My first ever hockey game attendance :)

[Sisu4ever]

Most of you folks were probably born on an ice rink, but my story is quite the opposite.

Yesterday I went for the first time in my life to a real hockey game, to a CHL Junior game in Spokane, WA.

My impressions, the good and the bad, the bad first:
I think I have more respect than maybe most of you for all the people involved in the game, maybe because I don't know any better.
When the refs skated in, I heard a lot of booing. I believe they just try to do their job as best as they can. They do make mistakes. But I doubt anyone here would do any better than they.
Same with opposing players. When they went to the penalty box, the home crowd were chanting Shame! Shame! And if home team player went to the box the refs were booed. I guess that's the hockey culture and all this crowd behavior would be same at any game, so gotta get used to it I guess.
One more thing, somebody right behind me constantly spewed out very low IQ commentary and outbursts, very annoying.

Ok, enough of the negatives. The good:
It was quite an experience to watch the game live. I think it was easier to watch the action live vs. on TV.

Although I spent only a few words here listing the good, it far overweighted the bad, and I would love to go again.
I wish now that I would have made it to the recent Kraken game!

Click to read more...

 

[eco's bones]

Hockey is an emotional and physical game. It's also a game where you see more mistakes than not mistakes and how players react in any given game to the good plays and the mistakes that are made pretty much will inform the outcome usually.....a lot more so than football or baseball where the games follow a more logical scripted line.

Refs make their mistakes too which could be just missing things but even mistakes because they decide to deliberately miss things which can work both for and against your team....and one crew of them can be completely different on a given night than another batch somewhere else. They'll call this but they won't call that while somewhere else it's the exact opposite. It's why fans get frustrated with them. But fans are different too.....for some people it's just a night out of entertainment and there's nothing wrong with that but for others it's more of a life and death thing which can mean they take their fandom maybe a little too far but that also speaks more to people who spend a lot of time on hockey sites like this one.

 

[Sisu4ever]

Hockey is an emotional and physical game. It's also a game where you see more mistakes than not mistakes and how players react in any given game to the good plays and the mistakes that are made pretty much will inform the outcome usually.....a lot more so than football or baseball where the games follow a more logical scripted line.

Refs make their mistakes too which could be just missing things but even mistakes because they decide to deliberately miss things which can work both for and against your team....and one crew of them can be completely different on a given night than another batch somewhere else. They'll call this but they won't call that while somewhere else it's the exact opposite. It's why fans get frustrated with them. But fans are different too.....for some people it's just a night out of entertainment and there's nothing wrong with that but for others it's more of a life and death thing which can mean they take their fandom maybe a little too far but that also speaks more to people who spend a lot of time on hockey sites like this one.

Yeah I think I would be more emotional and biased attending a NYR game. The CHL game I attended I don't know the teams or any of the players. Since there was one player from Sweden, I kept an eye on him and rooted for his team. I'm from Finland so that was close enough connection.

 

[LokiDog]

A lot of that stuff is just part of the “fan experience” and culture of attending a game. Think of the big chants at soccer games. Things like chanting “shame” are probably silly fan traditions for the Spokane Chiefs fans and it’s just something silly that the fans take part in as a collective. Similar to when we chant “Potvin sucks” and while some people think it’s lame and we should stop, it’s just one of those things that’s a tradition and an experience that is part of going to MSG. Booing the refs or opposing players is also just a part of it; for 99% of fans it isn’t genuinely hostile it’s just shenanigans that are intended to let their team know they’re behind them 100% and try to throw the opponents off their game or let the refs know they disagree with a call. It’s extremely benign.

 

[eco's bones]

How an individual reacts live or even at home is pretty much situational to the viewer. There are also varying degrees of exposure to the game from one fan to another. Some grow up playing and there are those who reach pretty high levels of competition.....others might play recreationally or just knock a ball around a driveway with their friends and some never play the game at all. Some are also newer to the game and some have been watching for a thousand years or it might seem like it to them. Everyone who becomes a fan has to start at some beginning though.

 

[Sisu4ever]

How an individual reacts live or even at home is pretty much situational to the viewer. There are also varying degrees of exposure to the game from one fan to another. Some grow up playing and there are those who reach pretty high levels of competition.....others might play recreationally or just knock a ball around a driveway with their friends and some never play the game at all. Some are also newer to the game and some have been watching for a thousand years or it might seem like it to them. Everyone who becomes a fan has to start at some beginning though.

I did grow up with hockey in PA in school and pond hockey with friends, but never anything competitive. As an adult I been out of hockey alltogether other than watching world championships and Olympics on TV.