Hockey in the Desert?

Hockey Hockey Hockey! 

Yes, here we are in the desert and on our last night with Jeff home in Arizona, we went to a hockey game at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale.

The boys were on cloud nine as they had never been to an NHL game before. In Ontario, Leafs tickets run a pretty penny, but here in the U.S. you can get a decent deal on a ticket. In this case, it was cheaper to get a family pack with all you can eat popcorn, nachos, pop, hot dogs and peanuts than it was without the food!  Of course the kids found that to be rather cool too!

The teams were the Phoenix Coyotes vs. the Nashville Predators. The Predators ended up winning 2-0... I don't know much about hockey, but even I could see that the Predators had more streamlined strategy and skills than the Coyotes. We cheered the Coyotes on nonetheless as we have loved our time in Phoenix and wanted them to do well. Especially as Mr. Wayne Gretzky is the owner and coach of the team. Yes, we saw him through our binoculars and my camera lens. Was neat to know of one other Canadian in the arena! 

Outside there were multiple fountains going off to the beat of contemporary music, large blow up Coyote players, restaurants, bouncy station and stores. Inside, the opening of the game was dramatic and exciting...the music and clapping kept us hopping in our seats...the food and drink kept Jeff taking Josh and Matt to the washroom...the teams were apparently not very good, but we didn't care...it was a game and it was fun!

Memorable quotes from the evening came from myself and Josh...

Laurie: Is there some sort of intermission? (Jeff just looked at me and laughed- I guess 'intermission' happens in between periods)

Josh: Those cheerleaders on the ice must be cold! (as the girls came out to shovel off the ice build up)

Josh: This is stressful! (as he's cheering them on, yelling for them to get a goal and watching as they keep missing!)