Login

***sköldpaddor*** · 01-28-2024, 02:34 PM

It is honestly a little staggering to think of all of the ways my life has changed since I joined this site five years ago today. When I signed up here, I was very, very newly pregnant (earlier than most people would even consider telling anyone). I’d gone to California for work, and had the chance to meet up with some friends from a D&D game I’d been playing in. They had just re-joined the SHL, and knowing how I was into hockey and also D&D, they sold me on it pretty easily.

It’s been five years, but it seems insane to me that it’s only been that long. In those five years, I have given birth to the best little girl in the world, we’ve all been through a global pandemic, my husband and I bought our first home, visited Sweden, gotten new jobs, lost old jobs, been diagnosed with ADHD, learned how to crochet, started a bunch more D&D games, baked a lot of bread, grown gardens, written stories, made friends. There are so many major milestones that have transpired while I’ve been carrying on here in fake hockey world, and it’s meant the world to me to be able to share so many of those things with the friends I’ve made here.

Over the course of those five years, I’ve really sunk my teeth into this as my main social activity. The truth is, I had my baby in September of 2019 - and then we moved into our new house in December of 2019. I had about one month of getting used to my new commute (we moved further away from NYC, where I worked at the time) before we all went into lockdown and couldn’t leave our houses. So there I was, in a new neighborhood, with nobody nearby that I really knew, and without the ability to even go knock on my new neighbors’ doors and introduce myself, let alone make any new friends in the area. And so, while I had drifted into a bit of inactivity immediately after having my kiddo, I came back, I threw myself back into this world of fake sports whole-heartedly. This is where I made friends in a new place with no ability to forge new connections offline at the time.

And that’s the big thing - the reason I’ve stayed for as long as I have, the friends. I could write the most enormous wall of text here and I’d still manage to forget some people because there are so many people on here who have touched my life in so many ways. Not all of this has been easy - I know people have said I play the “woman card” a lot, but the truth of the matter is, making any sports spaces welcoming to people who aren’t straight dudes, that’s a work in progress. I still catch a lot of heat for stuff that guys are doing regularly, I still get blamed for things that I wasn’t even remotely involved in. But another thing I’ve learned over the past few years is how to stand up for myself.

When I first joined here, I was fully aware that in most sports spaces I’d existed in, being taken seriously as a woman was something you had to work pretty hard to earn. So I kept my head down. I tried to exude kindness to give people as little to take issue with as I could. Naturally, it happened anyway. Before I ever started raising hell, we were already dealing with guys complaining about women “invading sports” and whatnot.

But I am so, so proud of how far I have seen this league come in the past five years. There’s stuff that I saw people say five years ago that I know for a fact would not fly in the SHL of today, and I am immensely proud of that, of the work that I and others have put in to keep working towards it.

I know I’m getting long-winded here, but I’m getting to the point, I promise. The point is this - I have put so much of my heart and soul and time and effort into this place, this community that I love, and I could not keep doing that without the support of the people who have had my back along the way. In the last couple of years here, I have gotten a lot better at sticking up for myself, at feeling confident enough to not run away from confrontation. It feels nice to be liked, it feels nice to have friends, but at the end of the day, you cannot please everybody, and the more you try, the more you tie yourself into knots and, in my own experience, the lonelier it is. Because if you don’t want to upset anybody, I don’t think anybody can really believe you’d have their back if it comes down to it.

So today, before I go back to scouting for the J draft tonight, I want to shout out some of the people who’ve had my back, who’ve stuck with me even after I stopped bending over backwards to make people like me.

The PWAS crew - @JURT, @SDCore, @SchwarzNarr, @WithTheMoose, @Fluw, @sve7en, @Frenchie, @hhh81, @Aleris. I don’t know if y’all know how much your friendship has meant to me, especially recently. No matter what’s gone down, y’all are the people I always trust to back me up if I’m right and be honest with me if I’m wrong, and I can’t imagine this place without any of you.

@Aleris again. After everything that went down with Nevada in the few seasons after I came on board, my GM tenure could have been very short and very miserable. But you stepped up, as a brand-new first gen user, and you kept me sane even before you actually had the Co-GM title. I am so, so grateful to run this team with you.

My D&D pals - @JURT, @hhh81, @SDCore, @Fluw, @WithTheMoose, @Esso2264, @sve7en, @Rangerjase, @enigmatic, @ACapitalChicago, @roastpuff, @Canadice, @Matteo, @LarryTheMVP, @Ace. Playing games with y’all is some of the most fun I have. I love the stories we tell together.

