"Woo go Carolina Panthers!" Shouted some random guy walking past me. Confused I looked down at my shirt and realized he thought I was wearing a Carolina Panthers shirt but in reality, it was a Florida Panthers t-shirt. Totally wrong sport, he thought football but I was really wearing a hockey shirt. This happens all too often when you're a hockey fan in Florida. Most people don't even know that Florida has hockey teams, let alone two teams.

I grew up way down south on the east coast so I didn't even hear the word hockey until my senior year of high school when I was invited to a game and thus began my love for the game. After that game I was hooked, I would talk about hockey to anyone that would listen but almost everyone had no idea what I was talking about or would just walk away. Anyone who is a hockey fan in Florida knows the pain, people have no desire to talk about it and most people don't even know what hockey is. There are a few things all Florida hockey fans relate to.

1. People confuse your hockey t-shirts with any other sport.

Such as the football guy thinking my Panther's shirt was a football shirt.

2. When you talk about your team people always think it's some minor league team for another sport such as soccer or again football.

I can't even tell you a number of times that people told me that the Tampa Bay Lightning is a minor league soccer team and some even said they were an indoor football team.

3.Most people don't even know what hockey is.

Some think it's like curling and there are others that even think it's a form of soccer. Unless they're from up north, most won't even know it's a sport.

4. You get excited when you see another hockey fan in public, even if they're wearing your rivals logo.

You will automatically bond with this person, even if you don't talk to them at all! Since these sightings are so rare most will start up a conversation about the sport and then finally have some conversation about the game that we thrive for so much.

5.Anytime you post about the game on social media it will only get you responses from a few people, some actual fans and some asking what you're talking about.

But you'll still continue to post endlessly about your team anyway.

7. You know you'll always be able to get last minute tickets to the game since hardly anyone knows about it.

During playoffs is the only time there are no tickets and that's because all the other states come to support their teams so they take all the tickets. That is if the Florida teams are in the play offs at all, so most of the time we don't even have to worry about scoring play off tickets.

8. All other states claim that Florida hockey is no good, but you know that's not true.

The Florida teams are the best ones out there! You wouldn't want to cheer for any other team (go Panthers).

So being a hockey fan in Florida is tough, not only do people have no idea what you're talking about but they think you're crazy for liking a northerner sport. But all Florida hockey fans still band together to support our favorite teams (go Panthers) and will continue to do so. Since after all Florida hockey is the best hockey that there is!