to like the cute, lovable sweetheart with flowing hair and a nasty arm, right? I deserve some "easy.")

I guess I'm lucky that it's in my nature to ferret out the under-appreciated athletes and throw my energy into supporting them. I have a crazy strong underdog complex, so it's rare that my favorite players are universally popular. But what about when they are? Why am I going to get crap for liking a fan favorite? I mean, they're fan favorites for a reason, right? But because I'm a girl, I'm only a "real fan" if I know their brother's best friend's middle name and can rattle off all of their career stats. That, quite frankly, is bull. I might not know Gabe's life story but I can certainly appreciate him as a human and as a hockey player. (And I'd be more than happy to discuss at length some other blonde hockey players. Like this one. Or this one. Or this one. )

I don't totally know where I'm going with this. Maybe I'll hold off on my Avalanche shirsey-buying until I inevitably discover some under-the-radar defenseman that becomes my favorite. Or maybe I'll say the hell with it and try to stop caring and buy whoever's shirsey I damn well please. Or I could say the hell with it and get a shirt that's not player-specific. All are tempting.

To any female sports fans that are reading this... you feel me? Do you have the same compulsive desire to have your merch prove your worth as a fan?

Eight Reasons Why I Want To Be Julie Chu When I Grow Up

A couple of weeks ago I was chatting with my boss, who's about as big an Olympics fan as I am, about some of our awesome Team USA athletes who were in D.C. for the Best of U.S. awards weekend extravaganza. When the topic of Julie Chu (hockey player extraordinaire) came up, the exact words that came out of my mouth (uh, keyboard) were, "Dude, I want to be Julie Chu when I grow up." (Yeah, I called my boss "dude." Don't worry about it.) And the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that that statement couldn't be more correct.

Basically, Julie is rapidly climbing my list of girl crushes, 'cause she's the total bomb dot com. So I give to you...

1. A little over a week ago, I had the whole of the USOC's archived Olympic footage at my fingertips. (And yes, it was as glorious as it sounds. I'll give you one guess as to which year I perused first.) I happened across some of Julie's highlights from Vancouver 2010, and I kid you not, I was watching them with my mouth hanging open. It was beautiful hockey. She's kind of epic. Just look at these goals! (And I couldn't even find my favorite example on YouTube. The struggle of being privy to exclusive footage.)

2. Girlfriend has four Olympic medals (three silvers and a bronze) and has been on four Olympic teams. I mean, I'm not the best at math, but I'm pretty sure that's like an A+ success rate. She's apparently tied for the second most decorated American female winter Olympian ever, right behind Bonnie Blair (who has six medals). Buuuutt, Bonnie Blair was a speed skater and had more events and therefore more chances to medal, whereas in hockey, you've got one medal opportunity in each Olympics. Bonnie also benefitted from the 1992/1994 quad switch, which gave her three Games in six years (1988, 1992, 1994). So the fact that Julie is up there with her is kiiiiind of a big deal.

3. When Julie was on her first Olympic team, I was in fifth grade. I watched her compete in Sochi while almost a year removed from graduating college. W H A T. I can only dream of being that good at something for that long!

4. Julie saw fairly limited ice time in Sochi, which is a pretty significant change from previous years in her career. But it was well publicized that she fully embraced her new role as a team veteran, and she was on the ice for penalty kills (aka SUPER IMPORTANT TIME). And she was the one rallying her teammates after they lost gold. While receiving the silver medal in Vancouver, Julie was one of the players wiping tears away during the ceremony. But immediately after the team lost the gold medal game in Sochi, Julie was the person everyone gathered around for a keep-your-head-up talk. If life was a novel, this would be called fantastic character development.

5. She was Team USA's flag bearer during the Sochi closing ceremony. Flag bearers are voted on by their fellow athletes and are chosen based on their story and the amount of respect others have for them. For instance, past flag bearers include Dan Jansen, Eric Heiden, Bonnie Blair, Gary Hall... kind of a big deal.

And I TOTALLY CALLED IT, the second I saw her at the center of that post-game huddle. No biggie. I'll make sure not to break my arm patting myself on the back.

6. She went to Harvard. So, that's pretty self-explanatory. (But in case that doesn't speak for itself, listen to her do an interview. Girl has the eloquence to prove it.)

7. BUT, she's not relying on her hockey nor her Harvard to get her through the rest of her life. She was one of the athletes that attended the recent Olympic & Paralympic Athlete Summit, which provided "professional development tools" and "covered topics: careers, financial management, personal development and education." And she spoke on a couple of panels there too.

8. This:

Is this when you know you've made it in life? Casually standing on stage with the President as he gives a speech?

In conclusion, if you're not living a Julie Chu appreciation life, you're doing it wrong. :)

Images: 1 - 2 - 3 - GIFs made by me, video footage here