If there is one coun­try music artist that is excited about the NHL hockey lock­out being over – it is Dierks Bent­ley. It’s one of the singer’s favorite sports to play and watch, and Dierks admits that he can even get a lit­tle com­pet­i­tive streak when he is on the ice.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (ver­sion 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Down­load the lat­est ver­sion here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Dierks is get­ting ready to “Tip It On Back,” and hit the road with his pal Miranda Lam­bert on their Locked & Reloaded Tour. The two will kick things off in Colum­bia, South Car­olina on Jan­u­ary 17th.