2017 IIHF Women's World Championship
We were geeked.
Here's what the stands looked like for the first semifinal (Canada vs. Sweden):
Ungeeked.
There might have been 300 people in in a 3,200 seat arena to watch the #2 and #3 women's team in the world.
Ticket prices? Dirt cheap. We were five rows off the glass for $15 per game per person. Ridiculous value.
It was so bad that we started in with the bad jokes.
"Look--it's the friends and families section."
"Ladies and gentlemen, we'll have to clear the building due to a bomb threat. Wait--never mind, we're done."
Lots, lots more, and thank goodness I don't remember them. But it was depressing, seeing excellent hockey in front of us and no one else caring.
We showed up for the Finals on Friday night expecting another 300 person crowd, or maybe 500 if we were lucky.
Instead, we drove into a happening.
The parking lot was packed. People were asking if anyone had spare tickets.
Arena? Sold out, and loud. Have a look:
That's more like it, and the rowdy crowd exponentially jacked up the atmosphere.
"This is GREAT!" Eli 15.9 said, more than once, and I felt the same way.
And the hockey--oh man, the hockey was phenomenal. Ultra-fast, ultra-skilled, and rough. Apparently, when the USA and Canada play, checking is allowed unless it's an open-ice hit.
It was just sensational, really, and we were lucky enough that the game went into overtime, which was even better.
Here's the crowd after the US scored the game-winner:
Pandemonium.
We didn't get home until 1 a.m., and after the Minnesota trip and this, I was dead-tired.
So was Eli, but when you're trying to do something special, you go work out when the rink looks like this:
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