Let’s give a warm welcome to guest writer Candice Monhollan.
With NHL hockey on hiatus for the Olympics, life has been pretty quiet in Flyerdom. So instead of focusing on the team, I’m going to touch on a subject that reared its annoying head again.
An issue that has been bothering me all season long appeared again last night during the Canada-Switzerland game. A female Canada fan in the crowd held up a sign that read, “Sidney, can I hold your stick?”
So we seem to now have moved on from blatant marriage proposals to “sexual advances disguised as hockey talk,” as Sean Leahy of Puck Daddy describes it.
Now I may have you confused as to why this is an issue. Most male hockey fans just roll their eyes and shrug it off as desperate attempts by so-called “puck bunnies.” But what about the female hockey fans like myself?
If you take a vote of all the women at any given hockey game, I’m sure the majority will admit that they know very little to nothing at all about the sport itself. They’re probably there with their husbands or boyfriends to keep them company, or try to be the good, supportive companion.
But then there are those few ladies, like myself, who actually do know what’s going on. I take pride in the fact that I have studied (yes studied) and followed the sport of hockey. On any given day, I can fill an entire sheet of paper with the names of current NHL players, but I digress.
We ladies who go to the games not because our significant others asked us to, but because we want to. We love the thrill of the game, the smell of the rink, the sounds of the sticks and posts.
The problem is that these puck bunnies ruin the reputations of the rest of us. Their goal? To try and get the attention of the players on the ice for a date or more. A prime example was seen at a Pittsburgh Penguins game earlier this season in Calgary. 23-year-old Kristyne De Mott showed up to the game in a white dress and veil, holding a sign that said “Marry me Sidney.” A little much, wouldn’t you say?
Others, not as obvious, can usually be spotted at the glass for warm ups. You know, the ones all dressed in tight and/or revealing clothes and face covered in make up. Some have signs in tow, others do not. They try to let their looks do the talking.
These ladies give men the impression that women are only there to oggle the players and try to score with them, or even some of the guys at the games. Because of this, men look down upon the ladies.
I recently attended a Flyers game with my best friend, who also happens to be a girl. I noticed the looks I got from some men. The look of “What’s she doing here? She’s probably just here for the players.” I am even judged on my own personal pages, such as Facebook. You can always catch my comments and opinions going up during Flyers games. But for the people who follow me that do not know me personally, they always fight and contradict what I say. They do not take me seriously. What would I know? I’m just someone who can’t like hockey because I’m a girl.
Do I blame the men? Not really. I blame the women who bring this on to us. So this is my parting message.
To the men: Don’t be so critical toward women. Believe it or not, there are some of us who actually love the sport and teams. And there are also some of us who know what we’re talking about.
For the women: Don’t think I’m writing this to say that you can’t ever look at another player again. Just don’t cross the line. It’s okay to see a player and think, “Oh, he’s cute.” It’s even okay to sometimes fantasize what it would be like to be with one of those players. Men do it too, like with the ice girls (don’t deny it guys). But to show up dressed in white and protest your undying love to a player, that’s overkill.
So to all those puck bunnies out there, stop ruining the game for the rest of us. Your sad attempts are pathetic. Let us ladies have our credibility back. And besides, do you really believe all that effort is going to work?
Let Sidney Crosby answer for you.
“No,” Crosby told the Edmonton Sun after being asked if he was considering the offer from Kristyne De Mott. “I apologize.”
