Sports crazes are often as fad-tastic and fickle as the professional athletes who we temporarily worship. Let’s face it, most folks are fairweather fans, at best. Cases in point: the Lance-induced cycling craze, Mia Hamm and women’s soccer and, of course, the four-year cycle of figure skating interest (who really cares during the other three?). In a sense, the story is the same for hockey locally: since going to the conference finals last season, for instance, the Sabres have already sold nearly as many tickets as last year…and the season hasn’t even started yet. In another sense, however, hockey is the gritty kind of sport that this city has always identified with. After all, an informal poll shows that the most popular Sabre ever was not some glossy superstar, but Rob Ray, the hard working, hard-hitting everyman of pro hockey. All of this is why the Albright-Knox is hosting Youth Hockey Night this Friday, as part of its free Gusto at the Gallery series. Events for the evening include an exhibition of hockey memorabilia from Toronto’s Hockey Hall of Fame, an outdoor tailgate party (read “carnival”), a screening of Disney’s D2: The Mighty Ducks, a screening of CBC’s doc series Hockey: A People’s History, a lecture by artist Mark Rothko, a lecture by Jay Bylsma, father of former-NHLer Dan Bylsma and a tour of hockey-related artwork with AKAG Director Louis Grachos.

Friday, September 29 from 3-10pm. Albright-Knox Art Gallery,

1285 Elmwood Ave (882-8700). Free.