My daughter got us in to a fantasy hockey league.

No money involved, no prizes, no payoff other than getting bragging rights from week to week if you are the ‘winner.’

You actually go up against a different team each week and the first two weeks, we outscored our opponent. This latest round, we trail by just a couple of points but with some games still to go.

It is something Ally asked me about just before the hockey season started and we figured it would be fun, as well as give us a chance to keep track of what other players around the league (other than the San Jose Sharks) are doing.

The ‘draft day’ was on a Friday afternoon and she and I had selected players in all the different categories, as well as plenty of back up choices, since you didn’t find out until draft day what number you were and when you got to pick. There are about 20 teams playing and we got the number 13 position. Needless to say, a lot of our top guys were already gone by the time we got our first pick but we still had quite a few really good choices to pull from and there were some that I was surprised hadn’t been taken yet.

Since it was on a Friday, I had to leave after the first few rounds because I was due at a football game but Ally did text and call me a couple of times to get direction on who to take when it got down to the last few rounds.

Overall, we got a variety of players from different teams: forwards, defensemen, goalies, utility players and then our ‘bench’ – from which we can substitute players. We also recently lost a goalie to a season-ending injury – a couple games after he scored an empty net goal for us! – and had to replace him on our roster.

You get a certain amount of points for goals, shots on goal, blocked shots, hits, goalie saves, etc.; the only problem we have found is if we have one of our roster guys in a game against the Sharks. We want our fantasy player to get points, but not at San Jose’s expense. On the other hand, if we have a fantasy player going against a team we really don’t like (Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers immediately come to mind) we are more than happy to cheer for our fantasy guys.

Our team name is ‘Finatics’ and the fantasy hockey league makes it a little more interesting to follow all the games.

My granddaughter, who will be 5 in January, also regularly asks how we are doing, even though she doesn’t know a lot of the players we picked. She was sad to learn that her favorite player, who got traded from the Sharks, also got hurt this season and won’t be playing in the game on Halloween that we will be going to. It was going to be Lorelei’s one chance to see him and she was looking forward to cheering for him, even though he would be on the other team.

It’s an afternoon game on Halloween so there will be time for trick or treating when we get home. My daughter had to break the news to Lorelei that William Eklund wouldn’t be playing and gave her the option to decide whether or not she still wanted to go to the hockey game.

She does want to go; she told my daughter that it would be okay. She will just cheer on mommy’s favorite player instead.

And, as she likes to do when we attend a game, I am sure Lorelei will start a few “Let’s Go Sharks!” chants in our section, she’s pretty good at bringing the energy when the players are on the ice.

Marg Jackson is editor of The Oakdale Leader, The Escalon Times and The Riverbank News. She may be reached at mjackson@oakdaleleader.com or by calling 209-847-3021.