My Favorite Hockey Player(s) of All Time

Before I met Jarret, one of my favorite hockey players to watch was Martin St. Louis. He played for both the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Rangers, but was one of my favorites when he played for Tampa Bay. I got to know him pretty well when I worked with the Lightning as he was always willing to take interviews and talk to me during intermission breaks. He was a late bloomer into the NHL where he started on the third or fourth line but was also so humble and appreciative of everything. It wasn’t until I left the team and was working the Stanley Cup Finals that he really rose to the top and helped the team win that year. He was suddenly a star and had a song for every time he scored. It was just such an amazing experience to watch a player grow into stardom and work really hard for it! St. Louis was undersized, and knowing he had to work harder than everyone around him, took pride in giving everything he had when his line was called on. No matter the sport, guys like St. Louis are easy to cheer for because you know how much time, effort, and energy it took for him to reach his goals.

Of course, I can’t talk about hockey without highlighting my husband Jarret Stoll (you all know that he will always be my #1!). I don’t only like to cheer for him because he’s my husband, but it’s also just amazing to see him be such a leader on the team. I quickly realized that he has two different personalities on and off the ice; off the ice he’s the sweetest and nicest guy, but on the it he is a completely different person – everything about him changes, and he can be a pain in the ass at times hahaha. One time I was watching a mic'd-up feed of him during the playoffs, and he was letting the official have it – I almost couldn’t believe it was the same person! People would often try to hit him pretty hard and that made me nervous, but he was also just SO unbelievably good at taking faceoffs and penalty kills. He’s also just an overall incredible leader and I’m so proud of him for helping take home two Stanley Cups.

One of my favorite memories was watching him play the 2014 Stanley Cup. It was so exciting, but so stressful to watch because they went down 0 and 3 in the first playoff series and were facing elimination, but suddenly they won! It was around this time I started a little tradition of mine thanks to our local postal worker, Jerry. I showed up around 11:00 the morning of game 7…and you need to remember that the entire town was on edge with stress and excitement. So, when Jerry saw me, he said, “ok, let’s take a shot of tequila for good luck!” Now this was probably one of the warmest, most-disgusting shots of tequila I have ever had—but they won! They went on to win the entire series, then went seven games against Anaheim and then another against Chicago – so basically, I just had to do tequila shots before every game.

It was so amazing to watch him truly lead and win with his teammates throughout every series though and just reminded me how much of a fan I am of his and hockey in general.

This season I’m gearing up to watch and root for all of our NHL friends and family. Of course, I still follow the Los Angeles Kings; one of my other favorite players is their goalie Jonathan Quick. He won two cups with my husband in 2012 and 2014 and I’m really looking forward to them having a great playoff. It’s a really young team this year, so it’s an exciting time for them and the future of hockey.

What are you excited for this hockey season? Who are some of your favorite players?

Until next time,

Erin