Posts Tagged ‘hockey’

Hockey Trip : Portland Winterhawks vs. Seattle Thunderbirds

Last night I went to a Portland Winterhawks game with some friends.  And it was one helluva game.  Well, the first two periods weren’t really anything special, unless you’re a Seattle Thunderbirds fan (not many of the 8750 people there were…). In the 2nd the Winterhawks were getting trounced, it was like they lost their steam.  But in the third, they definitely bounced back…. I lost track of all the fights that broke out, but there were quite a few, especially after a Winterhawk “accidentally” tripped up the Thunderbirds goalie.  One of the T-birds defenders went off and slugged the Hawk… which ended up in 17 minutes of penalties for the T-Bird.  Then there were the two guys getting in a fight with a Linesman in the middle (YouTube has nothing, so here’s a link to another Winterhawks fight.)  Then there was a sucker punch to the back of the head… LOTS of penalties on both sides.

But, the highlight of the game wasn’t all the fighting (although it was fun to watch two guys beat the crap outta each other), it was the hat trick by number 12.  Actually, no, that wasn’t the highlight.  With 2.6 seconds left in the game and 6 men on the ice (1/3 of the fans had left at this points) and down by one point everyone KNEW what was going to happen… but they also HOPED something different.  And this time, they hoped right! The Hawks scored with 1.5 seconds to go.  I almost felt sorry for the T-Birds.  That was the highlight… random people hugging, hi-fiving, cheering, and generally going crazy.  The Winterhawks ended up winning in the shootout (here’s a pic from my camera… which explains why it looks like nothing).

Other than the game, I was highly amused by the nachos.  My friend got some nachos… but they forgot the cheese!  Without cheese are they really nachos?… aren’t they just chips?

They also had a “dash for cash” in the second intermission.  I was not really sure what was going on, but basically they threw a whole bunch of coins on the ice and then two teams of people (black and red?) scrambled to collect as much as they could in under 2 minutes.  I know the Winterhawks matched the red teams booty for a donation to the Oregon Humane Society (roughly $2400 total last night… good for them!), but I have no clue what the money actually went too…  here’s a picture anyways… must be a bit embarrassing to scrambled around for coins for everyone’s amusement.  It reminded me of the scene in Shaun of the Dead when they use Zombies for game shows (link to YouTube).

Anyways, the Winterhawks took some names and kicked some ass and it was good.