Ignorance is Bliss

Last night was a depressing night for my hockey life. All three teams lost. I was at the Bruins game with my older sister Liz and her friend Paula (who is unhealthily and hilariously obsessed with Patrice Bergeron). Despite the B's playing a game against a good divisional team (Buffalo), the place was far from packed. We moved down to seats in the corner, three rows back from the glass. The older, drunk couple behind us warned us that they were sniffing out seat-grubbers, but we managed to blend in well enough to stay there for the whole game. The woman asked us if we moved down to see the hot players more closely, and of course Paula confirmed that and started ranting about Patrice. Liz and I tried to convince them that we actually liked hockey and played ourselves, but just then Andrew Alberts skated by with an enormous black eye. They had to get a mop to clean up my drool, and my dignity. Am I the only one that finds hockey players that much more attractive when they look like they were hit with a crowbar? Pretty boys with twinkly eyes and pouty lips do nothing for me, but when I see a guy with missing teeth, black eyes, and blood trickling down his face, my heart skips a beat. Is this normal, or am I secretly sadistic? Whatever, it's amazing, whether it's weird or not.

With like a minute left in the second period, four people showed up with front-row tickets in front of us and kicked out this guy and his two sons, who were celebrating a birthday. These people clearly weren't hockey fans (the women were there to be watched, not to watch). The drunk woman behind us started a mini-fight with them while her drunker husband tried to get her to sit down. While the people disgusted me, they did have tickets. She was just drunk and belligerent. On that note, I have yet to go to a Boston sporting event without being surrounded by drunken, belligerent people. We really are the Athens of America, aren't we?

The Avs' game started at nine, so I caught the last two periods of it once I got home. It was one of those games where I kept thinking we were winning. They dominated so completely in the third period that I still find it strange that they lost. God damn Minnesota strangled them with defense. There was one good thing about the game (other than the fact that I keep thinking they won)- Marek Svatos scored! I love him, so this would be good news any time, but it's especially good news now. Anyone who watches the Avs has to be puzzled with Marek this year. Last year he awed me pretty much every game. He was the most dynamic player I've seen in a while. When he was on the ice, I couldn't help but watch him. That crazy thing he does with his feet was so adorable that I started doing it on the ice in practice when I got bored. But this year, he's not the same Marek Svatos. If he got the puck in the slot last year, he was money, no matter how many people were covering him. This year he's failed to bury point-blank chances. He just hasn't been himself. Part of me wonders if it has anything to do with his shoulder problems, but it seems unlikely that it's anything physical. Anyway, last weekend, I had a dream that he had an awesome game and was the Marek we know and love. He blew by people (mostly on his heels) and drilled home a puck in the slot. When I woke up I thought, "I'm so glad that Marek finally had a good game. He did everything he needed to do." Then reality set in. Last night was my dream- I swear. His goal was the goal from my dream and his game was the game from my dream. I could have cried. But damnit, they still lost.

The Oilers game confused me a little. There were times when they seemed dominant, and the one-goal deficit was miniscule, but there were even more times when I was shocked that we were only down by one and had little hope for a win. The end of the game was too emotionally exhausting to write about. It probably didn't help that CenterIce chose to broadcast the Vancouver station. It can really ruin a hockey game when you have to listen to the opposing announcers whine the whole time. I've had to mute the San Jose announcers more than once. Luckily, CenterIce favors Canadian stations and shows almost all of the Avs games on Altitude, which is my favorite broadcast after HNIC. Altitude does everything right. They show interviews in between every period, the announcers are likeable, and they don't try to get too fancy. In general, they make it easy to love the Avs, like a network should.

It depresses me when all three of my teams lose. A few weeks ago, my real-life team suffered a tough afternoon loss on a Saturday. I told my friends that I needed to stay in and watch hockey to unwind, or else I wouldn't sleep well (this is why they hate hockey). That night, not only did all three teams lose, but all three teams embarrassed themselves with awful losses. At least last night none of them openly sucked.

Tomorrow we're playing Lexington, who has been the dirtiest team around since youth hockey. They have one girl, #11, who's been wrecking people for that whole time, and last game she took down one of our freshmen. After the game I promised that I would devote our next meeting to hurting her. Being the Littlest Defenseman, this isn't as easy as it sounds. I'm normally a very calm person who avoids confrontations, but during games I get completely psychotic. I've tried to hit people before out of raging fury, and it doesn't work. This girl, though, deserves it more than anyone else. We'll see if I can pull it off.

Tonight's Games: none
Tomorrow's Games: 3:00 PM--Winchester vs. Lexington
3:00 PM--Avs vs. Oilers
8:30 PM--B's vs. Hurricanes