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.
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 .
The game was great. Ottawa won — of course.
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I love football, tennis, GOLF:) but I hate hockey 😉
Too funny.
I’m not into sports in general, but I did get into your post. Good pictures, they look as though they were taken dangerously close to the puck. I think I’ll stick to ice skating and gymnastics (watching I mean), those seem less risky.
Never seen a hockey match but given the chance I’ll do it. I have always wondered what the atmosphere was like with the public and so.
I’m saying given the (very little) chance because over here* it’s not something very popular and I don’t watch sports in general, either on the TV or in stadium. Last one was a baseball match in Minneapolis, 3 years ago. The game bored me as I have no clue what the rules are but I loved the public and ambiance.
*Don’t rely on the flag on the little tag, I am in Frogland
A sports post! Zhu, you’re full of surprises. Hang on a second, “soccer means hooligans”??? – Be careful not to come within beer-can chucking distance of our house after comments like that! 😉
How can you not like soccer??? But oh well… What about basketball or tennis?
Anyway I’ve always dreamed of going to a hockey game. I don’t mind the game, I just wanna see the teeth flying in the air and stuff 😉
Din
wow seems like a great nite!
Keshi.
Hey Zhu!
lol unfortunately I am not a sports person either! I don’t see the point of chasing a ball around *nodding*!
Oh yes, the Canadians love their Hockey…it’s amazing!
Nice pics: you really captured nice moments here!
Congrats to Ottawa *clap clap clap*!
Yes, soccer fans in Europe are terrible!! They almost always end up punching each other, throwing chairs all over, having somebody killed somewhere…it’s a shame! And it’s not even the spirit of sports, is it *nodding*?
Cheers, mon amie
Hey, I tagged you. Check out my blog you’ll see why.
http://initialdraft.blogspot.com/
It’s a meme but I wouldn’t pass it on if it wasn’t cool! 😀
I’ve never actually been to an Ice Hockey game, but I can imagine that it would be quite good. For me, though there is no beating football (soccer), sorry 😉 .
Some good shots there too! Like Max said, you captured good moments!
And of course well done to Ottawa 😛 .
Lori : it’s okay, we blame it on cultural differences 😉
Theresa : don’t worry, this was probably my last sport, given my extremely limited knowledge of running after a ball/puck !
FroggyWoogie : yeah, no way you can watch hockey in France… I don’t even think we have any team there !
John : er… I mean all hooligans BUT you of course 😉 You’ve very well behaved I’m sure !
Din : I think as a French I just got a soccer OD, mostly due to the world cup… I honestly find it boring. Sorry !
Keshi : yeah, it was fun !
Max : thanks ! I was lucky actually for the pics, we got great sits so it was easy 😉
Todd : thanks for the meme, I’m working on it – and I’m flattered !
Aidan : rha… another hooligan… sorry, soccer guy ! Oh well ! 😉
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!