Anyone who knows me knows I spend my entire spring and summer yelling endlessly about the Red Sox. My baseball season has, however, come to an unfortunate end. But just as I was wondering how to get over mourning the end of Big Papi's MLB career, I was sent a saving grace.

Hockey. Is. Back.

Preseason started a little bit before the Sox were out, and I caught a game here and there, but I was really holding out for the regular season to open. Back on the ice would be the return of our veteran favorites (lookin' at you, Patrice Bergeron), and a new lineup of fresh faces to shake things up.

The Bruins are my home team (and my favorite team by far), but I can't help but give my love to the entire roster of NHL teams in general. I've only been really into hockey for a couple of years, but it's threatening to surpass baseball as my #1 sport.

There are an endless amount of things to love about hockey. It's vicious, it's endlessly exciting, and it gives me a kind of sports-related anxiety I didn't even know I could feel. For 3 periods and 60 minutes of gameplay in total, these beefed-up figure skaters with sticks (how I affectionately first thought of them) duke it out, smacking against everything from the boards to the ice to each other in an attempt to add another win to their season collection. The only thing better than hockey is playoff hockey, and that deserves a whole other ode in itself.

In addition to the love of the sport, you can't help but love the players themselves. Hockey players are a special breed, there's no denying that. I mean, they're absolutely ridiculous.

I think I've made my case.

Hockey season has only just begun. There's a long road ahead for this year's teams to find their footing to see who's going to go the extra mile and snatch the 2017 Stanley Cup. Until then, though, I'll be spending my entire winter, and most of next spring, yelling about hockey until baseball comes back.