Hockey Night
You won’t see my blogging about sports a lot. This is one of these “momentary lapse of reason” moment. Yes, I admit it, I’m not a sports person. Baseball bores me to death (and I don’t understand the lingo), American football is annoying after ten minutes spent watching guys headbutting each other and to me, soccer means hooligans and Kronenburg cans thrown at the referee. And I’m not even going to mention golf, curling or one of these “watching the grass grow” sports.
But hockey is hockey. I like it. I like the speed of the game, the players teethless grin, the old rivalries and the excitement of seeing the puck going into the net.
Weird, eh ?
Last week, I went to see the last pre-season game : the Ottawa Senators vs. the Montreal Canadiens. Lots of fun, especially we were right on the ice. Which of course led to the irrational fear that I would get hit by a loose puck. I didn’t.
Ready…Go!
Canadians love their game, but the whole atmosphere is surprisingly friendly. Toronto is hated by everyone — hence the “Toronto sucks” jerseys wore by die-hard fans — but no hard feeling here : it’s a game. I remember the soccer games back in France where the anti-riot cops have to be there during the whole game to prevent fans to go crazy… Canadians’ passion is much more peaceful .
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The game was great. Ottawa won — of course.
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[…] Going to a hockey game: hockey is Canada’s favorite sport and it’s best seen live. Even if you are not into it, it’s a really fun experience. First, the game is very fast-paced so you won’t get bored. Your sadistic side will certainly enjoy the fights. On top of that, unlike in some sports, people are passionate but they are not hooligans and the atmosphere is quite friendly. So buy tickets and head to your local arena! […]
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Haha hooligan ! I can see why you would say it though lol!
awesome — hockey is the only sport I can tolerate too.
Ho ho ho, that fear of the puck is not at all irrational! Mon cher mari was at an OHL game once and saw an elderly lady take a put in the mouth. Not pretty. The puck rolled in his direction, though, so he brought it home as a gruesome sort of souvenir. The woman it hit probably deserved to get it but she was a bit busy at the time, being escorted to the hospital and all…
But besides that little risk, the ‘flying teeth’ tend to be kept on the other side of the glass, as you noticed. People go to hockey games to have fun. Fans of opposite teams.…well, I mean, they have lots in common — they’re all hockey fans, right? They don’t fight. It’s a family affair; people bring small children to hockey games. But I know that to others it is surprising, when they are used to European ways. We had a friend come from Poland a few years ago who found it amazing that supporters of opposite teams are sprinkled evenly throughout the stands, sitting right next to each other instead of being separated. He also was stunned to see a car decked out to a comical extent with Maple Leafs balloons, flags, signs, and writing all over it driving through Ottawa on the day of a Toronto-Ottawa game. He shook his head and said, “In Warsaw, that car would be vandalized. You just can’t DO that!”
I agree with your Polish friend, I was really surprised that fans behaved well. In France, every time there is a soccer game between rival cities, such as Paris and Marseilles, they are CRS (and anti-riot cops) in between. It’s not pretty… people die sometimes!