[freeweed]

Hockey in the US is a marginal, niche sport at best - but those who are into it LOVE it to a degree that puts most Canadians to shame.

In Canada, "everyone is a hockey fan". But most people I know are casual fans at best. It's our religion and national obsession, but only in the same sense that "everyone is a Christian" in places where most people are the C&E type at best.

Americans that I meet who are into hockey seem to be more knowledgeable and more passionate than most Canadian fans, by a long shot. It's very weird. I can parrot an earlier comment that whenever anyone finds out I'm Canadian, the conversation turns to nothing but hockey talk. It helps that because players aren't generally treated as celebrities, they're far more approachable down south. So I hear a lot of stories of people going out for beers with pretty big name stars, things like that. Stuff that almost never happens here. Sure, a friend of a friend of a cousin once saw Iginla at the local Co-op picking up some milk, but for the most part our players need to keep a much lower profile.

Of course the problem in the US is that in most markets, there simply aren't enough fans overall. But an individual fan is a FAN in the truest sense of the word.