my path into hockey fandom started similarly - late 2011 a friend rec'd a hockey RPF fic with a trope I adored, and I read and kinda enjoyed it, then forgot all about it. some months later I wanted to reread it, read others by the author and then started reading more. and then I needed to know about the game, so started reading blogs and watching clips, then games, and developed opinions. I've also backed away some - it's been a long time since I read much fic, and obviously I've not watched too many games this year, but I'm still generally interested in the sport, which is odd as I've never been a sports-type person