No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride… and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well… maybe chalk it off to forced conscious expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.

Whether it’s in my sports fandom or in other aspects of my life, I find myself relating to the words of Hunter S. Thompson far more than one probably should. My name is Tom, I’m a father, husband, sports addict and the new Managing Editor of the oldest hockey site on the SB Nation Network, Mile High Hockey.

Let’s get the awkwardness out of the way early; I did not grow up as a Colorado Avalanche fan, nor do I live anywhere close to Denver. I was born and raised in Toronto, the product of a household divided between a French-Canadian matriarch that pushed for Habs fandom and a father that grew up on a farm in small-town Ontario cheering for the Maple Leafs. I won’t hide that fact that I cheer for the Leafs – heck Pension Plan Puppets is the biggest Leafs blog on the internet and it’s now run by an Avs fan, so turnabout is fair play right? While I grew up a Leafs fan, my younger brother grew up wearing #19 because of one man – Joe Sakic. He was an Avs fan. We would argue about Patrick Roy, cheer for Sweden together when Forsberg and Sundin would team up, and I would listen for hours as he would explain how he was adapting his defensive style to play more like Adam Foote. So while I did not grow up cheering for the Avs, they have been in my life and long been on my mind when dealing with hockey.

With that said, I will not let my fandom get in the way of helping to grow this site into the best community and resource for Avs fans. First and foremost, I am a hockey fan. I’m 32 years old this summer and that gives me three full decades of watching, playing and following hockey of all kinds. I love junior hockey – in fact, often times the OHL has taken precedent in my life over the NHL.

In terms of writing, I’ve bounced around over the past few years writing for FanRag Hockey, Maple Leafs Hotstove, The Leafs Nation. Currently, I am contributing to our wonderful Tampa Bay Lightning sister-site Raw Charge as well as running a site I started up with a friend The Bloggers’ Tribune.

As far as Mile High Hockey goes, you are going to see a few changes. Some big, most small, but all pushing us towards the goal of making the site and the Avs fan community a better, more fun place. There will be a few new writers and a bunch of old faces – all with the goal of creating something great.

I want to thank Ryan for expressing his confidence in me and the new era of Mile High Sports. He has been a tremendous resource as I transition into the role and I want him to feel confident that the site is in good hands. If you have any comments, concerns, ideas, whatever, don’t hesitate to reach out – either in the comment section or on Twitter.

My personal account is @PuckDontLie, don’t hesitate to reach out, my DMs are always open - though I will warn you now that my TL will be filled with far more that just hockey talk – as the father of two wonderful daughters under the age of 5, I often skew towards #DadTwitter.

I am very excited to start my journey at Mile High Hockey at this moment in time. With the on-ice product at a historical low, there is absolutely nowhere to go but up – what better time to hop on the Avs train? This offseason could get wacky and we will be here to cover every minute of it.

Thank you, and enjoy the ride.