Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! It’s hard to believe that there has already been a full year of Psycho Lady Hockey in the history books. I have had some great and some horrible memories of these first 365 days. This week’s list recounts some of the greatest and more significant moments that this Psycho Lady has experienced since I first opened that account on Blogger not so long ago. Buckle your seatbelts for another cheesy clips installment of Top 10 Tuesday! Enjoy!

10. First Blog Entry

For a couple months I had been contemplating starting a blog. After the producers and the possible TV shows, I was advised to create a site as a place to post my research material while I was off on my hockey excursions. On January 26, 2009, Psycho Lady Hockey was born. Writing that first blog entry on my life in hockey up until the starting point of the site took me hours. I don’t think I have ever been so nervous about something I was writing before that post – 30 page university papers included! Luckily, after my first few posts, I started to loosen up, and just have fun with the content that you have all grown to love, or obsessively hate. Either way.

9. Saved and Nearly Killed by My Flyers Fuzzy Dice

Technically, being saved by my Flyers fuzzy dice happened a couple weeks before the birth of this site, however, the tale was the topic of my third blog post. Speeding on my way to Philadelphia, I was pulled over by Officer McHotterson, who used my Flyers dice as a way to avoid giving me a pretty hefty speeding ticket. Two months later, in Newark, these same dice attracted some unwanted attention from some crazed Devils fans. I was beginning to understand the magnitude of the New York area fandom. Like I’ve said many times, I haven’t seen a rivalry as intense as Islanders-Rangers-Devils. They love to hate each other, and everyone else, even if that team is nowhere to be found.

8. Arizona Prophecy

It’s probably impossible for any of you to actually grasp the Arizona Prophecy because I’ve kept quite a few details out of my posts. Nevertheless, the Arizona Prophecy prompted severe action from me because of the timing of the events. As a hockey fan, I was going to be traveling for hockey no matter what. It didn’t seem like such a bad thing that I switch to a team that was located in an area that I was supposedly linked to in some way. It’s kind of like those forwards you get in your inbox that promise that if you don’t pass it on to twenty people, bad luck will befall you. You know it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to be miserable for the next ten years if you don’t pass it on, but part of you keeps thinking, “What if I just delete this email and horrible things DO happen to me for the next ten years.” Sure it might not happen, but, if it did, wouldn’t you kick yourself knowing that this simple act may have prevented the misfortune. I guess that’s kind of how I approached the Arizona Prophecy. All I needed was a hockey team; Phoenix just provided me with the insurance of keeping all my bases covered.

7. Mystical 6 Game Road Trip

My first major adventure after the switch in team allegiance. The mystical six game roadie happened spontaneously after a two day trip to Boston, to see the Flyers play, turned into an eleven day quest. For these eleven days, I was pretty much out of contact with the world. My family had to resort to tracking me via Psycho Lady Hockey, just to see where I was. Ah, the days before my next game information required top secret clearance. For the first time in my life, hockey began to feel like a life or death thing. I traveled by car, rental car, and planes between Boston, Buffalo, New York, Detroit, and New Jersey. This was definitely one of the craziest, and most sleep deprived trips of my life! Thank goodness for over packing! This event also brought the first wave of Psycho Lady fans to the surface. Until that point, I had only heard from the odd reader. But once I began posting about this adventure, I had messages flooding in demanding to know what happened next.

6. Infamy in Pittsburgh

After a rough and regretful trip to Anaheim last season, I arrived in Pittsburgh tired, hungry, and with dysfunctional hair extensions. We buzzed around downtown Pittsburgh looking for a place for me to get emergency hair surgery (seeing as I looked like a scarecrow with my Calgary Flames Cowgirl hat). After the operation, we had but a few precious moments to get to the rink, and made the first mistake of downing a bottle of bubbly in our haste. The game is a blur of free beer, nachos, and fans whispering about drunk Canadians. After the game, I unleashed the fury on an unsuspecting Pittsburgh Penguin, only to wind up lying in a bed in one of Britney Spears’s tour buses. The next morning was unpleasant to say the least.

5. New Mission

Up until the mystical six game road trip, I had only been traveling out of convenience as a super fan. Seeing as my team was Philly, and I lived in Toronto, I basically only traveled to the most unchallenging locations to see my team play. I tried not to miss any Flyers games in Montreal, Ottawa, Buffalo, and Toronto. But other than those cities, Philadelphia was really the only location I was frequenting. After I switched teams, and went on this crazy adventure, I started to realize that visiting all the arenas at least once is something that I would really enjoy doing! This new mission also gave me an idea for a new book, however, I don’t think it’s fair for me to even begin writing it until the last eleven rinks are under my belt!

4. Taking the Road Show Over Seas

In another one of my crazed moves of the 08-09 NHL season, I found myself on a last minute flight to Zurich for the IIHF World Championship. Let me tell you, going to Europe by yourself can really get lonely. I was watching a lot of Euro MTV a.k.a. one of two English speaking channels (the other being CNN). The most amusing thing about this trip was that I didn’t tell anyone that I was going. Instead I told my family that I was in Pittsburgh for the Flyers series during the playoffs. I chose Pittsburgh instead of Montreal because I knew that if my family thought I was in the States, they wouldn’t bother trying to call my cell phone, thus, not hearing the give away beeping sound that you receive on calls to Europe. No one caught onto my lie for three whole months, until a German receipt fell out of my purse, and I was found out.

3. Welcome to Twitter

At the end of June, I decided to finally join Twitter. I didn’t really see what the point of Twitter was for someone who didn’t have her own business or anything like that, until I realized that I could use it to meet other hockey fans. I don’t think the offseason will ever be the same again. Meeting hockey fans from all over the world made those normally (emotionally) volatile three months a lot more bearable. Twitter also became a great way to compliment my work on Psycho Lady Hockey. If you’re an avid reader, but not following me on Twitter, you should be. It will help you bridge some of the gaps!

2. Psycho Lady Hockey Becomes Too Popular

Apparently. By early October, the jealous underbelly of wannabe puck bunnies began to come out of the woodwork in an attempt to “destroy” me, I guess. Textbook puck bunny behaviour. Hate on anything that might be getting what they not-so-secretly desire. From stalking me daily both on my blog and on Twitter, to spreading rumours about things their mental disorders thought they read on my site, to mounting campaigns to get the other lowly mirror-breakers to join forces in a “mass” unfollow, the Psycho Lady Anti-Fan Club has only succeeded in sensationalizing me to catastrophic numbers as far as they are concerned. If that wasn’t amusing enough, a couple of them have taken to trying to isolate individuals who are outwardly supportive of this website and my existence. Won’t make any friends that way, my girls. Keep up the good work, you’re making my job a whole lot easier.

1. Ducks Fans and Players Show Me a Sign

The Anaheim fans, maybe the most enthusiastic fans in the league, were quick to jump on my Show Me a Sign campaign. In true Ducks fashion, these ladies went above and beyond in their pitch to get me to join their ranks. Not only did they make an amazing and glittery game sign, but they also managed to get Ducks players, George Parros and Joffrey Lupul, to model their handy work. I was obviously quickly sold on the Anaheim club after this gesture. The bar was set very high right out of the gates with this contest. Which reminds me, if you are attempting to make a game sign in the near future, make it small. There have been a few reported incidents of Psycho Lady signs being confiscated at the door due to size.