Hockey Kings of the West

What amazingness!!

One of my earlier blog posts was about how much I have gotten into hockey. The experience of the game, the cool from the ice, the roar of the crowd, the jumping up and yelling either from a goal or telling the ref that he's blind, its all very much apart of the game.

I learned another part of the game when I started going to the ECHL's Stockton Thunder games. I knew the fellas (as I like to refer to whatever season's current roster of the team) had skill and passion. Our city is kinda always down in the dumps so we make up for our depression by cheering on our local hockey team. What we lack as a city the team shows on ice.

The thing is sometimes its interesting to be a fan because as our roster changes constantly and so does the unity of the team. Thunder are apart of the ECHL which is a semi pro team. We have players come down to play for us and have players get called up to the next higher up league. We've even had quite a few players make it to the NHL.

With all the changes that happen throughout the season you always see the team grow. Even the vets grow on their own but you also see them taking on the rookies. By the end of the season what might've started off as a clunky team has now been fine tuned to perform optimally on the ice.

As any fan from any team would understand, I always hope that my team gets a shot at the championship, but I know its not always possible. When this season started off I had no doubt that the team would make the playoffs. They have the past few years and have become that high standard club that plays the hardest to at the very least make the playoffs. What amazed me was what happened during the playoffs. Game by game they picked up a Win. They lost a few but during each round of the playoffs the Wins became more and the Losses became less. They beat teams during away games and they beat teams on home ice. The more they won the more it unified them as a team, us as a city of fans, and boosted the confidence of all involved to the point that we the fans knew in our hearts that the Western Conference would be taken by the Thunder.

As I sat in section 107, right behind the goalie, the score board screen showed the team in the locker room and starting to walk out to come to the ice. The team has a phrase written on the wall to the entrance/exit of the locker room that I've seen before but it never really impacted me as much as it did the very last game they played. Written in that western "outlaw" font it says, not so simply:

Our Club

Our House

Our Way
...

All Night 

How true that phrase was that night. They were up in the series 3-1 and this was the last game in Stockton. They had to win at home in front of the nearly 5,000 fans that were cheering them on.
And. They. Did. It.

It was a great game. They played with heart and didn't let the extra roughing and hard checks of the other team phase them. They kept their head in the game and gave the fans what they wanted. How nice it'll be to walk into the arena now with a banner hanging high to show the achievements of such an amazing group of fellas.