So, I went to my first ever Hockey Game (as an adult--the last time I was, like...10?) this afternoon.
Yeah, it was for the not-so-good
Las Vegas Wranglers, but I had a really good time. LV is, well, what baseball calls a "farm team" for the AHL
San Antonio Rampage, which is the minor league team for the NHL's
Phoenix Coyotes. A full 25% of our team was called up at some point this season already to play at San Antonio, so most of the really good players are gone. Might explain the 13-14-3 record (but might also say something about our talent pool).
Anyhoo, LV played the Utah Grizzlies, which is the feeder team for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (??) & Abbotsford Heat (??)...which are the minors for the New York Islanders & Calgary Flames (which, incidentally, when they were the ATLANTA Flames, was the team I watched play at 10). Both are relatively good NHL teams, so they've got talent, too.
Unfortunately, LV is last in their division; with the fewest points scored and the most penalty minutes per game (seriously, only the Alaska Aces, in the rival division of their conference has more PIM)--which, if you know hockey, means that the other teams spend a lot of time in the power play, and have a better chance of scoring...and Utah has the highest PP goal scoring percentage in their conference.
Guess what? LV
still beat them; both last night (4-1) and this afternoon (5-3). Whoohoo! That means we're now SECOND in our division. Going again next Friday or Saturday to see them play the Ontario Reign.
There was the requisite fight (our guy bloodied up the other one more = win!), the rally mascot (a giant, green fuzzy thing called, no joke, The Dude. WTF?) tossing out shirts (got my hand on one, but didn't fight hard enough. Me = noob), the ridiculously funny heckling of an ex-player now on the rival team...and lots of overpriced food.
But the best part is when the other team's player comes out of the penalty box and the announcer announces that the Grizzlies are back to full strength...and then the entire crowd screams out: AND YOU STILL SUCK!!!!! *giggle*
So, being that I mange to see the slash in EVERYTHING, you knew I'd find something to comment on. And boy, do I. See, after the Zamboni comes out and slicks up the ice, the goalie, #29 Michael Ouzas proceeds to scuff up the crease (*snicker*), and then crouches down on all fours--only to spread his thighs out like a frog and slide around in said crease. (*sporfle*) Oh, and humps the ice a few times. (*dies*) I'm assuming this was some sort of stretching exercise; all I could think about was who he got to help him with those stretches in the locker room (*flipping through program to find the prettiest one* *forgets it's hockey and if they're playing right, they aren't too pretty, so picks the biggest one--that doesn't look crazy--#5, Chris Frank*) and imagining all the other "warming up" he'd do (and who with), especially during the off season.
There's GOT TO BE Hockey RPS for that, right? Right?OMG, they have an annual Prison Uniform Night. I have to go for that, too!
OMG2: I forgot to mention how many times I kept thinking of Roman (from AWZ)...and DB Sweeney (from Cutting Edge...TOE PICK!!!)--which cascaded then to Joshua Jackson...and a whole ton of other pretty sk8terbois imagery.