“The show is through,
The metal is gone
It is time to hit the road…”
“Whiplash” – Metallica
At the time of writing, we’re about a month into the off season (I usually type these well advance of posting them so I can go back and fine tune/start again from scratch where necessary, which explains why it’s been posted over a month after my blog on the Manchester charity game). If the song is right and Christmas is “The most wonderful time of the year”, then summer has to be the polar opposite. I remember the afore-mentioned football supporting mate once asking how on earth Hockey fans manage as he struggles with his off-season that’s a fraction of the length of ours (plus they have the added bonus of either an European or World Cup every two years to help them through). Having said that, I guess that we don’t have it as bad as NFL fans – I guess that the secret for them is to follow another sport during the summer months!
It took me many years and different attempted remedies, but last year I finally found a very effective way to deal with the “off-season blues”, something I’ll reveal at the end of this post. In the meantime, here are a couple of ideas (and subjects that I’ll no doubt get another post from by elaborating further at some point)
I still remember my first off-season. By seasons end, I’d been lucky enough to have been watching since the previous November so I’d got into the habit of just taking games for granted. This had the unfortunate result of it creating a very big hole in my life that I hadn’t experienced before. I never realised that the summer months could last so long (and this was in the days of the internet being in its infancy – no Facebook, Twitter or other sort of social media – there may have been the old “Into the Storm” and Storm website if we were lucky, so staying in touch with fellow Hockey fans and what was going on and comparing notes was a lot harder that it is today).
By the end of my second season, I’d become a bit more Hockey-savvy and having developed a taste for NHL Hockey to compliment my Storm fandom, I had booked a Hockey-themed holiday in Toronto for the end of August so I had something else to work towards and look forward to (It’s worth pointing out that speaking from the experience of others such holidays are worth planning for the end of the off-season as taking one at the start will make it seem even longer!)
The thing is, it never really gets any easier. I guess that’s one of the reasons that I’ve never really been a big fan of Playoff weekend. Sure, it’s an excuse to get together one last time with friends for a few months, enjoy a beer or two and watch some Hockey, but I just can’t get past the feeling that “This is It! No more Hockey for 5 months!”
Another thing I found that helped as time went on was actually lacing ‘em up and playing the game myself. One of the advantages of the Alty rink is the Saturday night Post-game skate and in a roundabout kind of way, that’s pretty much how I started on the path from watching from the stands to actually having a go (with mixed results) and having a playing “career” that lasted 8 years.
Back in the day, a group of us started to take in Altrincham Aces games on nights where the Storm were either on a night off or playing away in a location that was too far to travel. On one particular Sunday night, someone asks:
“Are you skating after the game?”
“Erm, but I can’t skate”
“That’s OK, neither can we”
“Hmmm, OK then…”
So off I go to skate hire, put on a pair of skates, hit the ice and…
The wonderful people who had put me up to it had all disappeared to the bar!
So from here there’s a (what I didn’t realise would be another) life-changing decision to be made. Do I shrug my shoulders, remover my skates and go to the bar or say “sod it!” and give it a go?
Once again, it’s funny how things turn out (and I guess it was worth being someone’s entertainment for the night – I believe my first attempts at skating were hilarious!)
Another option to help make the transition from Hockey season into the No-Hockey season involves following the NHL Playoffs which are usually starting around the time that the British season draws to a close. For many, one of the early stages of Hockey fandom is finding an adoptive NHL team to follow. Different people have used numerous means to finding “their team” over the years, from favourite teams when playing a particular incarnation of EA Sports “NHL” video games to selecting one as a favourite player once iced for them at some point in their career.
For me it was a case of when it got time to pick a team, my brother was seeing someone from Toronto (they’ve since married and he’s emigrated but I digress) so in my limited knowledge and naivety, my logic was that my best chance of ever getting to see a live NHL game would be to support her local team (and yes, I’ve spent many hours laughing at how wrong I could be, and that’s before I get onto how tough it’s been to be a Leafs fan for the past 10 – 15 years!)
I guess it also goes without saying that being a Leafs fan with an attitude of “my season ends when the Leafs are eliminated” hasn’t really done me many favours in the “using the Playoffs to extend your Hockey interest” stakes in recent times
Another option is to start a Hockey blog (another reason that I started this). I’m sure I’m not alone in enjoying reading other people’s experiences, be it those that have come to Hockey since the arena days and especially those since the Storm have been re-established. It’s always good to see the game through the eyes of those that have recently discovered the game. Even for those that remember the days at the NYNEX/MEN, it’s interesting to read how things compare (especially for those that wouldn’t/didn’t follow Phoenix). As much as such opinions can sometimes be found on Facebook, a blog is a lot more personal (and you don’t have to trawl through all the other usual off-season ramblings that get posted at this time of year)
For some, there’s the option of following a different sport during the summer. I’ve yet to find a sport from this country that I can get into (although I believe that there’s people that claim they can trace Hockey history back to this country) but as mentioned elsewhere, I follow the CFL and the Toronto Argonauts in particular (guess it’s good to have that special feeling of disappointment that following a sports team can give you all year around where possible…)
So hopefully there are some ideas if you haven’t tried them already. However, from experience what I’ve found to be the most efficient way of dealing with the off-season?
Guaranteed to banish the off-season blues for long enough for them to be hardly noticed?
Move house on the first weekend of the off-season.
Really.
Maybe a little extreme, but I can assure you it works 100%
I mentioned the final game of the 2015-16 season in the “Seven Frustration Army” blog post. What I didn’t mention was that I was probably the only Storm fan that was almost grateful that we didn’t make the Playoffs that season. As much as I had an agreement with ‘er indoors that I could “disappear for a few hours” to take in a potential quarter final home leg if required, I’m sure any male reader knows that this kind of agreement with their better half is a loaded promise…
As also mentioned, the Storm failed to qualify and I spent my Easter weekend that year moving boxes, furniture, etc. and as anyone that has moved house will know, it take weeks (and possibly even months) of work to get everything as required, so it goes without saying that by the time I’d even remembered that Hockey even existed, I was so far into the off-season that the lack of Hockey hardly bothered me.
Now I have to admit that as remedies go, it’s a bit extreme but it almost certainly works better than anything else I’ve tried!
(plus it gave me an excuse for me not having fulfilled my usual post-season promise to myself of spending the summer learning how to twirl a pair of drumsticks!)
Drumming Up A Storm 