I Have a Confession

There is a sport I watch. Ice hockey, the ONLY sport as far as I'm concerned. And one I even understand fully, thanks to a very patient guy I dated who took the time to explain all the fine points of the game to me. Thanks J. Of course somewhere in his tutelage I meandered off on my own and became a die-hard Pittsburgh Penguin fan. He was a Flyers fan and yes, we tormeted each other about it terribly when our teams played each other.

Showing my age again today, I'll tell you that I became a loyal Pens fan before they signed Mario. They lost so many games that year I decided they needed at least one person to believe in them and know that they'd win it all someday. And then came Mario. Anyone who knows even a little about hockey knows who I'm talking about. After that, they built on the "double trouble" theme, all of the super-talented players with double numbers on their jerseys. Still have my locker room double trouble sweatshirt.

Part of that line-up included my favorite player of all time, Paul Coffey. He was a defenseman but was always breaking away on his own and flying down the ice to score. Mm, I loved to watch that man skate. So much so I even have his "Learn to Skate" video. I still watch it now and then. Anyway, he came to Pittsburgh by way of the Edmonton Oilers. Where he played with Gretsky. Surely you've all heard of him. Now I've never been much of an Oiler fan but even I have to say how incredible it was to a Coffey breakaway pass to a Gretsky tip-in. My opinion - it was great but not nearly as great as watching a Coffey/Lemuix scoring combination.

There was one season when I went to all the Pens away games against the former Patrick division teams. No, I never managed to meet Paul Coffey but I did get caught drooling over him in a pre-game skate in New Jersey once by Mark Recchi who then skated over to Paul and got him to wave at me. Yep, still have my whole collection of Coffey memorabilia

My point here? Don't really remember because I'm too lost in memories but it might have been that my Pens beat the Flyers last night. They lead the semi-final series 3-0. One more win and they're in the Stanley Cup finals. Of course I emailed J a Pen celebrating a goal last night. I couldn't resist and we're still friends so I know my bratiness made him chuckle. The next game is Thursday so tune in and cheer with me.

Let's go Pens!