- Aug 24, 2006
- 7,512
- 18,876
A recent exchange regarding the Raleigh IceCaps has me thinking of a fun thread. We don't often get the opportunity to talk about ourselves in a relatively on-topic sense, so why not get to know each other a bit with stories of watching a "real" hockey game for the first time. And yes, in fact, I'm hoping that each one of you treats this as a challenge to one-up the person's story just ahead of yours. Have some fun with this, why don't ya.
With that said, I'm not exactly setting a high bar right out of the gate...
I was about 8 years old living in Boise ID when my stepdad took me and my mom to see the Boise Blades in ~1978. He grew up in Nyack NY and was a pretty typical but above-average New York athlete: played quarterback for his HS team and moved on to lacrosse when his college football dreams didn't materialize at the University of New Hampshire. Typical to the region, he had an appreciation for hockey and wanted us to experience it in-person. Incidentally, these days he considers the Canes his team that he casually follows from his remote post (still in Boise).
Back to the game. I remember being impressed/shocked how violent it was. I was a big football fan, but seeing the NFL on TV was nothing like the sights, sounds, and smells of this game that was straight outta Slapshot. "Barn" is nearly cliche', but is so apt to describe this venue that I struggle to separate my memories of it from an indoor rodeo my grandmother took me to a couple of years later. Like, if I didn't know that I saw the events in different cities, I'd probably spin yarn that they were played in the same building...that's how similar they felt to my still-developing brain.
One of the players was also a quarterback of the Boise State Broncos football team. For some odd reason it has stuck with me that he had a very French-sounding name. Anyway, he was one of the bigger players on the ice, and as such he was making it his mission to bring physicality to the game. He landed a number big hits, intensely firing up both the crowd and the opponent. Well, late-70s hockey being what it was no matter what level you played, the other team decided they weren't going to stand for any of his shit, so they went after him to the point of distraction. I know they engaged him in at least two fights, possibly more, and of course there were ancillary fights happening here and there. It was the kind of shitshow you can imagine a late-70s single-A hockey game might devolve into.
And to my 8-year old eyes, it was glorius.
With that said, I'm not exactly setting a high bar right out of the gate...
I was about 8 years old living in Boise ID when my stepdad took me and my mom to see the Boise Blades in ~1978. He grew up in Nyack NY and was a pretty typical but above-average New York athlete: played quarterback for his HS team and moved on to lacrosse when his college football dreams didn't materialize at the University of New Hampshire. Typical to the region, he had an appreciation for hockey and wanted us to experience it in-person. Incidentally, these days he considers the Canes his team that he casually follows from his remote post (still in Boise).
Back to the game. I remember being impressed/shocked how violent it was. I was a big football fan, but seeing the NFL on TV was nothing like the sights, sounds, and smells of this game that was straight outta Slapshot. "Barn" is nearly cliche', but is so apt to describe this venue that I struggle to separate my memories of it from an indoor rodeo my grandmother took me to a couple of years later. Like, if I didn't know that I saw the events in different cities, I'd probably spin yarn that they were played in the same building...that's how similar they felt to my still-developing brain.
One of the players was also a quarterback of the Boise State Broncos football team. For some odd reason it has stuck with me that he had a very French-sounding name. Anyway, he was one of the bigger players on the ice, and as such he was making it his mission to bring physicality to the game. He landed a number big hits, intensely firing up both the crowd and the opponent. Well, late-70s hockey being what it was no matter what level you played, the other team decided they weren't going to stand for any of his shit, so they went after him to the point of distraction. I know they engaged him in at least two fights, possibly more, and of course there were ancillary fights happening here and there. It was the kind of shitshow you can imagine a late-70s single-A hockey game might devolve into.
And to my 8-year old eyes, it was glorius.