My Sweden gang - the war room that keeps me sane while FHM dashes our hopes and dreams on the regular - @gurbs, @SDCore, @Halkohol, @Canadice, @roastpuff, @kenvald, @Zema, and everybody else who shows up in the locker room and makes IIHF fun for me.

Winnipeg - @Ace and @RashfordU, y’all have built something really special in there. I could just name the whole roster there, but you all know who you are. It was very weird for me leaving Chicago, the team that I was on for most of my first career and through the worst of the pandemic, but y’all have made Winnipeg home too, and I love you for it. No matter how many finals we lose, there's nowhere I'd rather spend this career.

Head Office homies - This is such a thankless job sometimes. It’s a really difficult balance of wanting everyone to feel like their ideas are being heard, and simply not having enough time to have those discussions over and over again, trying to spread ourselves far enough to acknowledge people’s concerns but navigating the behind-the-scenes stuff that people don’t even realize is going on at the same time. We have a regularly-changing cast in HO, but I’m very grateful for everyone who puts in the effort (completely unpaid volunteer effort) to keep this show of ours running.

@WannabeFinn and @Rangerjase - You guys both put so much into this league, and it’s a privilege for me to get to work with y’all every day. I’m sorry for all the BS y’all have to deal with on account of me :’) But I love our chats and I love the work we do, and I appreciate both of you more than you know.

And a few others, just because - @Carpy48, @kahri, @Nhamlet, @Tesla, @boom, @Possum Queen, @LeSizz, @vbottas17, @Nokazoa, @lore, @_Blitz_, @FuzzSHL, @Chevy, @Reno, @Sburbine. Y’all make this place more fun by existing.

There are a lot of other people I could harass with pings, but I really do have to get back to scouting and watching my kiddo (she’s four now, can you believe it?)

So here is one big thank you to everybody who’s been kind to me, who’s put up with me sending a million pictures of my kid in whatever space we share, who’s ever heard somebody say something untrue about me and gone out of your way to correct it, to anybody who’s ever let me vent to them, to anybody who’s also put in the effort to make our community better and has contributed to the progress we’ve made in the past half decade. Here’s to another five years Smile

Go ask me questions if you want.

***Fluw*** · 01-28-2024, 02:45 PM

Happy 5-Years Jess!! Blessed to have shared the last few with you, and here's to honestly many many more <3 <3

***BadWolf*** · 01-28-2024, 03:27 PM

Congrats

Aleris · 01-28-2024, 03:45 PM

You've been a massive friend for me in what has been the 2 hardest years of my life. I truly appreciate that

[Image: Aleris-Sig3.gif?ex=66246b80&is=66231a00&...e44aac877&]

***Frenchie*** · 01-28-2024, 03:58 PM

kids make us insane, but we share that insanity together, its been a blessing! Thanks for your friendship and here's to 5 more!

***boom*** · 01-28-2024, 04:03 PM

Happy 5 years! It's been great getting to know you over my recent time on the site.

Ruggsy · 01-28-2024, 04:47 PM

Congrats, you've put the time to good use

*CptSquall* · 01-28-2024, 04:52 PM

Happy 5 years Jess. Glad to still have you here.

*Carpy48* · 01-28-2024, 05:14 PM

5 years is such a long time if you think about it and you definitely made my time better here. Congrats and... on to the next 5?

***Wally*** · 01-28-2024, 05:52 PM

Not even mentioned. Saddest moment in five years. Lol <3

***sköldpaddor*** · 01-28-2024, 06:01 PM

01-28-2024, 05:52 PMWally Wrote: Not even mentioned. Saddest moment in five years. Lol <3

if i mentioned you i would have had to have mentioned everybody else who ever broke records in Nevada see and then it would have been too long

_Blitz_ · 01-28-2024, 06:54 PM

Happy 5 Years, Jess! I'm glad I've gotten to know you!

***Wally*** · 01-28-2024, 09:22 PM

01-28-2024, 06:01 PMsköldpaddor Wrote: if i mentioned you i would have had to have mentioned everybody else who ever broke records in Nevada see and then it would have been too long

Buttttt how many people have bought your head

***RashfordU*** · 01-28-2024, 09:29 PM

Thanks for blessing the Aurora and pouring your heart and soul into the Locker-Room. Winnipeg would not be the same without you!

***JURT*** · 01-29-2024, 12:20 AM

No mention of our wedding or our children I see.

Navigation

Extra Menu

About us