Linda's Canadian Adventure

I went to my first hockey game last friday night with Mike and Phyllis. I had a great time. It’s always nice to see a game live. A few things stand out. First, the rules of hockey, I didn’t know anything about so everything seemed weird to me. For instanse, I didn’t know that when they smack each other against the wall it is a part of the game and that it is allowed. They constantly change players, I knew that, but I didn’t know they change the complete team all the time. It is a very funny sight, every minute or so they skate to the side and the ones that were waiting drop themselves over the board to change as fast as possible. The players waiting at the side look very funny, as if they cannot wait to get on the ice, like sardines in a can.

I am comparing it with a soccer game and what stood out was the audience, they were a little quiet. Before the game started the national anthem was played and everybody stood up. I was sitting down at first, I feel like I shouldn’t stand up, like in church you don’t want to receive Holy Communion when you’re not religious. But Mike made me stand up anyway. The audience is humming along a little, no complete singing choires like in a soccer stadium. The scoreboard is hanging high in the middle of the ice. It has a screen too were they show reruns and commercials. In between the game a lot of loud music is played and clapping hands appear on the screen, a sign for the audience to clap along. There are three rounds in hockey of 20 minutes and during the breaks they provide entertainment for the audience. During the first break they had little children play an game, very cute. The audience is cheering for them. During the second break they had a blazer competition. The opponents are called the Blazers. Four people with weird jackets on were put on the ice and the audience had to chose the most silly jacket.

The game got more exciting during the thirds round and the audience started to do the wave. The game was ended with a tie so they had to play overtime. After that there was a shootout. In soccer they usually score and you’ll have to wait until someone misses. In hockey they can’t get the puck in the net so you’ll have to wait until someone does. This time it were the Blazers, the opponents. It didn’t matter to me, I was glad I had made it until the end of the game without getting bored.