Religion in Canada

On Friday Chantelle and I decided to share in that greatest of canadian religions: Ice Hockey. In Calgary, the main ice is located at the stampede grounds, so the first step was our first trek across downtown and on the C-train: Calgary's somewhat eclectic commuter train. Fortunately we were going in a posse (it seems the appropriate term around here), with some people from my group, so we managed to avoid getting lost.


Now to put it in perspective, we were going to a junior league game (16-20yo players), not the NHL game (being held on the same ice the next day against edmonton), and we still had a horde of enthusiastic Canadians surrounding us to watch the Hitmen play the team from Moosejaw (I couldn't make this up). All the bells and whistles were there, the opening rememberence ceremony, the various break fillers, the between period shows (hockey is played in thirds for the uninitiated). Some of the fillers were great: McD's sponsored a dance competition for the kids, there was a competitive slushy eating contest (ice cream headaches projected onto giant screens), and the fans really got into it. At the first break, two guys competed to race tricycles around the ice, and at the second break, the mascot came out with a t-shirt gun and fired into the crowd (also no mean feat at a hockey match where chunks of the ice are netted to protect the crowd). It was just great.

Now for the game, Ice Hockey gives new meaning to fast and furious. Even this game (which according to the Hockey Expert in the group was not the greatest) was fun to watch, with some quick play, and some absolutely brutal checking (one guy was given a 5 minute penalty for ramming a guy headfirst into the boards). This combined with good company and a great atmosphere made it a memorable night, with Telle and I looking forward to going to future games.
Of course after the game we were obligated to go out, and fortunately enough the stampede grounds are in walking distance of one of Calgary's nightlife districts on 17th ave SW, and we found a pub (Bob the Fish) to hole up in. After some nice conversation, a wee bit of beer and a whole pile of buffalo wings (or possibly the other way round), we had to rush home because somebody who will remain nameless (ie me) had gotten confused and thought that our bus (which goes down 17th ave SE) went down our street, so we had to rush a little to catch a train and bus home (fortunately our bus went at 00:30, so that was no problem).


It was a hell of an introduction to religion in Canada.