If your hyperfixation got a hyperfixation, congratulations, you are exactly who this episode is for. The 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs broke a lot of neurodivergent brains this season, and I needed to talk about it with someone who gets it. This is the season finale of Clinically Awkward, and I went out with a bang.

My friend Jana Morgen (@thisbookishlady on TikTok) is a content creator and event coordinator based in the Bay Area who came into hockey through Heated Rivalry, went to eight Sharks games in a single season, and has been crying about men she found out existed that day ever since. We have been mutuals on TikTok for a while and I have been waiting for the right moment to get her on the pod. A Stanley Cup win felt like the right moment.

We got into why sports fandom might be the most neurodivergent-friendly environment on earth, how hyperfixation works when the thing you fixate on has literally infinite content, the parasocial spiral that happens when the playoffs eliminate someone's favorite captain and TikTok serves you their retirement press conference six minutes later, and why I think we need to stop calling it mental health and start calling it brain health. We also talked about goalie psychology, WAG shoe choices, the Vegas jerseys, the rotisserie chicken on the ice, and why Carter Hart simply does not have the mental fortitude. You know what you did, Carter.

Find Jana on TikTok at @thisbookishlady and find me at @clinicallyawkwardpod. If you want to work with me or apply to be a guest, head to alyssazimmerman.com.

00:00 You Found Your People: Neurodivergence, Sports Fandom, and the Art of the Hyperfixation 03:50 Heated Rivalry to Rinkside: How an AO3 Fic Accidentally Turned Into Eight Sharks Games 09:01 Had to Google It: Vintage Footage, Early Playoff Chaos, and Wait That's the Same Guy 13:30 Parasocial as a Love Language: Crying About Men You Met Today 21:37 WAG Culture, Vegas Jerseys, and the Case for Sparkles: Hockey Fashion We Did Not Expect 24:25 Bussi, Anderson, and the Case for Calling It Brain Health 30:35 Non-Toxic Male Friendship and the Carolina Hurricanes: What Seth Jarvis and His Friends Are Teaching Us 33:17 Technically a Tangent: ADHD, NVLD, and Ways to Make Your DSM Actually Useful 36:32 Carter Hart Has No Mental Fortitude and Other Things We Said Out Loud 42:53 The Stanley Cup Is the Best Man at Three Weddings 47:07 I Did That: ADHD Superstitions, Hockey Rituals, and How I Won the Stanley Cup 52:02 Next Season Energy: PWHL, Finding Your People, and Jana's Secret Project