That's right, I spent my Friday night in Kent. Watching what amounts to a high school hockey game. With Jordan. Who would've thunk it?
Because I've fully surrendered to my Habs obsession and ordered all the hockey games in the world from Comcast, they offered me 2 free tickets to see the Seattle Thunderbirds, with a major discount on any additional seats. Steve was supposed to join us, but ended up too sick to attend, so Jordan and I made the journey south on our own.
It was the first junior hockey game I've attended since sometime in the 1990s. For the most part, the WHL hasn't changed. They still do 50/50 drawings, still start every period with Gary Glitter, and fans still boo the referees for handing out fair penalties and protecting the teenage players from injury. The game itself was a bit different, though. Sure, the scoreboard had a ton of roughing, fighting, and unsportsmanlike PiMs, but the level of play was also really good. The visiting Prince George Cougars played a solid game, and won with a shutout after the goalie stopped something like 24 shots -- and the defense blocked a hell of a lot more. The T-birds played a less finessed 60 minutes, but their goalie was fantastic, allowing only one goal through on 35 shots, and making some beautiful saves in the process. We expected to leave early, but we were having such a good time that we stayed all the way to the announcement of the 3 Stars, and didn't hurry out the door.
In the end, the best part of the night was just getting away and hanging out. We both had rough weeks, some of the drama involving both Jordan and I, so it was good for the two of us to have a few hours to chat, be distracted, and remember that things can be good. We had $8 beers, cheered for the Canadian team, thought we spotted Jordan's brother, and just shot the shit. A small boy in the row in front of us threw up in the middle of the 2nd period, and we're both so laissez-faire that we commented on how impressive it was that a kid that size unloaded so much, and proceeded to finish our stadium nachos. After the game, Jordan went out to the bar and I went to bed, and my mood was exponentially better than it had been before we left.
It was a good night.
