dogs get bit

Minor-league hockey was great. As we assumed, there were reasonably priced tickets, good seats in a small arena, a friendly crowd, and a lively game. There were also lots of silly minor-league promotions, including a shootout from someone in the crowd - and they did play "Raise A Little Hell". (Thanks Wrye and Trevor!)

Because we work on the weekends, I don't know how many games we'll ever see, but I would do it again before baseball season starts.

A friendly man sitting next to me coached us on some strategy. He coaches his daughter's team: she's 7, and this is her fourth year of hockey. Wow.

I wish I had brought my camera, if only to get a picture of the Mississauga Ice Dogs' mascot, Blue. (Scroll down for Baby Blue.) It seems so appropriate that our local team has a canine name. Their community hockey team is the Ice Puppies. Love it.

Oh yeah, the Ice Dogs lost, 4-2.

* * * *

When Allan wakes up, he's going to guest-post. He read some commentary on the results of the election, asked me my opinion, and I suggested we throw it out to you all.

He's sleeping in before his long work weekend (39 hours in 3 days), so check back later.

Comments

  1. laura k26 January 2006 at 06:14

    ALPF, I didn't know that! I knew the Ice Dogs used to be Don Cherry's team (read it on the website), but I didn't know this about the mascot.

    That's cool! I like that the dog wasn't friendly. It's very fitting. :)

    There's something very weird about a person who gives all their dogs the same name. As if Don Cherry isn't weird enough.

    ReplyDelete
  2. laura k26 January 2006 at 07:03

    I find Peggy Guggenheim's devotion to her dogs very touching.

    I see she had a Gypsy, like us.

    Beautiful picture taken from her patio in Venice. I remember seeing her house from a water-bus.

    ReplyDelete
  3. M@26 January 2006 at 07:29

    I happened to have the radio on the game when I got into the car last night (they broadcast all the Rangers games here of course). Knowing you were at the game I listened as I drove to and fro.

    Did you find the crowd very sparse? I've never been to the Hershey Centre but the players and the commentators were both talking at one intermission about how tough it is to keep the energy going with such a small crowd in such a big arena. But I have no way to gauge that.

    I'm glad the game was exciting though. There's just something worth seeing in these non-top-tier leagues--that sounds kind of patronising, but it just tends to be so much more about the sport and so much less about the hype.

    And I'm a devoted CFL fan, so I know whereof I speak when I talk about non-top-tier leagues. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. laura k26 January 2006 at 07:52

    Hey Matt, cool that you were listening as we were there. :)

    The arena was about half full. There were a lot of Kitchener fans there, too. But it was a weeknight, that must have something to do with it.

    There's just something worth seeing in these non-top-tier leagues--that sounds kind of patronising, but it just tends to be so much more about the sport and so much less about the hype.

    It's true. You're up close, the players are young and hungry - it's exciting.

    Oddly enough though, when it comes to baseball, Allan and I both don't like minor-league ball that much. Because we love the sport itself so much, we get impatient with all the promotional gimmicks, the songs, the mascots running around, all the stuff that's done to make it a "family" atmosphere.

    For that matter, we detest the incursion of all those things into the major-league game, too. Cut the crap, please, and just give me the game.

    ReplyDelete
  5. David Cho26 January 2006 at 08:59

    Well, I got excited because I thought the entry was about dogs.

    Oh well. Not a hockey fan here. I do have a "doggy" entry thought.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Trevor26 January 2006 at 10:34

    Glad to help -- Was Trooper and American phenomenon too? I can't remember but for some reason I think of them as Canadian...which may not be for the best.

    I still remember the deathly silence, then deafening roar, when someone actually made the shot to win a new car in the intermission shootout at an AHL game in Moncton back in the mid-80s. I think they were at the redline and the hole was literally just big enough to fit a puck through. The representative for the car dealership was so shocked he promptly slid the car into the boards while driving off the ice (They would bring the new car out onto the ice to tempt or throw off participants -- oooh, a new K-Car!)

    ReplyDelete
  7. allan26 January 2006 at 14:32

    I don't think the place was even half full. The official box score linked in L's post listed the attendance as "0"!

    The contest --

    I can imagine the silence -- did we just see what I think we see? -- then just erupting!!!

    To me, it looked like one of those carnival games where the hoop short of fits over the target if you angle the hoop a certain way.

    We said at the time, a lot of pros couldn't do it -- or would need several tries.

    There was gimmicky crap and three-second blasts of stupid music before face-offs, but not during the actual action. And hockey has much longer stretches of "action" that baseball, so there is less of it. Still annoying, though.

    And I'd still rather see the most talented players play. Minor league games are alright, but I'll always want to watch the pros.

    ReplyDelete
  8. laura k26 January 2006 at 14:43

    OK, OK, maybe it was less than half full. But attendance wasn't zero! We were there. Some others, too. :)

    Was Trooper and American phenomenon too?

    Not that I know of. In similar situations in the US, they play snippets of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" or that vile "We're Not Gonna Take It", or a pumping dance music theme the name of which I don't know, but you've heard a million times...

    I still remember the deathly silence, then deafening roar, when someone actually made the shot to win a new car in the intermission shootout at an AHL game in Moncton back in the mid-80s.

    I can only imagine!! That would have been something to see, not soon forgotten, as you say. It seems utterly impossible.

    ReplyDelete

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