Mel & Geoff headed to Ottawa this weekend. Our very first house guests! They arrived Friday evening and we sat down to a lovely dinner and a few too many beverages. Geoff very kindly brought his playstation with him so, once again, the boys were entertained while Mel & I gossiped until the early hours of the morning.
Saturday morning we headed for a big breakfast at one of our favorite restaurants in Ottawa. We then wandered around the market for a while and enjoyed the city until the boys got bored and wanted to play computer games again. Off they went while Mel & I shopped and gossiped and drank pots of tea … just like the old days!
We were home in time to have a brief afternoon nap to build up our energy levels in preparation for the big game. The whole point of the trip was to go and see an ice hockey match with the 4 of us.
I LOVE ICE HOCKEY. It is a wonderful wonderful sport! We caught the bus to Scotiabank Place and made our way to the seats … rink side. Yes. That close. Mel had done extraordinarily well to find us these tickets!! The game was Ottawa Senators v Boston Bruins.
Before we left Amsterdam our Canadian friends had given us conflicting reports regarding which team to support in the NHL however there was consistency in their advise to NOT support the Senators. Given that we live in Ottawa I was dubious about taking this advice. I am still undecided. I feel like I should support the Sens coz I live in Ottawa BUT they lost on the weekend in a penalty shoot out and after watching all of the Mighty Ducks movies I firmly believe that this is because they didn’t fly together. Not a good sign of things to come. In addition to this, the Boston Bruins have this guy on their team (I can’t remember his name) who is gigantic! He is bigger than Joep. He is so big that he cuts slits up the back of his shorts to fit his giant legs in them. It is awesome to see this dude skate. In addition to this they have a player who is teeny tiny. They also have a player called Wideman. He is not wide but it is a funny name. They are diversified. And they won on the weekend. And everyone likes a winner right? So I don’t know yet. I’ll decide soon.
The game was amazing though! I have no idea what the rules are but it is a fast paced game! I was challenged enough just keeping up with the puck. In fact, I didn’t even manage to keep up with it most of the time. My favorite parts of the game are when the players' body check each other against the side of the rink and when they fight. Mother ship don’t stress out!! I will not do the fighting!
But seriously, these guys are all padded up to play hockey. Then within the blink of an eye they have taken off their gloves and helmets and are throwing crazy punches at each other. The referees stand and watch the fighters without intervening until they fall over onto the ice. At this point they separate the 2 players and send them to the naughty box. On the way to the naughty box the players celebrate their fighting success and get the crowd all riled up. It. Is. Hilarious!
I have never liked physical fights (except when us 4 Delany girls were little and fighting over toys … or when we were teenagers and we were fighting over clothes … ok so maybe I’m not as anti fights as I thought …) anyway … in my later years, physical fights scare me a lot. Joepinator loves to stop and stare when people are fighting. I hate it. Imagine his (and my!) surprise when I thoroughly enjoyed the fights during the hockey match.
At one stage during the game as a big body check happened right in front of us Joep turned to me with shocked eyes … I had no idea what was up. Apparently I had been chanting ‘Smash him! Smash him!’ out loud as the opponent came in for the body check. Awesome. I love this sport!! My dream is now to be a hockey commentator. I don’t know the rules yet but I don’t think there are many to learn plus the game is so fast that I don’t think it matters if you know the rules or not.
Accounting will soon be a thing of my past. I am destined for ice hockey greatness.
After thoroughly enjoying the match AND making in onto the TV (we were sitting directly behind one of the bigger fights and a colleague spotted me jumping up and cheering loudly … he was very impressed … Joepinator missed this particular game highlight coz he was getting beers. Poor kid.) we headed for the bus back to the city for late night pizza and cocktails. A perfect end to the evening!
Sunday morning rolled around far too quickly. We had a big pancake breakfast before Mel & Geoff hit the road back to Toronto. Joep and I went shopping for winter coats … we shall both look ridiculous but who cares when it is minus 40 degrees!
Another fantastic weekend with Mel & Geoff … many more to come no doubt!!
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