Jolly hockey sticks, indeed

[klwilliams]

Tonight Chaz and I went to see a San Jose Sharks hockey game with a couple of friends of ours. One of them plays on a women's amateur league, so we've been to see her and her team play a couple of times. While she is one of the best players on her team, the pace of those games has been slow enough that we've had a chance to learn a little bit about the game and how it's played. The Sharks were...better. faster. dare I say it, stronger. What a fun game to watch. They played the Canadian team the Flames. We stood at attention through "Oh, Canada" *and* "The Star Spangled Banner". The Flames got the first point when they only had four players, I guess because the Sharks were asleep. However, the Sharks came back to win 2-1, after some fast and furious skating.

Chaz wore a big smile all through the game. They stopped for commercials, and during breaks played games for prizes, with fans doing the playing. Musical chairs with soft blow up furniture, on ice, anyone? Chaz was heard to say, repeatedly, "We don't do that in England." We had a great time.

Comments

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

When you say 'hockey'. does that automatically mean ice hockey? The 'on ice' bit of the musical chairs took me by surprise (though that bit does sound fun!).

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

In most parts of the US, non-ice hockey is specified as "field hockey," and "hockey" means, well, the real hockey. :)

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Ah. Chalk up yet another divide in our common language!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Do men play field hockey, where you are? Because in the US my experience of field hockey is that it is exclusively East Coast, upper class, and female.

[pennski.livejournal.com]

Yes, my Dad was a goalie for years for his local amateur team (and secretary for the league).

At most secondary schools, girls will learn (field) hockey and netball. Boys will learn rugby and football (soccer).
At ours, once you reached 14 you could choose a bit more what you learned. Boys could learn hockey and many of them did. They were usually surprised to discover that brute strength wasn't enough.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I had this experience in American high school gym class. I come from a hockey culture and was living in a non-hockey culture, and I am not that big and a nerd. And so people tended to be completely (figuratively) knocked over when I was quite good at floor hockey, because hey! I was not the burly jock! What gives?

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

It's not a majority, as-seen-on-tv sport, certainly. It's played at my local university by both men's and women's teams (but may still be exclusively upper class).

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

That was my experience, too. In fact, at Mount Holyoke (women's college) the intramural field hockey team wore the traditional skirts as part of their uniforms, even if the team included men.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

I had a cheerful conversation about hockey with a guy in Toronto, and we were ten minutes in before we realised that we were talking about completely different sports...

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

mrissa beat me to it. :)

Also, the Sharks are a professional NHL team, so the games are shown on TV. We do not, alas, get to see the between-period shenanigans that way, though I've seen enough games both in San Jose and other cities to say that musical chairs on ice (and other, similar silliness) is not uncommon.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

Chaz was confused on this point too when we took him to his first (women's amateur league) game.

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

Hee! It's always entertaining when the Sharks play Calgary, there's a long-standing rivalry there.

Glad y'all had a good time! I'll admit I'm jealous; I had to watch the game on TV. It's not nearly as much fun--or as loud--as actually being in the Shark Tank.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I thought of you during the game.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had such a good time and glad you got to hear "Oh Canada" as well as the SSB, because "Oh Canada" is an immensely better national anthem. At nearly every Canadian sporting event I've ever watched, the singer can toss the crowd a section and they will sing it well. If you tried that with the SSB, us Yanks would go, "Is the singer okay? What's going on?" and stand there like posts for the most part.

If you want to be taught specific hockey terminology for the stuff you've mentioned above, I am glad to be pedantic, but I will not whip out the pedantry uninvited.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm slowly learning the terminology from my hockey-playing friends. About the only thing I'm sure of at this point is "face off", but that should change.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

"When they only had four players" = scoring short-handed. Which is an unexpected reversal, so I like to see them 29 times out of 30. (The 30th is when they're scored against my Wild!)

[galeni.livejournal.com]

I can't follow the puck at the men's pro level -- but it's cool to be in the arena anyway. Here (Vancouver) hockey is the rich people's sport to watch -- and football is the roller derby of pro sports.

Glad you had fun!!

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

We were in the very top, back row of the cheap seats. (And I got quite the workout climbing to the top with my cane. And even more coming back down.) That gave us a very good view down, so it was a lot easier to follow the puck. Not easy, mind, but easier.