ON THE ICE!!

Ok so last night, Steve, Erin, Chad,Missi, the wife, and myself headed to the toledo sports arena to watch the toledo storm battle the dayton bombers on opening night. Erin scored us some free tickets through her place of employment so of course we obliged to participate in the activity. Many know that I have never been a fan of hockey at all. I would have much rather watched soap operas on tv then flip it on hockey. Seeing it live is a whole other perspective. These guys are pretty freakin tough. First off the storm did win 6-5 so that electrified the toledo crowd. There is not a bad seat in the house by the way. I am not sure on the attendance numbers but they sure get loud in there. They get pretty comical when the opposing team scores. They were up 3-0 at one point and then went on a drought. Being down 5-4 they scored 2 goals in the final period including the game winner with about 30 seconds to go. The wives then wanted to beat the crowd so they were ready to jet. Chad who knows hockey more than any of us, tried to explain that a lot can happen in 30 seconds. The women went out first, and the men decied to walk very slow just to make sure that the storm put the game away. Now the most enjoyable part of the night was the 4 or 5 fights that took place. I have heard that some coaches designate certain guys to mix it up with the best players just to get them off the ice as much as possible. It is almost as if it is part of the show the way the refs let them have it out and then take them to the penalty box when it finally stops. I told steve, that I can see how all the hostility gets built up. If someone was checking me all game and hitting my legs with the stick, I think I would started to get a tad irritated. The game is vert fast paced and you really need to pay attention to what is going on, especially following the puck around. The way they handle that thing is amazing to me. These guys are pretty good athletes and I guess I never gave them credit because I didn't care for hockey much. I still won't become a huge fan, but I would go see it live again in a heart beat. Steve, Chad, and myself got sidetracked at times talking about college football, and the wives seemed to think we didn't even watch the game. They don't realize that we can focus on 2 things at once when it comes to sports. It isn't like when we are watching football on tv and they try to tell us about what they bought at the store today. Yes then we have trouble focusing. Anyway all in all I really enjoyed the experience and would definitely go again. The Toledomaniacs really support the storm and it is an exciting atmosphere. well take care and i will be back to report on how bad i am beating the others in the college football picks. until next time...........