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Becky’s post the other day had me thinking. The dog days of summer certainly are here, with little of note occurring in Rangerstown these days my attentions turned to other things. Watching both the Euro and Copa América tournaments, keeping up with baseball, trying my best to read and exercise, etc has all occupied my time since the end of the playoffs. Unlike my fellow blogger and podcasting companion however, I’m really feeling the lack of hockey pulling at me, and that’s got me thinking about this upcoming season and how I can best prepare myself for it. Let me explain what I mean.

Eighty-two games of hockey is a long season, which to me is both a good and bad thing. It’s a good thing because it means games are frequent, adding structure and motive to otherwise boring days and weeks. Hockey gives me something to look forward to at the end of the day on any given day, the narrative fluidity of different points in the season string together in a way that makes time pass gently and without friction, and in general it just gives me something to do, something to think about, and something to spend every waking hour obsessing over. I also go to a good amount of games (my dad’s a season ticket holder), so the routine and familiarity of Rangers hockey brings a certain comfort and excitement to my life – hockey, beyond but also including the physical confines of the Garden, feels like home to me.

That many games can also feel like a bad thing sometimes because well, it’s 82 games. That’s a long time and when your team is struggling, as these Rangers are wont to do, it can be difficult to find the same passion that comes easily when your team is on a win streak. Even when the Rangers are doing well it can be easy to get lost in the schedule; your average game in the middle of January isn’t likely to feel as compelling as the days leading up to the postseason. It also doesn’t help that the bulk of hockey season occurs when the weather is cold, because while it can be something to help get through the winter it can also be hard not to let the winter itself creep in, making life grey and cold on the whole and dulling the excitement of otherwise pleasurable activities (maybe I just get Seasonal Affective Disorder, who knows).

All of this has me thinking of course about how to bring out more of the former joy and excitement while dulling the latter dragging days. I’ve thought about it a little bit, and decided to commit myself to a few goals for the upcoming season.

The first is to find something to be excited about, every game, every week. This can be tough to do sometimes in the middle of the season when the games seemingly don’t matter, but in a sport as exciting as hockey there’s always something to be excited about. Part of this means scouting the opposition a little bit more, reading up on what kind of season opponents are having, who’s playing well and who isn’t. Which leads me to my next goal…

Watching other teams. I know, I know this is seemingly heretical, but I promise the blueshirts will remain my ride or die. It’s just that as the playoffs began this season I began to think about what a compelling league the NHL is, and how many great players and great teams there are. Unfortunately, I don’t know nearly enough of them as well as I should (I have a decent working knowledge of the other divisional teams, because we play them so much and they’re always on TV) and so I think it’s time to pick a few other teams around the league and really commit to following them through their ups and downs too.

But why stop there? The NHL isn’t the only compelling league in the field of hockey, and given my interest in prospect development and the game of hockey in general, I think this season I’d like to start following junior hockey more, as well as maybe catching a few games of foreign leagues. This one might be harder to keep up with than the previous two goals, but I found the draft this year so dang exciting, while simultaneously kicking myself over the fact that I only knew a few of those guys by name. Hopefully this changes.

Lastly, and most importantly, this season I’d like to better contribute to the hockey community. While I’d like to primarily find some new/innovative way to contribute to the world of analytics (I’m just not sure of how yet), I’d also like to become a better blogger, analyst, and fan. I hope to be more exacting in my analysis of players, more detailed and descriptive when writing goal breakdowns, and more fair and open-minded when encountering people and arguments I disagree with. I got into blogging because I wanted to take an active role in a community I had really come to appreciate, and I think there’s always room for improvement, so yeah.

Anyways, that was a lot of words to say relatively little, so I thought I’d open it up to you guys. What are your thoughts/reflections on this past season? How does hockey fit into your life? What’s your perspective on the season ahead? Do you have any personal goals or ideals you’d like to meet this upcoming season?

PS – Maybe I’ll give basketball a shot too?

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