Dating someone who plays a sport is always a challenge, considering they have so many practices, games, and team meetings. Many of the games they have to attend take place somewhere far away, so you don’t get to see them sometimes for an entire week. In my case, I sometimes don’t get to see my boyfriend for weeks at a time, and now that I go to college 6 hours away that has just gotten even worse. When I do get to see him, though, I make sure to take the cutest pictures I can after his games, as I'm sure every girlfriend does after her boyfriend's games of any sport.

My boyfriend plays Junior Hockey for the Seattle Totems. For every away game, he has to take a team bus all the way to the destination. Sometimes this is just an hour from their own rink, sometimes it is 5 hours, but a lot of the time it ends up being a full day to an almost two-day trip. Not only do they have a lot of travel time, they also have to play 2-3 games every weekend, and their games last about 3 hours each.

Overall, I don’t seem to see my boyfriend very often, and it doesn’t help that he lives an hour away and has practice every day. The only times I got to see him when I was home, was on Mondays, or if I went to his games. This was super hard, but it truly made me appreciate him even more than I would if I got to see him every day.

Now, there are many perks to dating a hockey player. These typically consist of the fact that they can take you ice skating, tie your skates, and make sure that you never fall. Also, in my case, they know how to fight so you can feel very secure and protected. As well as this, they are the only sport where they all man up and actually shake hands instead of high five or fist bump at the end of the game after they have beaten each other up; they are true gentlemen.

While many of them may be missing teeth, have stitches, scars, and bruises all over their bodies, have broken ribs and broken bones, this only adds to the appeal. When I first became interested in Tristian (my boyfriend) I told him if he ever lost a tooth I would be pissed and I would think it would be super gross, but if I am truly honest with myself, now I sort of hope that he loses one.

Another reason hockey players are the absolute best boyfriends anyone can ask for is because they are very outgoing and will do almost anything you ask them to. As Thad Castle from Blue Mountain State put it, “They play their sport on the hardest surface in the world with knives on the bottom of their feet. They get their teeth knocked out constantly and don’t bother to get them fixed.” If that doesn’t show you that these boys are adventurous, brave, skilled, and extremely attractive then I don’t know what does. After all, everyone knows that girls love bad boys.