Hockey, Hockey, Hockey, Hockey, Hockey

I was so excited about the kittens I forgot to mention the rest of my Saturday. I got to go to a hockey game! I generally try to make one game a year. Unfortunately, I live 2 hours (and a ton of confusing side streets) from my favorite team the Pittsburgh Penguins however, Erie has an Ontario Hockey League team (OHL) called the Erie Otters. The OHL is one step down from the NHL and a great place to watch up and coming potential stars. For 15.50 I got to sit at the glass so close to the players I could see them sweating and only six seats over from the Otters' bench. It ended up being $15 well spent. The Otters haven't been so hot this year and they started the game against the Oshua Generals (every team in the OHL but 2 are in Canada) with the backup goalie in the net. By the end of the first period the Otters were down 4-1. Starting the second period the regular goalie Justin Garay stepped in. Boy what a difference that made. Tied 4-4 by the end of the second and the Otters took the lead to make it 5-4 in the third before the Generals tied it up.
For the OHL a tie means a 5 minute overtime period, first team to scores, wins. Well, not score by the end of overtime so into the shootout we go. It took six tries back and forth with 3 amazing saves by Justin Garay (just a few feet away from my seat) for the Otters to win 6-5. Plus there were two big fights. Nothing is funnier in hockey than watching two grown men try to throw punches at each other while on ice skates. Physics requires them to hold on to each other with their left hands while swinging with the right. This generally means they spin in a counter-clockwise circle and don't do much damage to each other. And both parties end up with a 5 for fighting penalty (5 minutes in the penalty box that off set each other so both teams remain at full strength).
All in all, great fun and rather stress relieving. Yes it is a violent sport but I enjoy it none the less. Let's face it, if there were no tackling in football and no crashes in NASCAR, no one would watch. Same with hockey, no checks into the boards and no fights would make it a boring spectator sport.