New Year’s hockey resolutions for 2025
Are you a fan of New Year’s resolutions? I sure am. As long as we don’t take them too seriously, they offer a perfect excuse for self-reflection and self-betterment. And they don’t always have to apply to the most consequential aspects of our lives, either. Example: we can make New Year’s resolutions specific to our hockey lives.
Roundtable members: What is your New Year’s hockey resolution for 2025?
MATT LARKIN: mine is to stop putting down the regular season. I find myself saying things like, “Wake me in April” far too often when talking about certain contending teams and which part of their season really matters. And in doing so, I’m not letting myself enjoy the journey for the first six months of the season. I need to start living more in the present and relishing a random game between, like, the New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets on a Sunday afternoon in February. Nothing tops the playoffs but I should appreciate the entire season more. Best game on the planet!
PAUL PIDUTTI: My hockey resolution is simple: get out to the rink more. Locally, two of the best options are the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves and the NOJHL’s Sudbury Cubs (previously the Jr. Wolves), where I used to roam the crease in the mid-2000s. Growing up, my family had Wolves’ season tickets for over 25 years and it’s one of junior hockey’s best rinks — an old school barn featuring nostalgia and some modern touches. Watching hockey on a screen is convenient, but nothing beats the chill in the air, the smell, or the vibes of a local rink, especially in Sudbury. It’s time to see more live hockey in 2025.
STEVEN ELLIS: I didn’t get out to any PWHL games last year, partly because of conflicts with other leagues and teams I follow and cover closely. I’d like to bring a few friends along with me to a PWHL game and just enjoy it as a fan – something I rarely get to do in hockey these days. My wife isn’t a hockey fan, but some of her friends are. Maybe taking them all to watch the Toronto Sceptres up close could help point her in the right direction.
SCOTT MAXWELL: I guess this is as good of a time as any to make this news official, but this season I’ve become a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, which in turn means I’ll get credentials for NHL games going forward. One of my biggest weaknesses in journalism school was interviewing people and coming up with quality questions to create conversations, which is one of the many reasons why statistical analysis pieces that didn’t need quotes have been my calling card so far in my career. So, with all that said, my hockey resolution is to not only improve my interviewing ability, but find a way to integrate that into my analysis pieces. No, I’m not talking about the stereotypical “what do you think of analytics” pieces you see every now and then. I mean using stats to find particular points in a player’s game, and see their own perspective on that, or if they even noticed that or felt that way at all. Some may think that I think I know everything, but I there are always more things to learn, so I’m excited to do so in this next chapter of my career.
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