Our 1st Hockey Game of the Season

only one week late...

sunday, october 5th

Weston and i attended our first und hockey game. yes, i've been to a hockey game before... but this is the first year we've bought our own share of my family's season tickets... one of our 'bonus' games was the exhibition against Manitoba.

we left home a little later than expected (thanks to me, of course) and had to pick up our friends Tanner and Kristen on the way. thinking the game would be pretty empty anyway, we made a another quick stop before leaving fargo that put us about 20 min behind schedule.

when we got to the ralph, there were more fans than we expected to see. turns out it was the best showing for an exhibition for und (over 11,500). we arrived a little late for the game and immediately went to pick out some new sioux apparel for this season (why did i think a long-sleeved tee would cut it?) for me, weston, and jackson - lauren will get hers next time. while we were waiting to pay, we missed the first goal of the game. deciding it was time to have a seat and watch (after making a pit stop at the leinie lodge, of course), we headed to our seats.

we watched the end of the first period and most of the second period (2 more sioux goals and 1 manitoba goal) before heading out to the restrooms (why do i always pick the big beer) and to explore the ralph. during the second break, we decided to grab some grub and headed up to the bar for a real drink or two before the 3rd period; after all, how much beer can you drink before you run out of room? the bar was pretty empty so it was fairly easy to get up to the bar for a drink. while in the bar, Tanner and Weston started talking about the possibility of ever getting Club Lounge seating in our lifetime. overhearing the conversation, a club member offered to let us all join the 'member's side' to watch the 3rd period. i don't think we really knew what we were getting into until we were seated on the opposite side of the rail... no wonder the premium tickets are impossible to get. we sat up at a single rail with full view of the rink and as a bonus, had a cocktail waitress to serve us drinks and clean up after us :) no way this would've happened had it not been an exhibition game. needless to say, we enjoyed the 3rd period the most...

this was definitely a different experience than i am used to... watching from the club lounge was pretty amazing. there were also some aspects of this game that made it unique as well. all three goalies made it on the ice for the game; Harrington made it on the ice with 6 min remaining and had 2 saves before the game ended. Weston said he enjoyed watching the Lamoureux brothers play against each other; not something you see at every game.

before leaving GF, we stopped at the original Red Pepper, or the "Pecker" as Weston demanded we call it, for another 'must-have': grinders! nothing like filling your stomach full of taco meat and chips before the ride home. after arriving in fargo, we hit bwws and jt's before calling it a night (what's a night away from home without a few dozen shots?)...

overall, it was a great night for us. a night away from home to enjoy ourselves is just what we needed. hopefully we'll get lucky at our next game nov. 1st and score some better seating again: box seats, here we come!