Was that even a hockey game?

Over the (American) Thanksgiving break, we went to an NHL game. We watched the Carolina Hurricanes take on the new Winnipeg Jets. It was Husband's first NHL game (and part of my evil plan to turn him into a Canadian). We had seats way up in the nose bleeds, but it was perfect because we could see the entire ice, no problem. The seats were great! We even sat behind a fellow Canadian. The girl who sang the national anthems did a stellar job; she got the words AND the tunes right! I was impressed with the announcer who asked everyone to respect both national anthems and invited the crowd to sing along (from my experience it was rare to hear the crowd be invited to sing along to the anthem here in the States). They even had the words to each anthem on the jumbo-tron.

The game was exciting to watch. But I must confess I am not even sure it can count as a hockey game. There were no fights. Not one. Nope. Nada. Zilch. I didn't even know that could happen in hockey. Sure, there were a couple dust ups here and there; an exchange of pleasantries if you will. And there were a couple pretty good hits. But punches? Nope. Don Cherry would get nothing from this game for his Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em highlight reel.

In the end, Winnipeg won 3 to 1, which was good because that's who we were cheering for. I was actually surprised to see quite a few Jets fans in the stands. There were some die hard Atlanta Thrashers fans who made the trek to see their former team play (it's about a 7 hour drive from Atlanta to Raleigh). That's dedication.

I was hoping this would turn into a fight, but no such luck

Warm up time

I think Husband has a little man crush on this guy Dustin Byfuglien. He took a few too many pictures of him! He used to play for the Blackhawks, Husband's favourite team.

An action shot

For those of you who didn't see this on Facebook, I have posted it here. These two sat next to each other for almost the entire 3rd period. It amused me greatly. If you don't know why this is amusing, check this link.

He looks more and more Canadian every day!

Another action shot (it's my blog, and I will put whatever I want on here!)

Husband took this pic during warm ups. Notice the puck that has just bounced off of the stick? Husband wins for best picture of the night.

Spur of the moment hockey game

Yesterday, I received a phone call from a friend from church. Her husband had a few free tickets to the Texas Stars playoff game, and she wanted to know if we wanted them? Heck yes! So, with barely enough time to pick up the tickets, grab a bite to eat and drive to the game before the puck dropped we headed out. The Stars played the Milwaukee Admirals (the Admirals are affiliated with the Nashville Predators). The game was pretty good, with a few good goals, a small fight, and a goal with 20.6 seconds left in the third to tie up the score. The Stars won in overtime, much to our disappointment (We don't cheer for the Stars because of the way the fans yell the word "Stars" when it comes up during the national anthem. Call us crazy, but we feel that the national anthem should be about honouring and respecting your country, not about cheering for your hockey team). The best moment of the night, however, had nothing to do with the Stars game. Right before the third period started, I notice a TV in one of the suite boxes two sections away from us was showing the Blackhawks v. Canucks game. No matter what we tried, we could not get close enough to see the score. So I pulled out my camera, which has an amazing zoom capacity, and snapped a picture. The picture, which looked blurry on my screen, came out crystal clear, and we were able to see the score. My camera is amazing!

Here are some of my favourite pictures from the game:

Our seats were behind the goal, which were actually pretty good seats. We could see the whole ice and every play (as long as the fans in front of us weren't standing up!)

No AHL game is complete without a game of human bowling during intermission. I totally want to try this! It looks so much fun!

How sweet is that? She said yes, of course!

Things were a bit heated at this point, and I had my camera ready for fight. No such luck this time.

My amazing picture taking skills in action. This screen was a good 75-100 feet away from our seats. By the way, we were both SHOCKED to see the Hawks up by 6 goals!

We went to the fights and a hockey game broke out!

Husband and I went to a hockey game this weekend. We watched the San Antonio Rampage play the Abbotsford Heat. It was the first game I've been to in almost 2 years. That's forever for a born and bred Canadian. The game was fast-paced and very physical, with a lot of bone jarring hits and a few fights. The Heat won the game in a sudden death shoot-out. That's always an exciting way to end the game!

#27, Brett Sutter, second generation of the Sutter Family dysansty (They are almost as famous as Wayne Gretzky)

Look at that beautiful flag! I even got to hear the Canadian National Anthem. I must admit it brought a tear or two to my eyes. Throughout the game some of the Rampage fans thought they would be clever and yell Canadian themed insults at the Heat. I was amused by what they choose to shout ("Take off Hoser" and "Go back to Canada" were very popular). I was tempted to remind them that over half of the Rampage players were Canadian, but I decided I would be wasting my time and energy.

Face-off!

I tried to get a picture of the puck dropping, but my camera isn't expensive enough to do that.

The Rampage are the farm team for the Phoenix Coyotes. (The Heat are affiliated with the Calgary Flames.)



Action shot!

No hockey game is complete without a fight!



So this guy, Jamie Lundmark, took a puck to the head late in the third period. We were close enough to the ice to hear the impact. It was not a pleasant sound. The injury wasn't too bad though, as he was back on the ice for the shoot-out. Thank goodness for helmets!