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It’s hard to believe that this is only my 6th season in the NHFL. It feels much, much longer in all the right ways.  I can still remember my first conversation regarding the league, and from that conversation with fellow GM Chris White about the “serious” fantasy league, I was immediately hooked.  Problem was, I had to wait a full NHL season before it happened.  Little did I know that joining the NHFL would turn into one of the greatest decisions I could have made. 

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I had been introduced to a few of the GMs prior to my first draft in Kingston in 2012.  Already having a relationship with Chris and his brother Jay, I also knew Evan and had met Michael Hayman and Kris Heil so it was immediately comfortable for me.  It was my first live draft and although it was only Chris, Jay, Evan and Kris together, we had a conference call with Michael from Alaska while James and Hayman couldn’t come due to softball playoffs.  Marty also joined the same year I did and as a side bar and as I reflect on it now, we’re definitely a much tighter, more organized group at this whole draft thing.  It was a standard draft, a few of us on laptops, Heil with a magazine, we drafted, and went about our evening.  Jay wasn’t feeling the best, probably the beginning of his process into becoming bubble boy, so Kris, Chris, Evo and myself went downtown to AJs Hangar to have some drinks, dance and spread Jason White Octonorm business cards all. Over. That. Bitch.  Shit, we made those things rain down like a thunderstorm from the top floor.  Curious if Jay actually received any extra work from that mass marketing plan…doubt it.

               

At the time, I thought I was pretty savvy when it came to sports, especially hockey.  Playing my entire life and being a huge fan of not just a single team, but the entire NHL itself. However, I was not prepared for this league.  I had competed in a few other fantasy leagues, and had competed fairly well. But again, this is the NHFL. This is not your typical league.  The large rosters, the farm systems, the live drafts and trades, it was like nothing I had ever been a part of before.  When Chris mentioned it was a serious league, he did not joke.  Now, I will have to point out that from 2012 through the current 2017-18 season, the league has undergone a few changes, and has become even more intense than when I started. And I don’t see it slowing down.

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I talk with people all the time about my fantasy guys from down south and it’s almost unfathomable for them to understand how this league is.  In 2012, I drove 6 and a half hours to Kingston, 2013, 5 hours to Cambridge, 2014 almost 10 hours to Pennsylvania, 2016, 6 hours to Belmont, 2017, 3 and a half to the Muskoka’s and then 2018 we’ll see ourselves 5 hours away in Ottawa.  Would it be easier to do an online draft, sure, but where’s the fun in that?  These 9 guys have become as close to me as brothers, spending more time on the phone with them than my own family. 

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It’s hard to believe that our serious fantasy league can get more intense and detailed than it already is.  From our original Yahoo only platform and a wix.com website to now the NHFL.ca, destination drafts and Hockey Day in Canada celebrations, this league gets better and better year after year.  A majority of the recognition should go to our Commissioner Michael Hayman as he spends countless hours reworking logos, updating the website and keeping us in line.  I do want to point out that I believe it’s the commitment of the 9 other GMs that keep this league exciting for him to want to help us out with all of our crap.

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We go through our ups and downs as a group.  Some guys drift a little from center as their personal and work lives unfortunately become a priority, and it’s this group that always seems to bring them back into focus.  I’ve had some very in-depth conversations with every GM in this league, and one GM pointed out that if you were to want to quit this league, it wouldn’t be because you don’t want to do fantasy hockey, it’s because you don’t want to be friends with us.  He made a valid point.  You can draft your team, set your roster and go about your day/season, but it’s the interaction via text, message board, email or phone calls that really keeps this league running.  If that’s the part that annoys you, then it must be the guys you’re surrounded by that are giving you those feelings.  Some of my favourite moments have come from the quick phone calls on the way home from work, or the long commute calls that go on for hours.  Not just fantasy talk, what started out as hockey talk has turned into wife, kids and life conversations.  It’s very rare I think, that in your 30s you develop relationships that you’ve never had before, that become as strong and tight as the ones we’ve created. 

