I've always been a nerd, so I wasn't much of a sports fan as a kid. Growing up in Pittsburgh, I was definitely aware of the Penguins, and Lemieux and Jagr specifically, though.
After I graduated from college, I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. While I was out there, Lemieux came out of retirement just at the right time to catch me in a bit of nostalgia for Pittsburgh. We were in Sharks territory, so it wasn't hard to start following hockey a bit in general. That got me casually started. Then Lemieux played in the Winter Olympics. Watching that got me utterly hooked.
Of course, that all happened just in time for Jagr to leave the Pens, and for them to enter a dark era. Still, I was following the Pens via the on-line radio stream while at work (3 hour time difference helped), even though they were losing most of the time. I remember being so greatful that Ric Jackman scored in overtime to end an 18-game losing streak. It helped being able to follow the Sharks as well, but Pittsburgh was my hometown team, so they were always number 1 for me.
Then I moved back to Pittsburgh in the summer of 2006. Just in time for them to draft Staal, get Malkin to come over, and to get back into the playoffs again. I guess I picked a good time to come back!