I can’t get enough when this special season rolls around every spring.

No doubt, my favorite mudbugs are boiled.

But the local Mudbugs are growing on me. They’re awfully good on ice.

Confession, and I am not proud of it: I have yet to try a Shreveport Mudbugs hockey game.

It’s odd, really. My family roots are just north of Pittsburgh – not Texas, but the Steel City, where my cousins and their kids are devoted Penguins fans. We moved south when I was a second-grader, before I ever pulled on a pair of skates.

Hockey in Shreveport wasn’t born until I was nearly eligible for those Life Begins at 40 golf tournaments. I was wrapped up in college sports and despite friends telling me how fun Mudbugs’ games were, I passed on invitations.

I’ve regretted it from time to time. This is one of those times. The Mudbug product is at its peak, again, after Monday night’s do-or-cry Game 5 win, 2-0 over El Paso, at The Hirsch, aka George’s Pond.

I’ve been on the ice at The Hirsch, kind of. For a wedding reception. It was cool, in more ways than one. No skates required.

Now I’m about to become bandwagon boy. Gonna have to see it for myself, this rite of spring in Shreveport, another high-stakes postseason series, the South Division Finals in the chase for the Robertson Cup.

It’s not exactly traditional, but it is far from unprecedented. Shreveport is a hockey hotbed, and the Mudbugs have been big winners for longer than LSU football’s Golden Era. Scott Muscutt is the local Nick Saban. Alabama fans better hope Kalen DeBoer is half as good as Jason “Soupy” Campbell has been following Muscutt, now the ‘Bugs’ GM.

Here they are again, in their second straight division finals, and in a recurring theme it’s a showdown with longtime rivals, the Lone Star Brahmas. The teams get along like my Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens. They hit hard, they play hard, and the toughest team wins. Or so my hockey-savvy pals tell me.

This, I’ve gotta see.

I will probably not understand the finer points of playoff hockey, although there is one thing I do have a firm grasp on. My pregame routine will include a visit to the Market Restaurant for some Louisiana mudbugs.

I’m sure I’ll enjoy both kinds.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com