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Which then brings me to the elephant in the room we have talked about for the past couple years…expansion.  In our 10th season of the NHFL, (at what has to be the hands down, best draft weekend we’ve had, thank you Marty) we sat down at Kawagama Lake prior to our 1pm draft, all 10 of us together for the first time to discuss expansion.  It’s no lie, I was one of the advocates who was strongly against expansion.  In what I’ve just discussed, how could you want to change something that is so strong and tight?  Add new people? More teams? You’re crazy.  The old saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  But here I sit, the rookie in the NHFL.  Marty and myself, both joining at the same time, we were the newcomers at one point.  (I do have to mention that we were taking over GMs as opposed to expanding teams, but the point is the same.) How do I know that I wasn’t the one they wanted?  Perhaps Jay or James had someone else they would have wanted in the league instead of me?

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It has nothing to do with Wes or Brian joining the league as I take the word of anyone in the league as character witnesses of who they want to join, it has all to do with change.  Do I fear change for this league?  Sure.  Why wouldn’t I?  Things are so good, and what if we bring in 2 new guys who disrupt all that we’ve built?  But then I think about the relationships I have now with each individual.  5 years ago I had zero idea of who Mesquita, Sheriff, Marty and James were, and today they’re as close to me as anyone I know and I look forward to building those with Brian and Wes.  Who the hell wouldn’t want 2 more guys to socialize with about all that is hockey and life!?  But that’s not just it.  What happens to our league when we take away 48 players from the free agent list, 52 with farm spots?  How diluted will the league become when you can’t go to the FA wire to grab the hits or blocks you need for the weekend?  What about the lack of goalies?  There were so many questions that had to be answered and as a group, and we put our big boy pants on and came to the solutions as a group.  Not the commissioner, not the executive committee, all 10 of us.  Sure, there are going to be some hiccups along the way, I’m sure. But we’ll figure it out, as we always do.

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I realize any outsider who reads this is going to think I/we are quite possibly insane.  Devote 365 days to a “fake” hockey platform that follows an NHL season that only lasts 23 weeks?  Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.  I’ve watched 4 out of the 10 guys win a championship.  60 percent of our active GMs have never won a jersey, and that’s what drives us all, to be handed that jersey.  Sure, I love to trade and I’m quite positive that my love for making deals has affected me from competing for a number of championships, and that’s what keeps me going.  I want that jersey. 

 

When talking about the league, some don’t understand the money aspect, or to put it more accurately: the lack thereof.  “$500 a year combined to be in this league and you don’t win any of it, just a jersey?”  No, no…not just a jersey, a championship jersey!  A jersey that means much more than money.  Sure we can hand over an envelope at the end of the season, etransfer the cash, but that doesn’t last.  How many people do you know that own an Arizona Coyotes Oliver Ekman-Larsson jersey?  What about a Minnesota Wild Zach Parise sweater?  Those are the things that you remember.  I’m sure all of us, at some point, look at our teams towards the trade deadline and go “if I win this year, which jersey am I going to get?”  Draft weekends or Hockey Day in Canada we gather together in our replica jerseys.  Those championship ones look just a bit better than the others though, they really do.

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I apologize if you’ve read this article and you feel it’s just a bunch of nonsensical, incoherent rambling, but when I talk about the NHFL, I get fired up.   I have so many great memories from this league: 

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• AJs Hangar in Kingston

• our introduction to the “mistake shot” at James’ draft

• the Jocko dress, growlers, golf and our 1st beer keg in State College

• hosting the draft in Sudbury

• backyard fires, our 1st NHFL quiz and Marty of course, golfing in the Jocko in Belmont

• Kawagama, all of it….WE. GO. HARD.

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And those are just the drafts, not to mention the Hockey Day in Canada buffets, drinks and drunken rambling by the fire, the phone calls and all that has become of our message boards. 

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I can’t imagine where this league takes us next, and I look forward to what the future holds for it.  20 years from now, in our 30th season of the NHFL, where will we be?  As I’ve previously mentioned, I’m currently the league rookie, I’ve only been here for half of its existence, but let’s be honest…this league was nothing before I got here.  Fantasy hockey brought us together and I find it to be amazing how I've built lifelong friendships because of it. 

 

It’s pretty crazy how we set aside time for the things that truly matter.  My three F’s……… Family, Friends and Fantasy hockey.

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