I am astounded at how much the people of Vancouver love their Canucks! Tonight, I attended my first professional (NHL) hockey game ever, and it was AWESOME! It was also my birthday, and we started out with a very filling breakfast, which was part of our hotel package at the St. Regis, the only hotel that I've ever stayed in that has free worldwide long distance service, perfect for staying in touch with my sweet babies back on the island, and then we were off to shop for some warm weather gear. It's been in the upper 30's and 40's Fahrenheit (or between 3-8 degrees Celsius), which is weather I haven't experienced for 4-5 years now, so we wanted to make sure we had what we needed to explore the city and get some exercise outdoors. After shopping, we visited the Vancouver Library, which looks like Canada's version of Rome's Coliseum, and we had some speciality coffees, carrot cake, and banana bread (my birthday cake for the day). While there, a man sitting caty corner from us asked if we were waiting to see the hockey game that night. We didn't even have any Canucks paraphernalia on, so this was a surprise. He said a lot of people go there for coffee before the game. Hmmm....I didn't know coffee was the chosen drink of a die hard hockey fan. :) After warming up with our coffee (which I received free since it was my birthday) and checking out some young artists' works displayed around the outside windows of the partially indoor section of the library, we stopped at a local restaurant for a bite to eat before heading to the Rogers Arena.
We wanted to get there early, so we could buy some jerseys to wear, but apparently everyone else wanted to get there early too. There were lines wrapped from the entrance down the stairs and around before they had even opened the doors. Once inside, the fan store was packed for the entire hour before the game. It was two Canadian teams, Vancouver Canucks and the Ottawa Senators. What an exciting game! It was very close all the way through, and I was speechless for most of it, trying hard to stay focused on the where the puck was going as well as all the other happenings in the audience and showing on the big screen handing right above the middle of the rink. We were behind the goal about 6 rows up, so the view put us right in the action.
I can't believe how fast paced the game it. There's never a dull moment, and the stick handling of the players is so skillful. They are passing the puck back, across, around, up, and down the ice like it's completely natural to them to gear up in more pads than any other sport, take a curved stick in their hands and hit a small, round, hard black puck across ice while skating and fighting off other players to keep them away from the puck and your goal. I was mesmerized, and I have officially caught hockey fever like the rest of Vancouver! As soon as we arrived at our hotel and mentioned going to see hockey, the receptionist started talking about her Canucks, and as soon as we arrived back at the hotel tonight, another receptionist was very excited to tell us about the lazy scoring tactics of the players on the Ottawa team. After a scary few moments in the 2nd and 3rd periods, the Canucks won by 2, and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect birthday! After such an exciting day, I had to call my boys, and once I heard their sweet voices, I was ready for bed. Another fun day in Vancouver awaits tomorrow!
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