Kings and Ducks

I’d forgotten how much fun it is to take in a live hockey game. While I missed the audio commentary that usually comes out of my television because I like hearing the random facts and stats (plus, let’s face it, three hours is a long time to pay attention to the same thing and it’s nice to have someone tell me what just happened when my mind wanders a little…), it’s fun to be in the arena. The place is electric, the crowd noisy with cheering and jeering, the air crisp. It’s fun. It’s exciting. It’s a bonding experience with thousands (or hundreds, if you’re a Canuck and you’re in someone else’s home turf) of other fans.

And fans there were. There was a sea of green and blue splayed out before us, surrounding the ice and cheering on our boys. Canadians are good at sticking together (even when we're losing). Choruses of "Luuuuuu!!!!" and “Go, Canucks, Go!” rang out sporadically throughout both games and I was right in there with the best of them (as evidenced by my lack of an upper voice register a full week later).

The sense of togetherness didn’t just take place during the periods, either. After the L.A. game, a huge contingent of Vancouver fans gathered together in one section for a group photo and a spontaneous round of “O Canada”. During the Ducks game, the elderly, non-English-speaking Korean woman behind me shook me a few times, then actually hugged me, she was so excited that I was so excited (as a sidenote, one of the funniest moments of the trip was when Lynn ran into this woman in Disneyland a few days later, pointed to her and shouted, “You’re the lady!!”). It's also been pointed out to me that she could have actually been frustrated with me, since I kept leaping up every time something exciting happened, and she probably couldn't see. But I prefer to think she was cheering me along because I was fun for her to watch... yeah, we'll go with that...

And, of course, there were your typical haters too.
Favourite quote from the L.A. game:
   L.A. Fan, sneering at us: “How’s Game 7 feel now??”
   Dad: “A hell of a lot better than getting kicked out in the first round!”

Favourite quote from the Anaheim game:
   Anaheim fan [to Lynn, who wears a Kesler jersey]: “Kesler sucks!”
   Lynn: “Actually, I’m his Mom.”