Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Hockey: Not Everyone's Favorite Sport!


We were given two tickets to the Vancouver Canuck's game this last Saturday night by a friend of Todd's that last minute couldn't go. Sounds fun, doesn't it? We thought so.....  alas, nothing ever goes as planned.
I should have known things were headed downhill when, after deciding leaving 2 hours early for the 40 mile drive was sufficient, we spent 30 minutes stopped roadside 5 miles from our house as I tried to (somewhat unsuccessfully) convince Colt to calm down - hockey is fun, right!?
Back on the road....we merged onto the freeway about 1 mile from the border crossing into what can only be explained as the worst fricking traffic jam and border back up I've ever seen. It appeared that the Canadian Border Patrol (in their infinate wisdom) had shut the border down completely as the searched the contents of every vehicle crossing the border. Awesome! After about two minutes all-stop-and-no-go-traffic the wailing from the backseat started again and I jumped in the backseat to try and calm him down.....Right. 45 minutes later we crossed the border (baby still screaming). Todd handed the guard our passports and Colt's birth certificate - he commented on the screaming baby and ushered us through without question giving us that, "Good luck with that" smirk.
The drive in was simple...what wasn't so simple was the parking. Now, I know hockey is huge in Canada, so the fact that there weren't any cars or people milling around GM Place made me wonder if there really was a game that night. Because that would be our luck: drive 2 hours north, arrive late, struggle with parking only to find there wasn't a game. I checked the tickets though and we were definately in the right place at the right time....I just was thinking, "Where are all the people?" No cars, no people, no signs....
Todd asked a passerby how to get into GM Place and he pointed out a rather shady looking set of stairs "up to Door 7." What happened next was beyond belief:

We entered GM Place and it was jam packed with people. So many people you couldn't walk, breathe, buy a beer or use the bathroom. It was like some door had been opened into an underground fight club. It was insane. And obviously we were overdressed. And by that I mean in parkas, furry boots, stocking caps and carrying a diaper bag, extra jacket and throw blankets. Ice rinks are cold, no? No they're not. Not when there are 30,000 people there. It was 70 Deg in there - and we were obviously overdressed.
The baby seemed to amuse people. Todd had him in the front carrier and drew a lot of attention. Don't people bring babies to hockey games? Can't say we saw another one there....
We missed the entire first period due to the screaming fit and the border debacle, so we took our seats and caught the entire second period, passed up buying beer at the break and started into the third period. Colt loved all the sounds, colors and people. He was all smiles. And then the Canucks scored. People shot out of their seats screaming, buzzers, air horns and whistles went off and, although I had his ears covered, Colt went nuts. And not in a good way. When the crowd's screaming died down all you could here was a red-faced baby screaming.
...and that was the end of our hockey game. We left with 4 minutes left in the game. No one appreciated it more than the baby. Probably not another hockey game in our near future.

3 comments:

  1. Keep that in mind if you try to take in a baseball game, too. Not that I would know from experince...nor will I admit to feeding the baby while perched on the toliet at the said baseball game...

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  2. Wow, you were brave. That sounds so stressful!!!!! Valiant effort though.

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  3. OH LORD. Poor Colt. And you. Explain why you passed up that beer, again?

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