The Things We Do For Love

This weekend saw a record setting day in our area. Spring has officially been here for a few weeks now, but winter gave us it's best farewell with a moist and frigid slap in the nads. We had almost 6 inches of snow fall in a day, which immediately converted itself into about 3 inches of slush since it was followed by a day and a half of rain.

To celebrate this bone chilling rain and slop we celebrated by sitting outdoors in the middle of the winter storm to enjoy some hockey. I am a Canadian hockey nut, as are a great many others as evidenced by the sales of 20,000 tickets to this outdoor game. We are a rabid bunch and probably need therapy (a few probably need medical attention after the weekend). The game was run in support of the Red Cross and Camp Trillium

After signing a few autographs the players took to the ice for their warmup in a light drizzle. The game itself took place shortly after the skate. Between periods the players signed autographs and accommodated the fans and much as possible. This all went pretty smoothly considering there is no covered tunnel to the field and players were walking to the ice surface through a narrow path carved through the fans by security personnel.

As you can see above, the spirits were pretty high at the start of the game with the players and fans all ready for a fun game for some great causes. As the night progressed the weather steadily upped the ante. By the end of the game the wind had increased and the rain had called in some backup. It was now falling in combination with it's old friend the snow. So the players were now skating in the wind as the glass from the boards had been removed so that the game wasn't forcibly relocated to Edmonton by mother nature. The fans were getting bombarded by the snow and the slush and we were loving it. The game was fun and the event went off without a hitch if you ignore the weather.

While some of us were unaffected by the weather others were not so lucky. You can see below that by the end of the game the weather had taken its toll on the players and one unfortunate blogger who had decided to join me in my insane lust for the game we were robbed of this year.

If it were all to happen in the same weather conditions next year I'd still be there in the stands next year. As the Arrogant Worms so elegantly put it - "Me Like Hockey"

I should have all my parts thawed out by then.