Submitted by: fuckyoucanada
So, I've decided to tell my story of my favorite team. :) My name is Carly and I'm 17 years old. I started watching hockey when I was 14 or 13 years old.
My Dad and Mom are divorced and I live with my Mom. I spent little to no time with my Dad before I was 13 years old. It wasn't for any other reason than he got in trouble with the law (he fought the law and the... LAW WON). So, he decided that he wanted to bond with me. After he figured out fishing (I couldn't deal with their soulless eyes), cooking (I refused to cook for him for 3 years), and movies (I hated sci-fi for a really long time; its a real shame) weren't going to get us anywhere, he decides that he's going to take me to a hockey game.
Enter the Wheeling Nailers. The Wheeling Nailers have a history of being really good and then being really bad and he just so happened to introduce me during their really bad phase. We would go and sit there for hours while he yelled and I groaned about sports. I started taking periodic naps during the second period.
Then, one day, one of the newer guys, Patrick Killeen, was playing. He was in goal and the other team was coming down the ice and pulling some pretty fancy shit (honestly it wasn't that impressive but I had never paid attention before so what did I know), and suddenly he springs into action and pulls off this amazing save and I was just left gaping like a fish. I started paying attention after that (he just got worse and as far as I know my first favorite player doesn't even play anymore).
Soon my obsession for Killeen became an obsession over the entire team. I can put names to faces, numbers to names, and I even have a list of players from other teams that piss me and my favorite players off. I studied their history, their stats, anything I could get my hands on. I can tell you things about the Blue Jackets and the Blackhawks, but ask me things about the Wheeling Nailers and you'll get a ten page essay that basically screams 'I LOVE THEM THEY'RE ALL MY BBs' (I love them so much I'd rather meet all of them than the Blackhawks and I think that says something).
I love the Wheeling Nailers because they gave me something. My dad helped, but they gave me hockey. They gave me the chance to find something that I didn't have before. I hated sports and thought them useless until I saw Torquato deke. I thought skating was useless until I saw how fast Peter Lenes was on skates.
This team and the (many omg why won't anybody stay) players that play for it are my life. My Dad just bought season tickets for the 2014-2015 season and I can assure anyone who asks that I will be sticking my the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers for a long time to come.
