My neighborhood growing up got cable earlier than a lot of places. I was lucky enough to see the first day of MTV and watch ESPN when it only ran for part of the day. I also had the good fortune of having a channel called MSG.

The network now exists as a regional sports network for the New York area, but cable systems had to fill channels with something back in the late 1970s so the Baltimore area got MSG, which ran a lot of stuff that took place in Madison Square Garden.

That included the New York Rangers, and I got to watch pretty much every game of the 1978-79 season, a year when the Rangers had Anders Hedberg and Ron Duguay and John Davidson. I really started to follow hockey and got really hooked  in 1980 with the Miracle on Ice.

Over the years, I kind of paid attention to the sport, but drifted away as more activities took my time. Then the strike came and I could not care less about hockey.

Alex Ovechkin has changed that. Even though the Rangers got me started, I am pretty territorial about my teams and have followed the Caps when I cared about hockey. The late-season run by “Ovie” and his teammates has me enthralled again. I can’t wait for Game 7 against the Flyers tonight.

Some of my family members are huge hockey fans so they have helped pull me back in too, but this team is infectious. They just seem to have so much fun, you have to root for them. I just hope my interest sticks beyond this playoff run. I kind of miss hockey.