As we enter October, there are many signs of the changing seasons. Obviously the weather gets colder, everyone hits their first batch of midterms and football rules our lives while baseball playoff games and the thought of basketball soon to come take a reluctant back seat.
But, for me, what signals the fall sports season is the glorious sound that you can faintly hear if you listen on a clear, brisk, fall evening - the sound of a puck dropping on three-fourths an inch of ice.
That's right everybody. While you are wondering why the Badgers' defense can't stop anyone with a decent offense or are unsure as to whether or not you want to keep your basketball tickets, I am daydreaming about forechecks and slap shots, and of course, the illustrious one-timer.
Hockey season is upon us; get out your sweaters and goalie sticks, it's time to spend some time in the penalty box!
While I love football, and all sports on campus equally (sort of the company line), I do keep a special place in my heart for hockey. Maybe it's because I was never able to play hockey as a child, and in fact, still have never tried to ice skate in my life (hold for astonished gasps and bits of laughter).
Maybe it's because I like to see grown men skating around with only half of their teeth and two black eyes. But I digress: hockey is just plain fun to watch.
I grew up watching the occasional NHL game on television, usually the Detroit Red Wings or the St. Louis Blues and watched mainly to see the robotic mascots FOX used during intermissions and TV timeouts. (The highlighted puck didn't hurt either).
But I quickly developed more of a hunger for hockey, especially once I heard about Dany Heatley, a young player at the state university that was tearing up the ice like an icebreaker in the arctic.
That is when my love for college hockey began, as I listened to the Badgers take on teams from across the nation in their attempt to win a national title. Unfortunately, it seemed that during Heatley's three years Wisconsin either lost right before the Frozen Four, or in the Frozen Four itself.
I tried to use Heatley's departure to the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL as a kind of stepping stone for my own involvement. However, the professional level seemed too slow and low scoring compared to the college ranks, and my devotion quickly turned back to Wisconsin, even though they were in a down cycle.
I continued to try and force myself into watching more NHL hockey, since it easily exceeds the length of college hockey. The strike in the 2004-'05 season didn't help much, but it did lead to many rule changes that have sped up the game and made it far more enjoyable.
The dekes are sicker, the goals are far more plentiful and you still get great players making great plays night in and out (that will be my only John Madden reference for the entire column, I swear).
So with the NHL season starting Wednesday, I'd like to take the time to talk about my pick to win the Stanley Cup: the Ottawa Senators.
The Ottawa Senators are the hockey equivalent of Mike Martz's St. Louis Rams of the late '90s - they are offense, offense and then some more offense.
They are led by Dany Heatley at right wing (is anyone really surprised?), who finished fourth in the NHL last season with 105 total points (50 goals, 55 assists). Fellow winger Daniel Alfredsson (87 points) and center Jason Spezza (87 points) join Heatley to make up arguably the most potent scoring line in all of hockey.
But as we have all seen in every sport, it doesn't matter how much you can score, you have to be able to stop someone once in awhile.
Enter Wade Redden and Joe Corvo, two of the better defensemen tandems in the league. Throw Ray Emery in at goaltender, and you have a pretty dominant starting line. However, Emery is still recovering from wrist surgery during the offseason, so Martin Gerber will mind the net for the time being. And if Gerber is unable to go, then look who we have here: former UW goalie Brian Elliott stepping in to dominate like we have all seen in Madison the last two seasons.
Now tell me that you cannot root for a team that has two of the best Badger players to come out of Wisconsin within the last decade. Its practically impossible.
In case you haven't noticed by now, I am a Senators fan, so my perception may be incredibly skewed. But Ottawa did dominate throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs last season, and made it to the Stanley Cup Finals only to take the series off against the Anaheim Ducks. (By the way Anaheim, how can you drop the Mighty"" after all these years? That is just bad business; I don't care where you are from).
While I like the Senators chances of returning for another chance at Lord Stanley's Cup, there is some stellar competition, mainly from the Pittsburgh (or is it Kansas City?) Penguins.
The Penguins are led by 20-year- old phenom Sydney Crosby, who won the MVP award, scoring title and his first playoff berth last season at the age of 19.
Try reading that and not feeling like an underachiever.
But Crosby can't do it alone, and with the help of Jordan Staal, Gary Roberts and Mark Recchi, he may be able to pull one step closer to relocating the title of ""the great one"" under his name.
There are other teams that are fun to root for. The Colorado Avalanche are always interesting, especially back in the day when Patrick Roy would decide to leave the goal unattended for what seemed like minutes on end.
The Red Wings will always be around, as I have come to look at them as the Yankees of the NHL, although I really have no rhyme or reason to support such a claim.
And then there are lesser teams, like the Chicago Blackhawks, who you just have to cheer for because they seem to try to fill their team with ex-Badgers as much as possible.
Chicago has former Badgers Rene Bourque and Adam Burish, along with the rights to Jack Skille and Jake Dowell.
And of course there is Joe Pavelski down in San Jose, shooting slap shots past goalies and making those black and pacific teal colors look good for once.
Overall, there is a lot of hockey going on, both collegiate and professional. For Wisconsin, the women's hockey team has picked up where they left off last season, and the men are ranked 14 and 15 respectively in the polls. But when college hockey is all said and done, and everyone turns their attention to basketball, I'll still be getting my weekly hockey fix watching Versus, HD Network and ESPN, while crashing my roommates into the walls and most likely breaking some furniture.
If you'd like to go on a romantic ice skating date with Nate, or if you get your kicks breaking furniture, e-mail him at ncarey@dailycardinal.com.
