The Hockey Game

The Hockey Game.

Neighbours, Lynn and John informed me that a trip to Canada in winter is not complete without a visit to a hockey game - a Canadian Institution.9 To me hockey is the game they play on wet turf and certainly do not have skates on their feet - h! field hockey I am told, we are going to the "real hockey". I had noticed that it seems to figure a lot on t.v. and there are games going on all the time, so I did have an idea of it's place in the scheme of things.
Last night, it was off to Guelph, about a half hour journey, to see the local game. Last night was a  special night, the Christmas Teddy Bear Toss night, and as we arrived there were people everywhere carrying all sorts of stuffed toys including Lynn with our bag of toys. The arena is in the centre of town in the middle of a shopping mall, and although the arena wasn't full capacity is 6,000) I think there were just under 4,000. It is quite a social event, everyone wanders around chatting and catching up. Popcorn and beer are the traditional fare, although all the usual sporting event foods are also available.

The Teddy Bear toss, has become a popular tradition at Christmas time in the local leagues, where the toys brought by the fans are all tossed onto the ice after the home team scores it's first  goal. The toys are then donated to charities.


Last night we all held onto those toys for a very long time and everyone was getting worried that they would be leaving with their toys as the home team, the Storm, were being soundly whipped and by the end of the 2nd third, they were down 6 to 0 - a disaster indeed.
John and Lynn assure me that it was a very strange game, for the 1st two thirds, the visiting team, the Colts were in complete command scoring 6 goals, much to the delight of the two ladies sitting next to us and ringing their cow bells happily and frequently.

These games are noisy with frequent bursts of advertising and music during the down moments, which I admit I didn't understand, but I have never played hockey. The home crowd became more despondent and many left early.

Finally in the last 15 minutes of the game it was time for the Teddy Bear toss - at LAST, the Storm scored a goal, the crowd went wild and stuffed toys rained down onto the ice. It  took some time for all the toys to be collected, there were lots of kids out there, but I am not sure how much they helped, and the game continued. I don't know whether it was the toys or the noise, but the Storm players went crazy and in the next few minutes the teams were only 1 goal apart, 6 - 5. Unfortunately time ran out and the Colts scored another with the final score 7 - 5. My apologies to the Colts, the final score was 8 - 5. My hosts insist it was a very unusual game, but best of all I had FUN, and a beer and some popcorn.
Thanks Lynn and John.