We took my little lady to her first hockey game on Monday night. My childhood favorites, the Detroit Red Wings, were in town to battle our hometown Philadelphia Flyers and it seemed like a good opportunity to expose her to the spectacle of live ice hockey. Initially, we were planning on buying tickets in the Family Section of the Wachovia Center, which cost $20 for adults and $10 for kids. This section is located in the corner of the arena, in the upper level. Upon mentioning our plans to my brother, he produced four lower level seats 25 rows up from the ice. Seems a client of his is eagerly giving away their season tickets, as the Flyers are quite a poor club this year. We scored $356 worth of NHL tickets (yikes!) absolutely free. Can’t beat that price!
For Red Wing fans, the game was a disaster. Detroit lost a chance to secure the best record in the league when they dropped the game 6-1 to the cellar-dwelling Flyers. My daughter enjoyed the action though, so the night was still a blast. She liked watching the players fly around the ice and to hear the sound of the puck slapping against their sticks in the quiet arena. That blissful sound was broken when play stopped for a penalty or a stray puck and the insanely loud music took over. Over-produced, decades-old rock-n-roll music blared through the arena at a decibel level way too high for little kids (and adults, I would contend). Now, I love live music and my ears have heard many a concert, as has my girl (she has been to several music festivals and outdoor concerts in her first three years), but the volume of pumped-in music at sporting events is obtrusive and totally unnecessary. The only downside to the night was that my girl was often found covering her ears and ducking for cover under Mom’s arm.
There were many fun things happening inside the arena, in addition to the game itself. The enormous video monitor over center ice would occasionally display some funny images like animated pucks that appeared to be falling from the sky and bobble-head players wobbling around the cartoon ice. She was hysterical while looking up at that stuff. Between most every stoppage in play, a few guys and gals skated out to sweep and shovel up excess ice around the goalie nets, and during intermissions they used slingshots and air-powered guns to rifle tightly-wound tee shirts into the crowd. I was within two feet of catching
one!
One of the coolest parts of every hockey game, and one you do not get to see on television, is when the Zamboni (the Flyers use two of them) emerges to smooth the ice between each period. To see those giant vehicles effortlessly gliding around the ice is pretty cool for kids and at least one 31-year old guy!
At one point my daughter was practically lying down on my wife’s lap and looking up at all the people in the upper level. She seemed to be amazed by the sea of people all around and above us.
We were running late for the game and in my rush I left my camera and cell phone (with camera) in the car and because you are not allowed to exit and re-enter, I have no pictures of my daughter’s first hockey game. My memory lapse aside; it was still a very fun time. Because we would be out past her bedtime, we did a quick change into pajamas and a pull-up before we left, and she was asleep before we were on the expressway!
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