Hi, blog readers! It's Maureen. I know people have all kinds of emotions about Valentine's Day. Some love it, some hate it, some think people make too big of a deal out of it but don't really care about it one way or another.

I've lived through all of those emotions. I threw anti-Valentine's Day parties with my single girlfriends in college. I immediately changed my mind and started to love it my first Valentine's Day with my boyfriend three years ago. But since then, I'm pretty low-maintenance when it comes to February 14th. Yes, please get me chocolate. I am an addict. But other than that, I don't mind it being like any other day.

This year, I won't even be in the same state as my boyfriend, Brian, and to be honest, I'm not bothered by it.

Especially because my present happens to be a post-Valentine's day NHL hockey game.

Later this week, I get to see my team, the Minnesota Wild, face off against the Winnipeg Jets.

If you read these blogs regularly, you know I'm a big hockey fan. It's my favorite sport, by far. Here are my sister and me at a Minnesota Wild Fan Fest event. That's Wild winger Cal Clutterbuck and one of my favorite former players, Wes Walz.

And I also think hockey is the best sport to watch at the arena. Have you been to a football game? Those constant stoppages in time seem a lot longer without commercials and commentary.

But hockey, that's different. You hear and feel the hits against the glass. You can harass the other team's players when they end up in the penalty box. Even the nosebleeds aren't bad seats. You get to see plays develop on the ice from a bird's-eye view. And those nice breaks between periods give you plenty of time to use the bathroom and get snacks. No long lines when you have more than one intermission.

And hockey fans in Minnesota are something else. No matter where you sit, you will make instant friends. And there aren't many casual fans. Everyone knows what they're talking about and EVERYONE has an opinion. And when the Wild score, there are high-fives all around.

Brian and I try to go to at least a few hockey games a year. Here we are (with our friend Damian) last year at United Center in Chicago for a Blackhawks/Wild game.

Earlier this year we got to see the Wild beat the Edmonton Oilers. Going to games against Canadian teams are especially fun because they're as rabid about hockey as we are...and they travel. We even made friends with the family of Oilers fans sitting behind us at that game---I think they consider Minnesotans honorary Canadians. We don't annoy them the same way a lot of other (far more hockey-ignorant and far less cold-resistant) American fans do. I may be talking about some of you Chicago Blackhawks fans out there. The ones that didn't know Chicago even HAD a hockey team before the 2008-2009 season and now walk around wearing Jonathan Toews jerseys and pronouncing his name like "toes." Not that I'm bitter about the Stanley Cup they won a few years ago. Not. At. All.

Regardless, I'm a little less apathetic about Valentine's Day this year thanks to my belated-Valentine's Day trip to see the Wild play. And please, boyfriend, don't think this gets you out of buying me chocolate. ;)