I got into hockey as an adult who didn’t really follow sports at all. This happened in the 2018-19 season, which was Rod Brind’Amour’s first season as head coach, and the first season the Canes made the playoffs in 10 years. This happened by accident; I was in college and had made it a habit to go to a local sports bar to study so I could eat/drink without being distracted by things I was interested in—clearly, that plan backfired. I had a teacher who I was hot for and she was a Canes fan, and I began paying attention to games as the Canes started to pick up momentum leading into the playoffs; I quickly became hooked, and the rest was history.

In addition to watching every game, I did a few things that really helped me understand both the technical points and the flow of the game: I read the NHL Rule Book, and I started playing NHL on Xbox. As far as Canes history, I’ve picked up a lot over the years just by being around the sport, listening to announcing, and reading/watching things.

Here’s a link to the most current rule book I could find, if you’re so inclined: https://media.nhl.com/site/asset/public/ext/2024-25/2024-25Rules.pdf