Hockey Fan

I wanted to write a post about hockey.

Last Saturday, I went to my very first ever hockey game with my family. It was Bill's idea--he'd read about our minor-league team online somewhere and decided he needed to see it.

Well, I'm always up for something new! Bruce and Eli stayed home (both feeling a bit tired), but the rest of us went.

It was more fun than I thought it'd be. The game was fast-paced, easy to follow, and BEAUTIFUL to watch! The players are young, and they seem to have no sense of mortality or "what if I get injured?" They went at full speed: turning, dodging, weaving, skating forwards and backwards. And then BAM into the boards! All-out play.

Most people think of hockey as "that violent sport." There certainly was some rough stuff. Players would shove or punch each other, but then they'd move on--no brawls, and everyone seemed to get over it quickly.

That is, until the 3rd period. Then this really odd thing happened, twice. After a face-off or stop in play, two players would suddenly throw down their helmets and gloves, and stand in Fighting Stance. Others would clear away, and the refs would just stand by, eventually separating the two players, after they hit each other with bare knuckles and attempted to pull each other to the ice. Then, the refs would send the 2 fighters to the penalty box.

It was so odd--like it was planned!

I asked Brian about it--he loves hockey. "Testosterone," he said. Well, yeah. The whole thing was pretty testosterone-heavy. But I'm still puzzled about those little bare-knuckled sparring matches in the middle of the game.

Oh, our team won! But it would have been fun either way.