How did you become a fan?

Great story Nava.

My mother got a job at the Pond when it first opened. She took me to a game when I was a young lad and I was instantly hooked. I vividly remember one of my first memories as a fan when Jason Marshall got tripped up and smacked his head on the post. I remember thinking “shit, these guys are nothing like baseball players! (I had grown up playing little league for the first 10 years of my life)” Great stuff. After that I started following more closely as I grew up. I was fascinated with Guy Hebert. I can also vividly remember him making a gnarly glove save when it seemed as if he was down and out. After the Paul and Teemu era I sort of fell away from the sport. Then when I heard Teemu was back, I became immediately interested and have followed the team closely ever since.

The first time I got cable, the NHL wasn’t on tv, except for Sportschannel America, and I don’t know if NCAA hockey was on ESPN. The second time I got cable, when I moved to Vegas in ’92, College Hockey was on ESPN, and I got to watch Paul Kariya win the national championship with Maine against Brian Rolston and defending champions Lake Superior State. I began playing hockey, I became a college hockey fan, and I gravitated toward the Ducks after they drafted Paul Kariya. Then I found out McNab and Ferreira were former NCAA netminders and were committed to bringing in NCAA players, and I really had no intention of following any other team at that point.

NHL video games (early 90s and current) + Mighty Ducks movies were targeted to my age group + lived 20 mins from the Pond = i didn’t have a choice

I first started following hockey back when I was very young. The Kings were the only team in town at the time and I remember my first game. I was six and my dad drove me up to the Great Western Forum to watch the Calgary Flames. My dad bought me a souvenir Gretsky stick that I used to slap my souvenir puck around the front yard. I used that stick to play a ton of street hockey with the older kids but I couldn’t keep up with them (skating wise) so my dad got me a goalie stick. My father figured that in baseball I had gravitated to catch so goalie would be that far of a stretch for me. I did well at goalie against the other kids but dropped hockey when my dad made it clear for me that I had a gift for baseball. When the Ducks were formed in 93 I switched to my local team. I have been one ever since. My first Ducks game was in 93 against the Red Wings. I have hated them since. Those early years were kind of rough for Ducks fans. Since then through think and thin I have loved my Ducks. There are times I wish I had gone the hockey route but baseball did open up a lot of great opportunities for me. So yeah that’s how I became a Ducks fanatic.

by total accident just like I became an Angels fan. Along with watching the Disney movies I discovered the Ducks while trying to find the Angels games on Kcal 9. I had no idea that Angels games wouldn’t be played in October during the 90’s, so discovering the Ducks was on accident and I was hooked ever since. I remember crying once the Ducks won the Cup in 07 and it was worth the wait to see Selanne and the rest of the Ducks hold the Cup over their heads.

I became a Ducks fan when the NHL announced that Anaheim had been awarded a team that would start play in the 1993-94 season. I was only a casual hockey fan (I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out!) until the Kings made their run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1993. After the excitement of having a local team go all the way to the finals, the prospect of having our own Orange County team to follow was enough to make me a Ducks fan for life. I also (at the age of 32) learned to ice skate and play hockey through the Hockey Tech program at Glacial Gardens in Anaheim. I chose to be a goalie (see profile picture) and played on a team with 2 of my brothers-in-law. After 2+ seasons I hung up the skates but my youngest son is now bugging me to let him play hockey so I may soon be a “hockey dad”.