That is the night that I took my fiancee to her first hockey game.
Yes, it was only an AHL team and yes they do happen to have the worst record in their conference but that does not matter. I was taking the love of my life to see one of my other loves: hockey.
My on-again off-again love affair with hockey started when I was probably six years old. My dad has always been a fairly big hockey fan so it was only natural that he would introduce my brother and I to the sport.
My family lived in Fort Worth, Texas and we did not have the disposable income to go and watch a Dallas Stars game (though when we first moved to Fort Worth I don't believe that Dallas had made the move from St. Paul yet). There was hope for my hockey education though.
The Fort Worth Fire!
A Central Hockey League team and a much more economically feasible option than watching NHL hockey. Watching the Fire play was one of my favorite things when I was a kid and now fast forward roughtly fifteen years and I am watching semi-pro hockey again.
It through me off that my better half was so excited about watching this game but she was. The whole car ride to the AT&T Center she would say, "I'm a really excited about this. Like, really excited."
The game itself would only increase her excitement.
As we walked to our seats, which were front row on the ice thanks to the 2-for-Tuesday special, she asked very few questions but seemed to be intently watching the action on the ice as the teams warmed up.
It would be apt to say that the night's matchup was a battle of the beatens because both the San Antonio Rampage and the Rochester Americans have rather poor records at the moment but that is not the point. The point is that I was taking my sweetie to watch hockey.
As the night came to a close I could not think of anything that would have made that night any better.
Here's the recap...
1. San Antonio wins 3-2. The home team winning is always a bonus.
2. There was a fight. People do not always like being checked in the back against fiberglass and will throw the occasional punch. That's how hockey rolls.
3. We caught a T-Shirt. They tossed out T-Shirts for the game with the mascot dressed up as Batman and the Joker to honor the release of The Dark Knight on DVD.
4. The little lady thoroughly enjoyed herself. On the ride home she even said that she liked hockey more than basketball.
5. The glass broke. By broke I mean shattered and by shattered I mean all over me. One of the Rochester players was making a move to check #20 Lannon on the Rampage at the glass right next to our seats. He missed Lannon but not the glass. I have seen it on TV but never have I been in a hockey rink when the glass shattered but there I was. I was excited that it happened and managed to snag a couple of commerative shards to take home. The look on my fiancee's face was priceless. She had the look of sheer joy and amazement that you rarely see in people nowadays. That's when I knew I had her hooked.
That's the jist of the way it went down.
We actually snagged some tickets to a future Rampage game thanks to the glass breaking and our seats being taken from us by the staff.
I had never thought of it while we were going to the game or during any of the build-up prior but women love hockey. The raw violence and constant action seemed to thrill all the female members of the audience, my lady included.
In the end I am just glad that I have someone who will gladly go and watch grown men skate around and beat the living crap out of one another all the while trying to put a rubber disk in a minature soccer goal.
