The Good Ol' Hockey Game Part 1

While this news is old as the oldest city in North America (which happens to be St. John's, Newfoundland - in case you didn't know.) (Oh. And when I mean "oldest", I am talking about the oldest English founded city. Because of course, Mexico has a few spots that are even older.) But I digress.

I had tickets to a single Olympic event, and that was the women's bronze medal hockey game. So, on Thursday, I set out with some old friends, Buffer and Leslie to watch me some of Canada's favourite sport.

We set our meeting place at a Starbucks. I have to say that I had a bit of a brain fart, because of course I showed up at the WRONG Starbucks (which was a block away from the ACTUAL meeting place) (which means the moral of the story should be "DO NOT PICK STARBUCKS AS A MEETING PLACE BECAUSE THERE'S ONE ON EVERY CORNER". Which is kind of like saying, "Let's meet by the silver car on the corner.)

Eventually, we did find each other and began our trek to the arena. This was the first time I'd been on the other side of the security fencing, and, say what you will about the lack of winter at these games - the traffic flow has been brilliantly managed. I have worked on a fair number of special events, so I feel like I can use the phrase "brilliantly managed" with a modicum of authority.

It's a long haul, and you have to clear security, but it doesn't matter. You get a bit of a work out, the volunteers are incredible, and along the way, you feel this amazing comradery with hundreds of other people who are all taking part in this big adventure. And if you're a person with a disability or an older person, there are vehicles that will pick you up and deliver you right to the door.

When you get close to the venue, you can even have your photo taken with one of the mascots.

Here's Lesie and Bev now as we prepare to make our way into the venue,

where we hook up with Hanna. Both she and Bev are working on various production crews for the big event.

They compare accreditation.

Clearly, it was baby-day at the game! They were pretty darn cute.

But one of the things I loved best was the image of these two young women proudly cheering for Sweden. Alas. They didn't win... (just in case you haven't been following the non-stop action)

And these guys, proudly cheering for Canada. I didn't have the heart to tell them that Canada wasn't playing til later that day....