New England Hockey Guy: an Introduction

With the 2008-09 Stanley Cup Finals set and about to begin, this is the point of year when your are finally confronted with the realization "Hockey is about to end." Terrible, I know. Like a ninja, it always seems sneak up on you, silently. I don't know how it does it. Maybe it's because the Finals are the first time that there isn't a hockey game every night or maybe it's because there is no "next round." Whatever it is; as soon as the puck stops dropping, the temperature seems to get hotter and the sun beats down on you just a little bit harder. I know it's summer too. But the summer season is such a slap in the face after dedicating your life to a sport that requires ice for nine straight months.

But luckily for you, hockey hungry readers, that's where I come in. I decided to skip the off season... I guess that was a poor choice of words. I'm going to spend this summer covering the dreaded/all important hockey off season. But I'm not going to do it in the usual hockey blog sense, where I dedicate my summer to following all of the NHL front office moves, I'm going to spend it by covering you.

Hockey players know hockey season never truly ends, only the leagues they play in. In fact most would probably say that the summer preparation for these leagues is the most important part. Anyways I'm planning on spending the next several month spotlighting the more "common areas of hockey." Like local rinks, leagues, teams, players, coaches- heck, I may even talk to a Zamboni driver or two.

My name is Tommy Surette. I've only played hockey competitively for a couple of year- playing varsity hockey for my high school. I'm not all that good, but I wouldn't say I'm bad either. I simply play hockey because I love it- I don't really expect anything out of playing except enjoyment. I play defense and use a wood stick. Not because I have an affinity for wood sticks, I just don't have the money for an expensive stick (I use some aceient Koho from 2002 that wont break for some reason.) I'm a writer but I usually work in the creative side of writing, not the journalistic side. So forgive me, my first few posts maybe stiff but I'll get the hang of it.

I guess that's pretty much it. You can expect to hear from me within a week or so. I'll be covering the "Summer Shift."

I'll be playing hockey Sunday morning in Nashua. If you have any rinks, leagues, teams or players in the Southern NH area that you think I should cover, contact me at nehockeyguy@yahoo.com. Also I said I wouldn't, but I did for the purposes of "keeping a record" for this site- follow me on twitter. Also sorry I don't have any exciting pictures or anything at the moment, I'll try to fix that before my next post.