Tuesday was another bright sunny day, with another evening of high excitement planned. Last year I was able to see my first live hockey match at the Bell Centre.
[Do you mean it was your first hockey match, or your first at the Bell Centre?]
Both. Since then I have watched a lot of NHL games on television particularly those involving Les Habs – les Canadiens de Montreal. Last season's play-offs were really exciting, so I was pleased to be able to buy a ticket online for the game between Philadelphia Flyers and les Canadiens, scheduled for face off at 19.00 on Tuesday 16th November. The Flyers were the team who finally knocked Les Habs out of the Stanley Cup, so there was likely to be a bit of an extra edge to the game.
[Extra edge? Surely that would equate to all-out warfare, judging by the edge which exists in normal games?]
You could be right.
So, anyway, I decided to have brunch at Le Cage Aux Sports, the sports bar at Centre Bell, having first decided to walk there through the city, doing some window shopping on the way, and some actual shopping in the club shop on arrival. I had a very pleasant burger, with salad, and a mug of coffee. I could have stayed there through to the face-off, but that would have meant sitting there for six and a half hours drinking coffee/beer and eating lots of free popcorn. I'm not a huge popcorn fan..
[That statement could be taken in two ways – you could be a very small, or normal, or large popcorn fan, or..]
OK I don't really like popcorn that much, apart from toffee butterkist, that is.
So I decided to go back to the hotel, and enjoyed a walk through the city, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather, as were many other folk, eating their lunches in the open spaces. Once back at the hotel, at about 14.00, I decided to curl up on my bed with Lisbeth Salander for a while.
[You did WHAT?]
I said that I decided to curl up on my bed with Lisbeth Salander for a while, and actually I enjoyed the experience so much that the next time I looked at the clock, it was 17.45, just over an hour before face-off. I jumped up so quickly I almost let Lisbeth slip off the edge of the bed, and after a very swift wash and putting on of shoes etc, I rushed out of the hotel. What a girl! Almost made me miss the hockey game.
[Now just hold on a minute! How dare you? How very dare you? Explain yourself! You spend almost four hours with... with this, this Lisbeth person, sharing a bed, and you expect to get away with, “Almost made me miss the hockey game.” You owe your readers an explanation, a printable explanation... NOW!!!!]
Well... sometimes I just get carried away, just lose myself when I find a good book. Lisbeth? Lisbeth Salander? She's the anarchic heroine of Steig Larsson's trilogy, you know “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Girl who Played with Fire” and “The Girl who kicked the Hornets' Nest”. When I started reading on Tuesday, she was playing with fire, by the time I jumped up from my bed she was beginning to give the hornets' nest a good kicking, and just for one second I actually didn't want to leave her, such is the sympathy engendered for her by Larsson's writing. Happy?
[You just did that to annoy me didn't you?]
:-)))))))))))
Leaving Lisbeth I was a bit concerned that I would be late for the game, but at 18.10, after what was a very brisk walk, I found myself outside Centre Bell. Forgoing the temptations of Le Cage aux Sports, I entered through a normal portal and found myself in what, at the Sunderland Stadium of Light, is called the 'concourse', except that the concourse at Centre Bell is much more swish. I bought something to eat and drink at Tim Hortons ( roussette de miel, doughnut and coffee) a draw-ticket for 2 dollars (or $2, if you prefer) and made my way up to my seat in the red section. A good seat in the corner area, from which there weren't too many blind spots round the boards. I demolished the sticky, sweet doughnutty things and coffee quickly – an afternoon with Lisbeth certainly works up an appetite ;) .The arena filled steadily, but at, and after face off, there were a few tickets remaining, including one next to me, which allowed me to stretch my legs from time to time. At last, the teams having warmed-up, and the young standard-bearers having speeded around the ice with the Canadiens' banners streaming out proudly behind them, the home team emerged, to an amazing welcome. The huge screens above the ice displayed each player in turn, in dramatic fashion, building up the atmosphere very effectively. When I can work out how to upload my videos to this blog I will.
The game was excellent – one goal for the Canadiens in each of the three periods, with no reply. Another good game for Carey Price, Les Habs' goal-tender, who stopped 41 shots from the Flyers – thus ensuring not only a victory, but a shut-out. It was a happy crowd which exited the arena, into a very wet city. I could have caught the Metro, but decided against it. By the time I got to the Benelux I was quite wet on the outside, so decided to balance the situation.
PS more photos to be added to this posting.
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