Confessions Of A Sean Avery Fan

I can't take it anymore. I have to tell someone, so it might as well be you.

I love Sean Avery.

There, I said it. Now, to clarify, I love Sean Avery as a hockey player, though he certainly has admirable off-ice assets (there's your gratuitous girlfriend shot). And part of my man-crush owes to the fact that he's on my fantasy hockey team and his Gordie Howe Hat Tricks are poolie gold.

But last night I found myself watching the end of the Rangers/Leafs game with the result already long-decided to see what Avery -- not Jaromir Jagr, not Mats Sundin, but Sean Avery -- would do next. Would he complete the hat trick? Would he fight (and pummel) Darcy Tucker again (said Avery after the game, "Darcy has always been a whiner. You say you don't like his hair and he'll be upset.'')? Would he have the opportunity to show off a dive that would make Rodney Dangerfield's Back To School character green with envy (I hear Avery has a Quadruple Lindy in his arsenal)?

Sadly, the game ended with none of the above being accomplished, but the fact is that the energy that Sean Avery brings to every single shift has rejuvenated a dead-in-the-water Rangers team and turned them into the proverbial "team that no one wants to play in the first round."

But Avery is more than just an energy guy. Shortly after his trade from L.A., Versus posted a stat that Avery -- not Sidney Crosby, not Alex Ovechkin, but Sean Avery -- was leading the League in penalties drawn. Of course, that's off-set somewhat with the fact that he's leading the League in minor penalty committed (and diving minors), but it's still a stat worth noting.

And now, at the most critical time of the year, Avery is cranking up the offense, notching his second two-goal game in his last six games last night (he had had just two multi-goal games in his 313 career games prior to this little streak). He has already set single-season career highs in goals and assists and has a plus-10 rating since joining the Rangers 26 games ago.

At the end of the day, all of that -- the offense, the feistiness, the theatrics -- is just Sean Avery being Sean Avery... one of the most entertaining players in hockey.

Glad I could get that off my chest.