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By Rochelle Bergman

My name is Rochelle and I love hockey, I also love writing. Writing about hockey, is my true passion. My love of hockey and hockey players in uniforms, started when my dad got season tickets to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the late 70’s. That was in the days of Lanny McDonald, Darryl Sitler and Roger Nelson.

The league was smaller then. It seemed that if you didn’t have cold weather, or if your part of the country didn’t have snow, you didn’t have a hockey team. Times do change.

I knew as a young girl that I was a hockey nut before seeing my first game. While my friends had movie and rock star posters on their walls; I had a poster of the Toronto Maple Leafs on my ceiling. It was the first thing I saw every morning and the last at night.
I even made a scrapbook when I was younger about my team. It was full of articles and tons of pictures; I still have the scrapbook to this day. The pages are yellowed and the corners are rolling up, but for some strange reason I cannot give it up.

Currently, I don’t live in Toronto. I live on the west coast and I do support my local hockey team; I have to or I might get disowned by friends. Don’t let my howling for my home team fool you, my first and only hockey love is the Leafs. I wear my two t-shirts and my official CCM Maple Leaf shirt with pride, no matter where I am.

My goal when I was younger, was to become the first female player in the NHL. I wanted to skate, meet, play and get to know the players. When I realized that being a skater wasn’t in the bag of my life, I changed my goal and decided to become their ‘water-girl’. I didn’t get to do that either.

I remember staying up late to watch the endings of games, or to see the playoffs. My parents and my sisters would go to bed and I would sit in the den with my eyes glued to the TV. I remembered the yelling I did and the under-the-breathe swearing.

Another memory, attending my first game, what an experience! The lights, the people and the rink. The rink was much bigger and brighter and it shone with the lights. The crowds were something I had never seen before. The excitement that went though the ‘Gardens’ were just mouth opened awesome feelings, that I never experienced before or after.
My dad’s tickets were in the grey section of the arena, second row from the top. No one sat behind us because there were stairs there. These stairs lead to an area that was used in the intermission. Sometimes the ‘Gardens’ used this room for interviews and such, you never knew who you would meet on game day!

Well, that is me and a piece of my hockey passion!

I just have one hockey request and I am hoping that the hockey lords that sit above are hearing me..

Please, oh..please…may the Leafs win one more Stanley Cup before I die…..Amen

Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, her team is always the Toronto Maple Leafs. Instead of falling for movie stars, Rochelle fell for hockey players. As she grew up, her passion grew to include wanting to be the first female NHL player, the first female 'water' girl for her team and catching a true NHL puck. She did try for the puck, only to learn that A) the puck could have killed her, if she tried to get it or B) you needed to buy one. Years later Rochelle still loves the game! Now a days instead of wanting to join the players, (don't let her fool you, she still wants to join the team) she writes about them. Her one wish in the world is to be alive when the Toronto Maple Leafs win their next Stanley Cup! Rochelle has a certificate in Marketing/Communications at the British Columbia School of Technology and a writing certificate from Simon Fraser University. She has started her own writing company, "From Rochelle's Pen".

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