Hockey

Had an adventure as I went to my first hockey game this past weekend. Our older daughter and her fiancé bought us all tickets to see the Tri-City Storm versus the Lincoln Stars.

Hockey isn't a sport that I am terribly familiar with. I know the object to win is to score more goals than your opponent. But I couldn't tell you what positions any of the player have except for the goalie. I was considered myself lucky to follow the puck- well- most of the time. The speed at which those young men skate is pretty amazing to me.

I had as much fun listening to the other fans or watching them. In the row catty cornered from our group, was a kid, maybe 8 or 9, who KNEW his hockey. He hollered at the players and would get amazingly animated when they weren't doing something correct.

The little girl behind us told her mom that the Lincoln guy must have been naughty since he was in time out. Which in reality is the penalty box but for her world - he was in time out.

Now the FANS, who must go to every game - really, really get into this. They have jerseys, signs, and get up and dance in the aisles when the tunes are played over the sound system. They have some rather unique cheers or jeers depending on which team you are for.

Enjoyed watching the team mascot - Stormy and his little pal, Snowball, skate around and also go around the arena during the match - getting the crowd fired up.

But I had absolutely no clue as to why the players were in the penalty box. There were even two players ejected for abuse of officials. My guess is they didn't say - "Sir, I respectfully disagree with your call."

We even had signs on our seats when we sat down that we could hold up when the opponent went to the penalty box.

Okay - in a strange way - watching hockey is like watching a old-fashioned melodrama - where you can boo at the bad buy and cheer for the good guys. If you haven't traveled to Kearney to see the Storm play, I would encourage you to go. It is getting late in the season now but try it next year. It was actually a lot of fun to watch. I do believe we will go back.